The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4 · Chapter 17
¶The .xvii. Chapiter. ¶Of the holy Supper of Christ: and what if auayleth vsus.
AFter ye God hath ones receiued vsus into his familie, and not only to take vsus as his seruantes, but as his children: that he may fulfill the office of a moste goed Father, and carefull for his issue, he taketh also vponupon him to nourishe vsus throughout the whole course of our life. And not contented therewith, it pleased hym by a pledge geuen, to assure vsus of thys continuall liberalitie. To this ende therefore he hath geuen his Chirche an other Sacrament by the hand of his only begotten Sonne,Iohn. vi.li. namely a spirituall banket, wherin Christ testifieth hymselfe to be the quicknyng bread, wherwith our soules are fed to true and blessed immortalitie. But forasmuche as the knowlege of so great a mysterie is very necessarie, and accordyng to the greatnesse therof, requireth a diligent declaration: and Satan, that he myghte bereue the Chirch of this inestimable treasure, hath long agoe spred mystes, and sins that tyme darknesse, to obscure the light of it, and then hath stirred striues and battels that myght estrange the myndes of the simple from tastyng of this holy fode, and hath also in our tyme attempted the same craft: therfore when I shall hauehave brefely knit vp the summe for the capacitie of the vnlearned, I wyll vndo those knottes, wherwith Satan hath endeuored to snare the worlde. Fyrst, bread and wyne are signes, whiche represent vntounto vsus the inuisible foode, whiche we receyne of the fleshe and blood of Christ. For as in Baptisme God againe begettyng vsus doothe graffe vsus into the felowshippe of his Chirche, and by adoption dothe make vsus his owne: so we hauehave sayde that he performeth the office of a prouident Father of householde, in this that he continually ministreth vsus meate, that he susteineth and preserueth vsus in that lyfe wherinto he hath by his worde begotten vsus. Now the only meate of our soule is Christ, and therfore the heauenly Father calleth vsus to hym, that beyng refreshed with common partakyng of hym, we maye from tyme to tyme gather liuely force, vntill we atteine to heauenlye immortalitie. But forasmuche as this mysterie of the secrete vnityng of Christe with the godly is by nature impossible to be comprehended, he geueth the figure and image therof in visible signes moste fit for our small capacitie: yea as it were by earnestes and tokens geuen, he maketh it so assured vntounto vsus as if it were seen with our eies, because this so familiar a similitude entreth euen into the grossest myndes, that soules are so fed with Christ, as bread and wine do susteine the bodily life. Now therfore we hauehave it declared, to what ende this mysticall blessyng tendeth▪ namely to assure vsus, that ye body of the Lord was so ones offred for vsus, yt we nowe eate it, and in eatyng it doo fele in vsus the effectual working of that only sacrifice: that his blood was so ones shed for vsus, that it is vntounto vsus continuall drinke. And so sounde the words of the promise there adioyned. Take,Mathe. xxvi.xxvi Mar. xiiii xvii. Luc. xxii.xix. 1. Cor. xi.xxiiii. this is my body, whiche is deliuered for you. The body therfore which was ones offred vp for our saluation, we are commaunded to take and eate: that when we see our selues to be made partakers of this, we may certainly determine that the power of his death which bringeth life shalbe effectuall in vsus. Wherupon also he calleth the cuppe, the couenant in his blood. For after a certaine maner it reneweth, or rather continueth the couenant whiche he hath ones stablished with his blood, so muche as pertaineth to the confirmyng of our faith, so ofte as he reacheth vntounto vsus that holy blood to be tasted of.
A great fruite verily of affiance and swetenesse may godly soules gather of this Sacrament, because they hauehave a witnesse, that we are growen together into one body with Christe, so that whatsoeuer is his we may call ours. Herupon foloweth that we may boldly promise vntounto our selues, that euerlastyng life is ours, whereof he is heire: and that the kingdome of heauen, wherinto he is now entred, can no more fal away from vsus than from him: agayne that we can not nowe be condemned by our sinnes, from the gyltinesse wherof he hath acquired vsus, when he willed them to be imputed to himself as if they were his owne. This is the maruailous exchange, whiche of his immeasurable bountifulnesse he hath made with vsus: that he beeyng made with vsus the sonne of man, hath made vsus with hym the sonnes of God: that by his cōming downe into earth, he hath made vsus a waie to goe vp into heauen: that putting vponupon him our mortalitie, he hath geuen vsus his immortalitie: that takyng on hym our weakenesse, he hath strengthened vsus with his power: that takyng our pouertie to himselfe he hath conueyed his riches to vsus: that taking to hym the weyght of our vnrighteousnesse, wherewith we were oppressed, he hath clothed vsus with his righteousnesse.
Of all these thynges we hauehave so full a witnessyng in this sacrament, that we must certainly determine, that Christ is truely geuen vsus, as if Christ hymselfe were sett present before our eies, and handled with our handes. For this woorde can neither lye to vsus, nor mocke vsus: Take, eate, drinke: this is my bodye whiche is deliuered for you: this is the blood, whiche is shed into the forgeuenesse of sinnes. Whereas he commaundeth to take, he signifieth that it is ours. Whereas he commaundeth to eate, he signifieth that yt is made one subslance with vsus. Whereas he sayth of the body, that it is deliuered for vsus: of the blood, that it is shed for vsus: therin he teacheth that bothe are not so muche his as ours: because he toke and laide away both, not for his commoditie, but to our saluation. And truely it is to be diligently marked, that the chefe and in a maner whole pith of the Sacrament standeth in these words, Which is deliuered for you, Which is shed for you. For, otherwise it should not much profit vsus, that the body and blood of the Lord ar now distributed. vnlesse they had ben ones geuen foorth for our redemption & saluation. Therfore they are represented vnderunder bread & wine, that we shold learne that they are not only ours, but also ordeined for the nourishment of spirituall life. This is it that we before saied, that from the corporall thynges whych are shewed foorth in the Sacrament, we are by a certayne proportionall relation guyded to spirituall thynges. So when bread is geuen vsus for a signe of the body of Christ, we ought by & by to conceiue this similitude: As bread nourisheth, susteineth, and mainteineth the life of our body: so the body of Christ is the onelyonly meate to quicken & geue lyfe to oure soule. When we see wyne set foorth for a signe of his blood: we must call to mynde what vses wyne bryngeth to the bodye, that we may consider that the same are brought to vsus spiritually by the blood of Christe: those vses bee, to cherishe, to refreshe, to strengthen, to make mery. For if we sufficiently weye, what the deliueryng of this holy body, what the shedyng of this holy blood, hath profited vsus: we shal plainly perceiue that these thynges whiche are spoken of bread and wine, according to such proportionall relation doo very well accorde with them toward vsus when they are communicated vntounto vsus.
Therfore the chefe partes of ye Sacrament are not, simply & without hier consideration to reach to vsus the body of Christ: but rather ye same promise, wherby he testifieth, that his fleshe is verily meate, and his blood is drink, with which we are fed into eternall life: wherby he affirmeth himselfe to be the breade of lyfe, of whiche who so eateth, he shall liue for euer: to seale (I saye) and confirme that promyse: and for bryngyng the same to passe, to sende vsus to the crosse of Christ, where that promise hath ben truely performed, and in all pointes fulfilled. For we doo not well and healthfully eate Christ but crucified, when we doo with liuely feelyng conceiue the effectualnesse of his death. For wheras he called himselfe the breade of life, he did not borrow that name of the sacrament, as some do wrongfully expounde it: but because he was geuē vsus suche of the Father, and performed himselfe suche, when being made partaker of our humane martalitie, he made vsus parteners of his diuine immortalitie: when offring himselfe for sacrifice, he toke our accursednesse vponupon himself, yt he might fil vsus with blessing: when with his death he deuoured & swalowed vp death: when in his resurrection he raised vp this our corruptible flesh which he had put on, to glory & vncorruption.
It remaineth that by appliance all the same maye come to vsus. That is done, bothe by the Gospell, and more cleerely by the holy Supper, where bothe he offreth himselfe to vsus with all his good thynges, & we receiue him by faith. Wherfore the sacramēt maketh not that Christ first beginneth to be the bread of life: but when it bringeth into remembrance, that he was made the bread of life, whiche we continually eate, and when it geueth vntounto vsus the taste and sauor of that breade then it maketh vsus to fele the strength of that bread. For it promiseth vsus, that whatsoeuer Christ did or suffred, the same was done to geue life to vsus. Then, that this geuing of life is euerlasting, by which we may without ende be nourished susteined and preserued in life. For as Christ should not hauehave bene to vsus the bread of life, vnlesse he had bene borne and had dyed for vsus, vnlesse he had risen agayne for vsus: so now he should not bee the same vnlesse the effectualnesse and fruite of his birth, death and resurrection, were an euerlasting and immortall thing. All which Christe hath very well expressed in these wordes:Iohn. vi.li. The bread which I wil geue, is my flesh, which I wil geue for the life of the world. By which wordes without dout he signifieth, that his body shoulde therfore bee to vsus for bread, to the spirituall life of the soule, because it shold be geuen forth to death for our saluatiō: and that it is deliuered to vsus to eate of it, when by faith he maketh vsus partakers of it. Ones therfore he gaue it, yt he might be made bread, when he gaue foorth himselfe to be crucified for the redemption of the world: daily he geueth it, when by the word of the Gospell he offreth it vntounto vsus to be receiued, so far as it was crucified: where he sealeth that deliuerance with the holy mysterie of the Supper: where he inwardly fulfilleth that which he outwardly betokeneth. Now herein we must beware of twoo faultes, that neither doing to muche in abaring the signes, we seme to pluck them frō their mysteries to which they are in a maner knitte fast: nor that being immeasurable in aduancing the same, we seme in the meane tyme somwhat to darken the mysteries themselues. That Christ is the bread of life, wherewith the faithful are nourished into eternal saluation, ther is no man but he graunteth, vnlesse he be altogether without religiō. But this point is not likewise agreed vponupon among al men, what is the maner of partaking of him. For there be that in one worde define, that to eate the fleshe of Christe, and to drinke his blood, is nothing els but to beleue in Christ himlsefe. But I thinke that Christ meant some certainer and hyer thyng, in that notable sermon where he cōmendeth to vsus the eatyng of his fleshe: namely, that we are quickned by the true partaking of hym: whiche also he therfore expressed by the woordes of eatyng and drynkyng, least any man should thynke, that the life whiche we receiue of hym is conceyued by bare knowlege only. For as not the syghte, but the eatyng of bread suffiseth the body for nourishment: so it behoueth that the soule be truly and throughly made partaker of Christ, that by the power of hym it may be quickened into a spirituall lyfe. But in the meane tyme we confesse that there is no other eatyng, but of faith: as there can no other be imagined. But this is the difference betwene my wordes and theirs, that with them to eate is only to beleue: but I say that the flesh of Christ is eaten with beleuing, because by faith he is made ours, and I say that eatyng is the fruite and effect of faith. Or, if you wil hauehave it plainer, with them eatyng is faithe: and I thynke it rather to followe of faith. In wordes verily the difference is but smalle: but in the thyng it selfe,Eph. iii.xvii. not small. For though the Apostle teacheth that Christe dwelleth in oure hartes by Faithe: yet no manne will expounde this dwelling to be Faith: but all men doo perceyue that there is expressed a singular effect of faith, for that by it the faithful do obteyne to hauehave Christ dwellyng in them.Iohn vi.li After this maner, the Lorde meant, in callyng hymselfe the bread of lyfe, not only to teache that in the faith of his death and resurrection, saluation is reposed for vsus: but also that by true partakyng of himselfe it is brought to passe, that his life passeth into vsus, and becometh oures: like as bread, when it is taken for foode, ministreth lyuelinesse to the body.
Neither dyd Augustine, whom they bryng in for their patron, in any other meanyng write that we eate by beleuyng, than to shewe that this eatyng is of faith, not of the mouthe. Which I also denye not: but yet therwithall I adde, that we do by faith embrace Christe, not apperyng afarre of, but makyng hymselfe one with vsus, that he may be oure head, and we his membres. Yet do not I vtterly disalow that maner of speakyng: but only I deny it to be a full declaration, if they meane to define what it is to eate the fleshe of Christ. Otherwyse I see that Augustine hath ofte vsed this forme of speche: as when he saith in the thirde boke Of Christian doctrine, Unlesse ye eate the fleshe of the sonne of man: this is a figure teachyng that we must communicate with the passion of the Lorde, and muste sweetely and profitably laye vp in remembrance that for vsus his fleshe was crucified and wounded.Homi. in Ioh. xxxi. & xl. Act. ii.xli. Agayne when he sayeth, that the three thousande menne whyche were conuerted at Peters sermon, dyd drynke the bloode of Christe by beleuyng, whyche they had shedde by cruell dealyng. But in manye other places he honorably setteth out that benefyte of Faith, that by it oure soules are no lesse refreshed with the communicatyng of the fleshe of Christe, than oure bodies are with the breade whiche they eate. And the same is it whyche in a certayne place Chrysostome wryteth,Homi. lx. that Christe doeth not onelyonly by Faith, but also in dede make vsus his body. For he meaneth not that we doo from any other where than from Faithe, obteyne suche a benefite: but this onelyonly he meaneth to exclude, that none when he heareth faithe to be named, shoulde conceyue a naked imagination. As for them that will hauehave the Supper to be onelyonly a marke of outwarde profession, I do now passe them ouer: because I thinke that I hauehave sufficiently confuted their error,Luc. xxii.xx. whē I entreated of Sacramentes generally. Only thys thing let the reders marke, yt when the cup is called the couenant in the blood, there is a promise expressed that may be of force to confirme Faith. Wherupō foloweth, that vnlesse we hauehave respect to God, and embrace that which he offreth, we doe not rightly vse the holy Supper.
Moreouer they also do not satisfie me, which acknowleging that we hauehave some communion with Christ, when they meane to expresse it, doe make vsus partakers only of the Spirite, without making any mention of flesh and blood. As though al those thinges were spoken of nothing, that hys flesh is verily meate, that his blood is verily drinke: that none hath life, but he that eateth that flesh, and drinketh that blood: and such other sayenges that belong to the same ende. Wherfore if it be certaine that the full communicating of Christ procedeth beyonde their description, as it is to narowly strained: I wil now go about to knit vp in few wordes, how large it is and how farr it extendeth it selfe, before that I speake of the contrarie fault of excesse. For I shal hauehave a longer disputation with the excessiue teachers, which, when according to their owne grossnesse they frame a maner of eating & drinking ful of absurditie, do also transfigure Christ stripped out of hys fleshe into a fantasie: if yet a man may with any wordes comprehende so great a mysterie, whiche I se yt I can not sufficiently comprehende with minde: and therfore I doe willingly confesse it, yt no man should measure the hynesse therof by the smal proportion of my childishnesse. But rather I exhorte the reders, yt they do not restrayne the sense of their minde within these to narrowe boundes: but endeuor to rise vp much hyer, thā they can by my guiding. For I my selfe, so oft as I speake of this thing, whē I hauehave trauailed to say all, thinke that I hauehave yet sayd but litle in respecte of the worthinesse therof. And although the minde can do more in thinking, than the tong in expressing: yet with greatnesse of the thing, the minde also is surmounted and ouerwhelmed. Finally therefore nothing remaineth, but that I must breake fourth into admiration of that mysterie, whiche neither the mind can suffise to thinke of, nor the tong to declare. Yet after suche manner as I can, I wil set fourth the summe of my sentence: which as I nothing dout to be true, so I trust that it will not be disallowed of godly hartes.
First of all, we are taughte out of the Scripture, that Christe was from the beginning yt life bringing worde of the Father, the fountaine and original of life, from whense all thinges euer receiued their hauing of life. Wherfore Ihon somtime calleth him the worde of life, and somtime writeth that life was in him: meaning that he euen then flowyng into al creatures, poured into them the power of breathing and liuing. Yet the same Ihon addeth afterwarde, that the life was then and not tyll then openly shewed, when the Sonne of God, taking vpō him our fleshe, gaue himselfe to be seen with eyes and felte with handes. For though he did before also spred abrode his power into the creatures: yet because man, beyng by synne estranged from God, hauing lost the communion of lyfe, saw on eueryevery side death hanging ouer hym: that he myght recouer hope of immortalitie, it behoued that he should be receiued into the communion of that worde. For how small a confidence mayest thou conceiue therof, if thou heare yt the worde of God in dede, from which thou art most farr remoued, cōteyneth in it selfe the fulnesse of lyfe, but in thy selfe and rounde about thee nothyng offreth it selfe and is present before thine eyes but death? But sins that fountayne of lyfe beganne to dwell in our fleshe, nowe it lyeth not a farr of hydden from vsus, but presently deliuereth it selfe to be partaken of vsus. Yea and it maketh the very fleshe, wherein it resteth, to be of power to bryng lyfe to vsus,Iohn. vi.xlviii. &. lviii. that by partaking therof we maye be fed to immortalitie. I am (sayth he) the bred of lyfe, that am come downe from heauen. And the bred whiche I will geue, is my fleshe, whiche I will geue for the lyfe of the worlde. In whiche woordes he teacheth, not onelyonly that he is lyfe, in respecte that he is the eternall woorde of God whiche came downe to vsus from heauen, but that in comming downe he poured the same power into the fleshe whiche he did put on, that from thense the communicatyng of lyfe mighte flowe fourth vntounto vsus. Hereupon also these thinges nowe followe, that his fleshe is verily mente, and his blood is verily drinke, with whiche sustenances the faythfull are fostered into eternall life. Herein therfore consisteth singular comfort to the godly, that nowe they finde life in their owne fleshe. For so they doe not onelyonly with easy passage atteine vntounto it, but hauehave it of it selfe layd abrode for them and offring it selfe vntounto them. Only let them holde open the bosome of their hart, that they may embrace it beeyng present, and they shall obteyne it.
But although the fleshe of Christe hauehave not so greate power of it selfe, that it can geue life to vsus, whiche bothe in the owne firste estate of it was subiecte to mortalitie, and nowe being endued with immortalitie, liueth not by it selfe: yet it is rightfully called lifebringing, whiche is filled with fulnesse of lyfe, to poure it into vsus. In which meaning I doe with Cyril expounde that sayeng of Christ: As the Father hath lyfe in himselfe,Iohn v.xix. so he hath also geuen to the Sonne to hauehave life in himselfe. For there he properly speaketh of his giftes, not whiche he from the beginning possessed with the Father, but with whiche he was garnished in the same fleshe in whiche he appeared. Therefore he sheweth that in hys manhode also dwelleth the fullnesse of lyfe, that whosoeuer partaketh of his flesh and blood, may therwithall also enioy the partaking of life. Of what sort that is, we may declare by a familiar example. For as out of a foūtaine water is somtime drōk, somtime is drawen, somtime by forrowes is conueied to the watering of groundes which yet of it selfe doth not ouerflow into so many vses, but from the very spring it selfe which with euerlasting flowing yeldeth and ministreth vntounto it from tyme to tyme newe abundance: so the fleshe of Christ is like a riche and vnwasted fountaine whiche poureth into vsus the life springing from the Godhead into it selfe. Nowe whoe seeth not, that the communion of the fleshe and blood of Christe is necessarie to al that aspire to heauenly lyfe? Hereunto tendeth that sayeng of the Apostle, that the Chirch is the body of Christe and the fulfilling of it: and that he is the hed oute of whiche the whole body coupled and knit together by ioyntes, maketh encrease of the body: that our bodies are the members of Christ. Al which thinges we vnderstande to be impossible to be brought to passe, but that he must whellye cleaue to vsus in Spirite and body. But that most nere felowship wherby we are coupled with his fleshe, he hath yet set out with a more glorious title,Eph. v.xxx. when he sayd that we are members of his body, and are of his bones and of hys fleshe. At the last, to declare it to be a mater greater than all wordes, he concludeth hys sayeng with an exclamation, This is (sayth he) a greate secret. Therefore it should be a pointe of extreme madnesse, to acknowlege no communion of the faythfull with the fleshe and blood of the Lord, which the Apostle declareth to be so greate, that he had rather wonder at it than expresse it.
Let ye summe be, yt oure soules are so fed with the fleshe and blood of Christ, as bred & wyne do mainteine & susteine ye bodily lyfe. For otherwise the proportional relation of the signe should not agree, vnlesse soules dyd fynde their fode in Christ. Which can not be done, vnlesse Christ do truely grow into one wt vsus, and refresh vsus wt the eating of his fleshe and drinking of hys blood. But although it seme incredible, that in so great distance of places the flesh of Christ reacheth to vsus that it may be meate to vsus: let vsus remember how much the secret power of the Spirit surmounteth aboue al our senses, and how foolysh it is to goe aboute to measure hys vnmeasurablenesse by our measure. That therfore whiche our mynde comprehendeth not, let our fayth conceiue, that the Spirite truely knitteth in one those thinges yt are seuered in places. Nowe that same holy cōmunicating of his body and blood, wherby Christ poureth hys life into vsus, euen as if he pea…ced it into our bones & marowes, he in the Supper also testifieth & sealeth land y• not with setting before vsus a vayne or voyde signe, but bringing fourth there ye effectuall working of his spirite, wherby he fulfilleth ye which he promyseth. And verily he there offreth and deliuereth the thing signified to al them that sit at that spiritual banket: although it be receiued with frute of ye faythfull onelyonly, which receiue so great bountifulnesse with true Fayth & thankfulnesse of mynde. After which maner the Apostle sayd, that the bred which we breake is the communion of the body of Christ:ii. Cor, x.xvi. and that ye cup which we hallow with ye word & prayers to that purpose, is the cōmunion of hys blood. Neither is there any cause why any man should obiect, that it is a figuratiue speche, by which the name of the thing signified is geuen to the signe. I graūt verily that ye breaking of ye bred is a signe, not ye thīg it selfe. But this being admitted, yet we shall rightly gather of the deliuerance of the signe, that the thing it selfe is deliuered. For vnlesse a mā wil cal God a deceiuer, he can neuer be so bolde to say that he setteth before vsus an empty signe. Therfore if by the breakyng of bred the Lorde doth truely represente the partakyng of hys body, it ought to be out of dout that he truely performeth and deliuereth it. And this rule is alway to be holden of the godly, that so oft as they se the signes ordeined of the Lorde, they certainly thinke & persuade themselues that the truth of the thyng signified is there present. For to what purpose should the Lorde deliuer to thee into thy hande the signe of hys body, but to assure thee of the true partaking of it? If it be true, that a visible signe is geuen vsus, to seale the gift of an inuisible thing: when we receiue the signe of the body, let vsus no lesse certainly beleue that the body it selfe also is geuē vsus.
I saye therefore (which both hath ben alway receiued in the Chirch, and al they teache at thys day that thynke right) that the holy mysterie of the Supper consisteth of twoo thinges: that is to saye, of the bodily signes, which beyng set before our eyes doe represent vntounto vsus inuisible thinges according to the capacitie of our weakenesse: and of spirituall trueth, which is by those signes bothe figured and deliuered. Of what sort that is, when I meane to shewe it familiarly, I vse to set thre thinges: the signification, the mater which hangeth of the signification, the vertue or effect which foloweth of both. The signification consisteth in the promisses, which are after a certayne manner wrapped together with the signe. The mater or substance I cal Christ with hys death and resurrection. By effect I vnderstande the redemption, righteousnesse, sanctification, and eternall lyfe, and whatsoeuer other benefites Christ bringeth vsus. Now although all these thinges hauehave respect to Fayth: yet I leaue no place to thys cauillation: as though when I say that Christ is receiued by Fayth, I would hauehave hym cōceiued with vnderstanding only and imaginatiō. For the promises offer hym, not yt we should sticke fast in the sight alone and in bare knowlege: but that we should enioye the true communicating of hym. And truely I se not how any mā maye hauehave cōfidence that he hath redēption and righteousnesse in the crosse of Christ, & lyfe in hys death, but principally standing vponupon the true cō munion of Christ himselfe. For those good thinges shoulde not come to vsus, vnlesse Christ first made himselfe oures. I say therefore, that in the mysterie of the Supper, by the signes of bread and wine Christ is truely deliuered to vsus, yea and hys body and blood, in which he hath fulfylled al obediēce for purchasing of ryghteousnesse to vsus: namely that first we should growe together into one body with hym: & then beyng made partakers of hys substance, we may also fele hys power in the communicating of al hys good thinges.
Now I come down to the excessiue mixtures, which superstitiō hath brought in. For herein Satan hath played with maruelous sutteltie, that withdrawing the myndes of men from heauen, he might fyl them with peruerse error, as though Christ were fastened to the elemente of bred. And first we must not dreame such a presence of Christ in the Sacrament, as the craftesmē of the court of Rome hauehave fayned: as though the body of Christ were made present with presence of place, to be handeled with handes, to be broosed with teethe, and swallowed wt mouth. For this forme of recantation Pope Nicolas endited to Betengarius, to be a witnesse of hys repentance: namely with woordes so farr monstruous, that the author of the glose cryeth out that there is danger, if the reders do not wisely take hede to themselues, least they should sucke out of them an heresie worse than was that of Berengarius. In the seconde distinctiō, in the Chapter beginning thus, Ego Berengarius. But Peter Lombarde, although he trauaile much in excusing the absurdity, yet more inclineth to the contrary sentēce. For as we nothing dout yt it hath limites accordyng to the perpetual nature of the body of men, and is holden in heauen, into which it was ones receiued, vntill he returne to iugement: so to draw it backe vnderunder these corruptible elementes or to imagyne it present eueryevery where, we accompt it to be vtterly vnlawfull. Neyther verily is it so nedefull to this that we may enioy ye partaking of it: for as much as the Lord geueth vsus thys benefit by his Spirite, that we be made one with him in body,Chrysos. serm. de Spiritu. sancto. Spirite, and soule. The bonde therefore of thys conioynyng is the Spirite of Christ, by the knitting wherof we be coupled together, and as it were a certaine conduit, by whiche whatsoeuer Christ himselfe bothe is and hath, is conueyed to vsus. For if we beholde the sunne shyning fourth with hys beames vponupon the earth after a certaine maner to cast fourth his substance vntounto it to engender, nourishe, and quicken the frutes thereof: why should the extending of beames of the Spirite of Christ be inferior to conuey the communion of his flesh and blood into vsus? Wherfore the Scripture, when it speaketh of our partaking with Christ, referreth the whole force therof to ye Spirite. Yet in stede of many, one place shalbe sufficient. For Paule in the viii. chapter to the Romaines, sayth that Christ dwelleth in vsus none otherwise than by hys Spirite: wherby yet he taketh not away that cō muniō of his flesh and blood of which we now speake, but teacheth that the Spirite alone worketh that we possesse whole Christ and hauehave him dwelling in vsus.
The Scholemen thought more shamfastly, which were withholdē wt horror of so barbarous vngodlinesse. Yet thei also thēselues do nothing but mocke with sutteler deceites. They graunt that Christ is not cōteined there by way of circumscription nor after a bodily maner: but afterward they inuent away, which neither them selues do vnderstande, nor they can declare to other: yet it is such as falleth to this point that Christ must be sought in the forme of bred as they call it. For what is it? When they say that the substance of bred is turned into Christe, doe they not fasten hym to the whytenesse which they there leaue? But (saye they) he is so conteined in the Sacrament, that he abideth in heauen: and we determyne no other presence but of habitude. But whatsoeuer woordes they bryng in to cloke it with a deceitfull color, thys is the ende of all, that that is by consecration made Christ, which before was bred: yt from thense fourth Christ lieth hid vnderunder that color of bred. Which also they are not ashamed in playne wordes to expresse.Lib. iiii. dist. For these be the wordes of Lombarde: that the body of Christ, which in it selfe is visible, whē the consecration is ended, lyeth hydden and is couered vnderunder the forme of bred. So the forme of that bred is nothyng ells but a visor, that taketh away the sight of the fleshe from the eyes. Neither nede we many coniectures, to fynde what snares they mynded to lay with these wordes, sithe the thing itselfe plainly speaketh it. For it is to be seen with howe great superstition in certaine ages past, not onelyonly the common sorte of men, but also the very chefe of them hauehave ben holden, & at thys daye be holdē in popish Chirches. For hauing litle care of true Fayth (by which alone we both come into the felowship of Christ, and do cleaue together with hym) so that they hauehave a carnall presence of hym, which they hauehave framed besyde the worde, they thynke that they hauehave hym presente enough. Therefore in a summe, we see that thys hath ben gotten by thys witty sutteltie, that bred was taken for God.
Frō hense proceded yt same fayned transubstātiatiō, for which at thys day they fyght more earnestly thā for al the other articles of their faith. For ye first bilders of that local presence could not vnwynde themselues from thys doute how the body of Christ should be mingled with the substance of bread, but that by and by many absurdities did thrust themselues in place. Therfore they were driuen of necessitie to flee to thys inuention, that there is made a turning of bred into the body: not that the body is properly made of bred, but because Christ, that he mighte hide himselfe vnderunder the forme, bringeth the substance to nothing. But it is maruellous, that they fel to so great ignorāce, yea senslesse dulnesse, that not only the Scripture but also the consent of the old Chirch fighting against it, they brought abrode that monster. I graunt in dede yt some of the olde writers somtyme vsed the name of turning: not for that they would destroy the substance in the outwarde signes, but that they might teache that the bred dedicate to the mysterie differeth farre from common bred and is now other. But ech where they al plainly declare, that the holy Supper consisteth of twoo partes, an earthly parte, and a heauenly: and the earthly part they do without controuersie expounde to be bred and wyne. Truely whatsoever they babble, it is plain that in confirming of this doctrine they want the defense of antiquitie, whiche they oftentymes presume to set against the euident worde of God. For it is not so long agoe sins it was inuēted: it was verily vnknowen not only to those better ages, in which the purer doctrine of religiō yet florished, but also euen whē that same purenesse was much defiled. There is none of the olde writers that doth not in expresse wordes cōfesse that the holy signes in ye Supper are bred and wyne: although, as we hauehave sayd, they somtime set it out with diuerse titles, to aduaunce the dignitie of the mysterie. For wheras they say that in the cōsecration is made a secrete turning, that now it is an other thing than bred and wyne. I hauehave euen now geuen warning that they do not therby meane that the thinges themselues are brought to nought, but that they are now to be otherwise estemed than common meates, which are appointed onelyonly to fede the belly: forasmuch as in them is deliuered to vsus ye spiritual meate and drinke of the soule. This we also deny not. If (say these men) there be a turning, it must nedes be that there is of one thing made an other thing. If they meane that there is some thing made which before was not, I agree with them. If they wil draw it to that their own imagination, let them answere me what change they thinke to be made in Baptisme. For herein the Fathers also do determine a maruellous turning, when they say that of a corruptible elemēt is made a spiritual washing of the soule, yet none of them denyeth that water remayneth. But (saye they) there is no such thing in Baptisme, as is that in ye Supper. This is my body. As though the question were of those wordes, which hauehave a meaning plaine enough: and not rather, of that word of turning, which ought to signifie no more in the Supper than in Baptisme. Therefore farewel they with these snares of syllables, wherby they do nothing els but bewray their own hungrinesse. For otherwise ye significatiō would not agree together, vnlesse the trueth which is there figured, had a liuely image in the outwarde signe. Christes wil was by the outward signe to testifie that hys fleshe is meate. If he did set before vsus only an empty imaginatiue forme of bred not true bread, where were ye correlation or similitude which should leade vsus frō the visible thing to the inuisible? For, that al thinges may agree together, the signification shall extende no further, but that we be fed with the forme of the fleshe of Christ. As if in Baptisme the forme of water should deceiue our eyes, it should not be to vsus a certayne pledge of our washing: yea by that deceitfull shewe there should be geuen vsus an occasion of wauering. Therfore the nature of the Sacrament is ouerthrowen, vnlesse in the maner of signifieng, the earthly signe answer to the heauenly thing. And therefore we lose the truth of thys mysterie, vnlesse true bred represent to vsus the true body of Christ. I repete it againe: Sith the Supper is nothing ells, than a visible testifieng of that promise which is in the vi. chapter of Iohn, namely that Christ is the bred of lyfe, which came downe from heauen: there must be visible bred vsed for a meane, wherby that same spirituall bred may be figured: vnlesse we will that we lose all the frute, whiche in this behalfe God tenderly graunteth to susteine our weakenesse. Now by what reason should Paule gather,i. Cor. x.xvii. that all we are one body and one bred, whiche doe together partake of one bred, if there remayned onelyonly an imaginatiue forme and not rather a naturall truth of bred?
But they could neuer hauehave ben so fowly begyled with the deceites of Satan, but because they wer alredy bewitched with this error, that the body of Christ enclosed vnderunder bred was by the bodily mouth sent down into the belly. The cause of so brutishe imagination was, that consecration signified as much among them as a magical enchauntment. But thys principle was vnknowen to them, that bread is a Sacramente to none but to men, to whom the worde is directed: lyke as the water of Baptisme is not changed in it selfe, but so sone as the promise is adioyned, it beginneth to be that to vsus which it before was not. Thys shall better appeare by example of a lyke Sacrament.Exo. xvii.vi. The water springing out of the rocke in the desert was to the fathers a token and signe of the same thing,i. Cori. x.iiii. which the wyne doth figure to vsus in the Supper. For Paul teacheth that they dronke the same spirituall drinke. But it was a common watering for the beastes and cattell of the people. Wherupon it is easily gathered, that in earthly elementes, when they are applyed to a spirituall vse, there is made no other turning but in respect of men, in so much as they are to them seales of the promises. Moreouer sithe Gods purpose is (as I often repete) as it were by handsome chariots to lift vsus vp to himselfe, they doe by their waywardenesse wickedly disapoint the same, which do in dede cal vsus to Christ, but lurkig inuisibly vnderunder bred. For it is not possible that the mynde of men, vncombryng it selfe from the immesurablenesse of places, should atteine to Christ euen aboue the heauens. That which nature denyed them, they attempted to amende with a more hurtfull remedie: that abiding in earth, we should nede no heauenly nerenesse of Christ. L…e, this is the necessitie, that compelled them to transfigure the body of Christ. In Bernardes time, althoughe a harder maner of speaking was growen in vse, yet transubstantiation was not then knowen. And in all ages before that, this similitude dyd flye aboute in every mans mouth, that there is with bred and wyne a spiritual thing ioyned in thys mysterie. Of the wordes they answer, as they thinke, wittily: but bringing nothing fit for thys presēt cause. The rod of Moses (say they) being turned into a Serpent,Exo. iiii.iii. &. vii.x although it dyd get the name of a Serpent, yet kepeth stil the olde name, and is called a rod. So in their opinion it is as probable, that although the bred passe into a new substance, it may be abusively and yet not vnaptly called yt which it appeareth to the eies. But what likelhode or nerenesse fynde they betwene a cleare miracle, and their fained illusion, of whiche no eye in earth is witnesse? The Magicians had mocked with deceites, so that the Egiptians were persuaded, that they excelled in diuine power to change creatures aboue the order of nature. Moses came fourth, & dryuing away all their deceites, shewed that the inuincible power of God was on his side, because his owne rod consumed al the rest. But forasmuch as that was a turning discernable with eyes, therfore as we hauehave sayd, it perteyneth nothing to thys presēt cause: and in a litle time after, the rod visibly returned into his own forme. Beside that it is not knowen, whether that soden turning was of substance or no. Also the alluding to the rods of the Magicians is to be cōsidered, which ye Prophet therfore would not call Serpentes, least he should seme to signifie a turning where none was: because those deceiuers had done nothing but cast a myst before the eies of the beholders. What likenesse herewith hauehave these formes of speche,i. Cor. x.xvi. &. xi.xxvi. Actes. ii.iiii. The bred which we breake, So ofte as ye shal eate this bred, They cōmmunicated in breaking of bred, and suche other? It is certaine yt their eyes were only deceiued wt the enchantmēt of the Magicians. As concerning Moses, the mater is more douteful, by whose hande it was no more hard for God to make of a rod a Serpent, and againe of a Serpent to make a rod, thā to cloth Angels with fleshly bodies, & by and by after to vncloth them. If the nature of thys mysterie were the same or like, there were some color for their solution. Let this therfore remaine certaine, that it is not truly nor fittly promised vsus that in the Supper the flesh of Christ is truely to vsus for meate, vnlesse the true substance of the outwarde Signe agree with it. And (as one error groweth of an other) the place of Ieremie is so foolishlye wrested to proue transubstantiation, that it irketh me to reherse it. The Prophet complaineth that wood is put in his bred:Iere. xi.xix. Psa. lxix.xxii. meaning that by the crueltie of his enemies, his bred was infected with bitternesse. As Dauid with a like figure bewayleth that his meate was corrupted wt gall, and hys drynke with vineger. These men will hauehave it that the body of Christ was by way of allegorie fastened to the crosse. But some of the olde fathers thought so. As though we ought not rather to pardō their ignorance, and to bury their shame, than to adde shamelessnesse to compell them yet still to fight like enemies with the natural meaning of the Prophet.
Other, which see that the proportionall relation of the signe and the thing signified, can not be ouerthrowen, but that the truth of the mysterie must fal, do confesse that the bred of the Supper is verily a substāce of an earthly and corruptible element, and suffreth no change in it selfe, but hath vnderunder it selfe the body of Christ enclosed. If they did so declare their meaning, that when the bred is deliuered in the mysterie, there is adioyned the deliuering of the body, because the trueth is vnseuerable from the signe: I would not much striue with them. But because they placing the body in the bred, do faine to it a beyng eueryevery where contrarie to the nature thereof, and in adding vnderunder the bred, they wyll hauehave it lye there hiddē: it is necessarie a litle while to draw such suttelties out of their dēnes. For my mynde is not yet as of set purpōse to go through with all this point: but only that I may lay the fundations of the disputation which shall by and by folowe in place fit for it. They wil therfore hauehave the body of Christe to be inuisible and immeasurable, that it may lie hid vnderunder the bread: because they thinke that they do not otherwise communicate with hym than if he descende into bread: but they comprehend not the maner of descending, wherby he lifteth vsus vpward to himself. They lay vponupon it all the colors that they can: but when they hauehave said all, it sufficiently appereth, that they staye vponupon the locall presence of Christ. Whense commeth that? euen because they can abide to conceiue no other partakyng of the fleshe and blood, but whiche consysteth either of ioynyng and touchyng of place, or of some grosse enclosyng.
And, that they may obstinately defende the error ones rashly conceiued, some of them sticke not to say, that the flesh of Christ had neuer any other measurynges, but so farr and wide as heauen and earth is brode. Whereas he was borne a childe out of the wombe, whereas he grewe, wheras he was spred abrode on the crosse, whereas he was enclosed in the sepulchre, the same was doone by a certaine dispensation, that he myght be borne and dye,Act. i.iii. &. ix.vii. Act. i.iii. and performe the other dueties of man. Where as after his resurrection he was seen in his wonted forme of body, wheras he was taken vp to heauen, wheras last of all also after his ascension he was seen of Stephen and Paule: it was doone by the same dispensation, that it might appere to the sight of men that he was made a kyng in heauen. What is this ells, but to raise vp Marcion out of hell? For no man can dout that the body of Christ was a fantasy or a fantasticall thyng, if he was of suche state. Some slip away somewhat more suttelly, with sayeng that this body whiche is geuen in the Sacrament is glorious and immortall: and that therfore it is no absurditie, if it bee conteined in many places, if in no place, if with no forme, vnderunder the sacrament. But I aske what maner of body Christe gaue to the disciples the day before that he suffred: doo not the wordes sounde that he gaue the same mortall body,Mat. xvii.ii. whiche was within a little after to be deliuered? He had already before (say they) shewed his glorie to be sene to thre of the disciples. That is true in dede, but his will was by that brightnesse to geue them a taste of immortalitie for an houre. In the meane tyme they shall not there fynd a double body, but that one body which Christ did beare, garnished with newe glorie. But when he distributed his body at his first Supper, the tyme was nowe at hande, when he beyng striken of God,Esa. liii.iiii. and humbled shold lie without glorie as a leprous man: so farre is it of that he then wold shew forth the glorie of his resurrection. And howe great a wyndowe is here opened to Marci…n, if the body of Christ was seene in one place mortall and base, and in an other place was holden immortall and glorious? Howebeit if their opinion take place, the same happeneth daily: because they ar compelled to confesse that the body of Christ beyng visible in it selfe, lyeth hyd inuisibly vnderunder the signe of bread. And yet they that vomite out such monstruousnesse, are so not ashamed of their own shame, that they do vnprouoked hainously raile at vsus, because we do not subscribe to them.
Nowe if they lyst to fasten the body and blood of the Lorde to bread and wyne: the one shall of necessitie be plucked in sunder frō the other. For as the bread is deliuered seuerally from the cup, so the body vnited to the bread muste nedes be diuided from the blood enclosed in the cup. For when they affirme that the body is in the bread, and the blood in the cup: and the bread and wyne are by spaces of place distant the one from the other: they can by no shift escape, but that the body must be seuered from the blood. But wheras they are wonte to allege, that by accompainyng (as they faine) in the body is the blood, and likewise in the blood is the body, that verily is to triflyng: forasmuche as the Signes in whych they are enclosed, are so seuered. But if we be lifted vp with our eies and myndes to heauen, that we seke Christ there in the glorie of his kingdome: as the signes doo allure vsus to hym whole, so vnderunder the signe of bread, we shalbe fedde with his bodye, vnderunder the signe of wyne we shall seuerally drynke his blood, that at length we may enioye hym whole. For although he hath taken awaye his fleshe from vsus, and in his body is ascended vp into heauen, yet he sitteth at the right hande of the Father, that is to say, he reigneth in the power, and maiestie, and glorie of the Father. This kyngdome is neyther bounded with any spaces of place, nor compassed aboute with any measurynges, but that Christ may shewe foorth his myght wheresoeuer it pleaseth him both in heauen and in earth: but that he may shewe himselfe present with power and strength: but that he may alway bee at hande with them that be his, breathing his lyfe into them, may liue in them, strengthen them, quicken them, preserue them safe, euen as if he were present in body: finally but that he may fede them with his owne bodye, the communion wherof he dothe by the power of his Spirite poure into them. After this maner the body and blood of Christe is delyuered to vsus in the Sacrament.
But we must appoint such a presence of Christ in the Supper, as may neither fasten hym to the element of bred, nor shut hym vp in the bred, nor by any meane compasse hym in, (for it is playne that all these thynges abate his heauenly glorie) fynally suche as may neither take from him his owne measure, nor diuersly draw hym in many places at ones, nor faine to hym suche an vnmeasurable greatnesse as is spred abrode throughout heauen and earth, for these thynges are playnely agaynst the truthe of the nature of manhode. Let vsus (I say) neuer suffer these two exceptions to be taken away from vsus. The one, that nothyng bee abated from the glorie of Christ, which is done, when he is broughte vnderunder the corruptible elements of this world, or is bound to any earthly creatures. The other, that nothyng be by fainyng applied to his body, that agreeth not with the nature of man: whiche is done, when it is either saide to bee infinite, or is sett in many places at ones. But these absurdities being taken away, I willyngly receiue what soeuer may auaile to expresse the true and substantiall communicatyng of the Body and Blood of the Lord, which cōmunicatyng is deliuered to the faithfull vnderunder the holy signes of the Supper: & so that they may be thought not to receyue it by imagination onelyonly or vnderstandyng of mynde, but to enioy it in dede to the foode of eternall lyfe. Why this sentence is so hatefull to the worlde, and all defence taken away from it by the vniust iudgementes of many, there is no cause at all, but for that the deuell hath with horrible bewitchyng madded their myndes. Truely that which we teache, dothe in all pointes very well agree with the Scriptures: it conteineth neither any absurditie, nor darknesse, nor doutfulnesse: it is not agaynst true godlynesse and sounde edification: finally it hath nothing in it, that may offend, sauyng that in certaine ages past, when that ignorance and barbarousnesse of Sophisters reigned in the Chirche, so clere light and open truthe hath ben vnworthily oppressed. Yet because Satā at this day also trauayleth by troublesome Spirites to spot it with all the sclanders and reproches that he can, and bendeth himselfe to no other thyng with greater endeuor: it is profitable the more diligently to defende and rescue it.
Nowe before that we goe any further, we must entreate of the selfe institution of Christe: specially because this is the most glorious obiection that our aduersaries hauehave, that we departe from the woordes of Christe. Therfore that we may be discharged of the false cause of malice wherwith they burden vsus, our fittest beginnyng shall be at the exposition of the woordes.Mat. xxvi …vi. Mar. xiiii xxii. Luc. xxii.xvii. i. Cor. xi.xxiiii. Three Euangelistes and Paule rehearse, that Christe tooke bread, when he had geuen thankes he brake it, gaue it to his disciples and sayde, Take, eate: this is my Body whiche is delyuered, or broken, for you. Of the cuppe Mathew and Marke saye thus: This cuppe is the blood of the newe testament, whiche shalbe shedde for many vntounto forgeuenesse of synnes. But Paule and Luke say thus: This cuppe is the newe testament in my blood. The patrones of transubstantiation will hauehave by the pronoune (this) the forme of bread to be signified, because the consecration is made in the whole contente of the sentence, and there is no substance that can be shewed. But if they be holden with religious care of the woordes, because Christ testified, that that whiche he reached into the disciples handes, was his bodye: truely this their deuise, that that whiche was bread is nowe the bodie, is moste farre from the propre meanyng of them. That which Christe tooke into his handes and gaue the Apostles, he affirmeth to be his body: but he toke bread: who therfore can not vnderstande that bread is yet shewed? and therfore there is no greater absurditie, than to remoue that to the forme, whiche is spoken of the bread. Other, when they expounde this woorde (is) for (to be transubstantiate,) doo flee to a more enforced and violently wrasted glose. Therefore there is no cause why they should pretende that they be moued with reuerence of wordes. For this was vnheard of among all nations and languages, that the word (is) should be taken in this sense, namely for to be tourned into an other thyng. As for them that leaue breade in the Supper, and affirme that there is the body of Christ, they muche differ among themselues. They whiche speake more modestly, althoughe they precisely exact the letter, This is my body, yet afterwarde swarue from theyr precisenesse, and say that it is as muche in effect as that the body of Christ is with bread, in bread, and vnderunder bread. Of the mater it selfe which they affirme, we hauehave already touched somwhat, and we shal by and by hauehave occasion yet to speake more. Nowe I dispute only of the wordes, by which they say they are restrained that they can not admitte bred to be called the body, because it is a signe of the body. But if they shunne all figures, why do they leape away from the plaine shewing of Christ, to their owne maners of speaking farr differing from it? For there is great difference betwene this that bread is the body, and this that the body is with bread. But because they sawe it to bee impossible, that this simple proposition might stande, that bread is the body: they hauehave attempted to scape away by those formes of speche, as it were by croked turnyngs. Some more bolde sticke not to affirme that euen in propre speakyng, bread is the body, and by this meane they truely proue themselues to be litteral mē. If it be obiected, that therfore the bread is Christ, and is God: this verily they will denie, because it is not expressed in the wordes of Christ. But they shall nothyng preuayle by denyeng it: forasmuche as all doo agree that whole Christ is offred vsus in the Supper. But it is an intolerable blasphemie, that it be without figure spoken of a fraile and corruptible element, that it is Christ. Now I aske of them, whether these twoo propositions be bothe of one effect, Christe is the Sonne of God, and bread is the body of Christe. If they graunt that they are diuers, (which we will enforce them to graunte whether they will or no) then lett them answere whens commeth the difference. I thynke they wyll bryng none other but that the bread is after the sacramentall maner called the body. Wherupon foloweth, that Christes wordes are not subiecte to the common rule, nor oughte to bee tried by Grammer. Also I aske of all the precise and stiffe requirers of the letter, where Luke and Paule do call the cuppe the testament in the blood,Luc. xxii.xx. i. Cor. xi.xxv. whether they do not expresse the same thyng which they dyd in the first parte, where they call bread the bodye. Truely the same religion was in the one parte of the mysterie that was in the other: and because shortnesse is darke, longer speche dothe better open the meanyng. So oft therfore as they shall affirme by one word, that the bread is the body: I will out of mo wordes bryng a fitt exposition, that it is the Testament in the bodye. For why? Shall we nede to seke a more faithfull or surer expositor than Paule & Luke? Neither yet doo I tende herunto, to diminishe any thing of that communicating of the body of Christ which I hauehave confessed: onelyonly my purpose is to confute that folish waiwardnesse, wherby they do so hatefully brawle about words. I vnderstand, by the authoritie of Paul and Luke, that the bread is the body of Christ, because it is the couenant in the body. If they fight against this, they hauehave warre not with me, but with the Spirite of God. Howsoeuer they cry oute that they be touched with reuerence of the wordes of Christ, wherby they do not figuratiuely vnderstande those thynges that are playnly spoken: yet this is not a pretence rightfull enoughe, why they shoulde so refuse all the reasons whiche we obiecte to the contrarie. In the meane tyme, as I hauehave already geuen warnyng, it is conuenient to learne, what maner of thing this is. The testament in the body and blood of Christ: because the couenant stablished with the sacrifice of death, should otherwise not profit vsus, vnlesse there were adioyned that secrete communicatyng whereby we growe into one with Christe.
It remaineth therfore, that for the affinitie which the things signified hauehave with their signes, we confesse that the selfe name of the thing was geuen to the signe: figuratiuely in dede, but not without a most fitt proportionall agreement. I leaue allegories and parables, least any man should quarell that I seeke startyng holes, and wander out of the present purpose. I say yt this is a speche by figure of transnomination whiche is cōmonly vsed in the Scripture, when mysteries are entreated of. For neither can you otherwise vnderstand that whiche is sayd: that circumcision is a couenant: that the lambe is the Passeouer: that the Sacrifices of the law are expiations: finally that the rocke, oute of whiche water flowed in the deserte, was Christ: vnlesse you take it to be spoken by way of transferring of names. Neither are names transferred only from the hyer name to the lower: but contrariewise the name of the visible signe is also geuen to the thing signified: as when it is sayd yt God appeared to Moses in the bushe:Exod. iii.ii. Psalme lxxxiiii.viii. &. xlii iii. Math. iii.xvi. when the arke of couenante is called God, and the face of God: and the doue is called the Holy ghost. For though the signe differ in substance from the thing signified: because this is spirituall and heauenly, and that is corporall and visible: yet because it doth not only figure the thing whiche it is holily appointed to represente, as a naked and empty token, but doth also truely deliuer it in dede: why may not the name of the thing rightly accorde with it? If signes deuised by men, whiche are rather images of thyngs absent, than markes of thynges present, which selfe absent thynges, they do oftentymes deceitfully shadow, are yet somtime garnished with the titles of the thinges: then those thinges that are ordeined of God, do by much greater reason borrow the names of those thyngs, of which they alway bothe beare a sure and not disceytfull signification, and hauehave the truthe adioyned with them. There is therfore so great likenesse and nerenesse of the one to the other, that it is easy to draw their names to and froe. Therfore let our aduersaries cesse to heape vnsauory scoffings against vsus, in calling vsus Tropistes: because we expounde the Sacramental maner of speakyng after the common vse of the Scripture. For whereas the Sacramentes agree together in many thinges: in this trāsferryng of names, they hauehave all a certaine communitie together. As therfore the Apostle teacheth, that the stone out of which spiritual drynke did spring to ye Israelites,i. Corī. x.iiii. was Christ, because it was a visible signe, vnderunder which that spirituall drinke was truely in dede but not discernably to the eie perceiued: so bread is at this day called the body of Christe, forasmuche as it is a sygne whereby the Lorde offereth to vsus the true eatyng of his bodye. Neither dyd Augustine otherwyse thynke or speake, least any man shoulde despise this as a newe inuention. If (sayeth he) the Sacramentes hadde not a certaine likenesse of those thynges whereof they are Sacramentes,epi. xxiii. ad Bonifac. they should not be Sacramentes at all. And of this likenesse oftentimes they take the names of the things themselues. As therfore after a certaine maner the sacramēt of the body of Christ, is the body of Christ: the sacrament of the blood of Christ, is the blood of Christ: so ye sacramēt of faith is faith. There be in him many like places, which it were superfluous to heape together, sithe that same one suffiseth: sauyng that the readers must be warned that the holye man teacheth the same thyng in the Epistle to Enodius. But it is a trifling shift to say, that where Augustine teacheth, that when transferryng is often and commonly vsed in mysteries, he maketh no mention of the Supper: because if this shyft were receiued, we myght not reason from the generaltie to the specialtie, neither were this a good argument: EueryEvery feling creature hath power of mouing, therfore an oxe and a horse hauehave power of mouyng. Howbeit long disputation hereof is in an other place ended by the wordes of the same holy man, where he sayth, that Christ sticked not to call it his body, when he gaue the signe of his bodye. Against Adimantus, the Manichean, in the .xii. Chapiter. And in an other place, vponupon the thirde Psalme, Meruailous (saieth he) is the patience of Christ, that he receiued Iudas to the banket, wherein he cōmitted and deliuered to his disciples the figure of his body and blood.
But if some precise man, beyng blynde at all the rest, doo stand onelyonly vponupon this worde (this is) as though is seuered this mysterie from all other, the solution is easy. They saye that the vehemence of the substantiue verbe (is) is so great that it admitteth no figure. Which if we graūt to them: euen in the wordes of Paule is redde the Substantiue verbe, where he calleth bread the communicatyng of the body of Christe.i. Cor. x.xvi. But the communicatyng is an other thyng than the body it selfe. Yea commonly where sacramentes are entreated of, we fynde the same woorde vsed.Gen. xvii xiii. Exod. xii.xliii. i. Cor. x iiii. Iohn. vii xxxix. As. This shall be to you a couenant with me. This Lambe shall be to you a Passeouer. To reherse no moe: when Paule sayth that the rocke was Christe, why do they take the substantiue verbe in that place to be of lesse vehemence than in the speche of Christ? Let them also answer, where Iohn saith, the Holy ghost was not yet, because Iesus was not yet glorified, of what force the substantiue verbe is in that place. For if they abide fastened to their rule, the eternall essence of the Holy ghost shalbe destroyed, as though it toke beginnyng at the Ascension of Christ.Tit. iii.v. Finally let them answer, what meaneth that sayeng of Paule, that Baptisme is the washyng of regeneration and renewyng, which it is euidēt to be vnprofitable to many. But nothyng is strōger to confute them,i. Cor. xi.xii. than that sayeng of Paule, that the Chirch is Christe. For. bryngyng a similitude of the body of man, he addeth, So is Christ: in whiche place he vnderstandeth the onelyonly begotten sonne of God, not in himselfe, but in his membres. Hereby I thinke I hauehave obteined that to soundwitted and vncorrupted men the sclaunders of oure enemies, are lothsome, when they spread abroade, that we withdraw credit from the wordes of Christ: whiche we doo no lesse obediently embrace than they, and do wey them with more godly reuerence. Yea their negligent carelesnesse sheweth that they doo not greatly care what Christe ment, so that it geue them a buckler to defende their obstinatie: like as oure earnest searchyng ought to be a wytnesse howe muche we esteeme the authoritie of Christ. They odiously spread abrode, that naturall sense of man withholdeth vsus from beleuyng that which Christ hath vttered with his owne holy mouth: but howe maliciously they burden vsus with this sclander, I hauehave a great part already made playne, and hereafter it shall more clerely appere. Therfore nothing withholdeth vsus from beleuing Christ when he speaketh, nor from obeying so soone as he dothe but with becke will this or that. Only this is the question, whether it be vnlawful to enquire of the naturall meanyng.
These good maisters, that they may seme wel lettred, do forbid men to departe be it neuer so litle from the letter. But I on the other syde, when the scripture nameth God a warlike man, because I see that with out figuratiue translation it is to rough a maner of speakyng, doo not dout yt it is a comparison taken from men. And truely vponupon none other pretence in the olde tyme the Anthropomorphites troubled the true teaching Fathers, but that catching fast hold of these sayings, The eies of God do see, It went vp to his eares, His hand stretched out, The earth his footestole, they cried out that God had his bodye taken from hym, whiche the Scripture assigneth vntounto hym. If this law be receiued, outragious barbarousnesse shal ouerwhelme the whole light of faith. For, what monsters of absurdities may not phrentike men picke out, if it be graunted them to allege eueryevery small tittle to stablishe their opinions? That whiche they obiect, that it is not likely, that when Christ prepared for his Apostles a singular comfort it aduersities, he did then speake in a riddle or darkly, maketh of our side. For if it had not come in the myndes of the Apostles, that bread was figuratiuely called the body, because it was the signe of the body, they had without doute ben troubled with so monstrous a thyng. Almost at the same moment Iohn reporteth that they did sticke in perplexitie at eueryevery of the least difficulties. They whiche striue among themselues, howe Christ will go to the Father: and do moue question, howe he wyll goe out of the worlde: they which vnderstande nothyng of those thynges that are spoken concernyng the heauenly Father, till they see hym: how wold they hauehave ben so easy to beleue that whiche all resō refuseth, that Christ sitteth at the boorde in their sight, and is enclosed inuisible vnderunder bread? Whereas therfore they in eatyng the bread without doutyng, testified their consent, hereby appeareth that they toke Christes wordes in the same sense that we do, because they remēbred that which ought not to seme strange in mysteries, that the name of the thing signified is transferred to the signe. Therfore it was to the disciples, as it is to vsus, a certaine and clere comfort, entangled with no riddle. Neither is ther any other cause why some should depart from our exposition, but because the enchauntment of the deuyll hath blynded them, namely that they shoulde faine darkenesse to themselues, where the exposition of an apt figure offreth it self. Moreouer if we precisely stande vponupon the words, Christ shold wrongfully hauehave spoken in one place seuerally an other thyng concernyng the bread than he speaketh of the cup. He calleth the bread his body, he calleth the wyne his blood: either it shalbe a confused vaine repetition, or it shalbe such a partition as shall diuide the body from the blood. Yea it shall as truely be sayd of the cuppe, This is my body, as of the bread it selfe, and it may likewyse enterchangeably be sayd, that the bread is the blood. If they answer that we muste consider to what ende or vse the signes were ordeined: I graunt it in dede: but in the meane tyme they shall not vnwynde themselues, but that their error must drawe this absurditie with it, that the bread is the blood, and the wyne is the bodye. Nowe I wote not what this meaneth, when they graunt the bread and the body to be diuers things, yet to affirme that the one is spoken of the other proprely and without any figure: as if a man shold say that a garment is in dede a thyng differyng from a man, and yet that it is proprely called a man. In the meane while as though their victorie consisted in obstinatie & railing, they say that Christ is accused of liēg, if an exposition be sought of the wordes. Now it shalbe easy for vsus to shew to the reders how vniust wrong these catchers of syllables do to vsus, when thei fill the simple with this opinion, that we withdraw credit from the wordes of Christ, which we hauehave proued to be furiously peruerted and confounded by them, but to be faithfully and rightly expounded by vsus.
But the sclaunder of this lye can not be vtterly purged, till an other crime be wiped away. For they spread abroade, that we be so addicted to naturall reason, that we geue no more to the power of God, than the order of nature suffreth, and common sense teacheth. From so malicious sclaūders I appelle to the very doctrine it selfe which I hauehave declared: whiche dothe clerely enough shewe, that I do not measure this mysterie by the proportion of mans reason, nor doo make it subiect to the lawes of nature. I beseche you, hauehave we learned out of naturall philosophie, that Christe dothe so from heauen feede our soules and bodies with his fleshe, as our bodies ar norished with bread and wyne? Whens cometh this power to fleshe, that it may geue lyfe? All men will say that it is not doone naturally. It will no more please mans reason, that the fleshe of Christe reacheth to vsus, that it maye be foode vntounto vsus. Finally whosoeuer hath tasted of our doctrine, shalbe rauished into admiration of the secrete power of God. But these good men that be so zelous of it, forge to themselues a miracle, which beyng taken away, God hymselfe vanisheth with his power. I desire to hauehave the readers ones agayne warned, that they diligently wey what our doctrine bringeth, whether it hang vponupon common sense, or with the winges of Faith, surmounting the worlde, climbeth vp beyond it into the heauens. We say that Christ as well with the outwarde signe as with his Spirite, descendeth to vsus that he may truely quicken our soules with the substance of his fleshe & of his blood. In these fewe wordes he that perceyueth not to be conteined many miracles, is more than senslesse: forasmuche as there is nothyng more beside nature, than that soules should borrow spiritual and heauenly life, of the fleshe which toke her beginnyng of the earth, and which was subiect to death. Nothing is more incredible, than that thinges distant and asunder by the whole space of heauen and earth, shold in so great distance of places not only be conioyned, but also vnited, that soules may receiue foode of the fleshe of Christe. Therfore let waiward men cesse to procure hatred to vsus by a filthy sclaunder, as though we did enuiously restraine any thyng of the immeasurable power of God. For they do either to foolishly erre or to maliciously lye. For it is not here in question what God coulde,Heb. iiii.xv. but what he woulde. We affirme that to bee done which pleased hym. But it pleased hym, that Christ shold be made like to his brethren in all thyngs, except synne. What maner of thyng is our fleshe? Is it not suche as consisteth of the certaine measure of it, as is conteined in place, as is touched, as is seen? And why (say they) may not God make, that one selfe same fleshe may occupie many and diuers places, may be conteined in no place, may be without measure & forme? Thou madde man, why requirest thou of the power of God, to make fleshe at one selfe tyme to be and not to be fleshe? Like as if thou sholdest instantly require hym to make at one self tyme the light to be bothe light & darknesse. But he willeth light to be light, darknesse to be darknesse, fleshe to be fleshe. He shall in deede when it pleaseth hym, turne darknesse into lyght, and lyght into darknesse: but wen thou requirest that lyght and darknesse may not differ, what doest thou els but peruert the order of the wisdome of God? Therefore fleshe must be fleshe: and Spirite, Spirite: eueryevery thyng in suche lawe and condition as God hath created it. But suche is the condition of fleshe, that it muste be in one yea and that a certaine place, and consist of her measure and other forme.Epi. ad darda. With thys condition Christ toke fleshe vponupon him, to whiche (as Augustine witnesseth) he hath geuen in dede vncorruption and glorye, but he hath not taken from it nature and truth.
They answer, that they hauehave the worde, whereby the will of God is made playne: namely if it be graunted them to banish out of the Chirch the gifte of exposition, whiche may bring lighte to the worde. I graunt that they hauehave the worde: but suche as in olde tyme the Anthropomorphites had, when they made God hauing a body: suche as Marcion and the Manichees had, when they fayned the body of Christ to be eyther heauenly or fantasticall.i. Cor. xv.xlvii. For they alleged for testimonies, The firste Adam was of the earth, earthly: the seconde Adam is of heauen, heauē ly. Againe, Christ abaced himselfe, taking vponupon him the forme of a seruant, and was founde in likenesse as a mā.Phi. ii.vii But the grosse eaters think that there is no power of God, vnlesse with the monster forged in their braines the whole order of nature be ouerthrowen: whiche is rather to limit God, when we couet with our fained inuētions to proue what he can do. For out of what worde hauehave they taken, that the body of Christe is visible in heauen, but lurketh inuisible in earth vnderunder▪ innumerable litle peces of bred? They wil say that necessitie requireth this, that the body of Christe should be geuen in the Supper. Uerily because it pleased them to gather a fleshly eating out of the wordes of Christ: they being caried away with their owne foreiugement, were driuen to necessitie to coine this sutteltie, which the whole Scripture crieth out against. But that any thing is by vsus diminished of the power of God, is so false, that by our doctrine the prayse of it is very honorably set out. But forasmuche as they alway accuse vsus, that we defraude God of hys honor, when we refuse that whiche according to common sense is hard to be beleued, although it hauehave ben promised by the mouth of Christ: I make againe the same answere that I made euen nowe, that in the mysteries of Fayth we doe not aske counsell of common sense, but with quiet willingnesse to learne,Iam. i.xxi. and with the Spirite of mekenesse whiche Iames commendeth, we receiue the doctrine come from heauen. But in that when they perniciously erre. I deny not that we followe a profitable moderation. They hearing the wordes of Christe, Thys is my bodye, imagine a miracle moste farre from hys mynde. But when out of thys fayned inuention aryse fowle absurdities, because they hauehave allready with hedlong hast put snares vponupon themselues, they plunge themselues into the bottomlesse depthe of the almightinesse of God, that by thys meane they may quenche the lyght of truthe. Hereupon commeth that proude precisenesse: We will not knowe howe Christe lyeth hydde vnderunder the bred, holdyng our selues cōtented with thys saying of hys, This is my body. But we, as we doe in the whole Scripture, doe with no lesse obedience than care, studye to obteyne a sounde vnderstanding of thys place: neither doe we with preposterous heate rashly and without choise catch holde of that which first thrusteth it selfe into our myndes: but vsing diligent musing vponupon it, we embrace the meaning whiche the Spirite of God ministreth: and standing thereupon we doe from alofte despise whatsoeuer earthly wisdome is set against it. Yea we holde our myndes captiue, that they may not be bolde so muche as with one litle worde to carpe against it: and do humble them, that they maye not dare to rise vp against it. Hereupon sprong vp the exposition of the woordes of Christ, which to be by the continual vsage of the Scripture common to al Sacramentes, al they that hauehave ben though but meanely exercysed therin,Luke. i.xxxiiii. do knowe. Neither do we, after the exāple of the holy virgin, thynke it lawful for vsus, in a hard mater to enquire how it may be done.
But because nothing shal more auaile to confirme the Fayth of the godly, than when they hauehave learned that the doctrine whiche we hauehave taughte, is taken out of the worde of God, and standeth vponupon the authoritie thereof: I will make this also euident with as greate brefenesse as I can. The body of Christ, sins the tyme tha… it rose agayne, not Aristotle but the Holy ghost teacheth to be limited, and that it is comprehēded in heauen vntill the laste day. Neither am I ignorante that they boldly mock out those places that are alleged for thys purpose. So oft as Christ sayth that he wil departe,Ioh. xiiii.xxii. &. xxviii. leauing the world, they answer that that departing is nothing ells but a changing of mortall state. But after this manner, Christe shoulde not set the Holy ghost in hys place to supplye (as they call it) the wante of hys absence: forasmuche as he doth not succede into his place, nor Christ himselfe doth descende again oute of the heauenly glorye to take vppon hym the state of mortall lyfe. Truely the commyng of the Holy ghost, and the ascending of Christe are thynges set as contrarie: therefore it can not be yt Christe should according to the fleshe dwel with vsus after the same manner that he sendeth his Spirite.Mat. xxvi.xi. Moreouer he in playne wordes expresseth, that he will not be alway with hys disciples in the worlde. Thys saying also they thynke that they do gayly wype awaye, as though Christ sayd that he wil not alway be poore and miserable or subiect to the necessities of thys frayle lyfe. But the circumstance of the place cryeth playnly to the contrarie, because there is not entreated of pouertie and nede or of the miserable state of earthly life, but of worship and honor. The anointing pleased not the disciples, because they thought it to be a superfluous and vnprofitable cost, and nere vntounto riotous excesse, therefore they had rather that the price thereof which they thought to be il wasted, had ben bestowed vppon the poore.Trac. in Iohn. l. Christ answereth that he shall not alway be present, that he maye be worshipped with suche honor. And none otherwise did Augustine expounde it, whoes wordes be these which are nothyng doutefull. When Christ sayd, Ye shal not alway hauehave me, he spake of the presence of his body. For according to his maiestie, accordyng to hys prouidence, according to hys vnspeakable and inuisible grace, thys was fulfilled which he sayd, Beholde, I am with you euen to the ending of the worlde.Mathew. xxviii.x…. But according to the fleshe which the worde toke vntounto hym, according to thys that he was borne of the Uirgin, according to thys that he was taken of the Iewes, that he was fastened to the tree, that he was taken downe from the crosse, that he was wrapped in linnen clothes, that he was layed in the graue, that he was manifestly shewed in the resurrection, thys was fulfilled, Ye shall not alwaye hauehave me with you. Why so? Because he was conuersante accordinge to the presence of hys bodye forty? dayes wyth hys disciples, and whyle they accompanyed hym in seynge not in folowing, he ascended. He is not here: for he sitteth there at the right hande of the Father. And yet he is here: because he is not gone awaye in presence of maiestie. Otherwyse according to the presence of maiesty we hauehave Christ alway: and according to the presence of the fleshe it is rightly sayd, But me ye shal not alway hauehave. For according to the presence of the fleshe, the Chirch had him a fewe dayes: nowe she holdeth hym by Fayth, but seeth him not with eyes. Where (that I may note thys also brefely) he maketh hym presente to vsus three wayes, by maiestie, prouidence, and vnspeakable grace, vnderunder whiche I comprehend this maruelous communiō of hys body and blood: if so that we vnderstande it to be done by the power of the Holy ghost, not by that fayned enclosing of his body vnderunder the elemente. For our Lord hath testified, that he hath fleshe and bones which may be felt and seen. And to Go… away and Ascende doe not signifie to make a shewe of one ascending and going awaye,Lib. de fide & symb. cap. vi. but to doe in dede that whiche the woordes sounde. Shall we then (will some man saye) assigne to Christe some certaine coast of heauen? But I answere with Augustine, that this is a moste curious and superfluous question, if so that yet we beleue that he is in heauen.
But what doth the name of ascending so oft repeted: doth it not signifie a remouing from one place to an other? They denye it: because after their opinion, by heighth is onelyonly signified maiestie of Empire. But what meaneth the very manner of ascending▪ was he not, in sight of his disciples loking on,Actes. i.i… Mark. xvi xix. Lu. xxiiii.li. lifted vp on hye? Doe not the Euangelistes plainly declare, that he was taken vp into ye heauens? These witty Sophisters do answere, that with a cloude set betwene him and them, he was conueyed out of their sight, that the faithfull might learne that from thense fourth he should not be visible in the world. As though, to make credit of his inuisible presence, he ought not rather to vanishe away in a moment: or as though the cloude ought not rather to compasse him before that he stirred his foote. But when he is carried vp on hye into ye ayre, and with a cloude cast vnderneth hym, teacheth that he is no more to be soughte in earth: we safely gather, that now he hath hys dwelling place in the heauens:Phi. iii.…. as Paule also affirmeth, and from thense biddeth vsus to loke for hym. After this maner the Angels warned the disciples, that they in vaine gazed vp into heauen: because Iesus which is taken vp into heauen, shall so come as they hauehave seen him goe vp. Here also the aduersaries of sounde doctrine starte awaye with a pleasante shifte as they thynke, sayeng that he shall then come visible, which neuer wente out of the earth but that he abideth inuisible with them that be hys. As though the Angells did there signifie a double presence, and do not simply make the disciples witnesses of his going vp seing it with their eyes, that no douting mighte remayne: euen as if they had sayd: he in your sightes beholding it, being takē vp into heauen, hath claymed to hymselfe the heauenly Empire: it remayneth that ye paciently abide in expectation, till he come againe the iudge of the world: because he is nowe entred into heauen, not that he may alone possesse it, but that he maye gather together with him you and all the godly.
But forasmuche as the defenders of this bastarde doctrine are not ashamed to garnishe it with the consenting voyces of the olde wryters and specially of Augustine: I will in fewe wordes declare how peruersly they goe aboute it. For whereas their testimonies hauehave ben gathered together of learned and godly men, I will not doe a thing alredy done: let hym that will, seke them oute of their workes. I wil not heape together, neyther out of Augustine hymselfe, al that might make to the purpose: but will be contente to shewe by a fewe that he is without controuersie whole on our side. As for this that our aduersaries, to writhe him from vsus,Ad Boni fac. Epi. xxv. doe allege that it is commonly red in his bookes, that the flesh and blood of Christ is distributed in the Supper, namely the Sacrifice ones offred in the crosse: it is but trifling: sithe he also calleth it eyther Thankesgeuing, or the Sacramente of the body. But in what sense he vseth the woordes of fleshe and blood, we nede not to seke with long compassing about: forasmuche as he declareth himselfe, sayeng that Sacramentes take their names of the likenesse of the thinges whiche they signifie: and that therefore after a certaine manner the Sacramente of the body is the body.Contra. Adama. Manich. Lib▪ xii. Wherewith accordeth an other place whiche is well enough knowen: The Lorde sticked not to saye, This is my body, when he gaue the signe of it. Againe they obiect, that Augustine writeth expresly, that the body of Christe falleth to the grounde, and entreth into the mouth: euen in the same sense, that he affirmeth it to be consumed, because he ioyneth them bothe together. Neither doth that make to the contrarie, whiche he sayth, that whē the mysterie is ended the bred is consumed:Lib. iii. de trini. cap. x. because he had a litle before sayd: sithe these thinges are knowen to men, forasmuche as they are done by mē, they may hauehave honor as things: but as maruelous things, they may not. And to no other ende tendeth that which our aduersaries doe to vnaduisedly draw to themselues: that Christ did (after a certaine manner) beare hymselfe in his owne handes, when he reached the mysticall bred to the disciples. For by enterlacing this aduerbe of likenesse (after a certaine manner) he sufficiently declareth, that he was not truely nor really enclosed vnderunder the b…ed.In Psal. xxxiii. And no maruell: sithe in an other place he plainly affirmeth that bodies, if spaces of places be taken from them, shalbe no where: and because they shalbe no where, they shal not be at al. It is a hungry cauillation, to say that in that place is not entreated of the Supper, in which God vttereth speciall power: because the question was moued concerning the fleshe of Christe, and the holy man of set purpose answering sayth:…pis…. a…. Dar…an. Christ gaue immortalitie to hys fleshe, but toke not nature from it. After this forme it is not to be thought that he is eche where spred abrode: for we must beware that we doe not so affirme the Godhed of the man, that we take away the truth of the body. And it foloweth not, that that whiche is in God muste be eche where as God is. There is a reson by and by added: for one person is God and man, and both are one Christ: eche where, by thys that he is God: in heauen, by thys that he is man. What a negligēce had it ben, not to excepte the mysterie of the Supper beyng a thing so earnest and weyghty, if there had ben in it any thing against the doctrine which he entreated of. And yet if a man doe hedefully rede that which foloweth within a litle after, he shal fynde that vnderunder that general doctrine, the Supper is also comprehended, that Christ the onelyonly begotten Sonne of God, and the same the sonne of man, is eche where whole present as God: that he is in the temple of God (that is in the Chirch) God as it were there dwelling, and in some certaine place of heauen by reason of the measure of hys true body. We see howe, to the vniting of Christe with the Chirch, he doth not draw his body out of heauen: which surely he would hauehave done, if the body of Christe were not truely meate to vsus vnlesse it were enclosed vnderunder bred. In an other place defining how the faythfull doe nowe possesse Christ,Tract. l. in. Ioha. Thou hast hym (sayth he) by ye signe of the crosse, by the Sacrament of Baptisme, by the meate and drinke of the altar. How rightly he reckeneth a superstitious vsage among the Signes of the presēce of Christ, I doe not now dispute: but he that cōpareth the presence of the fleshe to the signe of the crosse, sufficiently sheweth that he fayneth not a twoo bodyed Christ, that the same he maye lurke hidden vnderunder the bred,Mat. xxvi.xi. which sitteth visible in heauē. If this nede plainer declaratiō, it is by and by after added in the same place, that according to the presēce of maiestie, we alway hauehave Christ: that according to the presence of the fleshe,Mathew. xxviii.xx. it is rightly sayed, Me ye shal not alwaye hauehave. They answere, that thys is also added, that according to an vnspeakable and inuisible grace, it is fulfilled which is sayd of hym, I am with you, euen vntounto the ending of the worlde▪ But that is nothing for their auantage: because this is at length restrayned to hys maiestie, which is euer in comparison set against the body, and hys fleshe by expresse name is made differēt from his grace and power. As in an other place the same comparison of contraries is red in him, that Christe by bodily presence left the disciples, that by spirituall presence he maye bee stil with them: where it is playne that the substance of the fleshe is distinguished from the power of the Spirite, which conioyneth vsus with Christ, though we be otherwise farre seuered by distance of places. The same maner of speaking he oftentimes vseth, as when he sayth: He is to come againe to the quicke and the dead with bodily presence, according to the rule of Fayth and sounde doctrine. For with spirituall presence he was also to come to them, and to abide with the whole Chirch in the world vntill the ending of the world. Therefore thys speche is directed to the beleuers, whome he had already begonne to saue with bodily presence, and whom he was to leaue with bodily absence: that he mighte with hys Father saue them with spirituall presence. To take bodily for visible is but trifling: sithe he setteth also the body in cōparison against the diuine power: and adding (to saue with the Father) he clearely expresseth that he doth poure abrode his grace from heauen to vsus by hys Spirite.
And sithe they putt so muche confidence in thys lurkyng hole of inuisible presence, goe to, lett vsus see how well they hyde themselues in it. Firste they shall not bryng fourth one syllable oute of the Scriptures, wherby they maye proue that Christe is inuisible: but they take that for confessed whiche no man that hath his sounde witt will graunte them, that the body of Christe can not otherwise be geuen in the Supper but being couered with the visor of bred. And this is the very pointe aboute whiche they striue with vsus, so farr is it of from hauyng the place of a principle. And when they so babble, they are compelled to make a double body of Christe: because after their opinion, it is in it selfe visible in heauen, but inuisible in the Supper after a special maner of dispensation. But how trimly this agreeth, it is easy to iudge both by other places of Scripture, and by the witnesse of Peter.Act. iii.xxi Peter sayth that Christ must be holden or conteined in heauen, til he come againe. These mē teache that he is eueryevery where, but without forme. They take exception and say that it is vniuste dealing, to make the nature of a glorified body subiect to the lawes of common nature. But this answere draweth with it that doting error of Seruettus, (which is worthily to be abhorred of all the godly) that the body was swallowed vp of the Godhed. I do not say that thei thinke so. But if this be reckened among the qualities of a glorified body, to fill all thinges after an inuisible manner, it is euidente that the bodily substance is destroied, and that there is left no difference of the godhed and the nature of man. Againe if the body of Christ be so of many fashions and diuerse, that it is seen in one place, & is inuisible in an other: where is the very nature of a body which cōsisteth of his mesured proportiōs? and where is the vnitie? Much more rightly doth Tertulliā say, which affirmeth that the body of Christ was a true and natural body, because in the mysterie of the Supper ye figure of it is set before vsus for a pledge and assurance of the spirituall lyfe.Luk. xxiiii xxxix. And verily Christ sayd of his glorified body, see and fele, for a Spirite hath not fleshe and bones. Loe by Christes own mouth the truthe of his fleshe is proued, because it can be felt and seen. Take away these thinges, than it shall cesse to be fleshe. They still flee to their denne of dispensation which they hauehave framed to themselues. But it is our part so to embrace that which Christ absolutely pronounceth, that that which he meaneth to affirme may be of force with vsus without exception. He proueth himselfe to be no ghost, because he is visible in his fleshe. Let that be taken away which he claimeth as propre to the nature of hys body: must they not then be faine to coyne a new definition of a body?Ph. iii.xxi Now whether soeuer they turne themselues about, their fained dispensation hath no place in that place of Paule where he sayth, that we loke for a Sauior from heauen, which shall fashion our base body lyke to his glorious body. For we may not hope for a like fashioning in those qualities which they faine to Christ, that eueryevery one should hauehave an inuisible and vnmeasurable body. Neither shall there be founde any man so dull witted whom they may make to beleue so great an absurdity. Let thē not therfore ascribe this gift to Christes glorified body, to be at ones in many places, and to be conteined in no space. Finally let them either openly deny the resurrection of the flesh, or let them graunt that Christe being clothed with heauenly glory, did not put of his fleshe, who shall make vsus in our fleshe fellowes and parteners of the same glory, when we shall hauehave the resurrection common with him. For, what doth the Scripture teache more plainely, thā that as Christe did putt on our true fleshe when he was borne of the Uirgin, and suffred in oure true fleshe when he satisfied for vsus: so he receiued againe also the same true fleshe in rising againe, and caried it vp to heauen. For this is to vsus the hope of oure resurrection and ascending into heauen, that Christe is rysen againe and ascended: and (as Tertullian sayth) he carryed the earnest of our resurrection into the heauens with him. Nowe how weake and fraile should that hope be, vnlesse this our selfe flesh had ben raysed vp with Christ and entred into the kingdome of heauen? But this is the propre trueth of a body, to be conteined in space, to cōsist of his mesured proportions, to hauehave his forme. Therfore away with this folish deuise, which doth fasten bothe the mindes of men and Christ to the bred. For to what purpose serueth the secret presēce vnderunder bred, but yt they which couet to hauehave Christ ioyned with them,Iohn. xx.xxvii. may rest in that signe? But the Lord himselfe willed vsus to withdraw not only our eyes but al our senses from the earth, forbidding himselfe to be touched of the women vntil he had gone vp to his Father. When he seeth Marie with godly zele of reuerēce to make hast to kisse his fete, there is no cause why he shold disalow and forbid this touching til he hauehave ben taken vp into heauen, but because he wil be sought no where ells.Ac. vii.lvi Wheras they obiect that he was afterwarde seen of Stephen, the solution is easy. For neither was it therfore necessarie that Christ should change place, which could geue to ye eyes of his seruāt such sharpnesse of sight as might pearce through the heauens. The same also is to be said of Paule. Wheras they obiecte that Christ came out of the Sepulchre being shut:Act. ix iiii. Mathew. xxviii.vi. Ioh xx.xix Mat. xiiii.xxv. and entred in amōg the disciples, the dores being shut: that maketh neuer a whit more for maintenance of their error. For as the water like a fast pauemēt made a way to Christ walking vponupon the lake: so it is no maruel, if at his comming the hardnesse of the stone yelded it selfe. Howbeit it is more prouable, that by his commaundement the stone was remoued, and by and by after passage geuen hym returned into his place. And to enter, the dores being shut, is not asmuch in effect as to pearce through the whole substance, but by diuine power to open an entrie for himselfe, that he sodenly stode among the disciples, verily after a maruelous maner, whē the dores were fast locked.Lu. xxiiii.xxxi. That whiche they allege out of Luke, that Christ sodenly vanished away from the eyes of the disciples with whō he went to Emaus, profiteth them nothing, & maketh for vsus. For, that he might take away the sight of himselfe from them, he was not made inuisible,Lu. xxiiii.xvi. but only went out of sight. As when he went in iourney together with them (as the same Luke witnesseth) he did not put on a newe face, that he might not be knowen, but helde their eyes. But these fellowes do not only trāsforme Christ, that he may be cōuersant in earth, but in diuerse places they make hym diuerse and vnlike himself. Finally in so trifling they do, not by one worde in dede, but by a circumstāce, make of the fleshe of Christe a Spirite: and not contented therewith, they put vponupon it altogether contrarie qualities. Wherupon of necessitie foloweth that it is doble.
Now although we graunt them that which they prate of the inuisible presēce, the vnmesurablenesse shal not be yet proued, without which they shal in vayne attempt to enclose Christ vnderunder bred. Unlesse the body of Christ may be eueryevery where at ones, without any cōpasse of place, it shall not be likely that he lyeth hidden vnderunder bred in the Supper. By which necessitie they brought in the monstruous beyng eueryevery where. But it is shewed by strong and plaine witnesses of Scripture, that it was limited about by the measure of the body of a man: and then that by his ascending he hath made it plaine that he is not in all places, but that when he passeth into one place, he leaueth the other that he was in before. Neither is the promise which they allege, to be drawē to ye body. I am with you euen to the ending of the world.Mathe. xxviii.xx. First the continuall cō ioyning can not stande, vnlesse Christ dwel in vsus corporally without ye vse of the Supper. Therfore there is no iust cause why they shoulde so sharply brawle about the wordes of Christ, that they may in the Supper enclose Christ vnderunder bred. Againe the text it selfe proueth, yt Christe speaketh nothing lesse than of his fleshe, but promiseth to his disciples inuicible helpe, wherby he may defende and susteine them against all the assaultes of Satan and the worlde. For when he enioyned them a hard charge: least they should dout to take it in hande, or should ferefully execute it, he strengtheneth them with affiance of his presence: as if he had said, that his succor shal not faile them, which shalbe impossible to be ouercome. Unlesse they listed to confounde all thinges, ought they not to hauehave made distinction of the maner of presence. And verily some had rather with great shame to vtter their ignorance, than to yelde neuer so litle of their error. I speake not of the Papistes: whoes doctrine is more tolerable, or at the least more shamefast. But contentiousnesse so carrieth some away, that they say that by reson of the natures vnited in Christ, wheresoeuer the Godhed of Christ is, there is also his fleshe, which can not be seuered from hys Godhed. As though that same vniting hauehave compounded of those twoo natures I wote not what meane thing which was neither God nor man. So in dede did Eutyches, and after hym Seruettus. But it is plainly gathered out of the Scripture, that the only one person of Christ doth so consist of twoo natures, that either of them hath still her owne propertie remayning safe. And that Eutyches was rightfully condemned, they wil be ashamed to deny: it is maruel that they marke not the cause of hys condemning, that takyng away the difference betwene the natures, enforcing the vnitie of persō, he made of God man, and of man God. What madnesse therefore is it, rather to mingle heauen and earth together, than not to draw the body of Christ out of the heauenly Sancturarie? For wheras they bring for themselues these testimonies,Ioh. iii xiii, Ioh. i.xviii. None is gone vp to heauen but he that is come down the Sonne of man which is in heauen, Againe, The sonne which is in the bosome of the Father, he shall declare them: it is a poynt of like senslesse dullnesse, to despise the communicating of properties which was in olde tyme not without cause inuēted of the holy Fathers. Truely,i. Cori. ii.viii. when the Lord of glory is said to be crucified, Paule doth not meane that he suffred any thīg in his godhed: but because ye same Christ which being an abiect and despised in the flesh did suffer, was both God and Lord of glory. After thys manner also the Sonne of man was in heauen: because the selfe same Christ, which according to the fleshe did dwel the Sonne of man in earth, was God in heauen. In which sorte he is sayd to hauehave descended from the sayd place according to hys Godhed: not that the Godhed did forsake heauen, to hide it selfe in the prison of the body: but because, although it fylled all thynges, yet in the verye māhode of Christ it dwelled corporally, that is to say naturally and after a certaine vnspeakable maner. It is a cōmon distinction in scholes, which I am not ashamed to reherse: that although whole Christ be eueryevery where, yet not the whole that is in hym is eueryevery where. And I wold to God the Scholemen themselues had wel weyed the pith of thys sayeng: for so should the vnsauorie inuention of the fleshly presēce of Christ hauehave ben met withall. Therefore our mediator, sithe he is whole eueryevery where, is alway at hande with his, and in the Supper after a speciall maner geueth himselfe present: but yet so, that whole he is present, not the whole that he is: because, as it is said, in his fleshe he is conteined in heauen till he appeare to iudgement.
But they are farre deceiued, which conceiue no presence of the fleshe of Christ in the Supper, vnlesse it be made present in bread. For so they leaue nothyng to the secrete workyng of the Spirite, whiche vniteth Christ hymself vntounto vsus. They thinke not Christ present, vnlesse he come downe to vsus. As though if he did lift vsus vp to hym, we should not aswel enioy his presence. Therfore the question is only of the maner: because they place Christ in the bread, but we think it not lawful for vsus to pluck hym out of heauen. Let the readers iudge whether is the righter. Only let this cauillation be driuen away, that Christe is taken awaye from his Supper, vnlesse he be hidden vnderunder the couer of bread. For sith this mysterie is heauenly, it is no nede to drawe Christ into the earth, that he may be ioyned to vsus.
Nowe if any man do aske me of the maner, I will not be ashamed to confesse, that it is a hyer secrete than that it can be eyther cōprehended with my witt, or vttered with my woordes: and, to speake it more plainly, I rather fele it, than I can vnderstand it. Therfore I do herein without controuersie embrace the truthe of God, in whiche I maye safely rest. He pronounceth that his fleshe is the meate of my soule, and his blood is the drinke. With suche foode I offre my soule to hym to bee fedde. In his holy Supper he commaundeth me vnderunder the signes of bread and wyne to take, eate, and drinke his body and blood. I nothing dout that bothe he dothe truely deliuer them, and I doo receiue them. OnelyOnly I refuse the absurdities, whiche appeare to be either vnworthy of the heauenly maiestie of Christ, or disagreyng from the truth of his nature of manhode: forasmuche as they must also fight with the word of God, which also teacheth that Christ was so taken vp into the glorie of the heauenly kyngdome that it lyfteth hym vp aboue all estate of the worlde,Lu. xxiiii xxvi. and no lesse diligently setteth forth in his nature of man, those thynges that are proprely belongyng to his true manhode. Neither ought this to seme incredible, or not consonant to reason: because as the whole kyngdome of Christ is spirituall, so whatsoeuer he doth with his Chirch, ought not to be reduced to the reason of this worlde. Or, that I may vse the wordes of Augustine, this mysterie, as other are, is done by men,Iren. lib. iiii. cap. xxiiii. but from God: in earth, but from heauen. Such (I say) is the presence of the body, as the nature of the Sacrament requireth: which we say here to excell with so great force, and so great effectualnesse, that it not only bryngeth to our myndes vndouted trust of eternall lyfe, but also assureth vsus of the immortalitie of our fleshe. For it is nowe quickned of his immortall fleshe, and after a certaine manner communicateth of his immortalitie. They whyche are caried aboue this with their excessiue speches, do nothyng but with suche entanglementes darken the simple and playne truthe. If any be not yet satisfied, I wold hauehave hym here a whyle to consider with me, that we now speake of a Sacrament, all the partes wherof ought to be referred to Faith. But we do no lesse deintyly and plentifully feede Faith with this partakyng of the bodye which we hauehave declared, than they that plucke Christe hymselfe oute of heauen. In the meane tyme I plainly confesse, that I refuse that mixture of the fleshe of Christ with our soule, or the pouryng out of it suche as they teache: because it suffiseth vsus, that Christ dothe out of the substance of his fleshe breathe life into our soules, yea doth poure into vsus his owne lyfe, although the very flesh of Christ doth not entre into vsus. Moreouer it is no doute that the proportion of Faith, whereby Paule willeth vsus to examine all exposition of Scripture,Rom. xii.iii. dothe in this behalfe very well agree with me. As for them that speake agaynst so euident a truthe, let them looke after what rule of faith they fashion themselues. He that dothe not confesse that Iesus Christ is come in the fleshe,ii. Iohn. vii. is not of God. These men, althoughe they cloke it, or marke it not, doo spoile hym of his fleshe.
Of communicatyng is to be likewise thought, whiche they acknowlege none, vnlesse they deuoure the fleshe of Christe vnderunder bread. But there is no small wrong done to the Holy ghost, vnlesse we beleue that it is brought to passe by his incomprehensible power, that we communicate with the fleshe and blood of Christ. Yea if the force of the mysterie, such as it is taught of vsus, and as it was knowen to the old Chirch from fower hundred yeres agoe, were weyed accordyng to the worthinesse of it, there was enough and more wherupon we myght be satisfied: the gate had ben shut against many fowle errors, out of which hauehave ben kindled many horrible dissensions wherwith both in olde tyme and in our age the Chirche hath ben miserably vexed, while curious men do enforce an excessiue maner of presence, which the Scripture neuer sheweth. And they turmoyle aboute a thyng fondly and rashely conceiued, as if he enclosyng of Christ vnderunder bread were (as the prouerbe is) the prowe and poupe of godlinesse. It principally behoued to know, howe the body of Christ, as it was ones deliuered for vsus, is made ours: how we are made partakers of his blood that was shedde: because this is to possesse whole Christ crucified, that we may enioy all his good thyngs. Nowe these thynges, in which was so great importance, beyng omitted yea neglected and in a maner buried, this onelyonly crabbed question pleaseth them, howe the body of Christ lieth hidde vnderunder bread or vnderunder the forme of bread. They falsly spread abrode that whatsoeuer we teache concernyng spirituall eatyng, is contrarie to the true and eatyng. as they call it: because we hauehave respecte to nothyng but to the maner, which among them is carnall, whyle they enclose Christ in bread: but to vsus it is spirituall, because the secrete power of the Spirite is the bonde of our conioynyng with Christ. No truer is that other obiection, that we touche onelyonly the frute or effecte which the faithfull take of the eating of the fleshe of Christ. For we hauehave said before, that Christ himselfe is the substance of the Supper: and that therupon foloweth the effect, that by the sacrifice of his death we ar cleansed from sinnes, by his blood we are washed, by his resurrection we are raised vp into hope of the heauenly lyfe. But the foolishe imagination, whereof Lombarde was the author, hath peruerted their myndes, while they thinke that the eating of the fleshe of Christ is the Sacrament. For thus sayth he: The Sacrament and not the thyng are the formes of bread and wyne:Lib. 4. D…t. …. the sacrament and the thyng, are the fleshe and blood of Christe: the thyng and not the sacrament, is his mysticall fleshe. Agayne within a littell after. The thyng signified and conteined, is the propre fleshe of Christ: the thyng signified and not conteyned is his mysticall body. Wheras he maketh difference betwene the fleshe of Christ, and the effectual power of norishyng, wherwith it is endued, I agree: but whereas he faineth it to be a sacrament, yea and conteined vnderunder bread, it is an error not to be suffred. Hereupon hath growen the false exposition of sacramentall eatyng, because they hauehave thought that wicked men also and euell doers doo eate the fleshe of Christ, howe muche soeuer they bee strangers from hym. But the fleshe of Christ it selfe in the mysterie of the Supper is no lesse a spirituall thyng than eternall saluation. Wherupon we gather, that whosoeuer be voide of the Spirite of Christ, can no more eate the fleshe, of Christ than they can drinke wine wherwith is ioyned no taste. Truely Christ is to haynously torne in sonder, when that dead body and which hath no lyuely strength, is geuen foorth in common to vnbeleuers: and his expresse wordes are directly against it, Whosoeuer eateth my fleshe and drinketh my blood,Iohn. vi.lvi. abideth in me, and I in hym. They answer that in that place is not entreated of the sacramental eatyng: which I graunt, so that they wyll not nowe and then stomble agaynst the same stone, in sayeng that the fleshe it selfe is eaten without fruite. But I would knowe of them, howe long they hold it when they hauehave eaten it. Here, in my iudgement, they shall hauehave no waye to gett out. But they obiect, that nothyng can bee withdrawen or faile of the promises of God by the vnthankfulnesse of men. I graunt in dede, and I say that the force of the mysterie remaineth whole, howsoeuer wicked men doo, as muche as in them lyeth, endeuor to make it voyde. Yet it is one thyng to be offred, and an other thyng to be receiued. Christ reacheth this spirituall meate and offreth this spirituall drinke to all men: some do gredily eate of it, some do lothingly refuse it: shall these mens refusyng make the meate and the drynke to lose their nature? They wil say that their opiniō is holpen by this similitude, namely that the fleshe of Christ, though it be vnsauorie, is neuerthelesse his fleshe. But I denie that it can be eaten without the taste of faith: or (if we list rather to speake as Augustine doth) I say that men beare away no more of this sacramēt, thā thei gather with the vessel of faith. So nothing is abated from the Sacrament, yea the truth and effectualnesse therof remaineth vnminished, although the wicked depart emptie frō the outward partakyng of it. If they agayne obiect that this worde, this is my bodye, is diminished, if the wicked receiue corruptible bread and nothyng ells: we hauehave a solution ready, that God will not be acknowen true in the receiuyng it selfe, but in the stedfastnesse of his owne goodnesse, when he is ready to geue, yea liberally offreth to the vnworthy that whiche they refuse. And this is the fulnesse of the Sacrament, which ye whole world can not breake, that the flesh and blood of Christ is no lesse geuen to the vnworthy than to the chosen faithfull ones of God: but therewithall it is true, that as water lightyng vponupon a hard stone, falleth away, because there is no entrie open into the stone: so the wicked do with their hardnesse driue back the grace of God that it cā not perce into them. Moreouer, that Christ should be receiued without faith, is no more agreeyng with reason, than sede to bud in the fyre. Wheras they aske, how Christe is come to damnation to some, vnlesse they receiue him vnworthily, it is a very cold question: forasmuch as we no where rede, that mē do procure death to themselues by vnworthily receiuyng Christe, but rather by refusing him. Neither doth Christes parable helpe them, where he saith that sede groweth vp among thornes,Mat. xiii.vii and afterwarde, beyng choked is marred: because he there entreateth, of what value the faith is whiche endureth but for a tyme, which they do not think to be necessary to the eatyng of Christes flesh and drinkyng of his blood, that in this behalfe do make Iudas egally felow with Peter. But rather by the same parable their error is cōfuted, where Christ saith yt some sede falleth in the hie waie, other some vponupon stones, & neither of them taketh roote. Wherupō foloweth that to the vnbeleuers their owne hardnesse is a let ye Christ atteineth not to them. Whosoeuer desireth to hauehave our saluation holpen by this mysterie, shall fynde nothyng fitter, than that the faithfull being led to the very fountaine, shold draw life out of the Sōne of God. But the dignitie of it is honorably enough set out, when we keepe in mynde that it is a helpe wherby we be graffed into the body of Christ, or beyng graffed do more and more growe together, till he do fully make hymself one with vsus in the heauenly lyfe. They obiect that Paule ought not to hauehave made them giltie of the body and blood of Christ, vnlesse they wer partakers of them.i. Cor. xi.xxix. But I answer that they ar not therfore condemned, because they hauehave eaten them, but only because they hauehave prophaned the mysterie, in treadyng vnderunder feete the pledge of the holye conioynyng with God, which they ought reuerently to receiue.
Now because Augustine among the old writers chiefly hath affirmed that article of doctrine, that nothyng is abated from the Sacraments, nor the grace which they figure is made void by the infidelite or noughtinesse of men: it shalbe profitable to proue clerely by his owne wordes. how vnfittly & peruersly they do draw that to this present cause, which cast the body of Christ to dogges to eate. The sacramentall eating, after their opinion, is wherby the wicked receiue the body & blood of Christ without ye power of the Spirit, or any effect of grace. Augustine cōtrariwise weyeng wisely those words,Homil. in Iohā. xxvi. Ioh. vi.l. He that eateth my flesh, & drinketh my blood, shal not die for euer, saieth: Namely the power of the sacrament, not only the visible sacrament: & verily within, not without: he yt eateth it wt harte, not he yt presseth it with tooth. Whereupon at length he concludeth that the sacramēt of this thing, that is to say, of the vnitie of the body & blood of Christ, is set before men in the Supper of the Lorde, to some vntounto life, to some vntounto destruction: but the thing it selfe wherof it is a sacrament, to al men vntounto life, to none vntounto destruction, whosoeuer be partaker of it. That none shold here cauill, that the thing is called not the body, but the grace of the Spirit which may be seuered frō the body, the cōtrarie comparison betwene these two wordes of addition Uisible & Inuisible driueth away al these mystes: for vnderunder the first of them can not be cōprehended the body of Christ. Wherupon foloweth yt the vnbeleuers do communicate only of ye visible signe. And yt al douting may be better taken away, after yt he had said yt this bread requireth the hunger of the inward man, he addeth: Moses & Aaron and Phinees, & many other that dyd eate Manna,Exod. xvi xiiii. pleased God. Why so? because the spirituall meate they spiritually vnderstoode, spiritually hungred, spirituallye tasted, that they myghte bee spiritually fylled. For we also at this daye hauehave receiued spiritual meat: but the Sacrament is one thyng, and the power of the sacrament is an other. A litle after: And by this he that abideth not in Christ, and in whom Christ abideth not, without doute neither eateth spiritually his fleshe, nor drinketh his blood, though carnally and visibly he presseth with teeth the signe of the body and blood. We heare agayne that the visible signe is set in cōparison as contrary to spiritual eating. Wherby ye error is cōfuted, that the body of Christ inuisible is in dede eaten sacramētally, though not spiritually. We heare also that nothing is graūted to prophane & vncleane mē beside the visible receiuyng of the signe.Homil. in Ioh…. lix. Hereupon cometh his famous sayeng, yt the other disciples did eate the bred ye Lord, but Iudas did eate ye bread of ye Lord: wherin he plainly excludeth ye vnbeleuers frō the partakyng of ye body & blood. Neither tendeth it to any other end which he sayth in an other place:Homil. lxii. i. Cor. xi.vii. Lib v de bapt cō tra … i. Cor. xi.xxix. What meruailest thou, if to Iudas was geuē the bread of Christ, by which he might be made bond to the deuel: when thou seest on the cō trary side that to Paul was geuen the angel of the deuell, by whome he might be made perfect in Christ? He saith verily in an other place, that the bread of the Supper was ye body of Christ to them to whom Paule said, He that eateth vnworthily, eateth and drinketh iugement to himselfe: and that they hauehave not therfore nothyng, because they hauehave receiued noughtily. But in what sense, he declareth more fully in an other place. For (takyng in hand purposely to define howe the wicked & euell doers, which professe the christian faith with mouth but with dedes do deny it, do eate the body of Christ, and that against the opinion of some which thought that thei did not eate in sacramēt only but in very dede.) But neither (saith he) ought it to be said that they eate ye body of Christ, because thei ar not to be reckned among the membres of Christ. For (to speake nothing of the rest) they can not together be ye mēbers of Christ, and the membres of a harlot.Iohn. vi.xxiii. Lib. de … … xxi capi. xxv. Finally where himselfe saith. He that eateth my fleshe, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in hym, he sheweth what it is not sacramentally but in very dede to eate the bodye of Christ. For this is to abide in Christ, that Christ may abyde in him. For he so sayd this, as though he had sayde, he that abydeth not in me, and in whom I abide not, let hym not say or thinke that he dothe eate my body, or drynke my blood. Let the readers weye the thynges sett as contraries in the comparison to eate. Sacramētally, and in Uery dede: and there shall remaine no dout. He confirmeth the same, no lesse plainly in these wordes: Prepare not your iawes, but your hart: Herupon is this Supper commended. Loe we beleue in Christ, when we receiue by faith: in receiuyng we know what to thinke. We receiue a little and are fatted in hart. Therfore not that which is sene, but that which is beleued, dothe fede. Here also that whiche the wicked receiue, he restraineth to the visible signe: and teacheth that Christ is none otherwise receiued than by Faith. So also in an other place, pronoūcyng expressly that the good and the euell do communicate together in the signes,Cō … lib xiii. capi xvi. Serm. de … Apost. he excludeth the euell from the true eatyng of the fleshe of Christ. For if they receyued the thing it self, he wold not vtterly hauehave left that vnspoken which was more fitt for his mater. Also in an other place, entreating of the eatyng and the frute therof, he concludeth thus. Then shall the body and blood of Christ be life to eueryevery man, if that which in the Sacrament is visibly receiued, be in the truth it selfe spiritually eaten, spiritually drōk. Therfore whoso make vnbeleuers partakers of the fleshe and blood of Christ, that they may agree with Augustine, let them shewe vsus the visible body of Christ: forasmuche as, by his iudgement, the whole truthe is spirituall. And it is certainly gathered out of his wordes, that the Sacramentall eatyng, when vnbelefe closeth vp the entrie to truthe, is as much in effect as visible or outward eatyng. If the body of Christ might be eaten truely and yet not spiritually, what shold that meane whiche he sayth in an other place?In psal. x…iii. Ye shall not eate this body which ye see, & drinke the blood which they shall shedde that shall crucifie me. I hauehave commē ded a certaine sacrament vntounto you, beeyng spiritually vnderstanded it shall quicken you. Uerily he woulde not denie but that the same body which Christ offred for sacrifice, is deliuered in the Supper: but he dyd set out the maner of eatyng: namely that being receiued into heauenly glorie, by the secrete power of the Spirite it breatheth lyfe into vsus. I graunt in dede that there is oftentymes founde in hym this maner of speakyng,Homil in Iohā. xxvii. that the body of Christ is eaten of the vnbeleuers: but he expoundeth himselfe, addyng, In Sacramente. And in an other place he describeth spirituall eating, in whiche out biringes consume not grace. And least myne aduersaries should saye, that I fighte with them with a heape of places, I wold know of them how they can vnwynde themselues from one saieng of his, where he saith that Sacraments do worke in the only elect that which they figure. Truely they dare not denye but that the bred in the Supper figureth the body of Christ. Wherupon foloweth that the reprobate are debarred from the partakyng of it. That Cyrill also thought none otherwise,In. vi. Iohan cap. xvii. these wordes doo declare. As if a man vponupon molten waxe do poure other waxe, he wholly tempereth the one waxe with the other: so is it necessary, if any man receiue the fleshe and blood of the Lorde, that he be ioyned with hym, that Christe may be founde in hym and he in Christ. By these wordes I thinke it is euident, that they ar bereued of the true and real eatyng, that do but sacramentally eate the body of Christ, which can not be seuered from his power: and that therfore faileth not the faith of the promises of god, which cesseth not to rayne from heauen, although the stones and rockes conceiue not the liquor of the raine.
This knowledge shall also easily drawe vsus away from the carnal worshipping, whiche some hauehave with peruerse rashnesse erected in the Sacrament: because they made accompt with themselues in this maner: If it be the body, then bothe the soule and the godhead are together with the body, which now can not be seuered: therfore Christe is there to be worshipped. First if their accompanieng whiche thei pretende be denied them, what will they do? For how much soeuer they crie out vponupon an absurditie, if the body be seuered from the soule and the godhed: yet what soūdwitted and sobre man can persuade himself that the body of Christ is Christ? They thinke themselues in dede gaily to proue it with their logicall argumentes. But sith Christ speaketh distinctly of his body and blood, but describeth not the maner of presence: how will they of a doutfull thing gather certainly that which they would? What then? If their consciences chance to be exercised wt any more greuous felyng, shal not they by and by with their logicall arguments be dissolued & melt? namely when they shall see themselues destitute of the certaine word of God, vponupon which alone our soules do stand fast, when they are called to accompt, & without which they faint at eueryevery first moment: when thei shal call to mynde that the doctrine and exāples of the Apostles are against them, and that themselues alone ar to themselues the authors of it. To suche motions shalbe added other not small prickynges. What? Shall it be a mater of no importance, to worship God in this forme, where nothyng was prescribed vntounto vsus? When it concerned the true worshyp of God, ought they with so great lightnesse to hauehave attēpted that of which there is no where red any one word? But if they had, with such humblenesse as they ought, holden all their thoughtes vnderunder the word of God, they wold truly hauehave harkened to that which he said, Take, eate, drinke, and wold hauehave obeyed this cōmaundement, wherin he biddeth the Sacrament to be receiued, not to be worshipped. But they which, as it is cō maunded of God, do receiue it without worshippyng, are assured that they do not swarue from Gods cōmaūdement: than which assurednesse there is nothing better when we take any worke in hande. They hauehave the example of the Apostles, whom we reade not to hauehave fallen downe flatt & worshipped it, but euen as they were sitting, to hauehave receiued it & eaten it.Act. ii.iiii They hauehave the vse of the Apostolike Chirch, wherin Luke reporteth that the faithfull did communicate not in woorshyppyng but in breakyng of bread.i. Cor. xii. They hauehave the Apostles doctrine, wherwith Paule instructed the Chirch of the Corynthians, professyng that he had receiued of the Lorde that whiche he deliuered.
And these thyngs verily tend to this end, that the godly readers shold wey how perillous it is in so hye matters to wander frō the simple worde of God to the dreames of our owne braine. But those thyngs that are aboue said, ought to deliuer vsus from all doute in this behalfe. For, that godly soules may therin rightly take hold of Christ, they must nedes be lifted vp to heauen. If this be the office of a sacrament, to help ye mynd of man whiche otherwise is weake, that it may rise vpwarde to reache the height of spirituall mysteries: then they which are holden downe in the outwarde signe do stray from the right way of sekyng Christ. What then? Shall we denie that it is a superstitious worshippyng, when men do throwe themselues downe before bread, to worship Christe therein? Doutlesse ye Nicene Synode meant to mete wt this mischiefe, whē it forbade vsus to be hūbly intentiue to ye signes set before vsus.Sursum corda. And for none other cause was it in olde tyme ordeined, that before the consecration the people shold with a loude voice be put in mynde to hauehave their hartes lifted vpward. The Scripture it selfe also, beside that it diligently declareth vntounto vsus the ascension of Christ,Coloss. iii.ii. wherby he conueyed away the presence of his body from our sight & conuersation: to shake away from vsus all carnal thinkyng of hym, so oft as it maketh mention of him, cōmaū deth vsus to be in myndes raised vpward, & to seke him in heauen sittyng at the right hand of the Father. According to this rule he was rather to be spiritually worshipped in heauēly glorie, thā this so perillous a kinde of worshippyng to be deuised, full of carnall and grosse opinion of God. Wherfore thei yt hauehave inuēted ye worshipping of ye sacramēt, hauehave not only dreamed it of thēselues beside ye Scripture, in which no mention of it can be shewed (which yet shold not hauehave ben ouerpassed if it had ben acceptable to God.) But also al ye scripture crieng out against it, they hauehave framed to thēselues a God after ye wil of their own lust, leauing ye liuing God. For what is idolatry, if this be not, to worship the gifts in stede of the geuer of himself? Wherin they hauehave doblely offended: For both ye honor taken frō God was conueyed to a creature: and he himself also dishonored in the defilyng and prophanyng of his benefite, when of his holy sacramēt is made a cursed idole. But let vsus contrarywise, least we fall into the same pit, throughly settle our eares, eies, hartes, myndes, and tonges in the holy doctrine of God. For that is the schole of the Holy ghost, the best scholemaister, in whiche suche profite is atteined that nothing nede more to be gotten from any where ells, but we willingly ought to be ignorant of whatsoeuer is not taught in it.
But nowe (as superstition, when it hath ones passed the right boundes, maketh no end of sinning) thei fel a great wai further. For thei hauehave deuised Ceremonies altogether strange frō the institutiō of ye Supper, to this end only yt they might geue diuine honors to the signe. We yelde (say they) this worship to Christ. First, if this wer done in the Supper. I wold say that that worshipping only is lawfull, which resteth not in ye signe, but is directed to Christ sittyng in heauen. But now by what pretense do they bost yt they worship Christ in that bread: whē thei hauehave no promise therof? They consecrate an host, as they call it, which they may carie about in pompe, which they may shew foorth in a cōmon gazing to be loked vponupon, worshipped, and called vponupon. I aske by what power they think it to be rightly cōsecrate. Uerily they wil bring forth those words. This is my body. But I will obiect to the cōtrary, yt it was therwithall said, Take & eate. Neither will I do that of nothing. For whē a promise is knit to a cōmaūdement. I say yt the promise is so conteined vnderunder ye cōmaundement, that being seuered it is made no promise at all. This shalbe made plainer by a like exāple. God gaue a cōmaundement, when he said,Psalm. l.xv. Call vponupon me: He added a promise, I wil heare thee. If any mā calling vponupon Peter & Paule, do glorie vponupon this promise, wil not al mē crie out that he doth wrongfully? And what other thing I pray you, do they which leauing the cōmaūdement concernyng eatyng, do catch hold of a maimed promise, this is my body, to abuse it to strange ceremonies from the institution of Christ? Let vsus therfore remembre that this promise is geuen to them which kepe the cōmaundement ioined with it: but yt they be destitute of all the word which remoue the Sacrament to any other way. We hauehave heretofore entreated how the mysterie of the holy supper serueth our Faith before God. But forasmuch as the Lord doth here not only bring into our remembrance so great largesse of his boū tie, as we hauehave before shewed, but doth as it were from hande to hande bring it foorth, & stirreth vsus to acknowlege it: he doth therwithal warne vsus yt we be not vnthākfull to so plētiful liberalitie: but rather yt we shold publishe it with such praises as it is mete, and aduance it with thankesgeuyng. Therfore when he deliuered the institution of the Sacramēt it self to the Apostles,Luc. xxii.xix. i. Cor. xi.xxvi. he taught them that they should doo it in remembrance of him. Which Paul expoūdeth, to declare the Lords death. That is, publikely & altogether with one mouth opēly to confesse, yt al our affiance of life & saluatiō is reposed in the death of ye Lord: yt we may glorifie him wt our cōfessiō, & may by our exāple exhorte other to geue glory to him. Here againe it appeareth wherunto ye marke of thys Sacramēt is directed, namely to exercise vsus in ye remēbrance of the death of Christ. For, this that we are commaunded to declare the Lordes death tyll he come to iudge, is nothing ells but that we should publishe that with cō fessiō of mouth, which our Fayth hath acknowleged in the Sacramēt, that is, that the death of Christ is our life. This is the seconde vse of the Sacrament, which perteineth to ourwarde confession.
Thirdly the Lorde also willed it to be to vsus in stede of an exhortatiō, than which none other can more vehemētly encourage and enflame vsus bothe to purenesse and holinesse of life, and also to charitie, peace, and agreement. For the Lord doth therin so communicate his body to vsus, that he is made throughly one with vsus, and we with him. Now sithe he hath but one body, whereof he maketh vsus all partakers, it is necessarie that al we also be by such partaking made one body. Whiche vnitie the bred which is deliuered in the Sacrament, representeth: which as it is made of many graynes in such sort mingled together that one can not be discerned from an other: after the same manner we also oughte to be conioyned and knitt together with so great agreement of myndes, that no disagreement or diuision come betwene vsus.i. Cor. x.xvi. This I had rather to be expressed with Paules wordes. The cup of blessing (sayth he) which we blesse, is the communicating of the blood of Christ: and the bred of blessing which we breake, is the partaking of the body of Christ. Therefore we al are one body, that partake of one bread. We shall hauehave very well profited in the Sacramēt, if this thought so shalbe emprinted & engrauen in our mindes, that none of the brethren can be hurt, despised, refused, abused, or in any wise be offended of vsus, but that therewithal we do in so doing hurt, despise and abuse Christ wt our iniurious dealinges: yt we can not disagree with our brethren, but that we muste therewithall disagree with Christe: that Christe can not be loued of vsus, but that he muste be loued in oure brethren: that what care we hauehave of oure own body, such also we ought to hauehave of our brethren whiche are members of our body: as no part of our bodi is touched wt ani felīg of grefe, whiche is not spred abrode into al the other partes, so we must not suffer, our brother to be greued with any euill wherof we shoulde not also be touched wt cōpassion. Therfore Augustine not wtout cause so oft calleth thys Sacramēt ye bonde of charitie. For what sharper spur could be put to vsus, to stirre vp mutual charitie amōg vsus, thā whē Christ geuing himselfe to vsus, doth not only allure vsus wt hys owne exāple yt we shoulde mutually dedicate & deliuer our selues one to an other: but in so much as he maketh himselfe common to al, he maketh al vsus also one in himselfe?
But hereby is that very well confirmed whiche I hauehave sayd in an other place, that the true ministration of the Sacramente standeth not without the worde. For whatsoeuer profit commeth to vsus of the Supper, requireth the worde: whether we be to be cōfirmed in Faith, or to be exercised in confessiō, or to be stirred vp to dutie, praier is nedeful. Therfore nothing can be more disorderly done in the Supper, than if it be turned to a dumme actiō: as hath ben done vnderunder the tyranny of the Pope. For they would hauehave the whole force of consecration to hang vponupon ye intent of ye Prest, as though this nothing perteined to ye people, to whom it most of all behoued yt the mysterie shoulde be declared. But therupon hath growen this error, yt they marked not that those promises wherwt the consecration is made, are directed not to ye elemētes thē selues, but to them that receiue them. But Christe speaketh not to the bred, that it may be made his body, but cōmaūdeth his disciples to eate, and promiseth to them the communicating of hys body and blood. And none other order doth Paul teach, than yt together wt the bred and the cup, the promises should be offred to the faythful. Thus it is truely. We ought not here to imagine any magical enchauntment, yt it be sufficient to hauehave mūbled vp ye wordes, as though ye elemētes did heare them: but let vsus vnderstande yt those wordes are a liuely preaching, whiche maye edifie ye hearers, which may inwardly pearce into their myndes, whiche may be emprinted and settled in their hartes, which maye shewe fourth effectualnesse in ye fulfilling of yt which it promiseth. By these reasons it clerely appeareth, yt the layeng vp of ye Sacramēt, which many do earnestly require, yt it may be extraordinarily distributed to the sicke, is vnprofitable. For either they shal receiue it wtout rehersing of ye institutiō of Christe, or ye minister shall together wt the signe ioyne ye true declaration of ye mysterie. In silence is abuse and fault. If ye promises be rehersed, and ye mysterie declared, yt they which shal receiue it maye receiue it with frute, there is no cause why we shoulde doute that thys is the true consecration. To what ende then wil that other consecration come, the force wherof commeth not so farr as to the sicke men? But they that doe so, hauehave the example of the olde Chirch. I graunt: but in so great a mater, and in which we erre not without greate danger, nothing is safer than to folow the truth it selfe.
Now as we see that thys holy bred of the Supper of the Lord is spiritual meate, no lesse swete and delicate than healthful to ye godly worshippers of God, by ye taste wherof they fele ye Christ is their lyfe, whom it rayseth vp to thankesgeuing, to whome it is an exhortation to mutuall charitie among themselues: so on the other side it is turned into a moste noysome poyson to all them whoes Fayth it doth not nourishe and confirme, and whom it doth not stirre vp to confession of praise and to charitie. For as bodily meate, when it fyndeth a stomach possessed wt euill humors, being it selfe also therby made euil and corrupted doth rather hurt than nourish: so thys spiritual meate, if it lighte vponupon a soule defiled with malice and noughtinesse, throweth it down hedlong wyth greater fal: verily not by ye fault ye meate it selfe, but because to defyled and vnbeleuing mē nothing is cleane, though otherwise it be neuer so muche sanctified by the blessing of the Lorde.Tit. i.xv. i. Cor. xi.xxix. For (as Paule sayth) they that eate and drynke vnworthily, are gylty of the body and blood of the Lorde, and do eate and drinke iugement to themselues, not discerning the body of the Lorde. For, suche kynde of men as without any sparcle of Fayth, without any zele of charitie, do thrust thēselues fourth lyke swyne to take the Supper of the Lorde, doe not discerne the bodye of the Lorde. For insomuche as they doe not beleue that that body is their life, they doe as muche as in them lyeth dishonor it, spoiling it of al the dignitie therof, and finally in so receiuing it they prophane and defyle it. But in so much as being estranged and disagreyng from their brethren, they dare myngle the holye sygne of the bodye of Christe with their disagreementes, it is no thanke to them that the body of Christ is not rent in sonder, and limmemeale torne in peces. And so not vnworthily they are gyltie of the body and blood of the Lorde, whiche they do with vngodlinesse ful of sacrilege so fowly defile. Therfore by thys vnworthy eating, they take to themselues damnation. For wheras they hauehave no Fayth reposed in Christ, yet receiuing the Sacramente they professe that there is saluation for them no where ells thā in him, and do forswere al other affiance. Wherefore they themselues are accusers to themselues, they themselues pronounce witnesse againste themselues, and they themselues seale their own damnation. Againe when they being with hatred and euil wil diuided and drawen in sōder from their brethren, that is, from the members of Christe, hauehave no parte in Christ:i. Cor. xi.xxviii. yet they do testifie that this is the only saluation to cōmunicate with Christe, and to be made one with him. For this cause Paule commaundeth, that a man proue himselfe, before that he eate of this bred or drinke of this cup. Wherby (as I expounde it) he meant that eueryevery man should descende into himselfe, and weye with himselfe, whether he doe with inwarde affiance of hart rest vponupon the saluatiō which Christ hath purchaced: whether he acknowlege it with confession of mouth: then whether he do with desirous endeuor of innocence and holinesse aspire to the folowing of Christ: whether after his example he be redy to geue himselfe to his brethren, and to cōmunicate himselfe to them with whō he hath Christ common to hym: whether, as he himselfe is accompted of Christ, he do likewise on his behalfe take al his brethren for members of his own body: whether, he couet to cherishe, defende, and helpe them as his own members. Not for that these duties both of Fayth and charitie can now be perfect in vsus: but because we ought to endeuor this, and with all our desires to long towarde it, yt we may daily more and more encrease our Fayth begonne.
Commonly when they goe about to prepare men to such worthinesse of eating, they hauehave in cruell wise tormented and vexed poore consciences: and yet they brought neuer a whit of all those thinges that myghte serue to the purpose. They sayd that those did eate worthily which were in state of grace. To be in state of grace they expounded to be pure and cleansed from al sinne. By which doctrine all the men that euer hauehave at any time ben or now be in earth, were debarred from the vse of thys Sacramente. For if we goe about this, to fetche our worthinesse from our selues, we are vtterly vndone: onelyonly despeire and damnable ruine abideth for vsus. Though we endeuor with our whole strēgthes, we shall nothing more preuaile, but that then at last we shalbe most vnworthy, when we hauehave most of all trauailed about seking of worthinesse. To salue this sore, they hauehave deuised a way to attaine worthinesse: that, as much as in vsus lieth, making examination, and requiring of our selues accompt of al our doinges, we shold with contrition, confession, and satisfaction cleanse our vnworthinesse: which way of clensing, what maner of thing it is, we hauehave alredy shewed there where was more conuenient place to speake of it. So much as serueth for our present purpose, I saye that these be to hūgry and vanishing comfortes to dismaied and discouraged consciences and suche as are striken with horror of their sinne. For if the Lorde by speciall forbidding, admitteth none to the partaking of his Supper but the righteous and innocente: there nedeth no small hede that may make a man assured of his own righteousnesse which he heareth to be required of God. But whereby is this assurednesse confirmed vntounto vsus, that they are discharged afore God, which hauehave done so muche as in them lay? But although it were so, yet when shall it be that a man may be bolde to assure himselfe that he hath doone as muche as in him lay? So when there is made no certaine assurance of our worthinesse, the entrie shal alway remaine shut by that horrible forbidding, whereby is pronounced that they eate and drinke iudgemēt to themselues, which eate and drinke vnworthily.
Nowe it is easy to iudge what manner of doctrine this is whiche reigneth in the Papacie, and from what author it hath proceded, which with the outragious rigor thereof bereueth and spoyleth, miserable sinners and suche as be tormented with feare and sorowe, of the cōforte of this Sacramente, in whiche yet al the swete delicates of the Gospell were set before them. Surely the deuill coulde by no readier way destroye men, than by so making them senslesse, that they coulde not perceiue the taste and sauor of such foode, wherewith it was the will of the moste good heauenly Father to fede them. Least therefore we runne into suche hedlong downfall, let vsus remember that this holy banket is medicine to the sicke, comfort to sinners, liberal gift to the poore: which bring no profit to the healthy, righteous, and riche, if any suche coulde be found… For whereas in it Christe is geuen vsus for meate: we vnderstande that withoute him we pyne, starue, and fainte, like as famyne destroyeth the liuely strength of the body. Againe whereas he is geuen vsus for lyfe: we vnderstande that without him we are in our selues vtterly dead. Wherefore this is the worthinesse bothe the onelyonly and beste that we can bring to God, if we offer to him our owne vilenesse and (as I may so cal it) vnworthinesse, that of his mercy he may make vsus worthy of him: if we despeire in our selues, that we may be cōforted in him: if we humble our selues, that we may be raised vp of him: if we accuse our selues, that we may be iustified of him: moreouer if we aspire to that vnitie which he commendeth to vsus in his Supper: and as he maketh vsus all, one in himselfe, so if we wishe to vsus all altogether one soule, one hart one …ong. If we hauehave these thinges throughly well weyed and considered, suche thoughtes althoughe they shake vsus, yet shall neuer ouerthrowe vsus. As, howe shoulde we beyng nedy and naked of all good thinges, we defiled with filthinesse of sinnes, we halfe dead, eate the body of the Lorde worthily? We will rather thinke that we being poore come to the liberall geuer, we sicke to the Phisician, we sinners to the author of righteousnesse, finally we dead men to hym that geueth lyfe: that that worthinesse which is commaunded of God, consisteth chefely of Fayth, whiche reposeth all thinges in Christe and nothing in vsus: and nexte of charitie, and the selfe same charitie which it is enoughe to offer vnperfecte to God, that he maye encrease it to better, forasmuche as it can not be geuen perfecte. Some other agreing with vsus in thys, that the worthinesse it selfe consisteth in Fayth and charitie: yet in this measure of worthinesse hauehave gone farr oute of the waye, requiring a perfection of Fayth, whereunto nothing maye be added, and a charitie egall with that which Christ: hath shewed towarde vsus. But hereby they doe none otherwise than those other before, dryue all men awaye from comming to this holy Supper. For if their sentence shoulde take place, no man shoulde receiue but vnworthily, forasmuche as all withoute exception should be holden gyltie and conuicte of their vnperfectnesse. And truelye it were a point of to muche amazed dulnesse, I will not saye foolishnesse, to require such perfection in the sacrament, as may make the sacrament voide and superfluous: which was not ordeined for the perfecte, but for the weake and feble to awake, to stirre vp, to prick forward, and exercise the affection of Faith and charitie, and to correcte the defaut of either of them.
But so much as concerneth the outward forme of doing, whether the faithfull receiue it in their hande or no: whether they deuide it, or eueryevery one eate that which is geuen him: whether they put agayne the cup in the hande of the deacon, or deliuer it to the nexte: whether the bread be leuened, or vnleuened: whether the wyne be redde or white: it maketh no matter. These thinges be indifference and lefte in the libertie of the Chirch. Howbeit it is certayne, that the vsage of the olde Chirch was, that eueryevery one should take it into his hand.Luk. xxii; xvii. And Christ sayde, Diuide it among you. The histories reporte, that it was leuened and common bread before the time of Alexander Bishop of Rome, which first delited in vnleuened bread: but for what reasō, I see not, vnlesse it were with a new sight to draw the eyes of the common people to wondring at it, rather than to instruct their mindes with good religion. I adiure al them that ar touched with any though but light zele of godlinesse, to tel whether they do not euidently see, bothe how muche more brightly the glorye of God shineth herein, and how muche more abundant sweetenesse of spirituall comforte commeth to the faithfull, than in these colde and playerlike trifles, whiche bring one vse but to deceiue the sense of the amazed people. This they call the holding of the people in religion, when beeyng made foolishe and senslesse wyth superstition it is drawen whether they lyste. If any man will defend suche inuentions by antiquitie, I my self also am not ignorant howe aunciente is the vse of the chresme, and blowing in Baptisme: Howe nye to the age of the Apostles the Supper of the LORDE was infected with rustinesse: but this verilye is the waywardnesse of mans boldnesse, whiche can not withholde it selfe but that it muste alwaye playe and be wanton in the mysteries of God. But let vsus remember that God doth so hyely esteme the obedience of his woorde, that he wylleth vsus in it to iudge both his Angels and the whole worlde. Nowe, byddyng farewel to so great a heape of ceremonies: it might thus hauehave ben most comlyly ministred, if it were oft and at least eueryevery weke sette before the Chirch, but that first they should beginne wyth publike prayers: then a sermon should be made: then the minister, hauing bread and wyne set vponupon the borde, shoulde rehearse the institution of the Supper: and then shoulde declare the promises yt are in it lefte vntounto vsus: and therewithall shoulde excommunicate al them that by the lords forbidding ar debarred frō it, afterward they shoulde pray that with what liberalitie ye lord hath geuē vsus this holy foode, he woulde instructe and frame vsus also with the same Fayth and thankfulnesse of mynde to receiue it, and that forasmuch as we are not of our selues, he would of his mercy make vsus worthy of such a banket: that then either Psalmes shold be soong, or somwhat red, and the saythful should in semely order communicate of the holy banket, the ministers breaking the bred and geuing it to the people: that when the Supper is ended, exhortation shold be made to pure Fayth and confession of Fayth, to charitie, and to maners mete for Christians: laste of al that geuing of thankes shold be rehersed, and praises be soong to God: which being ended the congregation shoulde be let goe in peace.
These thinges that we hauehave hetherto spoken of thys Sacramente do large… shewe, that it was not therfore ordeined, that it should be receiued yerely ones, and that slightly for maners sake (as now commonly the custome is) but that it should be in often vse to al Christians, that with often remembrance they should repete the passion of Christe: by which remembrance they might susteyne and strengthen their Fayth, and exhort themselues to sing cōfession of prayse to God, and to publish his goodnesse: finally by which they might nourishe mutuall charitie, and testifie it among themselues, wherof they saw the knot in the vnity of the body of Christ. For so oft as we communicate of the signe of the body of the Lord, we do as by a token geuen and receiued, enterchangeably bynde our selues one to an other vntounto all duties of louelove, yt none of vsus doe any thing wherby he may offende his brother, nor leaue any thing vndone wherby he may helpe hym, when nede requireth and abilitie sufficeth. That suche was the vse of the Apostolike Chirch, Luke rehearseth in the Actes,Act. ii.xlii when he sayth that the faithfull were continuing in the doctrine of the Apostles, in communicating, in breaking of bred, and in prayers. So was it altogether mete to be done, that there should be no assemblie of the Chirch without the word, prayers, partaking of the Supper & almes. That thys order was also institute amōg the Corynthians we may sufficiently gather of Paul: and it is certayne that in many ages afterwarde it was in vse: For thereupon came those olde Canons, which they Father vponupon Anacletus and Calixtus, that when the consecration is done, al should communicate, that will not bee without ye dores of ye Chirch. And it is red in those olde Canons, which they call the Canons of the Apostles: that they which continue not vntounto the ende, and do not receiue the holy communion, muste be corrected as men that moue vnquietnesse of the Chirche. Also in the Councell at Antioche, it was decreed that they which entre into the Chirch, and heare the Scriptures, and do absteine from the communion, should be remoued from the Chirch, til they hauehave amended this faulte. Which, although in the first Councell at Toletum it was either somwhat qualified or at least set fourth in mylder wordes, yet it is there also decreed, that they which when they hauehave heard the sermon are founde neuer to communicate, should be warned: if after warning they absteyne, they should be debarred from it.
Uerily by these ordinances the holy men meant to reteine and mainteine the often vse of the Communion, which often vse they had receiued from the Apostles themselues, whiche they saw to be most holsome for the faythful, and by litle and litle by the negligence of the common people to growe out of vse. Augustine testifieth of hys owne tyme: The Sacrament (sayth he) of this thing,In. vi. ca. Iohan. tract. xxvi. of the vnitie of the Lordes body, is somewhere dayly, somewhere by certayne distances of dayes, prepared vponupon the Lordes table, and is there receaued at the table, to some vntounto lyfe, to other some vntounto destruction. And in the first Epistle to Ianuarius: some doe daily communicate of the body and blood of the Lorde: some receiue it at certaine dayes: in some places there is no day let passe wherein it is not offred, in some other place only vponupon the saturday and the Sonday, and in some other places neuer but on the Sonday. But forasmuch as the common people was (as we hauehave said) somwhat slack, the holy men did cal earnestly vponupon them with sharpe rebukinges, least they should seme to winke at such slouthfulness. Suche an exāple is in Chrysostome vponupon the Epistle to the Ephesians.In cap i. Homil. xxvi. Mat. xxii.xii. It is not sayed vntounto him that dishonored ye banket: wherfore didst thou sit down? but, wherfore didst thou come in? Whosoeuer is not partaker of the mysteries, he is wycked and shamelesse for that he standeth here presente. I beseche you, if any be called to a banket, washeth hys handes, sitteth downe, semeth to prepare hymselfe to eate, and then doth tast of nothing: shall he not shame bothe the banket, and the maker of the banket? So thou, stā ding among them that with prayer do prepare themselues to receiue ye holy meate, haste euen in thys that thou haste not gone away confessed that thou art one of the number of them, at the last thou doest not partake: had it not ben better that thou hadst not ben present. Thou wylte say, I am vnworthy. Therefore neither wast thou worthy of the Communion of prayer, whiche is a preparing to the receiuing of the holy mysterie.
And truely thys custome which commaundeth to communicate yerely ones, is a most certaine inuention of the deuill, by whoes mynisterie soeuer it was brought in. They say that zepherinus was author of that decree, which it is not likely to hauehave ben such as we now hauehave it. For he by his ordinance did paraduenture not after the worst manner prouide for the Chirch, as the times then were. For it is no dout but that then ye holy Supper was set before the faythful so oft as they came together in assemblie: neither is it any dout but that a good part of them did cō municate. But when it scarcely at any tyme happened that al did communicate together, and wheras it was necessarie that they which were mingled with prophane men and idolatrers, should by some outwarde signe testifie their Fayth: the holy man for order and policies sake, appoynted that day, wherin the whole people of Christians should by partaking of the Lordes Supper vtter a confession of their faith. The ordinance of zepherinus being otherwise good, hath ben euel wrested of them that came after, when a certaine law was made of one communicating yerely: wherby it is come to passe, that almost al men when they hauehave ones communicate, as though they had gaily discharged themselues for al the rest of the yere, slepe soundly on bothe eares. It ought to hauehave ben farr otherwise done. EueryEvery weke at the least, the Lordes table shoulde be sett before the assemblie of the Christians: the promises should be declared, which might fede vsus spiritually at it: none should in dede be compelled by necessitie, but all should be exhorted and prycked forwarde: the sluggishnesse also of the slouthfull should be rebuked. All should by heapes, as hungry men, come together to such deynties. Not without rightfull cause therefore at the beginning I complayned, that by the craft of the deuil this custome was thrust in, which whē it apointeth one certaine day of the yere, maketh men slouthfull for all the reste of the yere. We se in dede that this peruerse abuse was crept in euen in the tyme of Chrysostome: but we may also therewithall see how muche it displeased hym. For he complaineth with greuous wordes in thesame place whiche I euen nowe alleged, that there is so great inequalitie of this mater, that often in sometimes of the yere they came not euen whē they were cleane, but at Easter they came euē whē they were vncleane. Then he cryeth out: O custome. O presumption. Then in vaine is the daily offring vsed: in vaine we stande at the altar: there is none that partaketh together with vsus. So farr is it of that he alowed it by his authoritie adioyned to it.
Out of the same shop proceded also an other ordinance, whiche hath stolen away or violently taken away the halfe of the Supper from the better nūber of the people of God: namely the signe of the blood, which beyng denyed to lay and profane men (for with such titles forsothe they set out Gods inheritance) became a peculiar possession to shauen & anoynted men. It is the commaundement of the eternall God, yt al should drynke: which commaundement man dare discontinue and repelle with a new and contrarie law, commaunding that not all shoulde drynke. And that these law makers should not seme to fight wtout reson against their God, they pretende perils that myght happen if this holy cup were commonly geuen to all: as though those dangers had not ben foreseen and marked of the eternal wisdome of God. And then suttelly forsothe they reson, that the one is enough for both. For if (say they) it be the body, it is whole Christ, which can not now be seuered frō hys body. Therfore by Accompanieng the body conteineth the blood. Loe how our wit agreeth with God, when it hath neuer so litle begon with loose reines to be wanton and wilde. The Lord shewing bred, saith that it is his body: when he sheweth the cup, he calleth it his blood. The boldnesse of mans reason, crieth out contrariwise that the bred is the blood, and the wine is the body: as though the Lord had for no cause seuered his body from his blood bothe in wordes and in signes: or as though it had euer ben heard spoken that the body or blood of Christ is called God & man. Uerily if he had ment to signifie whole himselfe, he might hauehave sayed, it is I: as he is wont to speake in the Scriptures, and not, thys is my body, thys is my blood. But he willing to helpe our weaknesse, did set the cup seuerally from the bred, to teache that he sufficeth no lesse for drinke than for meate. Nowe let one part be taken away, then we shall finde but the one halfe of the nourishmentes in him. Therfore although it be true which they pretende, that the blood is in the bred by way of Accompanieng, and againe the body in the cup: yet they defraude godly soules of the confirmation of Fayth whiche Christe deliuereth as necessarie. Therefore bidding their suttelties farewell, we muste holde faste the profit whiche is by the ordinance of Christe in the twoo earnestes.
I knowe in dede that the ministers of Satan doe here cauil as it is, an ordinarie thing with them to make mockerie of the Scriptures. First thei allege that of one bare doing ought not to be gathered a rule wherby the Chirch should be bounde to perpetual obseruing. But they lye when they say that it was but a bare doyng: for Christ did not only deliuer the cuppe, but also did institute that his Apostles should in tyme to come doo the same. For they are the wordes of a commaunder, drinke ye all of this cuppe. And Paule so reherseth that it was a dede, that he also commendeth it for a certain rule. An other starting hole is, that the Apostles alone were receiued of Christ to the partaking of this Supper, whome he had already chosen and taken into the order of the sacrificyng prestes. But I would hauehave them answere me to fiue questions, from which they shall not be able to escape, but that they shall be easily conuinced with their lies. Fyrst, by what oracle hauehave they this solution reueled, beyng so strange from the worde of God? The Scripture reckeneth .xii. that sate with Iesus: but it dothe not so obscure the dignitie of Christ, that it calleth them sacrificing prestes: of which name we will speake hereafter in place fit for it. Though he gaue it then to the .xii. yet he commaunded that they should do the same, namely that they shold so distribute it among them. Secondely, why in that better age, from the Apostles almost a thousand yeres, were al without exception made partakers of bothe the signes? was the old Chirche ignorant what gestes Christ had receiued to his Supper? It were a point of moste desperate shamelesnesse, here to sticke and dally in graūtyng it to bee true. There remayne the ecclesiasticall hystories,Lib. de resur. carnis. Theodorit. lib. iii cap. viii. Eucharistia. Hier. in ii. Mal. Chrysos. in ii. Cor. cap. viii. Eucharistia. there remayne the bokes of the old writers, which minister euident testimonies of this matter. The fleshe (sayth Tertullian) is fed with the body & blood of Christ, that the soule may be fatted with fedyng vponupon God. How (sayd Ambrose to Theodosius) wilt thou receiue with suche handes the holy body of the Lorde? With what boldnesse wilte thou with thy mouthe partake of the cup of the precious blood? And Hierome sayth. The prestes whiche make the Thankesgeuing, and do distribute the blood of the Lorde to the people. Chrysostome, Not as in the olde lawe the prest did eate parte, and the people part: but one body is set before all, and one cuppe. Those thynges that perteine to the Thankesgeuing, are all cōmon betwene the prest and the people. The selfe same thyng dothe Augustine testifie in many places.
But why dispute I about a thyng moste knowen? Let all the Greke and Latine writers be redde ouer: suche testimonies shal echewhere offer themselues. Neither was this custome growen oute of vse, whyle there remained one droppe of purenesse in the Chirch. Gregorie, whom you may rightly say to hauehave ben the last bishop of Rome, teacheth that it was kept in his tyme. What is the blood of the Lambe, ye hauehave nowe learned, not by hearyng but by drinkyng. His blood is poured into the mouthes of the faithfull. Yea it yet endured fower hundred yeares after his death, when all thynges were growen oute of kynde. For neither was that taken onelyonly for an vsage, but also for an inuiolable lawe. For then was in force the reuerence of Gods institution, and they douted not that it was sacrilege, to seuer those thynges which the Lorde hadde conioyned.De consecra dist. ii. ca. Cō per. For thus saieth Gelasius. We hauehave founde, that some receyuyng only the portion of the holy body, do absteyne from the cup. Lett them without dout, because they seme to be boūd with I wot not what superstition, either receyue the Sacramentes whole, or bee debarred from them whole. For the diuidyng of this mysterie is not committed without great sacrilege.Serm v. de laps. Those reasons of Cypriane were heard, which truely ought to moue a christian mynde. How (saith he) do we teache or prouoke them to shed their blood in the confessing of Christe, if we deny his blood to them that shal fyght? Or how do we make them fitte for the cup of Martyrdome, if we do not first in the Chirch by right of communion admitte them to drinke the cup of the Lord? Whereas the Canonistes do restraine that decree of Gelasius to the prestes, that is so childish a cauill that it nede not to be confuted.
Thirdly, why did he simply say of the bread, that they should eate: but of the cuppe, that they shoulde all drinke? euen as if he had meant of set purpose to mete with the craft of Satan. Fowerthly, if (as they would hauehave it) the Lorde vouchesaued to admitt to his Supper onelyonly sacrificyng Prestes, what man euer durst call to the partaking of it strangers whom the Lorde had excluded? yea and to the partakyng of that gifte, the power wherof was not in their handes, without any commaundement of him which onelyonly could geue it? Yea vponupon confidence of what warrant do they vse it at this day to distribute to the common people the Signe of the body of Christ, if they hauehave neither commaundement nor example of the Lorde? Fifthly, did Paule lie, when he saide to the Corynthians, that he had receiued of the Lorde that which he had deliuered to them? For afterwarde he declareth the thyng that he deliuered, that all without difference should communicate of both the Signes. If Paule receiued of the Lord, that al shold be admitted without differēce: let them loke of whome they hauehave receiued, which doo dryue awaye almost all the people of God: because they can not now pretend God to be the author of it with whome there is not yea & nay. And yet still for clokyng of such abhominations they dare pretend the name of the Chirch,ii. Cor. ii.xix. and with suche pretense defende it. As though either these Antechristes were the Chirch, whiche so easily treade vnderunder foote, scatter abroade, and destroy the doctrine & institution of Christ: or the Apostolike Chirche were not the Chirche, in which the whole force of religion florished.