Defense of the True Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, Book 3 · Chapter 10
Chap. 10So that these speches, To eate Christes body and drynk his bloud, be speches not taken in the proper signification of eueryevery worde,To eate Chrystes fleshe and drynk his bloud, bee figuratiue speeches. but by translation of these wordes (eatyng and drinkyng) from the signification of a corporal thyng, to signifie a spiritual thyng: and by callyng a thyng that signifieth, by the name of the thyng which is signified therby. Which is no rare nor strāge thyng, but an vsual maner and phrase in cōmon speeche. And yet least this fault shulde be imputed vntounto vsus, that we doo fayne thynges of our owne heades without authoritee (as the Papistes bee accustomed to do) here shalbe cited sufficient authoritee, as well of scripture, as of olde auncient authors, to approue the same.
Fyrst when our sauiour Christ in the sixte of Iohn sayd, Ioh. 6.that he was the bread of life, the whē che whosoeuer did eate, should not dye, but liue for euer. & that the bread whiche he would geue vsus, was his fleshe, and therefore whosoeuer should eate his fleshe and drynke his bloud, should hauehave euerlastyng lyfe, and they that should not eate his fleshe and drynke his bloud, should not hauehave euerlastyng life. When Christ had spoken these woordes, with many mo of the eatyng of his fleshe and drinkyng of his bloud, both the Iewes & mani also of his disciples wer offended with his wordes, and sayd: This is an hard saiyng. For howe can he geue vsus his fleshe to be eaten?Christ perceiuing their murmuring heartes (because they knewe none other eatyng of his fleshe, but by chawyng and swalowyng) to declare that they should not eate his body after that sorte, nor that he ment of any suche carnall eatyng, he sayd thus vntounto theim. What if you see the sonne of man ascende vp where he was before? It is the spirite that geueth life, the fleshe auayleth nothyng. The wordes whiche I spake vntounto you, be spirit and life.
These wordes our sauior Christ spake, to lift vp their myndes frō yearth to heauen, & frō carnal to spiritual eatyng, that thei should not phā tasy, that they should with their trethe eate him presētly here in yearth, for his flesh so eatē (sayth he) should nothyng profite them. And yet …o thei should not eate him, for he would take his body away from them, and ascend with it into heuen. And there by fayth, & not with teeth, they should spiritually eate him sittyng at the right hand of his father. And therfore (sayth he) The wordes whiche I do speake, be spirite and life. that is to say, are not to be vnderstand, that we shall eate Christ with our teethe grossely and carnally, but that we shall spiritually & gostly with our fayth eate him, beyng carnally absent from vsus in heauen. And in suche wyse, as Abraham and other holy fathers did eate him, many yeres before he was incarnated and borne.1 Cor. 10 As S. Paule sayth, that they did eate the same spiritual meate that wee do, and dranke the same spirituall drynke, that is to saye, Christe. For they spiritually by their fayth were fed and norished with Christes body and bloud, and had eternal life by him, before he was borne, as we hauehave nowe, that come after his ascencion.
Thus hauehave you hearde, the declaracion of Christe him selfe and of sainct Paule, that the eatyng and drinkyng of Christes fleshe & bloud,1. Cor. 10. is not taken in the common signification, with mouthe and teethe to eate and chawe a thyng beyng present, but by a liuely fayth in heart and mynde to chawe and degest a thyng beyng absent, either ascended hence into heauen, or els not yet borne vponupon yearth.
Origen. in Leuit. ho. 7And Origene declaryng the sayd eatyng of Christes flesh and drinkyng of his bloud, not to be vnderstand as the wordes do sound, but figuratiuely, wryteth thus vponupon these woordes of Christ: Except you eate my fleshe and drinke my bludde, you shall not hauehave lyfe in you. Considre (saith Origen) that these thinges written in gods bokes, are figures, and therefore examine and vnderstande them as spirituall, and not as carnall men. For if you vnderstand them as carnall menne, they hurte you and feede you not. For euen in the gospels is there founde letter that kylleth. And not only in the olde testamente, but also in the newe is there found lettre, that slayeth him, that doth not spiritually vnderstande that whiche is spoken. For if thou folowe the lettre or woordes of this that Christe saide: Excepte you eate my fleshe and drinke my bludde. this lettre kylleth.
Who canne more plainlye expresse in any wordes, that the eatinge and drinkinge of Christes fleshe and blood, are not to be taken in common significacion, as the wordes pretend and sound, than Origene doth in this place?
And S. Iohn Chrysostom affirmeth the same saying, Chrisostom. in Ioannem Hom. 26.that if any man vnderstand the woordes of Christ carnally, he shall surely profite nothyng therby. For what meane these woordes, The fleshe auaileth nothinge? He ment not of his fleshe (god forbid) but he ment of them that fleshely and carnally vnderstode those thynges that Christe spake. But what is carnall vnderstanding? To vnderstand the woordes simply as they be spoken, and nothinge els. For we ought not so to vnderstande the thinges which we se, but all misteries must be considered with inwarde eies, and that is spirituallye to vnderstande theim.
In these wordes S. Iohn Chrysostome sheweth plainli that the words of Christ, cōcerning the eating of his flesh, and drinking of his blud, are not to be vnderstande simply, as they be spoken, but spiritually and figuratiuely.
Aug…stinus de d…ctrina christ lib 3.And yet most plainly of all other, S. Augustine doth declare this mater in his boke De doctrina christiana, in which boke he instructeth christian people, how they should vnderstande those places of scripture, which seem hard and obscure.
Seldō (saith he) is ani difficulty in proper wordes, but either the circumstāce of ye place, or ye conferring of diuers translatiōs, or els the original tonge wherin it was written, wyl make the seuce plaine. But in woorde that be altered from their propre significatiō, there is great diligence and heed to be takē. And specially we must beware, that w… take not literally any thing that is spoken figuratiuely. Nor contrary wise we must not take for a figure any thing, that is spoken properly Therfore muste be declared (saith S. Augustine) the manner how to discerne a propre speache from a figuratiue. wherin (saith he) must be obserued this rule, that if the thing which is spokē, be to ye furtherance of charite, than it is a propre speache, & no figure. So that if it be a cōmaundemēt, that forbiddeth any euel or wicked act, or commaundeth any good or beneficiall thing, than it is no figure. But if it commaūd any yll or wicked thinge or forbid any thing that is good and beneficiall, than is it a figuratiue speache. Nowe this saying of Christ (Excepte you eate the fleshe of the sonne of manne and drinke his bloode,Iohn. 6. you shall hauehave no lyfe in you) seemeth to commaunde an haynous and a wicked thynge, therefore it is a figure commaundynge vsus to be partakers of Christes passion, keeping in our mindes to our great comfort and profite, that his flesh was crucified and woūded for vsus.De catec… rudib. ca. Contra aduers. legis & Prophe… cap. 9.
This is briefly the sentence of S. Augustine in his booke De doctrina christiana.
And the lyke he writeth in his booke De catechisandis rudibus, and in his booke Contra aduersarium legis & prophetarum, and in diuers other places, which for tediousnes I passe ouer.
For if I shuld reherse al ye authorities of S. Augustin and other, which make mentiō of this matter, it woulde weary the reader to muche.
Wherefore to all them that by any reasonable meanes wyll bee satysfyed, these thinges before rehearsed are suffyciente, to proue that the eatynge of Christes fleshe and drinkynge of hys blood ys not to be vnderstand symplye and plainely (as the woordes do properly sygnyfye) that we do eat and drink hym with our mouths, but it is a figuratiue speach spiritually to be vnderstand, that we must depely print and frutefully beleue in our hartes, that hys flesh was crucifyed, and his blud shed for our redemption. And this our beliefe in him, is to eate hys fleshe and to drynk hys blud, although they be not present here with vsus, but be ascēded into heauē. As once forefathers before Christs time, did likewise eat hys fleshe and drunke his bludde, which was so farre from them, that he was not yet then borne.