Defense of the True Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, Book 3 · Chapter 11
Chap. 11.The same authors did say also, yt whē Christ called the breade his body, and the wine his blud, it was no propre speache that he than vsed,This is my bodye: this is my bloodde, be figuratiue, speaches. The bread represēteth Christes body, & the wyne hys bloode. but as al sacramentes be figures of other thinges, and yet hauehave the very names of the thinges whiche they do signifye: so Christ institutinge the sacrament of his most precious body and bloode, dyd vse figuratiue speaches, callynge the breade by the name of his bodye, bycause it signified hys body: and the wyne he called his bloude, bicause it represented his bloude.
Tertulia nus cōtra Martionē Libr…. 1Tertulian herein writing against Martion, sayth these wordes. Christ did not reproue bread wherby he did represent hys very body. And in the same booke he saith, that Iesus taking bread, & distributing it amonges his disciples, made it his body, saying, This is my body. that is to saye, (saith Tertulian) a figure of my body. And therefore saithe Tertuliane, that Christe called breade his body. and wyne his bloode, bycause that in the olde Testament breade and wyne were figures of his body and bloode.
Cyprianus libr. 2, Epist. 3And sainct Cyprian the holy martyr saythe of this matter, that Christes bloode is snewed in the wyne, and the people in the water, that is mixte with the wyne: so that the mixture of the water to the wyne, signifieth the spirituall commixtion and ioynynge of vsus vntounto Christe.
By which similitude Cyprian ment not, that the bloud of Christ is vyne, or the people water, but as the water doth signifie & represēt the people, so doth the wyne signify and represent Christes bloud: and the vnityng of the water and wyne together, signifyeth the vnityng of christē people vntounto Christ him selfe.
And thesame sainct Cyprian in another place writyng hereof sayth, De vnctiōe Chrismatisthat Christ in his last supper, gaue to his Apostles with his own hādes bread and wyne, whiche he called his fleshe and bloud, but in the crosse he gaue his very body, to be wounded with the handes of the souldiours, that the Apostles might declare to the worlde, howe and in what maner, bread and wyne may be the flesh and bloud of Christ. And the maner, he straight wayes declareth thus, That those thinges whiche do signifye, & those thinges whiche be signifyed by them, may be both called by one name.
Here it is certayne by sainct Cyprians mynd, wherfore & in what wise bread is called Christes flesh, and wyne his bloud, that is to say, because that eueryevery thyng that representeth & signifyeth another thyng, may be called by the name of the thyng whiche it signifyeth.
And therfore sainct Ihon Chrysostome sayth, Chrysosto. in Psal. 22.that Christ ordayned the table of his holy supper for this purpose, that in that sacrament he should dayly shewe vntounto vsus bread and wyne, for a similitude of his body and bloud.
Sainct Hierome likewyse sayth vpō the gospel of Mathew, Hieronym in Math. 26.that Christ tooke bread, whiche comforteth mans heart, that he might represent therby his very body and bloud.
Ambros. de hijs qui mysterijs initiantur. cap. vlt.Also S. Ambrose (if the booke bee his that is intiteled De hijs que misterijs initiātur ) sayth, that before the cōsecration another kynde is named, but after the consecracion the body of Christ is signified. Christ sayd his bloud, before the consecracion it is called another thyng, but after the consecracion is signified the bloud of Christ.
De sacramentis li. 6. ca. 4And in his boke De sacramentis (if that be also his) he writeth thus. Thou doest receiue the sacrament for a similitude of the fleshe and bloud of Christ, but thou doest obtain the grace & vertue of his true nature. And receiuyng the bread, in that foode thou arte partaker of his godly substāce. And in ye same boke he sayth.Lib. 4. cap. 4. As thou hast in baptisme receiued the similitude of deth, so like wise doest thou in this sacrament drinke the similitude of Christes precious bloud. And againe he sayth in ye sayd boke.Lib. 4. cap. 5. The priest sayth: Make vntounto vsus this oblaciō to be acceptable, whiche is the figure of the body and bloud of our lord Iesu Christ.
And vponupon the Epistle of sainct Paule to the Corinthians,1. Co. 11, he sayth, that in eatyng and drinkyng the bread and wyne, we do signifie the flesh and bloud, whiche were offered for vsus. And the old testament (he sayth) was instituted in bloud, because that bloud was a wytnes of Gods benefite, in significacion and figure wherof, wee take the mistical cuppe of his bloud, to the tuition of our body and soule.
Of these places of sainct Chrysostome, sainct Hierom and sainct Ambrose, it is cleare, that in the sacramentall bread and wyne, is not really and corporally the very natural substance of the flesh and bloud of Christ, but that the bread and wyne be similitudes,Signes & figures hauehave the names of the thīges which thei signifie. mysteries and representacions, significations, sacramentes, figures and signes of his body and bloud: and therefore be called, and hauehave the name of his very fleshe and bloud.
And yet S. Augustyne sheweth this matter more clearely and fully,August. ad Bonifatium Episto. 23. than any of the rest, specially in an Epistle which he wrote ad Bonifatiū, where he sayth, that a day or two before good fryday, we vse in common speeche to say thus, To morowe or this day .ii. dayes, Christ suffered his passion. where in very dede he neuer suffered his passion but ones, and that was many yeres passed. Lykewise vpō Easter day we say, This day Christ rose frō death. where in very deede it is many hundred yeres sithens he rose frō death Why than do not menne reproue vsus as lyers, when we speake in this sort? But because we cal these dayes so, by a similitude of those dayes, wherein these thynges were done in deede. And so it is called that day, whiche is not that day in dede, but by the course of the yere is a like day. And suche thinges be sayd to bee done that day, for ye solemne celebracion of the sacramēt, which thinges in dede were not done that day, but lōg before. Was Christ offereed any more but ones? And he offered him selfe, & yet in a sacrament or representacion, not onelyonly eueryevery solemne feast of Easter, but eueryevery day he is offered to the people, so that he doth not lye, that saith, he is eueryevery day offered. For if sacramentes had not some similitude or likenes of those thynges, whereof they be sacramentes, they could in no wyse bee sacramentes. And for their similitude and lykenes, commonly they hauehave the name of the thynges, whereof they bee sacramētes. Therfore as after a certayne maner of speeche, the sacrament of Christes body, is Christes body: the sacrament of Christes bloud, is Christes bloud: so lykewise the sacramēt of fayth, is fayth. And to beleue is nothyng els, but to hauehave fayth: And therfore whē we answere for yong children in their baptisme, that thei beleue, whiche hauehave not yet the mynd to beleue, we answere that they hauehave fayth, because they hauehave the sacramēt of fayth. And we say also that they turne vntounto God, because of the sacrament of the cōuersion vntounto God, for that answer partaineth to the celebracion of the sacrament. And likewyse speaketh the Apostle of Baptisme, saiyng: that by Baptisme wee bee buryed with him into death: he sayth not, that wee signifie burial, but he sayth plainly, that we be buried. So that the sacrament of so great a thing, is not called but by the name of the thyng it selfe.
Hytherto I hauehave rehersed the answere of S. Augustine vntounto Boniface a learned Byshoppe, who asked of him, howe the parentes & frendes coulde answere for a yong babe in baptisme, and saye in his person, that he beleueth and conuerteth vntounto God, when the childe can neither doo nor thinke any suche thinge.
Whervnto the answere of S. Augustine is this that for as muche as baptisme is the sacramente of the profession of our faith, and of our conuersion vntounto God, it becometh vsus so to answere for yong children comming thervnto, as to that sacrament appertaineth, although the children in deede hauehave no knowledge of suche thinges.
And yet in our said answeres we ought not to be reprehended as vain men or liers, forasmuche as in cōmon speche we vse daily to cal sacramēts and figures by the names of the things that be signified by them, although thei be not the same thing in dede. As eueryevery Good fryday (as oftē as it returneth from yere to yere) we cal it the dai of Christes passion: and eueryevery Easter daye, we call the day of his resurrection: and eueryevery day in the yeare, we saye that Christe is offered: and the sacrament of his body, we call it his body: and the sacramēt of his blud, we cal it his blud: and our baptism S. Paul calleth our burial with Christ And yet in very deede Christe neuer suffered but ones, neuer arose but ones, neuer was offered but ones, nor in very dede in baptisme we be not buried, nor the sacrament of Christs body is not his bodye, nor the sacrament of his bloud is not his bloud. But so they be called, bycause they be figures, sacraments, and representacions of the thinges theym selfe whiche they signifye, and whereof they beare the name.
Thus doth S. Augustine most plainly open this matter in his epistle to Bonifacius.
Of this maner of speache (wherein a signe is called by the name of the thing,Su…er Leui. quest. 57. which it signifieth) speaketh S. Augustine also right largly in his questions super Leuiticum, & contra Adamantium, declaring how bloud in scripture is called the soule. Leui. 17.A thing which signifieth (saith he) is wont to be called by the name of the thing whiche it signifieth, as it is written in the scripture,Be. 41. The vii. eares be vii. yeares. The scripture saith not signyfieth vii. yeares, And vii. kine be. vii. years. and many other lyke.…. Cor. 2. And so saide S. Paule, that the stone was Christe, and not that it signified Christ, but euen as it had bin he in deed, which neuertheles was not Christ by substance, but by significaciō. Euen so (saith S. August.) bicause the bloud signifieth & representeth the soul, therfore in a sacramente or significacion it is called the sowle.
Cōtra Adamantiū cap. 12. Leui. 17And Cōtra Adamantiū he writeth much like, saying: In such wise is blud ye soule, as the stone was Christ, & yet thapostle saith nor, that the stone signified Christ, but saith it was Christ. And this sentence, Bloud is the soule. may be vnderstand to be spokē in a signe or figure, for Christ did not stick to say, This is my body. when he gaue the signe of his body.
Here S. Augustine rehersing diuers sentences, which were spoken figuratiuely, that is to saye, whan one thinge was called by the name of an other, and yet was not the other in substance but in significacion, as that bludde is the soule: vii. kyne be vii. yeares: vii. eares be vii. yeares: the stone was Christe. Amonge suche maner of speeches, he reherseth those words which Christ spake at his laste supper,Math. 26 This is my bodye, whiche declareth plainly S. Augustines mynd, that Christ spake those woordes figuratyuelye, not meaning that the breade was hys bodye by substaunce, but by signifycacion.
And therfore S. Augustine saith Contra Maximinū, Contra Maximinū. li. 3 cap. 22.that in sacraments we must not considre what they be, but what they signifye. For thet be signes of things, beyng one thyng and signyfiyng an other. Whych he doth shew specyally of thys sacrament saying: In lib. sentē tiarum Prosperi de cōscrat. distin. 4. hoc est.The heauenly bread which is Christes flesh, by some manner of speache is called Christes body, when in very deede it is the sacrament of his body. And that offering of the flesh whiche is doone by the priestes handes, is called Christes passion, deathe and crucifiyng, not in very deede, but in a mystycall signyfycacion.
And to this purpose it ys both pleasaunt,Theodoret, in dialogis. comfortable and profytable to reade Theodoretus, in hys Dyaloges, wher he dysputeth & sheweth at length, how the names of thyngs be changed in scrypture, and yet thynges remayne styll. And for exaumple, he proueth, that the fleshe of Chryst ys in ye scrypture sometyme called a vaylor couerynge, some…yme a clothe, sometyme a vestiment, and sometime a stole: & the blud of the grape, is called Christes blood, and the names of breade and wine, and of his fleshe and bloode Christe doth so chaunge, that sometyme he calleth his body, corne or bread, and sometime contrarye he calleth breade, his body. And likewise his bludde sometime he calleth wyne, and sometyme contrary he calleth wyne his bludde.
For the more plaine vnderstandinge whereof, it shall not be amysse to recite his owne saiyngs in his foresaid dialogs, touchīg this matter of the holy sacrament of Christes fleshe and blu…. The speakers in these dialoges bee Orthodoxus the ryghte beleuer, and Eranistes his companion, but not vnderstanding the right faith.
In ye firste Dialoge.Orthodoxus saith to his companion.
Doest thou not knowe that God calleth breade his fleshe?
Eranistes.
I knowe that.
Orth.
And in an other place he calleth his bodye corne?
Eran.
I know that also, for I hauehave heard him saye:Iohn. 12 The hower is come that the sonne of man shalbe glorified. and, Except the grain corn that falleth in the ground, dye, it remaineth sole, but if it dye, than it bringeth forth much frute.
Orth.
Whan he gaue the mysteries or sacramentes, he called bread his body,Mat. 26. Mat. 14 Luc. 22 and that which was myxt in the cuppe, he called bloude.
Eran.
'So he called them.
Orth.
But that also which was his natural bodye, maye well be called his body, and his verye bludde also maye be called his bludde.
Eran.
'It is playne.
Orth.
But oure sauiour without doubt chaunged the names, and gaue to the body the name of the signe or tooken, and to the tooken he gaue the name of the body.Ihon. 15. And so when he called himselfe a vyne, he called blud that, whiche was the token of blud.
Era.
Suerly thou hast spoken the truth, But I would knowe the cause wherfore the names were chaunged.
Orthod.
The cause is manyfest to theim that bee experte in true religion. For he would that they whiche bee partakers of the godly sacramentes, should not sette their myndes vppon the nature of the thynges, whiche they see, but by the chaungyng of the names, should beleue the thynged whiche be wrought in them by grace.Ihon. 12. For he that called that which is his natural body corne and bread, and also called him selfe a vyne, Ihon. 15. Mat. 26.he dyd honour the visible tokens and signes, with the names of his body and bloud, not chaungyng the nature, but addyng grace to nature.
Eran.
Sacramentes bee spoken of sacramentally, and also by theim bee manyfestly declared thynges whiche all men knowe not.
Ortho.
Seyng than that it is certaine, that the Patriarche called the Lordes body,Gen. 46. a vestiment and apparelle, and that nowe we be entred to speake of godly sacramentes, tel me truely, of what thyng thynkest thou this holy meate to be a tooken and figure, of Christes diuinitee? or of his body and bloud?
Era.
It is cleare, that it is the fygure of those thynges, wherof it beareth the name.
Orth.
'Meanest thou of his body and bloud?
Era.
'Euen so I meane.
Orth.
Thou haste spoken as one that loueth the trueth, for the Lorde when he tooke the token or signe, he sayd not, This is my diuinitee, but This is my body, and This is my bloud. And in another place,Iho. 6. The bread whiche I wylle geue, is my fleshe, whiche I wylle geue for the life of the worlde.
Era.
The thynges be true, for they be Gods wordes.
All this wryteth Theodoretus in his fyrst Dialogue.
Dialo. 2.And in the second he wryteth thesame in effect (and yet in some thynges more plainly) against suche heretikes as affirmed, that after Christes resurrection and ascencion his humanitee was chaunged frō the very nature of a mā, & turned into his diuinitee. Against whō thus he writeth
Orth.
Corrupcion, health, sickenes, & death, be accidentes, for they go and come.
Era.
'It is meete they be so called.
Orth.
Mens bodyes after their resurrection bee deliuered from corrupcion, death, and mortalitee, and yet they lose not their propre nature.
Era.
'Trueth it is.
Orth.
The body of Christ therfore did ryse quit cleane from all corruption and death, and is impassible, immortall, glorifyed with the glorye of God, and is honoured of the powers of heauen, and yet it is a body, and hath the same bygnes that it had before.
Era.
Thy saiynges seme true, and accordyng to reason, but after he was ascēded vp into heauen, I thynke thou wylt not say, that his body was turned into the nature of the Godhead.
Orth.
I would not say for the persuacion of mans reason: nor I am not so arrogāt and presumptuous, to affirme any thyng whiche scripture passeth ouer in silence, but I hauehave heard S. Paule crye, that God hath ordayned a day,Act. 17. whan hee wyll iudge all the worlde in iustice, by that mā which he appointed before, performyng his promise to all men, & raisyng him from death. I hauehave learned also of the holy angels,Act. 1. that he wyll comme after that fashion, as his disciples sawe him go to heauen. But they saw a nature of a certaine bygnes, not a nature whiche had no bygnes. I heard furthermore the Lord say,Mat. 24. You shall see the sōne of mā come in y• cloudes of heauē. And I knowe that eueryevery thyng that menne see, hath a certaine bygnes. For that nature that hath no bignes, can not be seen. Moreouer to sytte in the throne of glory, and to sette the Lambes vppon his right hande, and the goates vponupon his left hand, signifyeth a thyng that hath quantitee and bygnes.
Hytherto hauehave I rehersed Theodoretus wordes. And shortly after Eranistes sayth.
Era.
Wee must turne eueryevery stone (as the prouerbe sayth) to seeke out the truth▪ but specially whan godly matters be propounded.
Orth.
Tel me than, the sacramētal signes, whiche be offered to God by his priestes, wherof they be signes sayest thou?
Era.
'Of the Lordes boby and bloud.
Orth.
'Of a very body? or not a very body?
Era.
'Of a very body.
Orth.
Uery wel, for an mage must be made after a true paterne: for Paynters folowe nature, and paynt the images of suche thynges as wee see with our eyes.
Era.
'Truthe it is.
Orth.
If therfore ye godly sacramētes represent a true body, than is the Lordes body yet styll a body, not conuerted into the nature of his Godhead, but replenished with Gods glory.
Era.
It cōmeth in good time, that thou makest mencion of Gods sacramentes for by the same I shall proue, ye Christes body is turned into another nature. Answer therfore vntounto my questions
Orth.
'I shall answere.
Era.
What callest thou that which is offered, before the inuocation of the priest?
Orth.
We must not speake plainly, for it is like that some be present, whiche hauehave not professed Christ.
Era.
'Answere couertly.
Orth.
'It is a norishmēt made of seedes that be like.
Era.
'Than howe call we the other signe?
Orth.
It is also a cōmon name, that signifieth a kynde of drynke.
Era.
But howe doest thou cal them after the sanctification?
Orth.
'The body of Christ, and the bloud of Christ.
Era.
And dost thou beleue that thou art made parttaker of Christes body and bloudde?
Orth.
'I beleeue so.
Era.
Therfore as the tokens of Goddes bodye and bloude, be other thynges before the priestes inuocation, but after the inuocation they be chaunged, and be other thynges: so also the bodye of Christe after his assumption is chaunged into his diuine substaunce.
Orth.
Thou art taken with thyne owne nette. For the sacramentall signes goe not from their owne nature after the sanctification, but continue in theyr former substance, forme, and figure, and may be sene and touched as well as before, yet in our myndes we do consyder, what they bee made, and do repute and esteme them, and hauehave them in reuerence, acordyng to the same thynges that they be taken for. Therfore compare the ymages to the paterne, and thou shalt se them like. For a figure must be lyke to ye thyng it selfe. For Christes bodye hath his former fashion, figure, and bygnesse, and to speake at one worde, the same substance of his body. But after his resurrection, it was made immortall, and of suche power, that no corruption nor deth coulde come vntounto it, and it was exalted to that dignitee, that it was set at the ryght hande of the father, and honoured of all creatures, as the body of hym that is the Lorde of nature.
Era.
But the sacramentall token chaungeth his former name, for it is no more called as it was before, but is called Christes boyde. Therefore must his body after his ascention be called God and not a body.
Orth.
Thou semest to me ignorant, for it is not called his body onelyonly, but also the bread of lyfe, as the Lorde called it. So the bodye of Christe we call a godly body, a body that geueth lyfe, Goddes body, the Lordes body, our maisters bodye, meanyng that it is not a common body, as other mens bodies be, but that it is the bodye of oure Lord Iesu Christ, both god and man.
This hauehave I rehersed of the great clerke and holy byshop Theodoretus, whome some of the Papistes perceyuynge to make so playnely agaynst them, hauehave defamed, sayeng that he was infected with the errour of Nestorius.
Here the Papistes shewe their old accustomed nature and condition, whiche is (euen in a manifest matter) rather to lye without shame, than to geue place vntounto the truthe, & confesse their owne errour. And althoughe his aduersaries falsely bruted suche a fame agaynst hym, whan he was yet alyue, neuerthelesse he was pourged thereof by the whole councel of Calcedon, about aleuen hundred yeares ago.
And furthermore in his boke which he wrote against heresies, he specially condemneth Nestorius by name. And also all his .iii. bookes of his dialoges before rehersed, he wrote chiefly agaist. Nestorius, and was neuer herein noted of errour this thousande yere, but hath euer been reputed and taken for an holy byshop, a great lerned man, and a graue author, vntyl now at this present tyme, when the Papistes hauehave nothyng to answere vntounto hym, they begyn in excusyng of them selues, to defame hym.
Thus muche hauehave I spoken for Theodoretus, which I praie the be not wery to rede (good reder) but often and with delectation, deliberation, and good aduertisement to rede. For it conteyneth playnly and brefely the true instruction of a christian man, concernyng the matter, whiche in this boke we treate vponupon.
First,Fiue principall thinges to bee noted in Theodoretus. that our sauiour Christe in his last supper, when he gaue breade and wyne to his apostles, (sayeuge: This is my bodye, This is my bloud) it was bread which he called his body, & wyne myxed in the cuppe, whyche he called his bloud: so that he changed the names of the bread and wine (which were the misteries, sacraments, signes, figures & tokens of Christes fleshe and bloude) & called them by the names of the thinges, which they dyd represent and signifie, that is to say, the breade he called by the name of his very fleshe, & the wyne by the name of his blud.
Second, that although the names of breade and wyne were changed after sanctification, yet neuerthelesse the thyngs them selues remayned the selfe same, that they were before the sanctification, that is to say, the same breade and wyne in nature, substance, forme and fashion.
The thyrde, seynge that the substance of the bread and wyne be not chaunged, why bee then their names changed? and the bread called Christes flesh, and the wyne his bloud? Theodoretus sheweth, that the cause therof was this, that we shuld not hauehave so muche respect to the breade and wyne (whiche we see with our eies, and tast with our mouthes) as we shuld hauehave to Christe hym selfe, in whom we beleue with our hertes, & fele and tast him by our faith, & with whose flesh and bloud (by his grace) we beleue that we bee spiritually fedde and nouryshed.
These thynges we ought to remembre and reuolue in our myndes, and to lyfte vp our hartes from the bread and wine vntounto Christ that sytteth aboue. And bicause we shuld so do, therfore after the consecration, they be no more called bread & wyne, but the body and bloud of Christe.
The fourth. It is in these sacraments of bread and wyne, as it is in the very bodye of Christe. For as the body of Christe before his resurrection, and after, is al one in nature, substance, bignesse, forme and fashion, and yet it is not called as an other cōmon body, but with addition, for the dignitee of his exaltation, it is called a heauenly, a godly, an immortal, and the Lords body: so lykewyse the breade and wyne, before the consecration and after, is all one in nature, substance, bygnesse, forme, and fashion, and yet it is not called as other common bread, but for the dignitee, whervnto it is taken, it is called with addition, Heauenly breade, the breade of lyfe, and the bread of thankes gyuyng.
The fift, that no man ought to be so arrogant and presumptuous to affirme for a certayn truth in religion any thynge, whiche is not spoken of in holy scripture. And this is spokē to the great and vtter condemnation of the Papistes, which make and vnmake newe articles of oure faithe from tyme to tyme, at their pleasure, without any scripture at all, yea quite and cleane contrary to scripture. And yet wyll they hauehave all men bounde to beleue what so euer they inuent, vponupon peryll of damnation and euerlastyng fyre.
And they woulde constrayne with fyre and fagotte all men to consent (contrary to the manyfest woordes of God) to these their erroures in this matter of the holy sacramente of Christes body and bloude.
Fyrst that there remaineth no bread nor wyne after the consecration, but that Christes fleshe and bloud is made of them.
Seconde, that Christes body is really, corporally, substancially, sensibly and naturally in the bread and wyne.
Thyrdely, that wycked persones doo eate and drynke Christes very body and bloude.
Fourthly, that priestes offer Christ eueryevery day, make of him a new sacrifice propiciatory for syn.
Thus for shortnes of tyme, do I make an end of Theodoretus, with other olde auncient writers, which do moste clerely affirme, that to eate Christes body, and to drynke his bloude, be figuratiue speches. And so be these sentences like wyse, whiche Christe spake at his supper: This is my body, This is my bloudde.