Defense of the True Doctrine of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper, Book 3 · Chapter 5
Fyrste Origen vponupon Mathew reasoneth this matter,Chap. 5. howe Christe maye be called a stranger,The profe thereof by aunciente authors, that is departed into an other cūtrey, seing that he is with vsus alwai vntounto the worldes end, and is among al them that be gathered togither in his name, and also in the middes of them that know him not.Origen. in Mat. tracta. 33. And thus he reasoneth. If he be here among vsus stil, how can he be gone hence as a strā ger departed into an other contrey? Wherevnto he answereth, that Christe is both god and man, hauinge in him two natures. And as a manne he is not with vsus vntounto the worldes ende, nor is present wyth all hys faythfull that bee gathered togyther in his name, but his diuyne power and spirite is euer with vsus. Paule (saith he) was absent from the Corinthes in his body, when he was present wyth them in his spirite. So is CHRIST (sayth he) gone hense and absent in his humanitee, whiche in his diuine nature is eueryevery where. And in this saying (saith Origene) we diuide not his humanitee, (for S. Iohn writeth, that no spirite that diuideth Iesus can be of God) but we reserue to both his natures their owne properties.
In these wordes Origene hath plainly declared his mind, that Christes body is not both present here with vsus, & also gone hence & estranged from vsus. For that were to make two natures of one body, & to diuide the bodye of Iesus, for as much as one nature can not at one tyme be both with vsus, and absent from vsus. And therfore saith Origen, that the presence must be vnderstand of his diuinitie, and the absence of hys humanitee.
August. ad Dardanum epist. 57.And according herevnto S. Augustin writeth thus in a pistle ad Dardan. Doubt not but Iesus Christe as concernynge the nature of his manhode, is now there, from whence he shal come. And remēbre well and beleue the profession of a christian man that he rose from death, ascēded into heauen, sitteth at the righte hande of his father, and from that place, and none other, shall he come to iudg the quick and the dead. And he shal come (as the angels said) as he was sene go into heauen, that is to say, in the same forme & substaunce, vntounto the which he gaue immortalitee, but changed not nature. After this forme (saith he, meaning his mans nature,) we may not thinke that he is eueryevery where. For we must beware, that we do not so stablyshe hys dyuinitee, that wee take awaye the veritee of his body.
These bee S. Augustines plaine wordes.
And by and by after he addeth these woordes. The Lorde Iesus as god, is eueryevery where, and as manne is in heauen. And fynally he concludeth this mattier in these fewe woordes. Doubt not but our lorde Iesus Christe is euerye where as God, and as a dwellar he is in man that is the temple of God, and he is in a certayne place in heauen, bicause of the measure of a very bodye.
And againe S. Augustine writeth vponupon theIn Ioan. tracta 39. gospell of S. Iohn.
Our Sauiour Iesus Christ (saith S. Augustine) is aboue, but yet his truth is here. His body wherein hee arose is in one place, but his truthe is spred euerye where.
And in an other place of the same boke S Augustine expoundyng these woordes of Christe (You shaleuer hauehave poore menne with you,Tract. 50. but me you shall not euer hauehave) saithe: that Christ spake these woordes of the presence of his bodye. For (saith he) as concernyng his diuine maiestie, as concerninge his prouidence, as concerninge his infallible and inuisible grace, these woordes bee fulfilled whiche hee spake: I am with you vntounto the worlds end. But as concerning the flesh which he toke in his incarnation, as concerninge that which was born of the vigin: as cōcerning that which was apprehended by the Iewes, and crucified vppon a tree, and taken doune frome the Crosse, lapped in linnen clothes, and buried and rose againe, and appered after his resurrection, as concernyng that fleshe, he said: You shall not euer hauehave me wyth you. Wherfore seeyng that as concernyng his fleshe, he was conuersaunt with his disciples fortye daies, and they accompanyeng, seyng and folowyng him, he wente vp into heauen, bothe hee is not here, (for hee sytteth at the ryght hande of his father) and yet hee is here, for hee departed not hense, as concernynge the presence of hys diuine Maiestie. As concernynge the presence of his maiestie, wee hauehave Christe euer with vsus, but as concernyng the presence of hys fleshe, he said truely to his disciples: Ye shall not euer hauehave me with you. For as concernynge the presence of hys fleshe, the churche had Christ but a fewe dayes, yet nowe it holdeth hym faste by faythe, though it see him not with eyes,
All these be S. Augustines woordes.
De essentia diuinitatis.Also in an other booke, entitled to sainct Augustine, is written thus. We muste beleue and confesse, that the sonne of god (as cōcerning his diuinite) is inuisible, without a body, immortal, and incircumscriptible, but as concernyng his humanitee, we ought to beleue and confesse, that he is visible, hath a body, and is contayned in a certayne place, and hath truely al the membres of a man.
Of these wordes of S. Augustyne, it is most cleare, that the profession of the catholike fayth is, that Christ (as cōcernyng his bodely substāce and nature of man) is in heauen, and not present here with vsus in yearth. For the nature and property of a very body, is to be in one place, and to occupie one place, and not to be eueryevery where, or in many places at one tyme. And though the body of Christ, after his resurrection and ascencion, was made immortal, yet the nature therof was not chaunged, for than (as saint Augustyn sayth) it were no very body. And further sainct Augustyne sheweth, bothe the maner & fourme, howe Christ is here present with vsus in yearth, & howe he is absent, saiyng, that he is present by his diuine nature and Maiestie, by this prouidence, and by his grace, but by his humaine nature and very body, he is absent frō this worlde, and present in heauen.
Cyrillus likewyse vponupon the Gospel of sainct Ihon agreeth fully with S. Augustyne,Cyrillus in Ihon. lib. 6. ca. 14. saiyng Although Christ toke away frō hence the presence of his body, yet in the Maiestie of his Godhead he is euer here, as he promised to his disciples at his departyng, saiyng: I am with you euer vntounto the worldes ende.
And in another place of the same boke,Libro. 9. cap. 21. sainct Cyril sayth thus.
Christian people must beleue, that although Christ be absent from vsus, as concernyng his body, yet by his power he gouerneth vsus and all thynges, and is present with all them that louelove him. Therfore he sayd, Truly truly, I say vntounto you, whersoeuer there be two or thre gathered together in my name, there am I in the myddes of them. For like as when he was conuersant here in yearth as a man, yet than he fylled heauen, & did not leaue the company of Angels: euen so beyng nowe in heauen with his fleshe, yet he fylleth the yerth, & is in them that louelove him. And it is to be marked, that although Christ should go away onelyonly as concernyng his fleshe, (for he is euer present in the power of his diuinite) yet for a lytle tyme he sayd he would bee with his disciples:These be the wordes of sainct Cyril.
Ambrosius in Lucam. li. 10. ca. 24Sainct Ambrose also sayth, that we must not seeke Christ vponupon yearth, nor in yearth, but in heauen, where he sytteth at the right hand of his father.
Gregorius in Ho. paschatis.And likewyse sainct Gregorye wryteth thus. Christe (sayth he) is not here by the presence of his fleshe, and yet he is absent no where by the presence of his Maiestie.
What subtiltee thynkest thou (good reader) can the Papistes nowe imagyne, to defend their pernitious errour, that Christe in his humayne nature is bodely here in yearth, in the consecrated bread and wyne: seyng that all the olde Churche of Christ beleued the contrary, and all the olde authors wrote the contrary?
For they all affirmed & beleued, that Christe, beyng but one parson, hath neuerthelesse in him twoo natures or substaunces, that is to say, the nature of his Godhead, and the nature of his manhood. They say furthermore, that Christe is both goone hence from vsus vntounto heauen, and is also here with vsus in yearth, but not in his humayne nature, (as the Papistes would hauehave vsus to beleue) but the olde authors saye, that he is in heauen, as concernyng his manhoode, and neuerlesse both here and there, and eueryevery where, as concernyng his Godhead. For although his diuinitee bee suche, that it is infinite, without measure, compasse or place, so that as concernyng that nature, he is circumscribed with no place, but is eueryevery where, and fylleth all the worlde: yet as concernyng his humayne nature, he hath measure, compasse and place, so that whan he was here vponupon yearth, he was not at the same tyme in heauen: and nowe that he is ascended into heauen, as concernyng that nature, he hath nowe forsaken the yearth, and is onelyonly in heauen.