Full and Easy Satisfaction, Part 4 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Argum. 5. All theſe miracles have not the leaſt proof; yea, the Scriptures fully direct us to a croſs interpretation of the Papiſts pretended proofs; which alſo are renounced by themſelves.
I Know of no Scripture proof in the World that the Papiſts pretend to, but the words, This is my Body, and This is my Blood, and ſuch like. And that theſe are no proof I ſhall fully prove to any impartial man.
I. The very nature of the Sacrament inſtituted by Chriſt with his expreſſed End, command our Reaſon to expound the word [is] of ſignification, repreſentation or exhibition, and the word [Body] and [Blood] of a new Relative form only, that is, of a body and blood Repreſentative, (which is all one in effect): As a piece of Gold, Silver, or Braſs, is by the law and ſtamp turned really into the Kings Current Coine; and ſo hath a new Relative form: ſo that you may truly ſay that there is a change made of the Gold, or Silver into the Kings Coyn: and it is no more to be called meer Gold or Silver (though it be Gold and Silver ſtill), becauſe the form denominateth, and the new form is now that in queſtion which muſt denominate. Or as a Prince that is marryed in effigie or by a Repreſentative to a woman, is not there perſonally; and yet it is aptly ſaid, This is the Prince which is betrothed or marryed to thee. Or as we ſay of Pictures, This is Peter, or Paul, or John. Or as when we deliver a man poſſeſſion of a Houſe by a Key, or of Land by a twig and a turf, or of a Church by the belrope, &c. and ſay, Take, this is ſuch a Houſe, or ſuch a piece of Land, or Church, &c. As this is ordinary intelligible ſpeech among all men, ſo Chriſt tells them that he would be ſo underſtood.
1. In that his Real natural body ſpake this, of the Bread and Wine which was not his natural body: His real natural body was preſent, viſible, entire, unwounded, his blood unſpilt, and did eat and drink (the other, as the Papiſts hold, as being the ſame): And can any living man imagine that the Diſciples who underſtood not his Death, Reſurrection, Aſcenſion, &c. yet underſtood by theſe four words, when they ſaw Chriſts body alive and preſent, that this Bread and Wine was that ſame Body and Blood, without any more queſtioning?
2. In that he bids them, Do this in Remembrance of him; which plainly ſpeaketh a commemorating ſign: Who will ſay at his laſt farewell when he is parting with his friends, I will ſtay among you, or keep me among you, in Remembrance of me? So for Chriſt to ſay, Eat me in remembrance of me, were ſtrange.
II. It may put all out of Controverſie to find, that Chriſts words of one half of the Sacrament are (as they confeſs) figurative; therefore the other muſt be ſo judged alſo. Luk. 22.20. This Cup is the new Teſtament in my blood, which is ſhed for you: 1 Cor. 11.25. [This Cup is the new Teſtament in my blood.] And here no man denyeth a double Trope at leaſt: no man expoundeth it, that the Cup or the Wine was the New Teſtament it ſelf. And yet it is as expreſly ſaid, as it is that the Bread is the Body it ſelf. How then will they prove that one is ſpoken properly, and the other figuratively?
III. There is no more found in theſe words to aſſert the Bread to be Chriſts Body, than is found in a multitude of ſuch phraſes in Scripture aſſerting things which all men expound otherwiſe. As in Joh. 15.1. I am the Vine and my Father is the husbandman: Joh. 10.7, 9. I am the door— Joh. 10.14. I am the good Shepherd and know my Sheep: Pſal. 22.6. I am a worm and no man (which being a propheſie of Chriſt, a Heretick imitating you, might deny Chriſts humanity:) 1 Cor. 10.4. That Rock was Chriſt— 1 Cor. 12.27. Ye are the body of Chriſt — Mat. 5.13, 14. Ye are the Salt of the earth: Ye are the lights of the World— Joh. 6.63. The words that I ſpeak unto you they are ſpirit and they are Life. Abundance ſuch are in the Scripture, as All fleſh is graſs: Chriſt is the Lamb of God: the Lyon of the Tribe of Juda; the bright Morning Star; the head Corner Stone, &c.
And it is yet more fully ſatisfactory, that the Hebrew conſtantly putteth [is] for [ſignifieth] as you may find in all the old Teſtament; having no other word ſo fit to expreſs [ſignifying] by: And as Chriſt ſpake after that manner, ſo the New Teſtament ordinarily imitateth; As Daniel and the Revelation agree in ſaying, of the Viſions, This is ſuch or ſuch a thing, inſtead of this ſignifieth it. So Chriſt, Matth. 13.21, 22, 23, 37, 38, 39. He that ſoweth is the Son of man: the field is the world: the good ſeed are the Children of the Kingdom; the tares are the children of the wicked one: the enemy is the Devil, the Harveſt is the end. The reapers are the Angels— And thus ordinarily.
IV. Yea, the ſame kind of phraſe uſed before in the Paſſeover, teacheth us how to expound this: Exod. 12.11. Ye ſhall eat it in haſte, It is the Lords Paſſeover— verſ. 27. It is the ſacrifice of the Lords Paſſeover.
V. Yea the ordinary way and phraſe of Chriſts teaching may yet farther put us out of doubt. For he uſually taught by Parables, and expreſſeth his ſenſe by ſuch aſſertions: As Matth. 13.3. Behold a ſower went out to ſow, &c. Luk. 15.11, 12. A certain man had two ſons, and the younger ſaid, &c. Luk. 12.16. The ground of a certain Rich man, &c. Luk. 16.19. There was a certain Rich man, &c. Mat. 21.28. A certain man had two ſons, &c. Verſ. 33. There was a certain houſholder which planted a Vineyard, &c. The Goſpel aboundeth with ſuch inſtances, which teach us how to interpret theſe words of Chriſt.
VI. But moſt certainly all thoſe forementioned texts teach it us, which expreſly call it Bread after the Conſecration. If we will not believe the Holy Ghoſt himſelf, who ſo frequently calleth it bread, it is in vain to alledge any text of Scripture in the Controverſie.
Now to feign a courſe of ordinary Miracles, Greater and more than Chriſts, and this to every Prieſt, how ignorant and impious ſoever; to pretend that every Pope and Biſhop can for money ſell the Holy Ghoſt or the Gift of Miracles, in Ordination; and all this when no eye ſeeth the Miracles, when it is confeſſed that Angels cannot naturally ſee it, yea when all mens ſenſes perceive the contrary; and all this becauſe, that Chriſt ſaid This is my Body, while abundance ſuch ſayings in Scripture, yea the words about the Cup it ſelf, are confeſſed to be tropical, and when the Scripture expreſly telleth us that there is Bread. Judge whether it be poſſible for Satan to have put a greater ſcorn upon the Chriſtian faith, or a greater ſcandal before the enemies of it, or a greater hinderance to the Worlds Converſion, than to tell them, you muſt renounce not only your Humanity but all common ſenſe, if you will be Chriſtians, and be ſaved, or ſuffered to enjoy your eſtates and lives.
VII. Laſtly, It is ordinary with their ſubtileſt Schoolmen to confeſs that this their doctrine of Tranſubſtantiation cannot be proved from Scripture, and that they believe it only becauſe their Church ſaith it, which muſt be believed, and becauſe that by the ſame ſpirit which wrote the Scripture, the Church is taught thus to expound it. So that all their faith of this is by them reſolved into a phanatick pretence of Inſpiration; As I have elſewhere ſhewed out of Durandus, Paludanus, Scotus, Ockam, Quodl. 6. li. 5. q. 31. Rada vol. 4. Cont. 7. a. 1. pag. 164, 165.
And no General Council ever determined it till that at Rome under Innoc. 3. Where ſaith Matth. Paris, many decrees were propoſed or brought in by the Pope which ſome liked and ſome diſliked. And this was 1215 years after Chriſts birth. And Stephanus Aeduenſis is the firſt in whom the name of Tranſubſtantiation is found, about the year 1100.