Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 2 · Part 10
The tenth Chapter prouing against the aduersaries that the bodie of Christ may be & is in moe places then one as once.Hesk.
M. Heskins taketh occasion of the doubtful (how) of ye Iewes, to answer ye proclaimers (how) that is,Fulke. how Christs body may be in a thousand places & moe at once: & first he trifleth of ye number of places, as though hee required no lesse then a thousand: then he bableth against natural Philosophie, as though our faith were buylded therevpon, whereas the Papistes, and especially the schoolmen, (euen to lothsomnesse) do reason out of natural philosophie in the greatest mysteries of faith. But to put him out of doubt, we buyld vponupon the Scripture our faith, of the trueth of Christes bodie, that it cannot bee in more places then one, because the Apostle sayth, that in respect of his humaine nature, he was made like to his brethren in all things, sinne excepted: Heb. 2. And therefore, where as he will aunswere vsus first by Ambrose, De inition. Myst. Cap. Quid hic, &c. What seekest thou here the order of nature in Christes bodie, seeing the selfe same our Lorde Iesus besides nature was borne of a virgin? I say, he aunswereth nothing to the purpose: for neither doth Ambrose speak of the presence of his bodie in more places then one, nor of any carnall presence in the sacrament, but of a mysticall, diuine, and significatiue presence, as is manifest by his wordes that followe immediatly, which M. Heskins, as his custome is, hath craftely suppressed. Vera vti que , car… Christi, que crucifixa est, quae sepulta est: verè ergo carnis illius sacramentum est. Ipse clamat Dominus Iesus: Hoc est corpus meum: Ante benedictionem verborum Coelestium alia species nominatur, post consecrationem corpus Christi significatur. Ipse dicit sanguinem suum: ante consecrationem aliud dicitur, post consecrationem sanguis nuncupatur. It was the true fleshe of Christ which was crucified, which was buryed: therefore it is truely, the sacrament of that fleshe. Our Lorde Iesus him selfe cryeth: This is my bodie: before the blessing of the heauenly wordes, it is called another kinde, after the consecration, the bodie of Christe is signified. Hee him selfe sayth, it is his bloud: before consecration it is called another thing, after consecration it is called bloud. By this place you see, that ye Lords supper is the sacrament of his true fleshe that was crucified, and that the bodie of Christ is signified by it. Here is no one worde sounding either to the carnall presence▪ or to the presence in many places.
His second proofe is out of Augustine, that Christ was both in his owne hands, & in his twelue Apostles hands, in Psal. 33. And he was borne in his owne hands. But brethren, howe may this be done in man, who can vnderstande? who is borne in his owne hands? A man may be carried in thè handes of other men, in his owne handes no man is borne. Howe it may be vnderstanded in Dauid, according to the letter, we find not. But in Christ we finde it. For Christ was borne in his owne hands, when he commending his owne body sayd: this is my bodie. I passe ouer, that he translateth, comendans ipsum corpus, giuing forth the selfe same bodie. But howe fraudulently he abuseth the authoritie of Augustine, it is manifest by that which followeth, & ipse se portabat quodam modo cum diceret, hoc est corpus meum. And he carried him selfe after a certein maner, when he sayde: this is my bodie. These wordes declare, that Augustine woulde not teach, that Christe absolutely did beare him selfe in his hands, as M. Heskins would beare vsus in hand, but after a certeine maner. And no man writeth so plainly, of the necessitie of Christes bodie to be in one place, as he. I will cite one onelyonly short place, to auoide tediousnesse: In Ioan. Cap. 7. Tr. 30. Sursum est Dominus, sed etiam hîc, & veritas Dominus. Corpus enim Domini, in quo resurrexit, vno loco esse potesti veritas eius vbi que diffusa est. The Lord is aboue, and he is also here, and the Lorde is trueth. For the Lordes bodie, in which he rose againe, can be but in one place, but his truth is spread ouer all places. This saying, beside that it limitteth the bodie of Christe to one place, will expound the other sayings, which he bringeth out of Chrysostome, Basil, &c. that Christ is both in heauen and on earth.
The next proofe is out of the Liturgies of Basil and Chrysostome, which he calleth their masses, although writen by neither of them. The wordes in effect are all one, and therefore it were vaine to rehearse them both: Looke ô Lorde Iesu Christ our God, from thy holie habitation, and from the seat of the glorie of thy kingdome, and come to sanctifie vsus, which sittest aboue with thy father, and art present with vsus beneath inuisibly, vouchsafe with thy mightie hande to giuegive vntounto vsus thy immaculate bodie and precious bloud, and by vsus to all thy people. The distinction of the two natures in Christ, will soone aunswere this presence of Christe, both in heauen and in earth, as in the late rehearsed sentence of Augustine. And Basil him selfe, in his booke de Spiritu Sancto Cap. 22. prooueth the Holie Ghoste to be God, because he is reported in Scripture to be present in diuerse places at once, so that, except wee will with Eutyches ouerthrowe the trueth of Christes bodie, wee must holde that it is in one onelyonly place at one time, and not in many places, or eueryevery where.
But Chrysostome (I trowe) shall helpe him In 10. Heb. Hom. 17. This sacrifice is an exemplar of that, we offer the selfe same alwayes. Neither do we nowe offer one Lambe, and tomorrow another, but the selfe same thing alwayes. Wherefore this sacrifice is one. Or else by this reason, because it is offered in many places, there are many Christes. Not so, but one Christ is eueryevery where, both here being full, and there full, euen one bodie And as he, that is euerie where offered, is one bodie, & not many bodies: Euen so also is it one sacrifice.
First, M. Heskins here, I knowe not for what cause, peruerteth the order of Chrysostomes wordes, for where he sayeth: Alioqui hac ratione, Heskins setteth them down vn…m est hoc sacrificium hac ratione. Alicqui, &c. Secondly, which is no newe thing in him, he leaueth out that which is the resolution of all this doubtfull disputation, namely, that which followeth: Hoc autem quod facimus in commemorationem quidem fit eius, quod factum est. Hoc enim sacite, inquit in meam commemorationem. Non aliud sacrificium sicut Pontifex, sed idipsum semper facimus, magis autem recordationem sacrificij operamur. But this which we do is done truely in remembrance of that which was done before. For do this (sayeth he) in remembrance of mee. We do not offer another sacrifice, as the high Priest, but the selfe same alwayes, but rather wee exercise the remembrance of the sacrifice.
Here is nowe that sacrifice which is offered eueryevery where, by a necessarie correction, brought to the remembrance of that sacrifice, which was once offered on the crosse, but is celebrated eueryevery where in the ministration of the sacrament. And the same wordes afterward falsely ascribed to Ambrose, hauehave the same interpretation. The other place vponupon the 38. Psalme, differeth not in sense, That Christ is offered on earth, when his bodie is offered. For he speaketh but of a remembrance, or commemoration of the sacrifice of Christe, euen as Chrysostome, and as he him selfe teacheth, lib. 4. Chap. 5. de Sacram. The wordes of the Priest in the celebration. Fac nobis (inquit) haenc oblationem ascriptam, rationabilem, acceptabilem: quod est figura corporis & sanguinis Domini nostri Iesu Christi. Make (sayeth he) this oblation vntounto vsus ascribed reasonable, acceptable: which thing is the figure of the bodie and bloud of our Lorde Iesus Christ. This was the Priest wont to say in the celebration of the supper in Saint Ambrose time. And againe Chap. 6. Ergo memores gloriosissimae eius passionis, & ab inferis resurrectionis, & in Caelum ascensionis, offerimus tibi hanc immaculatam hostiam, rationabilem hostiam, incruentam hostiam, hunc panem sanctum, & calicem vitae aeternae, &c. Therefore being mindfull of his most glorious passion and resurrection from hell, and ascention into heauen, we offer vntounto thee this vndefiled sacrifice, this reasonable sacrifice, this vnbloudie sacrifice, this holie bread, and cup of aeternall life. Wee see therefore, that the sacrifice was a remembrance and thanksgiuing, for the onelyonly true sacrifice of Christ once offered by him selfe for all.
To conclude, because I will omitt Bernard a late writer, not to be heard in this controuersie: Chrysostome in his booke de Sacerdotio, lib. 3. speaketh not contrarie to him selfe in other places, saying: O miracle, O the goodnesse of God, he that sitteth aboue with his father in the same point of time, is handled with the handes of all, and deliuereth himselfe to them that will receiue him and imbrace him. Wherefore, this hyperbolical exclamation proueth no more, yt Christes bodie is both in heauen & on earth: then these words of his proue that our bodies are both in heauen & earth, ad Pop. Antioch. Hom. 55. Morduca me, dixi, bibe me, & te sarsum habeo, & deorsum tibi connector. I sayde eate me, drinke mee. I hauehave thee both aboue, and am knitt to thee also beneath. Hitherto therefore nothing is brought to proue that Christes bodie may be in more places then one.