Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 2 · Part 17
Hesk.The seuenteenth Chapter expoundeth the next following by S. Augustine and Cyrill.
The text he will expound, is: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud,Fulk. hath life in him. That this text is not to be expounded of the sacrament, it is manifest by this reason, that many doe eate the sacrament that hauehave not life in them: as Augustine whom he alledgeth most plainly affirmeth. But let vsus see his profes for his exposition. First Augustine. Tr. 26. in Ioā. Hanc non habet &c. He hath not this life that eateth not this bread, nor drinketh this bloud. For without is men may hauehave temporall life, but eternall they can not. He therefore which eateth not his flesh, nor drinketh his bloud, hath no life in him, and he that eateth his flesh and drinketh his bloud, hath life eternall. He hath answered to both, in that he saith, life euerlasting. It is not so in this meate which we take to sustaine the life of this body. For he that shall not take it, shall not liue. Nor yet he that shall take it shall liue. For it may be, that by age or sicknesse, or any other cause, many which hauehave taken it may dye: but in this meat and drinke, that is, the body and bloud of our Lord, it is not so. For both he that taketh it not hath not life, & he that taketh it hath life, and that eternall. Although there be not one word spoken here of the sacrament, and M. Heskins him selfe alledgeth the words following, in which he confesseth that Augustine expoundeth this meate and drinke of the societie of Christ and his members, which is his Church: yet either so blinde or obstinate he is, that with vaine gloses he will go about to drawe Augustine to his side. First (he saith) though this meate signifie the mysticall body of Christe, yet it signifieth not that alone, but his naturall body in the sacrament, whereof he hath neuer a worde in this treatise of S. Augustine: secondly, Augustine did not go about to instruct the people what they should receiue, but how wel they shuld receiue it. Which is vtterly false, for hee doth both, and there is no better way to instruct men howe well they should receiue the sacrament, then to teach them to consider what they do receiue. And therfore the conclusion of this treatise, which he cyteth, is altogether against him. Hoc ergo totum &c. Let all this therfore auayle to this end most welbeloued, that we ea…e not the flesh and bloud of Christ onelyonly in a sacrament, which many euill men doe, but that we eate and drinke euen to the participation of the spirit, that we may remaine in the body of our Lorde as his m…mbers, that we may be quickened by his spirite, and not be offended, although many do nowe with vsus eate and drinke the sacraments temporally, which in the end shal hauehave eternal torments. O…t of these wordes M. Hes doth gather, that Augustine doth acknowledge both spiritual and corporal receiuing: by like, bicause he saith that many euil men do eat and drinke the body & bloud of Christ in a sacrament, but what he meaneth is plain by his owne words in the same treatise. Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam & illum bibere potum, in Christo manere, & illum manentem in se habere. Ac per hoc qui non manet in Christo, & in quo non manet Christus, procul dubio nec māducat spiritualiter carnem eiu…, nec bibit eius sanguinem, licèt carnaliter & visibiliter premat dentibus saecramentum corporis & sanguinis Christi: sed magis tantae rei sacramentum ad iudicium sibi manducat & bibit. This it is therefore to eate that meate, and to drinke that drinke, to abide in Christ, & to hauehave him abiding in him. And by this he that abideth not in Christe, and in whome Christ abideth not, out of dout neither eateth spiritually his flesh, nor drinketh his bloud, although carnally and visibly, hee presse with his teeth the sacrament of the body and bloud of Christ: but rather eateth and drinketh to his owne damnation the sacrament of so excellent a thing. And that the wicked receiue not Christ at all, neither spiritually nor corporally, he writeth in the 59. Tr. in Ioan. Illi manducabant panem Dominum, ille panem Domini contra dominum, illi vitam, ille poenam. They (meaning the Apostles) did eat the bread which was our Lorde, but he (meaning Iudas) did eat the Lords bread against the Lord, they did eate life, hee did eat punishment. Here he denyeth that Iudas did eat Christe, who did only eat the bread which Christ gaue him, and not that bread which was Christe as the rest did. But nowe let vsus see howe Cyrillus doth expound this text of the sacrament In 15. Ioan. Mariet enim &c. Both the natures abide inuiolated, and of them both Christ… is one, but vnspeakably, and beyonde that mans mynde can vnderstand. The woorde conioyned to the manhoode hath so reduced it wholy into him selfe, that it is able to giuegive life to thinges lacking life. So hath it expelled destruction from the nature of man, and death, which by sinne was very strong, it hath destroyed. Wherefore he that eateth the flesh of Christ, hath euerlasting life. For this flesh hath the word of God, which is naturally life. Therefore he saith, and I will raise him againe in the last day. He said I, that is, my body that shall be eaten, shall raise him again. For he is none other then his flesh. I say not that, bicause he is none other by nature, but bicause after his incarnation he suffereth not him selfe to be diuided into two sonnes: I therefore (saith he) which am made man, by my flesh in the last day, will raise them vp, which do eat it.
But yet an other place of Cyrill In 6. Ioan. Cap. 14 Oportet &c. Truely it must needes so hauehave bene, that not only the soule by the holy Ghost should ascend into blessed life, but also that this rude and earthly body by a like natured taste, touching, and meate, should be brought to immortalitie. In neither of both these sentences is one worde of the sacrament, and therefor… they fauour M. Hesk. exposition as much, as nothing at al.