Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 2 · Part 22 – Part 23
The two and twentieth Chapter continueth the exposition of the same text by S. Cyrill, and Dionyse.Hesk.
S. Cyrill is alledged Lib. 4. Cap. 16. in Ioan. Vmbram & figuram nosti, &c. Fulk.Knowest thou the shadowe and the figure? Learne the very truth of the thing. For my flesh (saith he,) is meate indeed and my bloud is drinke in deede. Againe he maketh a distinction betweene the mystical benediction and manna, the streames of water out of the rocke, and the communication of the holie cuppe, that they should not more esteeme the miracle of manna, but rather receiue him which is the giuer of the heauenly bread, and of eternall life. For the nourishment of Manna brought not eternall life, but a short remedie of hunger. Therefore it was not the true meate. But the holie bodie of Christ is a meate nourishing vntounto immortalitie & eternall life. Also that water out of the rocke easied bodily thirst for a short time, neither brought it any thing beside. Therfore it was not that true drinke: but the bloud of Christ, by which death is vtterly ouerthrowen and destroyed, is the true drinke. For it is not the bloud of a man simply, but of him, which being ioyned vntounto a natural life, is become life. Because M. Heskins cannot tell what to gather out of this place for his purpose, he taketh vp yesterdayes colde ashes, of the authorities cited before, by light of them to wrest this place to his purpose, but all remaineth still darke and dyme for his intent. Of the excellencie of the fleshe and bloud of Christe aboue Manna & the water as they were corporal foode, there is neither doubt nor question, nor yet that the same is eaten in the sacrament of the faithfull, but whether it be eaten corporally or spiritually is all the question. And Dionyse the Charterhouse Monke, whome he matcheth vndiscretely with Cyrill, denieth also that the body of Christ is receiued corporally in the sacrament. Verè est cibus animae non corporis, quia non visibiliter nec corporaliter sumitur, quamuis verum corpus sumatur. It is meate in deede, but of the soule not of the bodie, because it is not receiued visibly nor corporally although the very body be receiued. So that the Papistes them selues do not al agree of the maner of receiuing. In this Chapter beside these two expositors are also cited Augustine & Chrysostome. Augustine in Saint Prosper, to auouch the phrase of formes of bread and wine. Caro eius est quam forma panis opertam in sacramento accipimus: & sanguis eius est, quem sub vini specie & sapore potamus. It is his flesh, which we receiue in the sacrament couered with the fourme of bread, and it is his bloud, which we drinke vnderunder the kinde and taste of wine. Beside that this collection of Prosper is not to be found in any of Augustines owne workes, I denie the names of Forma and Species to be taken for accidentes in that sense the Papistes doe: but for a figure or signification, as by the wordes immediately following it is most manifest, which M. Heskins hath moste lewdly suppressed: Caro videlicèt carnis: & sanguis sacramentum est sanguinis: carne & sanguine, vtro que inuisibili, spirituali, intelligibili, signatur spirituale Domini nostri Iesu Christi corpus palpabile, plenum gratia omnium virtutū & diuina Maiestate. That is, the flesh is a sacrament of ye flesh, and the bloud is a sacrament of the bloud, by both of them beeing inuisible, spirituall, intelligible, is signified the spirituall bodie of our Lord Iesus Christe which is palpable, ful of the grace of all vertues, and diuine Maiestie. In these wordes, he calleth the elementes of bread & wine, flesh and bloud, which are sacramentes of his true glorious & palpable bodie which is in heauen: as it is yet more plaine by that whiche followeth: Sicut ergo coelestis panis, qui caro Christi est, suo modo vocatur corpus Christi, cum reuera sit sacramentum corporis Christi, illius videlicet quod visibile, quod palpabile, quod mortale in cruce positum est, vocatur que ipsa immolatio carnis, quae sacerdotis manibus sit, Christi passiō, mors, crucifixio, non rei veritate sed significāte mysterio: sic sacramentum fidei, quod baptismus intelligitur, fides est. As yt heauēly bread which is the flesh of Christ, after a certeine manner, is called the body of Christ, when in very deede it is ye sacrament of the bodie of Christ, which beeing visible, which beeing palpable, which beeing mortall, was put on the crosse, & the very offring of his flesh, which is done by the hands of the priest, is called the passion, death, and crucifying of Christ, not in trueth of the thing, but in a signifying mysterie: so ye sacrament of faith, which is vnderstood to be baptisme, is faith. In these words he affirmeth, the elements to be the bodie & bloud of Christ, as the action of the Priest is his passion, death, & crucifying: & as baptisme is faith, not in trueth of the thing, but in a signifying mysterie. Chrysostome is alledged to proue yt the whole bodie of Christe is in the sacrament. Hom. 24. in 10. ad Cor. 1. Et quando, &c. And when thou seest that thing set foorth, say with thy selfe, for this bodie, I am no more earth and ashes, this bodie being crucified and beaten, was not ouercome by death. This same bodie being bloudied and wounded with a speare, hath sent foorth founteines of bloude and water wholesome to all the world. Here is much a doe, the same bodie is in the sacrament which was crucified. Wee knowe Christ hath no more bodies but euen that one, that was crucifyed, & the same is eaten in the sacrament as in a mysterie, significatiuely, as the same Chrysostome in the same place doth testifie. Quid enim appello inquit communicationem? id ipsium corpus sumus. Quid significat panis? Corpus Christi. Quid autem fiunt qui accipiunt corpus Christi? non multa, sed vnum corpus. For what do I call it (saith he) a participation? We are the verie same bodie. What doth the bread signifie? the bodie of Christ. What are they made that receiue the bodie of Christ? not many bodies but one bodie. Lo here the breade signifyeth the bodie of Christe, which was crucified. And the faithfull that receiue it, are made the same bodie of Christ that was crucified, but all this in a mysterie, not carnally or corporally. What reader of Cambridge he girdeth at, that alledged obiectiōs of Duns against the carnall presence, I knowe not. Duns might frame or reherse more arguments against it, then with al his subtilties he could aunswere: but my thinke M. Hesk. should not enuie this practise, when he himselfe hath neuer an argument nor authoritie almost out of the doctors, but such as he hath of other mens gathering, and not of his own reading, as his manifold mistakins do declare, beside wilfull corruptions and falsifications.
Hesk.The three and twentieth Chapter endeth the exposition of this text by Theophylact & Beda.
Of these two being both of the lower house, the testimonie of Theophylactus maketh nothing for him,Fulke. the saying of Beda maketh much against him. Concerning Theophylact, let them that list read his sentence, for I compt it superfluous to rehearse their testimony, whose authoritie in this matter I will not stand to. But because the opinion of carnall presence was not receiued in this church of England in the age of Beda, nor long after, I thinke it not amisse, to consider his authoritie. He writeth therefore in Ioan. Dixerat superiùs &c. He had sayde before: he that eateth my fleshe & drinketh my bloud, hath life eternall. And that he might shewe howe great a difference is betweene corporall meate, and the spirituall mysterie of his bodie & bloud, he added: my fleshe is meate in deede, & my bloud is drink in deede. Here Beda calleth the sacrament a spiritual mysterie of the bodie and bloud of Christ, which although it be playne against the carnall presence, yet M. Heskins would cloke it with a fonde definition of a mysterie, to be that, (I wot not what,) which conteyneth couertly a thing not to be perceiued by sences or common knowledge, and so the sacrament is a mysterie, conteyning the verie bodie of Christ. Besides that, he remembreth not that Beda calleth it not onelyonly a mysterie, but a spirituall mysterie, I would wit of him, what it is that Beda calleth a spirituall mysterie? if he say ye sacrament, I would further knowe, what he calleth the sacrament? he will aunswere, the formes of breade & wine, for so they determine forsooth. Well, then Christ would not shewe the difference of the spirituall foode of his flesh & bloud which is the thing conteined, but of the accidents of bread and wine, from the corporall foode. O foolishe conclusion of Beda! or rather, O false definition & counterfet exposition of Hesk! For Beda sheweth the excellencie of the spirituall mysterie of Christes bodie and bloud, which is our spirituall foode, aboue the corporall foode, and neuer dreamed of M. Heskins mysterie.