Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 3 · Part 50
The fiftieth Chapter sheweth the vnderstanding of the same …ext by Effrem & Primasius.Hesk.
Effrem is cited in tract. de die Iudicij: Si procul a nobis est Siloe, &c. If Siloe, whither the blinde man was sent, Fulk.be farre from vsus, yet the precious cuppe of thy bloude full of light and life, is neere vsus, beeing so much neerer as hee is purer that commeth vntounto it. This then remayneth vntounto vsus, O mercifull Christ, that being full of grace, and the illumination of thy knowledge, with faith and holinesse wee come to thy cuppe, that it may profite vsus vntounto forgiuenesse of sinnes, not to confusion in the day of iudgement. For whosoeuer being vnworthie, shall come to thy mysteries, hee condemneth his owne soule, not cleansing himselfe, that hee might receiue the heauenly king and the immortall brydegrome into the moste pure chamber of his brest. For our soule is the spouse of the immortall bridegrome, and the heauenly sacramentes are the couple of the marriage. For when wee eate his bodie, and drinke his bloude, both hee is in vsus, and wee in him. Therefore take heede to thy selfe brother, make speede to garnish continually the chamber of thine heart with vertues, that hee may make his dwelling with thee, with his blessed father: And then thou shalt hauehave praise, glorie, and boasting before the Angels and Archangels, & with great ioy and gladnesse thou shalt enter into Paradise.
This saying being directly contrarie, both to the corporall manner of eating and drinking the body and bloud of Christe, and also to that absurde opinion that the wicked receiue the body of Christe: Maister Heskins is not ashamed, not onelyonly to alledge it as making for him, but also tryfleth off the nearnesse of the bloud of Christe, which hee sayeth wee denye, when wee affirme Christe to bee alwayes in heauen. As though the bloude of Christe cannot purge and clense vsus, except it come downe from heauen, and bee powred in at our mouthes. As though faith cannot make Christ him selfe to dwell in vsus.
But where Effrem sayeth, his bloud is so much the neerer, as hee is purer that commeth vntounto it, why cannot M. Hesk. vnderstand, that the more vnpurer the receiuer of the cup is, the further off the bloud of Christ is, and so farthest of all from them that be most vnpure, that is, the wicked and the reprobate? But hee woulde hauehave the bloud of Christ to be as neere the wicked, as the godly. Againe when Ephrem saith: when wee eate and drinke his body and bloude, hee is in vsus and wee in him: with what face can Maister Heskins or any papist in the worlde saye, that the wicked receiue the bodye and bloud of Christe, in whom Christe is not, nor they in him?
The like syncerity hee vseth, in racking the wordes of Primasius: Hee that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud abideth in mee and I in him: As though he should saye: they that so ea… as it is to bee eaten, and so drinke as my bloud is to be dronken. For many, when they seeme to receiue this thing, abide not in God nor God in them, because thei are affirmed to eate their own damnation: M. Hesk. hath so corrupted this place in translation, that you may see hee ment nothing but falshood & trechery. The latine text, he citeth thus. Qui edit meane carneus & bibit meum sanguinem, in me manet & ego in eo, pro eo ac si diceret: qui sic edent vsus edenda est, & sic bibent vsus bibendus est sanguis meus. Multi enim cùm hoc videantur acciper…, in Deo non manent, nec Deus in ipsis, quia sibi iudicium manducare perhibentur. He translateth in English thus. He that eateth my fleshe and drinketh my bloud, dwelleth in mee and I in him: As if he should say, they that so shal eate my flesh as it is to be eaten, and shall so drinke my bloud as it is to be dronken. For many when they are seene to receiue this sacrament, neither dwell they in God nor God in them, because they are witnessed to eate and drinke their owne damnation.
Now let the reader, though hee bee but a meane Latinist, iudge whether he hauehave not corrupted Primasius in translation, especially where hee sayeth: Multi cùm hoc videantur accipere, whiche is, manye when they seeme to receiue this thing, namely the body and bloud of Christe, of whiche hee spake, Maister Heskins turneth it into manye, when they are seene to receiue this sacrament. Many seeme to bee Christians, that are not: many seeme to bee baptized with the holy Ghoste, which are not: so many seeme to eate and drinke the bodie and bloud of Christe, which doe not, because God dwelleth not in them, nor they in God. Therefore, take awaye Maister Heskins false (translation, and this saying of Primasius is directly against him, that wicked men receiue not the bodie and bloude of Christe. And wheras hee noteth that the sixte of Iohn and Saint Paule in this texte speake of one thing, it is cleane contrarye: for Christe speaketh of that, which is testifyed and giuen in the sacrament to the faithfull, Paule of the sacrament receiued vnworthely. And Primasius ioyneth them to shewe the diuersitie of these textes, and not as though they signified one thing. For by Saint Paule hee prooueth, that not all eating and drinking, is the eating and drinking of the bodie and bloude of Christe, but the eating and drinking worthily.