Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 3 · Part 52 – Part 53
The two and fiftieth Chapter endeth the exposition of this texte by Theodoret and Anselmus.Hesk.
In the beginning of this Chapter, he maketh much adoe that Damascenes authoritie might be receiued,Fulke. and so he shoulde hauehave twelue which make a quest, to giuegive verdict in this matter. But seeing Damascene cannot be taken, hee presumeth him selfe to bee the foreman of the quest, and to speake for all the rest. But because he was neuer impannelled, nor returned foreman of the quest, wee will not take the verdicte or rather the falsedict at his mouth, but as the manner of Lordes of the parleament is, to let eueryevery man giuegive his verdict for him selfe, so I wish the reader to consider their seuerall sayinges, and hee shall finde, that not one of them, being rightly vnderstoode, speaketh on Maister Heskins syde.
But Theodoret (hee sayeth) though Cranmer would deceiue the people by his authoritie, is altogether on their syde. Hee citeth him in. 1. Cor. 11. Hic eos quidem pungit, &c. Here truely he pricketh them that were sicke of ambition. Also he pricketh him, which had committed fornication, and with them, those that without any difference were partakers of those thinges that were offered to idols. Besides them, also vsus, which with an euill conscience, dare receiue the diuine sacraments. As for that hee sayeth: He shalbe guiltie of the bodie and bloud, signifyeth this, that as Iudas betrayed him, and the Iewes mocked and reuyled him: euen so doe they dishonour and disworship him, which receiue his moste holie bodie with filthie handes, and put it into a filthie and defiled mouth.
Here Maister Heskins noteth, that the bodie of our Lorde is receiued with hande and mouth, cleane or vncleane. In deede the sacramentes, which are called by the name of that whereof they bee sacramentes, are so receiued, and of them doeth Theodoret speake, by expresse wordes. Another sentence hee alledgeth out of the same Chapter: Sacram illam & ex omni parte beatam noctem, &c. Hee calleth againe to memorie that holye, and by all meanes blessed night, in which hee both made an ende of the figuratiue passeouer, and shewed the true paterne of the figure, and also opened the gates of the wholesome sacrament, and gaue not onelyonly to the eleuen Apostles, but also to Iudas the traytour, his moste precious bodie and bloud. To this I aunswere, as before, that hee calleth the sacrament which hee gaue, the precious bodie and bloude of Christe, not that hee meant that ye bread and wine in the sacrament are turned into the bodie and bloude of Christe, and so giuen to good and badd, but that the signes beare the names of the thinges signifyed, as shall moste plainly appeare by the woordes of Theodoret him selfe in his firste dialogue called Incommutabilis.
Orthodoxus: Scis quòd Deus suum corpus appellauit panem? Eranistes. Scio. Orthodoxus. Porro etiam alibi carnem tritieum nominauit. Eran. Hoc etiam scio. Audiui enim eum dicentem, venit hora vt glorificetur filiut hominis. Et nisi granum tritici, quod cecidit in terram, mortuum fuerit, solum manet: sin autem mortuums fuerit, fert multum fructum. Orth. In mysteriorum autem traditione corpus panem appellauit, & id quod in calito infusum & commixtum est, sanguinem. Eran. Itae nominauit. Orth. Atqui & quod est secundùm naturam corpus, corpus iure vocabitur: & itidem sanguis. Eran. In confesio est. Orth. Seruator ceriè noster nomina commutauit: & corpori quidem, id quod erat symboli & signi, nomen imposuit: symbolo autem quod erat corpuris. Ita cùm se vitem nominasset, sanguinem id, quod erat symbolum appellauit. Eran. Hoc quidem verè dixist…. Vellem autem scire causam mutationis-nominum. Orth. Manifestum est institutum ijs qui sunt diuinis mysterijs initiati. Volebat enim eot qui sunt Diuinorum mysteriorum participes, non attendere naturam eorum quae videntur: sed propter nominum permutationem, mutationi, quę fit ex gratia, credere. Qui enim quod natura est corpus, triticum & panem appellauit, & vitem se rursus nominauit: is symbola quae videntur, appellatione corporis & sanguinis honorauit, non naturam quidem mutans, sed naturae gratiam adijciens. Eran. Et mysticè mystica dicta sunt, & apertè declarata quae non sunt nota omnibus. Orth. Quoniam ergo in confesso est, & Patriarcham corpus Domini vestem & indumentum nominasse, ad dicendum autem de Diuinis mysterijs ingressi sumus, dic per veritatem cuius symbolum, & figuram esse existimas alimentum sanstissimum? Diuinitatis ne Domini Christi, an corporis & sanguinis? Eran. Clarum quod illorum, quorum appellationem susceperunt. Orth. Corporis & sanguinis dicis. Eran. Ita dico. Orth. Vi decet amicum veritatis dixisti, Etenim Dominus cum accepisset symbolum aut signum, non dixit, Hoc est Deitas mea: sed, hoc est corpus meum. Et rursus hic est sanguis meus.
Et alibi: Panis autem quem ego dabo, caro mea est quam ego dabo pro mundi vita. Eran. Vera sunt haec. Sunt enim diuina eloquia Orth. Si ergo vera, corpus vtique habuit Dominus.
In English thus:
Orthodoxus. Knowest thou that God called his body breade? Eranistes. I knowe it. Orth. Moreouer, in in one place he called his flesh wheate. Eran. This also I knowe. For I hauehave heard him, saying: The houre is come, that the sonne of man shall be glorified. And except the graine of wheate which is fallen into the earth do dye, it remaineth alone: but if it dye, it bringeth forth much fruit. Ortho. And in the deliuerie of the mysteries he called breade his body, and that which is powred in the cup and mingled, his bloud. Eranistes. He called it so in deede. Orthodoxus. Why then, that which is a naturall body, shall of right be called a body, and likewise bloud. Eranistes. That is confessed. Orthodoxus. Certainely our Sauiour chaunged the names: and gaue that name to his body, which was the name of the token or signe: and to the token, that which was the name of his body. So when he called him selfe a vine, hee called his body that which was the token thereof. Eranistes. This thou hast saide truely. But I would knowe the cause of the chaunge of the names. Orthodoxus. The purpose is manifest to them that are made partakers of the Diuine mysteries. For hee would hauehave them, which are partakers of the Diuine mysteries, not to regard the nature of those things that are seene: but in respect of the chaunging of the names, to giuegive credite to that chaunge which is by grace. For hee which called his naturall body wheate and breade, and named him selfe againe a vine: euen hee hath honoured the tokens that are seene, with the name of his body and bloud: not chaunging their nature, but adding grace vntounto the nature. Eranistes. Those mysticall things are both vttered mystically, and those things are openly declared, which are not knowen to all men. Orthodoxus. Therefore seeing it is confessed, that the Patriarch called the Lordes body a vesture and a garment, and we are entred to speake of the Diuine mysteries, tell truely, whereof doest thou thanke this most holy foode to be a token and figure? of the Godhead of our Lorde Christe, or of his body and bloud? Eranistes. It is cleare to be of them whose names they hauehave receiued. Orthodoxus. Thou saiest of his body and bloud. Eranistes. So I say. Orthodoxus. Thou hast saide as becommeth a louer of the trueth. For when our Lord had taken the token or signe: he saide not, This is my Godhead: but, this is my body. And againe: This is my bloud: and in an other place: The breade which I will giuegive is my flesh, which I will giuegive for ye life of the world. Eranistes. Those things are true. For they are the word of God. Orthodoxus. Then if they be true, our Lord had a body.
This discourse of Theodoret is so plaine, as I neede to adde no exposition thereof, to declare what his iudgement was. As for the authoritie of Anselmus, which hee adioyneth, there is no more reason why we should admit it, then why Maister Heskins will not receiue the authoritie of Cranmer, which was Archbishop of Canterburie as well as Anselmus. Hee anueth also a saying of Oecumenius, but both bicause he is a late writer, and his wordes in a manner are the same that he alledged out of Theodoret, of whom it seemeth that Oecumenius borrowed them, I omit them as already aunswered, in aunswere to Theodoret.
The three and fiftieth Chapter beginneth the exposition of the next text of S. Paule, which is, Let eueryevery man examine him selfe, and so let him eate.Hesk.
In this Chapter Maister Heskins promiseth to teach men howe to examine them selues,Fulk. that they may receiue worthily. And two things he requireth in due examination, vprightnesse of faith, and puritie of life. And this faith hee determineth to be the Apostolique and Catholique faith, which must be learned of hearing, as Saint Paule saith, Faith commeth of hearing, and as he saith, it must bee learned of the Elders, and so bee continued by tradition. But Saint Paule saith: Hearing must be of the worde of God, for Elders may erre, as well as youngers, but the worde of GOD can not erre, neither can he erre that followeth the doctrine of the worde of GOD in any thing.
VntoUnto purenesse of life he requireth confession, alledging the confession of Augspurge for the confirmation thereof, as though Christian confession and the Popish shrift, were all one. As fond it is, that he saith, the Apostles were instructed by Christe in the faith of the sacrament before the institution thereof, by the miracle of the fiue loaues, and in purenesse of life by washing of his disciples feete. Where yet was neither contrition, confession, nor satisfaction. After this he rayleth vponupon Luther, for saying that onelyonly faith maketh men pure and worthie to receiue, as though by so saying, he did exclude the fruites of repentance and reformation of manners, which necessarily do followe of a true and liuely faith, which onelyonly maketh vsus righteous in the sight of God, and worthie receiuers by reputation or acceptation, which in the conclusion, Maister Heskins himselfe confesseth to be all the worthines, that any man hath or can hauehave, to be partaker of the body and bloud of Christ.