Three Pillars and Arch-patriarchs of the Popish Synagogues, Treatise 1 · Book 3 · Part 57
Hesk.The seuen and fiftieth Chapter expoundeth this text: For this cause manie are weake and sicke, &c. by Origen & Saint Ambrose.
Fulk.Origen is cited in Psalm. 37. Iudicium Dei parui pendis? &c. Settest thou little by the iudgement of God? and despisest thou the church admonishing thee? Thou are not afraide to communicate the bodie of Christ, comming to the Eucharistie, as cleane and pure, as though nothing vnworthie were in thee, and in all these thou thinkest that thou shalt escape the iudgement of God. Thou doest not remember that which is written: that for this cause many among you are weake & sick, & many are fallen a sleepe. Why are many sicke? Because they iudge not them selues, neither examine themselues, neither do they vnderstand what it is to communicate with the church, or what it is to come to so great and so excellent sacraments. They suffer that, which men that be sicke of agues are wont to suffer, when they eat the meates of whole men, and so cast away them selues.
Here Maister Heskins noteth, firste, that Origen calleth the sacrament in plaine wordes the bodye of Christe, therefore it is no breade, figure, or signe, of the bodie of Christ. Secondly, he calleth it mysteries, therefore it is two sacraments, & whole Christ bodie & bloud, is vnderunder eche kind. Thirdly, sicke men sometimes will eate whole mens meate, therefore euil men receiue the bodie of Christ. These be all as good reasons as yt ▪ comon iest: The staffe standeth in the corner, therefore ye good man is not at home. As for the saying of Origen, we receiue it willingly, for hee speaketh of such receiuers as Saint Paule doth, that is not wicked and reprobate persons, but such as for their offences were chastened of the Lord, that they might not be condemned with ye worlde. But he will presse vsus with a more vehement place of Origen: Hom. 13. in 25. Exod. Volo vos admonere, &c. I will admonish you with the examples of our own religion. You that are wont to be present at the diuine mysteries doe knowe howe you receiue the Lords bodie, you giuegive heede with all warinesse and reuerence, that no little portion of it should fall downe, that no parte of the consecrated gift should fall away, for you beleeue your selues to be guiltie, and you beleeue rightly, if any of it should fall from you through negligence. If then you vse so great warinesse about the conseruing of his bodie, and worthily do vse it, howe do you thinke it is lesse offence to hauehave neglected the worde of God then his bodie?
Maister Heskins noteth two things in this sentence: First, a playne saying for the proclaimer, that without mention of figure, signe or sacramentall bread, hee sayeth the people receiued the bodie of Christe.
Secondly, that he commendeth the reuerend vsage of the same. Concerning the first, there is expresse mention of the Diuine mysteries, and not that onelyonly, but then in yt he calleth the sacrament the bodie of Christe, it appeareth both that there is bread, and that it is not so his bodie, as the Papistes do deeme. For whereof be those litle portions, that may fall away, partes? of the breade, or of the bodie of Christe? I thinke he is not so madde to say, that peeces may fall off from Christes holy and naturall bodie. Then it remaineth, that they bee peeces or crommes of breade that may fall away. And seeing that whereof peeces may fall away is called the bodye of Christe, it is manifest that hee meaneth not the naturall bodie of Christe to be corporally present, from which no peeces can fall away. Finally, seeing Origen maketh it as great a fault to neglect the worde of God, as to neglect the sacrament, it followeth that Christe is none otherwise present in the sacrament, then in his worde, & that is spiritually, and after an heauenly manner. As for the other matter, that Origen alloweth the reuerence of the people in handling the sacrament, we also do allowe the same, so farre as neither idolatrie nor superstition be mainteined. And whereas he raileth against vsus, for our vsage of that breade and wine, which remaineth after the ministration of the communion, he sheweth his wisedome and charitie. For that, which remaineth on ye table when the ministration is ended, is no more the sacrament then it was before the ministration began: and therefore may be vsed as all other bread, whatsoeuer the Popes decrees are to the contrarie. Now let vsus heare what he can say out of S. Ambrose against vsus. He citeth him in 1. Cor. 11. Vt verum probaret, &c. That he might proue that there is a iudgement to come of them which receiue the Lords bodie, he doth nowe shewe a certeine image of the iudgement vppon them, which vnaduisedly had receiued the bodie of our Lord, while they were punished with feuers and infirmities, and many dyed, that by them the rest might learne, and being terrified by the example of a fewe, they might be reformed, knowing that to receiue the bodie of our Lorde negligently, is not left vnpunished, but if his punishment be here deferred, that he shalbe more grieuously handled hereafter, because he hath contemned the example. Here againe M. Heskins chargeth Ambrose to saye, that the sacrament is the naturall bodie of Christe, and that it hath bene receiued of euil men, when hee sayeth neither of both: for he speaketh of them that were faithfull, and that might bee reformed, whereas the wicked reprobates be vncurable. And as for the carnal manner of presence, howe farre he was from it, let his owne wordes in the same place declare. Vppon this texte: You shewe the Lordes death vntill he come. Quia enim morte Domini liberati sumus, huius rei memores, in edendo & potando, carnem & sanguinem, quę pro nobis oblata sunt, significamus: Because we are deliuered by the death of our Lord, being mindfull of this thing, in eating and drinking, we do signifie his fleshe and bloud, which were offered for vsus: And in the same place a little after: Testamentum ergo sanguine constitutum est, quia beneficij Diuini sanguis testis est: in cuius typum nos calicem mysticum sanguinis, ad tuitionem corporis & animae nostrę percipimus. The testament therefore is established by bloud, because his bloud is a witnesse of the diuine benefite, in figure of whose bloude, wee doe receiue the mysticall cuppe to the preseruation both of our bodie and of our soule. These sentences are plaine to declare to any man that wilbe satisfied with reason, that this writer acknowledged, not a carnall, but a spirituall manner of presence. But Maister Heskins will vrge vsus with another place that followeth: Deuoto animo & cum timore accedendum ad communionem docet, vt sciat mens reuerentiam se debere ei, ad cuius corpus sumendum accedit: He teacheth vsus to come to the communion with a deuoute minde and with feare, that the minde may knowe that it oweth reuerence to him, whose bodie it commeth to receiue.
Maister Heskins sayeth, here be plaine termes for the proclaimer: in deede, I woulde wish no playner for the spirituall manner of presence of Christes bodie in the sacrament, because this author sayeth, the minde must yeeld reuerence to him whose body it cōmeth to receiue. If the minde receiue the body of Christ, it must needs be spiritually, for the minde can receiue nothing corporally. And there followe as plaine termes in the next sentence immediatly: Hoc enim apud se debet iudicare, quia Dominus est cuius in mysterio sanguinem petat, qui est testis beneficij Dei. For this it ought to consider with it selfe, that it is the Lorde whose blood it drinketh in a mysterie, which blood is a witnesse of the benefite of God. In the former sentence the minde receiued the body of Christ, now in this it drinketh the blood of Christ in a mystery, which is a witnesse or assuraunce of the benefite of God, namely the redemption of the world by the blood of his onelyonly sonne our Lorde Iesus Christ.