father is of none the sonne is of the father alone But loue procéedeth from the father and the sonne together Because we haue auouched before that the maker of all thinges is absolutely and truely one we must therfore confesse that these thrée be one substantially Therefore because he that is begotten cannot be the same of whom he was begotten neyther he that proceedeth from the begetter and the begotten can be eyther the begetter or the begotten the inexpugnable ground of truth doth compell vs to acknowledge in the Godhead both the trinity of the person and the vnity of the substance Therfore to thrée in one Godhead is commoÌ„ both equal eternity and eternall equallity For that cannot be diuers in euery one which one Godhead maketh common to euery one Then threée be one because in thrée persons there is one substaunce but the thrée persons be not one person For euen as the distinction of ech person doth not deuide the vnity of the Godhead so the vnity of the Godhead doeth not confound the distinction of the persons ⧠The. xxj branch BUt I thinke good a little more dilligently to weigh this former spéech That the father loueth his wisedome For men be wont to loue their knowledge for the profyte not the profyte for the knowledge As the knowledge of husbandry of weauing of paynting c. where the knowledge is reckued altogether vnprofytable except the profyte followeth of it If it were so about the wisedome of God then should the worke be better then the workman Therfore we must bold that wisedome is euer to be loued for the selfe Now if it sometimes falleth out that the worke is preferred before wisdom it groweth not of the iudgement of the truth but of the errour of man for wisdome is lyfe and the lous of wisedome is the blessednesse of life Wherefore when it is sayde that the father of wisedome delighteth himselfe in wisedome God forbid that it should be thought that we beléeue that God loueth his wisedome for the workes sake which he made by it Nay rather he loued none of his workes but for his wisdomes sake And therfore he sayd this is my beloued sonne in whome I haue set my delight and not in the earth or in the heauen or the Sunne or the Moone or the Starres or the Aunpeis or in any of the most excellent creatures For although these things he after their manner delightfull yet they cannot delight but in him and for him For so much more doe I loue them as they come â—â—rer to his likenesse Not therefore God loueth his wisedome for his works but his workes for his wisedome For in that is euery thing bewtifull and true and is wholy his desire â—ight vnuisible and life immortall whose â—ight is so much desyred that it maye delight the eyes of god Simple and perfect not redundant and yet full Sole but not solitary One â— conteyning al thinges ⧠The. xxij branch BEcause we beléeue thrée persons in one Godhead â–ª it is to be â—ought out whether that which agreeth to any of these agréeth to the other It was saide that the father loueth the sonne Let vs nowe consyder whether it maye likewise be saide that the loue of the father and the sonne loueth the sonne That the sonne loueth hymselfe that the father loueth hymselfe that the sonne loueth the father that the loue of the father the sonne loueth the father that the loue of the father and the sonne loueth it selfe that the father loueth his loue his sonnes that the sonne loueth his loue the fathers And to make an ende whether it be one and the same loue with the which euerye one loueth himselfe and that with the which euery one loueth another But this will be more easie if we call to rememberaunce the thinges that be spoken of before For in the former treatise it is proued that GOD is the fyrst cause and originall of all good things neyther can there be anye Nobler good then that which is the Fountaine and beginning of all So that it followeth that God is the chiefe good Therefore God is blessed alone and properly and principally And how can he be blessed which loueth not the same which he is Whosoeuer therefore is blessed bothe loueth the selfe and the substaunce If then the father and the Sonne be one and be one God sithence that true blessednesse is in God alone It is vnpossible but the both ech one should loue the selfe and eche one should loue another For it were no true blessednesse nay rather it were the chiefe vnhappinesse if they should parte themselues by contrarie will and could not be parted one from another for the same substance As therefore the father and the sonne and the loue of the father and the sonne by nature and substance be one so also by will and loue they must néedes be one Ech one loueth the selfe with one loue bicause they be one Neyther is it any other thing that eche one loueth in an other but that which eche one loueth in the selfe bicause it is no other thing that eche one is but the same that the other is That which the Father loueth in the sonne the same the sonne loueth in him selfe and that which the loue of the father the sonne loueth in the sonne the verie same the sonne loueth in himself Agayne that which the sonne loueth in the father the verie same loueth the father in himselfe And that which the loue of the father and the sonne loue in the father that the father loueth in himselfe Also that which the father and the sonne loue in their loue that the loue of the father and the sonne loueth in the selfe Last of all that that she father loueth in himselfe the very same doth he loue in the same in his loue And y which the sonne loueth in himselfe the very same doth he loue in the father and in his loue And that which the loue of the father and of the sonne loueth in it self the verie same doth it loue in the sonne and in the father ⧠The. xxiij branch MArke whether the voyce of the Father doth confyrme this Thys is sayeth he my beloued sonne in whom I haue together delighted my selfe He did not saye alone I haue together delighted my selfe neyther did he saye alene he hath together delighted me neyther did he say both I together haue delighted my selfe and he together hath delighted me But he saide I together haue delighted my selfe in him That is to say that which lyketh me in my seife is in him without him no iote of it for that that I am he is and because I am nothing but that which he is I cannot lyke my selfe without him Then this is my beloued sonne in whome I haue together liked my selfe Whatsoeuer pleseth me the same in him and for him pleaseth me He is the wisedome by the which I made all things and in
to the godhead to be lesse then the Father Of this point be the Fathers Irencus Ambrosius Ierononius Vigilius Augustinus and almost all the rest most sufficient witnesses As sayth Irenens the soule is present to the flesh dying and suffreth nothing so the godhead of Christ is present with the manhood suffring and suffering nothing onely rested Ambrose of that vpon S. Iohn Hereafter you shall see the sonne of man sitting on the right hande of the vertue This sitting doth so appertayne to the man sayeth he that in no case it is applyed to the Godhead which is infinite for God that is euer euery where cannot goe from place to place Ierâ—me Christ did die according to that he could die Vigilius agaynst Vtiches he one and the same sonne of God the Lord Jesus Christe both died according to the fourme of a seruaunt and died not according to the fourme of god Austen vpon that of S. John. None went vp into heauen but he that came down from heauen the sonne of man which is in heauen â–ª he was here sayeth S. Austen by flesh in heauen by Godhead yea euery where by Godhead and a little after shall not man Christ be called the sonne of God which his fieshe alone deserued to be called in the graue For what else doe we confesse when we say that we beléeue in the only begotten son of God which was crucifyed and suffered vnder Pontius Pilate died and was buryed what was buryed of him but his flesh without his soule And more playnly afterwardes who is he by whome the world was made Christe Jesus but in the fourme of God who was nayled to the crosse vnder Pontius Pilate Christ Jesus but in the fourme of a seruaunt Who was net lefte in Hell Christ Jesus but in soule alone Who lay thrée dayes dead in the graue and rose agayne the same Christe Jesus but in flesh alone Christ is sayd in ech one of these but all these be not two or thrée but one Christ Whereby it is playne the certayne properties or peculier graces of the one nature may be ascribed to the other in word thorough the vnion of the person but cannot agree in déede thorow the difference of the two natures The which Vigilius doth most playnly expresse agaynst Vtiches Then according to the property of nature onely the flesh died only the flesh was buried but according to the vnion of the person God dyed and was buryed For the person of the word is in the flesh which died Also according to the propertie of the nature the word came downe from heauen not the flesh And according to the property of the nature the flesh died and not the word but according to the vnion of the person both the flesh came downe from heauen and the word dyed and was buried Then when we saye that God died and suffred Let not Nestoreus be afrayde For we speake according to the vnion of the person Againe when we say that God neyther died nor suffered Let not Vtiches dreade for we speake according to the proprietie of the nature To this purpose writeth Theodorete you are to vnderstande that the vnion of the two natures doth make the names and proprieties common you will not say I suppose that the fleshe of God came downe from heauen For it was made in the Virgins wombe Howe then doeth the Lorde saye if you shall see the sonne of manne go vp the ther where he was before And againe none goeth vp into heauen but he that came downe from heauen the sonne of manne which is in heauen this he meaneth not of the flesh but of the godhead And the godhead is of God the father how then doth he call him the son of man They be reckned common to the person thorowe the vnion which be peculier to the seuerall natures So we are to expounde the rest in this sorte as the Fathers do The word became fleshe What is the mind what is the meaning of this spéeche was the deuine nature made the humayne nature God forbidde Naye it did take vnite to the selfe the humaine nature God did purge his church by his bloude What meaneth this hath the deuine nature bloud God forbidde that anye body should so think but God did purge his church by the bloude of that nature which he did appropriate by inâ—arnation or taking our flesh vpon him They nayled to the crosse the GOD of glory what is the the sence of these wordes was the godheade pierced or nayled to the woode God forbidde Nay that nature was so affected which the godhead did take to the self of the virgins wombe Wherefore thorowe the vnion of the person such things maye be spoken in worde but they cannot agrée in déede Neyther doth that of saint Basill of the birth of Christ disagrée with these How is the godheade in the fleshe as the fyre is in the yron not transitiuely but distributiuely For the fyre doth not runne into the yron but abyding in the place doth imparte and bestowe the peculier facultie vppon it Howe then was not God the word fylled with bodily weaknesse as the fyre doth not get to it selfe the proprieties of the yron IroÌ„ is black and colde and yet fyred it becommeth bright and hotte So the humayne nature of the Lorde was made partaker of the denine nature but did not poure into the deâ—â—e nature the owne weaknesse And so I see certaine proprieties dispersed but I doe not vnderstand all for after the vniting of the godhead the body of Christe was hungrie coulde thirstie wearie and gréeued and this is true of Christ the voyce My Soule is heauier euen vnto death And nayled vpon the crosse he sayeth I am dry He suffred truely he dyed truely hée was compassed about with place truly I would therefore gladly learne why the two natures should be sayd to be deuided because the seuerall proprieties of ech nature be set downe after his rysing agayne rather then they were wheÌ„ the seuerall proprieties of eache nature were set downe before his death For I reasoÌ„ thus the body of Christ liuing vpon earth was in one certayne and peculier place but the Godhead was in euery place And yet none will say that the person of Christ was then deuided why then may we not likewise say that the body of christ being in heauen is in one certayn and peculier place and yet not deuide the person of Christe For in Christes person being vpon earth perfecte God and perfect man were coupled together As S. Paule doth exceleÌ„tly say to the Colossians In him doeth dwel all the fulnesse of the Gohhead bodily The true full and absolute Godhead did dwell in the true full and absolute body comprised in one certayne and peculier place and yet was there no renting of the person of Christ What ground then haue these lameÌ„table and bitter outeryes that the persoÌ„ of Christ is denided
the fyrst day is power of the seconde daye wisedome of the thirde day mercie Power belongeth vnto the father Wisedome to the sonne And mercie to the holy ghost Our outwarde dayes and our inwarde dayes differ much Our outewarde dayes passe awaye against our will. Our inward dayes may returne for euer if we will. Of the feare of God it is written that it abideth for euer and euer Also there is no doubt but truth may continewe for cuer For albeit it beginne in this life yet then it shall be full and perfâ—â—â—â— in vs when after the end of the worlde he which is truth shall more manifestly appeare Likewise of loue it is written that loue neuer dyeth These be good dayes that neuer haue ende the other dayes be naught which not onely not abide euer but cannot stay a little Of these the Prophete speaketh the dayes of man be as grasse The fyrste dayes be the desert rewarde of sinne the second be the gifte of mercy Of the second speaketh the Prophete In my dayes will I call vpon god For if hee ment of the other why doth he not saye I will call vpon him in the night seeing that he sayeth in an other place At midnight did I rise to prayse thee But he calleth these his dayes because hée doth not loue the other According to the saying of Jeremy Lord thou knowest that I neuer cared for the day of man Those be the dayes of the which Jobe was full Of whome it is written that he dyed old and full of daies for he could not be ful of the other dayes which were not yet past Onely euil men know the dayes that be outward and good meÌ„ the dayes that be inward Good men doe not onely not loue the outward dayes but curse them Cursed be that day sayeth blessed Jobe in the which I was borne and the nighte in the which it was sayd a man childe is conceaued let that daye be tourned to darcknesse and be had no more in remembraunce nor see light Then we ought rather to loue the inward dayes where light and darcknesse goe not together where the beames of the eternall sonne doe lighten the inward eyes of the heart of the world ⧠The. xxvij branch KIng Dauid spake of those daies saying declare his sauiour from day to day â–ª What is his sauiour but his Jesus for Jesus is expounded Sauyoure And he is called sauyoure because he doeth saue men from sinne and death to lyfe For of him so sayeth Saint John the law was geuen by Moyses But mercy and truth came by Jesus Christ Likewise Paule calleth Christ Jesus the power of God and the wisedome of God. If therefore Jesus Christ be the wisdome of God and truth came by Jesus Christ it is euident that truth came by the wisedome of god So truth is the day of wisedome Wisedome it selfe speaketh to the Jewes thus of this day Your Father Abraham did desyre to sée my day he saw it and was glad of it for the trueth of God is the redemption of mankinde which he fyrst promised which séeing he afterwardes performed what did he else but shew himselfe true Then truth was fulfilled by this wisdome from the which all truth doth spring neyther was any other sente to fulfill truth but he in whom the fulnesse of al truth was Therfore did Abraham well reioyce at the day of truth because he desyred trueth to be fulfilled which daye then he saw by the holy ghost wheÌ„ he did beleeue that the sonne of GOD should be incarnate to redeeme man. Let it be saide Declare his saluation from day to day the second day from the fyrst daye to the thirde the daye of truth from the day of feare to the days of loue First there was but one day the day of feare Then came the seconde daye the daye of truth It came I saye it dyd not succéede for the fyrst did not depart so haue you two dayes The third sprang out the daye of loue But when that thirde day came it did not dryue away the two fyrst Blessed are these dayes in the which men maye growe to perfection where things to come doe come and present doe not depart where the number is increaste and the brightnesse multiplyed First men being vnder sinne were reproued by the lawe and beganne to feare GOD as the Judge because they sawe their owne guiltinesse Then 〈◊〉 feare him is to know him for truely they cannot feare him excepte they know him Now this knowledge was some light Nowe was it daye but not bright day for they were yet dimme thorowe the darkenesse of sinne Then came the day of truth the day of saluation to destroy sinne to lighten the brightnesse of the fyrst daye and to engender feare not to take it away but to turne it into better Neyther was the brightnesse yet full till loue was ioyned to it For the truth it selfe sayeth I haue many thinges to say vnto you but you cannot yet beare them but when that spirite of truth shal come he shall teach you all truth So all truth is to this end to take away the euell and to rectify the good Behold there be thrée dayes the daye of feare which maketh the euell knowe the day of truth which taketh away the euell the day of loue which restoreth the good The daye of truth doeth make bright the day of feare The day of loue doeth make bright both the day of feare and the day of truth vntill loue shall be perfected and all truth known manifestly and the feare of payne be tourned into the feare of reuerence Declare therefore his saluation from day to day ⧠The. xxviij branch THe Prophete Osea spake of these dayes He shall quicken vs after two dayes and in the third day he shall rayse vs vp For euen as our Lord Jesus Christ rising the third day from the dead did himselfe quicken vs and raise vs vp So we hearing and being glad of this it is conuenient that we shoulde be thankefull vnto him for this greate benefite And like as we haue risen agayne with him rising againe the third day so we rising agayne this thirde day for him and thorowe him shoulde cause him to rise agayne in vs. Neyther may we thinke but that he would haue that payed agayne which he fyrst lent vs Therefore euen as hee would haue thrée daies to worke in him selfe and by himselfe our saluation Euen so he hath geuen vs thrée dayes to worke in our selues by faith in his mercy our saluation But because that which he did was not onely a medicine but also an example and a sacrament it was to be done outwardly to teach vs what we should doe inwardly So his dayes were outwardly but ours are to be â—oughte inwardly ⧠The .xxix. branch WEhaue thrée dayes inwardly in the which our soule may be lightned Death doth appertayne to the first day Buryall to the second and rising agayne to the third The
first daye is feare the seconde is truth and the thirde loue The day of feare is the daye of power and the day of the father The daye of wisedome is the daye of truth and the day of the sonne The daye of loue is the day of mercie and the daye of the holye ghost Surely the daye of the father and the daye of the sonne and the day of the holye ghost is all one in brightnesse of the Godhead but in lightening our minds the father hath one daye the sonne an other and the holy ghost the thirde Not that in any respect we ought to beleeue that the trinity which in substance cannot be seuered in working maye be seuered but that the distinction of the persons maye be vnderstoode by the difference of the workes When the consyderation of the Almightie power of God doth stirre our hartes to prayse God it is the day of the father But when the wisdome of God doth light our harts with the séene knowledge of the truth it is the day of the son And when the mercy of God consydered doth fyre our hartes with loue it is the day of the holy ghosâ— Power doth terrify Wisedome doth lighten Mercy doth glad In the day of power we die by feare In the daye of wysedome we be buryed from the noyse of thys worlde by the contemplation of truth In the day of mercie we rise agayne by the loue and desyre of eternall ioy For therefore Christ died the sixt day laye in the graue the seuenth daye and rose agayne the eyght daye that in semblable maner first power in that day by feare should outwardly kil vs from carnall desyres and then wisedome the next daye shoulde inwardly burie vs in the graue of contemplation And last of all mercie in that day should cause vs quickned to arise agayne by Fayth and by the desyre of the loue of god For that the sixt day is the day of labour the seuenth day the day of rest and the eyght daye the daye of rysing againe ⧠A Prayer SHyne we beséech thée O almighty and mercifull God of our Lorde Jesus Christ that father of glory vpon our minds and hearts with the beames of thy heauenly grace and geue vs the spirite of wisedome and vnderstanding thorough the knowledge of thee that the eyes of our heartes being lighted we may knowe what is the hope of the calling and howe riche is the glory of the heritage of thy sayntes and that excellent greatnesse of thy power towardes vs which beléeue according to the might of the force of thy strength which thou shewed in Christ wheÌ„ thou diddest raise him from the dead and diddest set him at thy right hand in heauen farre aboue all Empyre power aucthoryty and dominion and euery name that is named not onely in this world but also in the world to come Graunt this moste mercifull father for thy best beloued sonnes sake our onely aduocate and sauioure Christ Jesus So be it ⧠Whether the naturall aud glorifyed body of Christ is in all or manye places at one and the same time NIcâ—pherus doeth write that Vtiches and Dioschorus the greate enemyes of the councell of Calcedon went to Alamordaruâ— a King of the Saracenes a little before conuerted to the fayth and babtized to infect him with their herisyes But the good King well instructed and strongly propt vp with the grace of God contynued a zelous and constant professour of Christ At the last when by no meanes he could rid himselfe of the crafty and importune souldyours of Sathan he fayned that he must needes goe speake with certayne straungers soone after retourning to Vtiches and Dioschorus tould them that he had receaued strange newes that Michaell the Archaungell was dead Vtiches and Dioschorus cryed out and sayd they were lyes For it was vnpossible that an Angell should dye Then sayd the King what mad men be yee that confesse that Christ was crucified and dead and yet denye that he was a man. The same in déede though not in euery respect falleth out with them which graunt that Christ hath a natural body but deny that the same body is comprised in one place Vtiches denied that Christ was a maÌ„ but he doeth not denye that he was crucifyed and dead These doe denye that Christes body is bounded or in one place but they doe not deny that it is a naturall body I doe not therefore sée how they can shifte their selues of the â—utikian heresy or the confounding of the two natures in Christ which take away place and circumscription from the naturall body of Christ In worde they say that the two natures in Christ be distincte and that the seueral properties of ech of the natures be distinct but in déede they confound them all in traÌ„sferring the whole force of the Godhead into the body Truth it is that the glorifyed body is moresubtill and nimble then the not glorifyed body as S. Augustine doeth wel say But yet a body and a body bouÌ„ded with the boundes of place Aristotle doth say and very truely that euerybody muste needes be as it were hedged about with a place the same S. Austen writeth to Dardanus take away spaces of places froÌ„ bodyes and they shal be no where and because they shall be no where they shall not be at all But if the nature of the body of Christ be weighed by it selfe it is so as you say Notwithstanding if you looke to the power of God by that and from that it may haue force to be euery where For who can set any bounde to the power of God which made the heauens the earths the seas of nothing The aunswere is easie no manne calleth in question the strength and power of God but we inquire what his will is our question is not whether God coulde haue the naturall body of Christ to be in euery place at one time but whether God woulde haue it so Wherefore that I maye be frée from al quarels and slaunders euen at the dore of my spéeche I doe openly and plainely protest that we doe not thrust or binde the bodye of Christ into any straight prison of the Firmament but that we beléeue and confesse that the same is in the most large and noble Countrie of the lyuing farre aboue all the heauens subiect to the sences Also that we do not part the manhood froÌ„ the Godheade or the Godheade from the Manhood but that we doe most certainly beléeue that these two natures be euer knitte and lincked together in one parson of Christ perfyte God and perfyte man Thirdly that we doe not in any respect diminishe that great and infinite power of the great and mightye God but that we do honour him as god almightie and eternall And yet we are loth to be reckned in the number of those which the Poet Horase doeth speake Whilst Fooles doth auoyde one faulte they fall into another I meane that I would neither speake
more narrowly nor more nobly of the most noble blessed body of Christ there the word of god doth teach me For our mayâ—â—er Christ geueth the same for a rule Searche the scriptures For they beare witnesse of me And truely the aunciente Fathers doe playnly teache that argumentes drawen from the power of God be both very weake and to to daungerous first Tertullian against Praxias the Heretick sayd it is not hard for God to make him selfe both Father and sonne contrary to the course of nature as it was not hard for GOD to cause the barren to bring forth a childe and the virgin an other Certaynly there is nothing harde vnto God but and if we shall vse these presumptions and gesses so abruptly hasâ—ely We may surmise any thing of god that God hath done it because he coulde doe it But not because God can doe all thinges therefore are we bounde to beléeue that God hath done that which he hath not done but it is our duety to serch out by Gods worde whether he haue done it or no Secondly S. Ierome writing to Eustochius of the kéeping of virginity doth say I speake boldly although God can doe all thinges yet can he not rayse vp a Virgin after her fall Thirdly saint Austen against Faustus whosoeuer sayth if God be almighity he can cause that those things which be done be not done he doth not sée that he sayth thus much in effect if God be almightie he can cause that the same things which be true in that that they be true be also false Last of all Theodorete in his thirde Dialogue which is called Impatibilis doeth saye that we ought not to say definitely and absolutely that all things be possible vnto god By the which it appeareth that we may auouch without impechmente of Gods almighty power â–ª that God hath not done all thinges which he coulde haue done neyther doth the word teach that but this God hath done whatsoeuer hee would that is to saye whatsoeuer it séemed good to his wisdome to haue done TheÌ„ we are to séeke out whether it be Gods will pleasure that the humayne and natural body of Christ should be in euery place at one time For if Gods will be so it is without all doubt but if Gods will bée not so it is great sinne to teach or thinke the contrary If Gods will be to haue the naturall body of Christ a made body an humayne body and a natural body a body distinguished with partes then Gods will is not that Christes naturall body should be in many places at one time For then it should breake the boundes marckes and limmittes and should leaue to be an humayne and naturall body Nowe nothing can at the sawe time be a humayne body and a not humayne body a naturall body and a not naturall body But you will say you may not leaue to reason in matters of religion Truth it is if the booke of God teach otherwise But the body of Christe hath this peculier and priuate grace to be in many places at once not locally it is as much to say as it hath this peculier grace to be a body and not bodily Wherefore I will goe on thus It can by no meanes be that a thing made should be euery where but the body of Christ is a thing made then it can by no meanes be that the body of Christ should be euery where Basillus the great doth proue the proposition in his booke of the holy Ghost The Aungell that stoode by Cornelius was not the same tyme with Phillip neyther he that spake to Zachary at the Aulter was the same time in heauen But the holy ghost did work in the same moment in Abacuck and in Danyel and was at the same time with Ieremy in the dungen with Ezechiell in Chouaâ— For the spirite of the Lord hath filled the whole world But he that is in all places â— pâ—esst with God of what nature or condition oughte he to be beléeued to be of that which contayneth all things or of that which is contayned in some perticuler place Vigillius doeth proue the same speaking in the person of Athanasius in his Dialogue in the which the speakers be Sâ—bâ—llius Photinus Arius and Athanasius Thereby it is playne that the holy ghost is God because it is euery where and is contayned in no place as the Prophete speaketh to God the Father Whether shall I gee from the spirite For to be euery where and in one and the same momente to fill the heauens the earthes the Seas and lowe places belongeth not to any creature but only to God And a little afterward it cannot be in one nature to lye in the bosom of the Mâ—nger and to be shewed by the starres to be subiecte to men and to bee serued by the Aungels to flye froÌ„ place to place and to be preseÌ„t in euery place to dwel in Earth and not to leaue 〈…〉 auen To coÌ„clude Cirillus proueth it thus if God fill all places and that by the holy ghost the holy ghost is God and not a creature These may be briefely knit vp thus according to Basill the body of Christ or ther is of that nature and condition which contayneth all thinges that is to say diuine or God or of that nature and condition which is contayned in some perticuler place But it is not the diuine nature or God therfore it is contayned in some perticuler place According to Vigill if it be euery where and contayned in no place it is God but it is not god therefore it is contayned in some place According to Cirillus if it fyll all places it is not a creature but it is a creature therefore it doth not fil all places I grant say you that a creature should be God if by the owne power it could be euer where but the body of Christ hath not that of the selfe but by the maiesty of the Godhead adioyned to it The hereticke graunted the same of the holy ghost and therefore the aucthority of these ancient Fathers doth presse you as much as them No save you I doe not speake of the body of Christ as of a simple and common creature but as of a creature coupled to the godhead by vnion or oning of person and the same also being glorifyed by resurrection and ascention which I saye hath by force of the godhead this grace geuen to it that it should be in euery place present with the Godhead and neuer parted from it and so cannot be comprised in any one place Then heare what Theodorete doth say in his secoÌ„d Dialogue The body of our Lord is risen againe frée from corruption and destruction and is impatible and immortall and glorifyed worshipped of the heaueÌ„ly powers and yet it is a body and hath the same circumscription which it had before Here Cirillus in his second booke of the Trinity if the Trinity
that his godhead and manhood be plucked asunder because we auouch that the naturall body of Christ is in heauen at the right hand of God the Father and yet his godhead to be euery where did not his godhead then fill heauen and earth when his naturall body was in a corner of the earth wheÌ„ it lay in the graue And may not nowe the Godhead fill the whole world and his naturall body be onely in heauen and the two natures not seuered Away then away with quarrels and let truth preuayle and tryumphe by the which the two natures of christ tyed togeather with the merueylous bonde of the vnion be distinguished but not seperated And truely to continue in the same resemblance of saint Basill the fyre doth not chaunge all the properties of the Iron for the Iron fyred and hotte is heauy falleth downward is a solidde and thicke body This is S. Basils meaning that these forces of the fyre be transferred into the Iron of the which the nature of the yroÌ„ is capable not those which ouer throwe the nature of the yron And in like manner that those forces and proprieties of the godhead be transferred into the body of Christ of the which the nature of the body is capable not those which ouerthrow the nature of the body For we must â—uer haue recourse to that worthy shying of S. Austen he gaue immortallity to his body but he tooke not awaye the nature of the body neyther is the godhead of the man so to be mainteined that the truth of the body be destroyed But why do I stand vpon this poynt why doth my spéech so long waÌ„der why doe I not open the spring of this controuersy For al this conteÌ„tion floweth froÌ„ the question aboute the presence of the naturall body of Christ being in the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ For if that matter be once ordered and adiudged the other will soone be ended But that is a matter of great importaunce of the greatest in the worlde it oughte not to be handled but warely and reuerently most warely and most reuerently Your good name shal be rent with the bad spéeches not only of the enemies but of the enuious I refer that to god The matter is very hard The questyon to too darke discoursed in Sermons Jossed in disputations varyed of through all Christendome and as it should séeme of passing great difficulty God will helpe out with that whose both helpe we most humbly pray and busines most faythfully do out of whose most blessed and most certayne most true wordes all the reste of our spéeche shall grow It is written in the .26 Chapter of the Gospell after S. Mathewe in this wise when Jesus had taken bread and blest he did breake and gaue to the Disciples and sayd take ye eate ye this is my body And taking the Cup after he had geuen thanks he gaue to them saying drink all ye of this For this is my blood of the new Testament which is shed for many for the forgeuenesse of sinnes And in the .14 after S. Marke when Jesus had taken the bread and geuen thanks he did breake and gaue to them and sayd Take yée eate yée this is my body and when he had taken the Cuppe and geuen thanks he gaue to them and sayd Drinke ye all of this and he sayde to them this is my blood of the newe testament which is shead for many And in the .22 after S. Luke when he had taken bread and geuen thankes he brake and gaue to them saying This is my body which is geuen for you doe you this in remembraunce of me Likewise also the cuppe after he had supped saying This cuppe is the new testameÌ„t in my blood which is shed for many Lastly saint Paule to the Corinthians the .xj. Chapter and the fyrst Epistle The Lorde tooke breade and when he had giuen thankes he brake and said Take ye eate ye this is my body which is broken for you do ye this in remembrance of me Likewise also the cup after he had supped saying this cup is the newe testament in my bloude Doe ye thys as often as you shall drinke in remembraunce of me For as oft as you shall eate this bread and drinke of this cup you shall shewe the Lordes death vntill his comming I haue set downe the whole words of the holye ghost done out of greeke into Englishe worde by worde That so good a foundation being layde the rest that foloweth myght be the more fyrmly builded thervpon Let vs nowe view and waigh all these things Christ toke the same bread in his hande which was vpon the table Christ gaue to his Disciples the same breade and whiles he was giuing the breade to his disciples he speaketh as before whiles his Disciples eate this breade whiles they did broose it with their téeth and swallowed it into their stomaks where was christ was be not at the table did he not speak to theÌ„ did he not both eate drink with them was he not séene hearde and touched In which place was the bodye of Christ In the mouth and stomack of his disciples or at the table where they both sawe Christ and heard Christ if you say in both places Then this followeth That eyther Christ had two bodies or else that there was two christs both which aunsweres be very vngodly and absurde But you wil say the words be plaine for Christ saide plainely and distinctly This is my body This is my bloude Neyther is it lyke that Christ woulde speake doubtfully in the last talke that he had with his disciples I graunt the words be plaine after the maner of misteries in the which things subiect to the sense doe represent and shewe things which be taken onely of a godly minde and by a religious fayth I graunt that Christ gaue his bodye and that his Disciples toke it and eate it not after a naturall and grosse maner but after a supernaturall that is he heauenly and spirituall What then doe you denie that the breade is the bodye of Christ That the wine is the bloud of Christ not I truely But I saye that they be so in truth of religion sacrament and mistery and not by chaunging of nature element or substaunce For Christ doth call the breade his body but he doth not say that it is chaunged into his bodye Then you call it breade and the holye writer of this holy Storie doth himselfe call it breade the wordes be these He toke breade he gaue thankes he brake he gaue doth he not meane by this circumstance of wordes to make the matter plaine I praye you what toke he bread What brake he the same bread What gaue he the same bread For that that he toke that he brake and that that he brake that he gaue to hys Disciples and that that he gaue to his disciples that did his disciples eate But bicause it is a mistery