holy misteries For when it is once departed from the true sence of gods worde it draweth in as it were by linkes a number of other absudities none of which can haue any profft in scripture seing the first roote of them came not out of the true sence of scripture Euen so when you had deuised and geuen to Christes wordes another sence then the meaninge of them doth importe no maruel if the same reason doo leade you to a multitude of other doctrines not only beside the worde of god but expressely against it Whether that interprefacion that you make uppon these wordes doo more agrée with the scripture and grounde of our faith then that which we teach any indifferent man that is not contentiously bente to the one parte or to the tother may easely discerne Your sence is when Christ saith This is my body that the naturall substance of the breade which Christ toke was turned into the naturall substance of the very body that Christ dyed in notwithstandinge that the colour taste forme and power to norâ—she that were before in the substance of bread doth still remanynâ— â–ª And yet under those qualities and accidences of bread is really conteined the natural body of Christ hauing neither bignes nor any proportion or sensible qualitie rightly apperteininge to such a body To expresse this your meaning you vse to say that the bread is transsubstantiate into the body of Christ In what tonge or language was it euer séeue In what authour was it euer redde that Sunâ— es fui the verbe substantiue might be iuterpreted by transsubstantiare Or if the proprietie of the worde wil not in any wise admit that sence what one sentence or clause haue you in all the course of the bible that vnder the like wordes can receiue the like interpretacion Or what prouses can you bringe by conference of other places of the scripture that these â—â—â—des in this place ought of necessitie in this maner to be interpreted If neyther the proprietie of the tounge can beare the sence nor you can bring any examples or prouses out of the wordâ— of god where vpon men in so weightis a matter may stay their consciences is it not extreame crueltie in you vnder payne of damnasion to compel them to beleue it Here you will burden vs with the aucthoritie of the holy catholike churche which as you say hath alway receiued alowed that interpretacion Vnto this I answer that the catholike churche of Christe neuer generally receiued the meanynge of any sentence but that they gathered the same either by examples of the like or els by grounded reasons taken out of the scripture declared that of necessitie it must be so vnderstanded This rule was appointed to the churche by Christe and his Apostles who in their doubtes willed men Serutari scripturas to searche the scriptures Therfore when the churche decreed against the Arrians and other Heretikes that in this sentence In principio erat verbum the woorde was in the beginnynge that Verbum was to be taken for the person of the sonne of God Or when they decréed that the sonne was eiusdem substantie cum patre of the same substance with the father they stayed not onely vpon their owne consente and aucthoritie but brought a greate number of prouses out of the scripture that it must of necessitie be so taken as it appereth in Cyrill and other of the holy fathers Now then if this that you defend be the iudgement of the catholike church it hath vndoubtedly good proffe in the scripture or if you can bringe for it no such testimony oute of the worde of god it is euydent that you doo wrongfully father this interpretatioÌ„ vpon the holy catholike churche and vnder the couert of that name you doo promote set forth your owne errour And this much for your opinioÌ„ On the tother parte when wée interprete Christes wordes wée say it is a figuratiue spéeche and suche as the holy ghost often vseth in the institucion of sacramentes and ceremonies or in the deseriuyng of other misteries The figure is named Metonymia when the name of the thynge is geuen vnto the signe When these wordes therefore be laied vnto vs This is my body wée say it is moste true But mistically sacramentally figuratiuely not really and accordyng to the naturall substance For this interpretacion wée haue a number of examples out of the canonicall scriptures God speakynge of circumsicion saieth This is my couenante And yet was circumsicion not the couenante indéede but the signe testimonie wherby they were assured to be the people of God and partakers of his promisses The Paschale lambe is called the Passeouer and yet was it but a testimony and remembraÌ„ce of the greate benefite of God in passyng his plague from them This is the victorie saieth S. Paule that ouercome the world euen your faith And yet is not our faith the victorie it selfe but the instrument or meanes wherby the victorie is gotten In like maner diuers other places As I am a vyne God is a consumyng fier The seuen kine be seuen yeres And that S. Paule hath to the Corinthes Petracrat Christus The rocke was Christe And yet was not the rocke Christe himselfe really onlesse ye will take it as hee there doeth indéede for the spirituall rocke For that spirituall rocke was Christe himself verely and indéede not only in a misterie or signification So in the Lordes supper if you take bread for spirituall bread as Christe doth in the .vi. of Iohn I will say with you that it is really and essentially the verie true body of Christe it selfe and not onely mistically If wée had not these many examples with a greate number mee in the holy scripture to iustifie our maner of interpretacion yet the very wordes whiche the spirit of God by singuler prouidence hath vsed in the Euangelist and S. Paule doeth manifestly leade vs vnto this sence rather then to that you haue deuised For in the seconde parte of the sacrament where Math. and Marke say This is my bloud of the new Testament That Luke and Paule vtter in this maner This is the new Testament in my bloud Whiche can not be otherwise vnderstande but that this sacrameÌ„t is a testimonie or pledge of his laste will and gifte of our saluacion confirmed by his moste precious bloud Wherfore if you say neuer so often times with Math. and Marke This is my body This is my bloud wee wyll repete as often with Luke and Paule who were led with the same spirit This is the new Testament in my body and bloud This interpretacion and meanyng of Christes wordes which wée gather by conference with other places of holy scripture is confirmed also by the consent of the aunciente fathers in many places Whose testimonies I wil recite more copiously partely because you séeme to signifie that they altogether make for you in this mattier partely that all men may se how vniustly your sorte
doo terme vs Figuratores because wée interprete that sentence by a figure wheras it is not our deuise but the exposicion of all the aunciente fathers of the primatiue churche First I will beginne with Augustine contra Adimantum cap. 12. There it appereth that Adimantus vsed Moyses wordes Sanguis est anima trumake this sonde argument â—loud is the â—â—oule saith Moyses 〈◊〉 flesh and bloud saith Paule shall not possesse the kyndome of God Therefore the soule shal not possesse the kyngdome of God Auguâ—tnes answer to that argument is that this sentence Sanguis est anima must be vnder standed figuratiuely and not litterally as he in that argument tooke it To proue that he vseth these wordes of Christe Hoc est corrusmeum Saiyng in this wise Possum interpreâ—â— illud praeceptum in signo positum esse NoÌ„ enim dubitauit dominus dicere hoc est corpus meum cum daret signum corporis sui I may saieth Austine interzete that precept to consiste in a signe or figure For the lorde bonbted not to say This is my body when he gaue the signe of his body As if he had saied in a farre greater mattier then this that is in institutinge the sacrameÌ„t of his death and our redemption the lorde doubted not to vse a figure and to say this is my body when be gaue the signe of his body Therfore this sentence â—loud is the soule man soner be interpreted figuratiuely So that the meaninge of it is that bloud is the signe of the soule or life and not the very soule in déede The same Augustine in his exposition vpon the thirds psalme Iudam inquit adhibuit ad conuiuium in quo corporis sanguinis sui figuram discipulis suis commendauit Hee admitted Iudas to that feast wherin he commended to his disciples the figure of his Body and bloud The same exposition Tertullian maketh moste euidently in hys forth booke againste Martion Panem inquit acceptum distributum discipulis corpus suum illum fecit Hoc est corpus meum dicendo Hoc est figura corporis mei Christe saith Tertullian made that bread that he toke in his handes and gaue to his disciples his body sayinge this is my bodie that is to say the signe of my body What can bee playner then this exposition of this auncient father if men did not study rather to mainteine partes then to confirme trueth His purpose was there to proue against Martion that Christ had a true body in deds because in the sacrament hee ordeyned the signe or figure of his body and therfore afterward he addeth Figura autem non esset nisi veritatis esset corpus That should not be a figure of his Body onles hee had a very true body in deede Augustine againe in 23. Epistle to Bonifacius Si inquit sacramenta similitudinem quandam earum rerum quarum sunt sacramenta non haberent omnino sacramenta non essent Ex hac autem similitudine plerumque rerum ipsarum nomina sortiuntur Sicut ergo secundum quendam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est sacramentum sanguinis Christi sanguis Christi est ita sacramentum fidei sides est And a littell after Sicut de ipso Baptismo Apostolus Consepulti inquit sumus Christo per baptismum in mortem Non ait sepulturam significamus sed pror sus inquit consepulti sumus Sacramentum ergo tantae rei non nisi eiusdem rei vocabulo nuncupauit If sacramentes had not a certaine similitude of those thinges where of they be sacraments they should not be sacraments at all And for this similitude or likenes they commonly haue the names of the thinges them selfe Therefore as the sacrament of Christes body after a certaine fashion is Christes body and the sacramente of hys bloud is his bloud so the sacrament of faith is faith c. As the Apostle speaketh of Baptisme We bee buried saith he in death to Christ by baptisme He faith not we signifie burial but plainely we be buried Therefore he doth nothinge els but terme the sacrament of so great a thing by the name of the thinge it selfe Sainct Augustines meaninge is to declare to Bonifacius that Baptisme might bee called by the name of faith and that therefore the Infante baptised might be truly affirmed to beleue or to haue faith because it had Baptisme the sacrament of faith This he proueth by comparison with the sacrament of Christes body and bloud Which for a similitude or likenes hée saieth is called the body and bloud of Christ that after a certaine fashion adding that Baptisme in like manner is faith And yet no man wyl be so vnwise to say that Baptisme is faith in déede really Wherfore the like is to be iudged of the sacramente of the Lordes body wherby S. Augustine proueth it This also is diligently to be noted that Augustine saith all sacraments generally be vttered by name of the thinges them selfe because of a certaine similitude or likenes therfore Paule saith not we signifie our buryall but wée be buried callinge the sacrament by the name of that thing as Austine saith Againe in Libro sententiarum prosperi as it is recited in the decrées De consecratione distine 2. cap. Hoc est The same father hath these words Coelestis panis qui est caro Christi suo modo nom inatur corpus Christi cum reuera sit sacramentum corporis Christi Vocaturque ipsa immolatio carnis quae sacerdotis manibus fit Christi passio mors crucifixio non rei veritate sed significante misterio The heauenly bread which is the flesh of Christ after a fashion is named the body of Christ where as in dede it is but the sacrament of his body And the offeringe of the fleash which is done with the priestes hands is called the passion the death the crucifiynge of Christ not in veritie of the thinge but in a signifiynge mistery The glose in expounding these words of Augustine saith this Caeleste sacramentum quod vere repraesentat Christi carnem dicitur corpus Christi sed improprie vnde dicitur suo modo non rei veritate sed significante misterio Vt sit sensus vocatur corpus Christi id est significat It is called the body of Christ saith he that is to say it signifieth the body of Christ To this I wil adde Chrisostome Operis imperfecti Homil 11. Si inquit vasa sanctificata transferre ad priuatos vsus peceatum est in quibus non est verum corpus Christi sed misterium corporis Christi continetur quanto magis vasa corporis nostri c. If saieth hee it be sinne to transferre holy vessels vnto priuate vses in whiche is not the true body of Christ but that mistery of his body is conteined how muche lesse should wee c. What can more plainly declare the figuratiue sence of those wordê of christ hoc est corpus meuÌ„ then that Chrisostome saieth in whiche vessels is not the very body but the mistery of it For if those wordes were
come vnto the practise of the churche and recordes of she fathers D. of the latter .ix. hundreth yeres They crie so thicke and thréesolde against you that you are not able to abide them And therefore you were woonte to disgrace them art By what aucthoritée I pray you woulde you haue them all discredited It sanorth of a maruerlous arrogancie to discredite them all Can your doctrine creepe no other wayes into credit vnlesse you deface the practises of the churche and the aucthoritée of the fathers for the space of .ix. hundreth yeres and odde Haue you no other meanes to get honor but to dishonour so many auncient fathers as haue written this latter .ix. hundred yeres Know you not the scripture Qui masedixerit patrives matri morte morietur And what malediction is there greater then to blase that our learned fathers that liued so godly in praiers fastyngs almesdéedes continuall studie of doctrine that hath their common agréementê for the space of .ix. hundred yeres and more disceiued Christes flocke know not the right faieth but trayned the people to the state of dampnation And I pray you if they were so many yeres disceiued and yet giuen all the while to spiritual exercises more then you as it appereth by their workes or any now a daies what assurance can you make vs that you do now know the truth Beynge a man far vnderneth them in all peinâ—tes and one that hath not continued here muche as I here say aboue fortie yeres and not bestowed the fourthe parte of that time neither as I here in studie of the scriptures or olde doctours Shal you with .ix. or .x. yeres studie in the matters of doctrine thinke your selfe able to sit as a iudge to controll all such doctours and the doctrine whiche they haue left in recorde for the space of .ix. hundred yeres No man gaue you such aucthoritée but your self Luther and Melancthon tooke vpon them to be reformers of religion in all poinctes But if you marke them they make no mattier of necessitée to communicate the laytie with bothe kindes They acknowledge that a general couÌ„sell may take order in it as a thynge indifferent And hauyng no scripture for the prouse of the necessitée thereof They confirme also the being of christê body in a thousaÌ„d places at once meanyng therin as the catholskes meane If you had acquainted your self with Abraham and Isaac 13. Cay that sayed that quaecunque promisit deus potens est facere What so euer God promiseth he is able to performe it Or with the Angell that saied vnto Mary in as greate a mattier as this is Non est impossibile apud deum omne verbum There is no worde vnpossible vnto God as well as you haue acquainted your selfe with Ismaell and Agar that se no farther then the trade of common nature or if you had marked but the very rule of nature how of an antecedent grauÌ„ted all necessarie consequence doo by force of reason issew there hence you woulde neuer put the mattier in question Wée finde in scripture that eur sauiour saied in the consecracion of the blessed sacrament This is my bodie that shall be desmered for you And when the sence of this sentence is as the catholike churche teacheth the very reall presens of Christes body to be in the blessed sacramente vpon this sence once setled many labelles doo necessarily hange not expressedly had in scripture but by drifte of reason out of the first veritie gathered And so did saincte Chrisostome S. Ambrose S. Basill and S. Bernard when they vnderstode the sence of Christes wordes concerning the consecracion to be as the holy catholike churche vnderstoode it And not to haue powre in the parlour at Hierusalem onely where the sacrameÌ„t was first instituted but in all places where the thinge was so practised as Christ began it Therunto they sawe they muste néedes confesse by drifte of argumente that Christes body is in diuers places at once and of the remainders of the accidentes you néede no other proufe but your owne sensis your iye and your tastyng And of the alteracion of the substance of breade the fathers in diuers ages saw it so depende vpon the first veritie that they haue omitted no varietée of termes to expresse it and to brynge it into the knowledge of the worlde They haue transmutation transelementation mutation conuertion faction afteration transsubstanciation and diuers other such that are not to be rehersed now You haue taken vpoÌ„ you to controll that counsell of Constance alredie but now you will controll the greate counsel of Lateran where were so many learned clarkes as there were neuer more gathered together And the counsell of Valense and the counsell of Rome sub Nicolao and the generall counsell of Florence and the counsell of Basill In the whiche all your errours concernyng the holy sacrament are ouerthrowen Concernyng your doubte how Christes hodie is in diuers places at once sithen you beléeue no counsel that hath determined that mattier nor auncient fathers Grekes us Latins I will sende you to your great god Luther in a littell booke that he wrote against the Swinglians of the sence of the woordes of the supper of christe They yet remayne vndefaced There he answereth you at the ful Or els to Brentius that great Cane in the exposition of the article of thassention in the first of the Actes where he enterpreteth thereof at the full thoughe very farre in diuers poinctes from the sence of the churche Yet may he not suffer that blinde reason of yours to haue his force in no case It is but a very fonde daliance to braule vpon the labelles before you agrée vpon the originall veritée The trew sence of this littell sentence This is my body that shal be desiuered for you Is the roote and the originall of all suche labelles as wée teache not mencioned in scripture expresly but bulted out by drifte of argument as these are 〈◊〉 similitude for â—uwritteÌ„â—â—eeâ—â—â—â—â— that offend you so sore When the maister saieth to his seruaunt make redie that I may dine he speaketh nothynge in these wordes of scommynge of the potte of cleans water for the potage of the earbes to be chopped of scaldynge and drawynge the Capons of makyng after of hewyng of woodde of laiyng the clothe and other thynges necessarie belongyng to his dinner And yet if the seruaunt woulde leaue the potte vnscommed herbes vngathered make potage with stinkyng water put the Capon vpon the broche fethers guttes and all because his maister made no expresse mencion of the particular orderyng of all these I wéene no man woulde alow his wit or honestie Because in his maisters first commaundement all suche necessaries are imploied And so wée answer you as your mother the catholike churche hath taught vs. Wée néede not to shew you of accidentes remainynge without any subiecte nor of Christes body being in diuers places at once nor of the adoracion of the holy sacrament
Christe that they folow or to his doctrine that they seeme to professe I will iudge and hope better of this wryter to whom with all my harte I wishe much more good trustinge that god shall once agayne open his hearte to receiue the trueth which I cannot but thinke God hathe taken from him in punishment of that naughtie conscience that hee witnesseth hath ben in him selfe But what soeuer he be let him stande or fall to his lorde god I will not take vppon mee to iudge him neither would I haue spoken this much of him but that hee doeth odiously excuse his owne euill mynde by the good doctrine of Christes gospel My purpose is to confute his doctrine I wil not meddle with his person I intende to answere his cauelinge at other mens wordes and doinges I minde not to discredite or deface his estimation or honestie And yet in this pointe I know some maye iudge me presumptuous and arrogant that I seeme to take vppon me his quarell who is farre better able to aunswere for him selfe then I am But I would desire those whiche so thinke to consider Firste that this is a common quarell touchinge not only him that is named but all other that either teacheth or beleueth as he doth Secondly that he against whom this writing is directed either knoweth not that any such thinge is spred or if he doe know it either thinketh it not worthy answere of it selfe or els hath not at this present such leasure as he may intend to answere it Thirdly and chiefely that by priuate conference with certaine persons I vnderstande perhappes more then either he or any other doth thinke how much this treatise is estemed amonge many which otherwise happely mighte bee perswaded to imbrace the gospell Therefore I haue bene moued the soner my selfe in suche sorte as I might to shape an aunswere vnto it For to all suche of the contrary opinion as haue feare of God and staye vpon conscience rather then selfe wil I acknowlage my self in christian charitie to owe this muche of dutie as that I should to my power trauaile to lift this stumbling blocke out of theyr way that it maye not be a let or staie vnto them to come vnto Christe at this daye by his worde callinge them Wherfore gentle Reader seing thou doest vnderstand my meaning and the occasion of my doinge I will cease any more to trouble thee and will tourne the residew of my talke vnto the aucthour of this wryting with whom I will make my entrie there where he first beginneth to confute the reasons that were alleged why accompte should not bee made to Docter Cole of that religion that now is taught In this parte I wil be the shorter partly because those thinges bee sufficiently answered in the conference already published althoughe this wryter seemeth to dissemble it partly because the questions haue more captiousnes of words then profit of good matter ⧠The defence of the trueth WHere you reason againste my lorde of Salesburée 1. Cap. for refusinge to bringe proufe of his doctrin because he was a Bishop and at that time preached before the Quéenes grace and hir counsel You deale somewhat like with him as you doo afterwarde with the Doctours that you doo alledge For you first bring your owne sence vnto their wordes and so alledge them for your purpose where as they meane nothynge lesse So in the wordes of the firste epistle to Doctor Cole you applie your owne sence vnto them and after reason against it as though it were his meanyng Whether this be to be compted a cauilling rather then a confutyng I leaue to the iudgement of other He neuer sayde simply A. that he should make no recknynge of his doctrine because he was a bishop For he doeth the contrarie dayly aswell in his preachinge as otherwise He neuer saide that the consent of the prince and realme was a sufficient proufe of doctrine in christian religioÌ„ as you would haue men thinke of him by your reasonyng against him He sayd this that for so muche as he was called to the state of a bishop and at that time vttered before the prince and hir counsell that doctrine which was confirmed by the aucthoritée of the whole realme he might séeme to doo vnaduisedly I iuste cause of his refusâ—ll if he shoulde make accompte therof to a subiecte and especially suche a subiecte as alway hath professed him selfe to muslike it and at that time vnder pretence of learnyng but in déede quarellyng required a proufe therof Were it good reason thinke you that a magistrate at the demaunde of euery subiect should bryng reason to proue any law publisshed by the prince to bee good which the same subiecte would proteste to be an euill and vniust law and therfore woulde not obey it If that should be so a gappe might be opened to euerie busie person to picke a quarell against the law If that should be so beside other inconueniences he might séeme to submit the iudgement of the prince and realme to the mislikynge of one waywarde subiecte Which coulde not be doone without greate impeachement to the princes aucthoritée and wisedome of the whole state of the coÌ„mon weale That this was his meanyng it may appere in those wordes where he saith he might not doo it with out farther licence Wherfore in this parte of his answere knowyng with whome he had to doo he respected his doctrine as it was a law confirmed by the prince and states of the realme and not as it might be a controuersie of religion before the law publisshed More ouer in that he is orderly called to the state of a bisshop say you what you wil to the contrarie he is in possession of the trueth And therefore it were not reason that he should be requested first to shew his euidence and take vpon him the person of the plaintife especially towarde those men that make exception to his possession and claime the right therof them selues He ought not lightly to geue ouer to you in this poincte he ought to acknowledge and stande in defence of that benefit wherby through gods worde and aucthoritée of the prince he is sette in open possession of that which you before vsurped Séeyng then it is the plaintifes parte first to shew euidence and he now god be thanked standeth with other as defendante You doo disorderly and contrarie to reason to will him to doo that which by order your selfe shoulde first doo He profered openly to geue ouer to you if you coulde shew any reasonable euidence for your part out of the scriptures doctours or counsels If you refuse it all men will thinke that either you haue no euidence at all to shew or els that whiche you haue is suche as you are well assured wyll not abide the triall B. In like maner doo you mistake his restyng vpon the negatiue You write not against his meanyng but against that your selfe conceiueth to be
that they offered for the Patriarkes Prophetes Apostles ye and for the blessed virgin Mary the mother of God For whose sinnes it can not be that they offered whiche by the testimony and faith of the whole church be with God in heauen This thynge is well descriued by Chrisostom vpon the. 8. cap. of Math. Therfore saith he the priest standing at the auster when the sacrifice is proposed commaundeth vs to offer thankes to God for the whole world for them that be abset for those that were before vs and for those that shall come after vs. The same Chrisostome also calleth this their offerynge Rationalem cultum whiche yee can not interprete a propitiatorie sacrifice but a reasonable worshippyng of God by praier and thankes geuyng for his holy sainctes by the whiche he hath builded his churche and whiche nowe remaine as membres and partes of his misticall body whervnto we also by the celebration of the sacrament be ioygned and so as it were kniffe in vnitée with them This was their offeryng for the dead and not a practise to pull soules out of Purgatorie for marchandise and money as ye haue vsed in your priuate Masses a great numbre of yeres to the great defasing of the death and passion of Christe Wherfore your Masse can not iustly be called the Lordê supper but a peruertyng of the institution and ordinaÌ„ce cleane to an other purpose and ende then he willed to be kepte amonge his people For the Lordes supper as I sayde before is a gifte of God to vs whiche wée muste receiue with thankes geuyng Your sacrifice is a price to be paied to God and of him to be taken as a satisfactioÌ„ The Lordes supper is a remembrance of one perfit sacrifice wherby we were once sufficiently purged from sinne and continually are reuiued by the same Your sacrifice is a dayly offeryng vp of Christe for our sinnes as thoughe it had not ben perfitely doone at the first The Lordes supper is to be distributed in the common assembly of his people to teache vs the communion whereby wes all be knitte together in Christe Iesu The vse of your sacrifice in priuate Masse séemeth by the priestes seâ—le receiuyng to be a testimony of seperacion and a meane to bryng the communitée out of christian mens mindes For after they once beléeued that priestes must sacrifice for them they began to leaue the communion and frequentation of the sacrameÌ„t as a thing either not apperteinyng or very little apperteining to them but especially to priestes And by that meanes the way was made to your common vse of priuate Masse So muche difference therefore as is betwéene to géeue and to receiue to remember one perfit sacrifice and dayly to reiterate a sacrifice to celebrate in common as a testimony of vnitie to créepe in corners or by chappels as a signe of seperation so muche difference is there betwéene the sacrament by Christe apoincted and the sacrifice of the Masse by you deuised This haue I spoken more largely of this mattier then either I purposed or you gaue me occasion by any proofe brought for the confirmation of your sacrifice First because this is an other great abuse in your priuate Masse that yes take vpon you to defende Secondly that I might declare the grounde of your reason to be very weake where ye affirme the priest to bee bounde of duitie to sacrifice for him selfe and for the people Thirdly that I might answere more aptly to Chrisostomes aucthoritie which nexte is to be examined The place of Chrisostome 5. Cap. that you alledge is otherwise in him then you recite it A. For he saieth Frustra habetur quotidiana oblatio Frustra stamus ad altare nemo est qui simul participet In vayne we haue our dayly offeryng in vayne we stande at thanlter there is no man to communicate with vs. As touching those wordes that ye moste beate vpon An aunswere to ChrisostoÌ„ There is no man to communicate by them to proue that they receiued only at Easter and at other times there were none at all to communicate with the ministers I wyll shew you out of Chrisostome him selfe that they must of necessitie haue an other sence and that in those wordes he vseth that figure of aggrauatinge that he commonly vseth in all places For euen in the same place D. not many lines before the wordes that ye recite he declareth that a number vsed to receiue at certaine other times C. I se many saith hee rashly not passyng how and more of a custome then lawfully and of good consideration to be partakers of christes body Yf the holy time of lent were at hand say they if the day of Epiphanie were come hauinge no regarde what he is that is partaker of the misteries But the time of cumming to it the Epiphanie the holy season of Lente doth not make them worthy that come but the sinceritie and putitie of minde Doo ye not here perceiue that many vsed ordinarely to come to the Communion at the Epiphanie and in lent as well as he mencioned before at Easter howe can ye then gather by Chrisostome that there was no company to receiue but only at Easter but what if I declare oute of Chrisostome that some vsed to receiue oftener times wyll not your collection vppon this place that ye séeme to triumphe vpon appere to be of very smal force Hom. 17. ad Hebreos Many saieth he take of this sacrifice once in the whole yere some twise some oftener times Hereby it is moste euident that Chrisostom had other to communicate with him at diuers other times beside Easter The maner was I graunte that some of custome addicted theim selues to certayne dayes And in some places the bishops or sinodes apointed men to receiue once twise thrise or fower times in the yere as Augustine witnesseth Concilium Eliberinum apoynteth to communicate thrise in the yere But these prescripte times were ordeined onely for them that vsed seldome to come to the sacrament that at the leaste they should receiue at those times if they would knowlage them selues to bée of the church Notwithstandinge they did not only leane frée to other to frequent the sacrament but earnestly calleth them to it at euery assembly of the people As Ambrose greuously blameth the custome of many in the Easte partes that vsed to come but once in the yere and saith that hée whiche is not méete to receiue euery day wyll not be méete to receiue once a yeare Therfore as in the primatiue church very many in dyuers places vsed to be partakers of the sacrament but ones twise or thrise in the yere so it is euident that dyuers other better disposed dyd receiue with the byshop and ministers at sundry other times That forte because they were not so many as they should haue hene and as Chrisostome wished for to haue in his church to exaggerate their slacknes hee saieth There is none to bée partaker with be
litterally to bee vnderstanded as you say then should the holy vessels that conteyne the sacramentes haue in them not only the mistery of Christes body and bloud but his very body really in dede Which Chrisostome denieth In the. 83. Homil. vpon Mathew the same doctour saith Si mortuus Iesus non est cuius simbolum aut signum hoc sacrificium est If Christ be not deade of whom is this sacrifice a figure and signe And vpon the. 22. psalm Vt quotidie in similitudinem corporis sanguinis Christi panem vinum secundum ordinem Melchisedech nobis ostenderet in sacramento That hee might dayly shew vs in the sacrament bread and wine accordynge to the order of Melchisedech as the similitude of his body and bloud As before hee vsed Symbolum signum misterium so he hath here Similitudinem Likewise Dionisius de ecclesiastica Hierarchia cap. 3. Per venerabilia signa Christus signatur sumitur By those reuerent signes Christe is signified and receiued Ambrose also De hijs qui imciantur misterijs cap. 9. Ipse clamat dominus Iesus Hoc est corpus meum Ante benedictionem verboruÌ„ caelestium alia species nominatur Post consecrationem corpus Christi significatur Our Lorde Iesus crieth this is my body Before the blessing of the heauenly wordes one kinde is named after consecratione Christes body is signified In the. 4. boke also De sacramentis cap â–ª 8 The same Ambrose saith Fac nobis hanc oblationem ascriptam rationabileÌ„ acceptabilem quod est figura corporis sanguinis domini nostri Iesu Christi Make to vs this offering alowable reasonable acceptable whiche is the figure of the body and bloud of our lord Iesus Christ Here he acknowlegeth the sacrament to bee a figure In the. 6. boke De sacrameÌ„tis cap. 1. He hath these wordes also Ideo in similitudinem quidem accipis sacramentum sed verae naturae gratiam virtutemque assequeris Therefore thou receiuest the sacrament as a similitude but thou atteinest the grace and vertue of the true nature in dede This sentence of Ambrose conteineth our whole doctrine of the sacramente of Christes body and bloud whiche is that it is a figure or signe of his body and yet not a bare or naked figure but suche a one as there by we atteine in déede the full grace and benefite of his body that suffred for vs and was crucified vpon the crosse and haue our soules fed and norished with the same to euerlastinge lyfe Origine vppon Mathew saieth Panis sanctificatus iuxta id quod habet materiale in ventrem abit in sesessum encitur c. The sanctified bread saith he according to that it hath material passeth into the bealy and is auoyded oute of the body But accordinge to the prayer that commeth to it it is profitable makinge that the minde vnderstandeth and hathe regarde to that is profitable Neither is it the matter of the breade but the word spoken ouer it that profiteth him which receiueth it not vnworthely And thus much haue I spoken of the typicall and figuratiue body Much also may be sayd of the liuely worde it selfe whiche was made fleash and very meat in deede whiche meate he that eateth shal surely liue for euer whiche no yll man canne eate c. Here note you firste that Origine saieth that the mattier of the consecrated breade of the sacrament passeth into the bealy and is auoyded out expresly againstâ— your interpretacion of Christes wordes wherby ye say the breade is transsubstantiate and no mattier of it leftâ— but onely accidencies Secondly that he calleth the sacrament Typicum symbolicum corpus the typicall and figuratiue body Thirdely that he affirmeth constantly that no ill man can eate the very flesh of the seconde person in Trinitie And yet that is one of the necessarie labels that your sorte doeth teache to depende vpon your wrongefull interpretacion of Christes wordê Wherfore Origine with this one sentence teareth of diuers of your counterfaited Labels that you stitche to Christes testamentes by drifte of reason without the warrant of his holy worde More ouer Austine de doctrina Christ lib. 3. cap. 9. After he hath declared that in the new Testamente God hath lefte vnto his people but few sacramentes and ceremontes and the same to be vnderstande not carnally seruilely accordyng to the letter and there for example hath mencioned baptisme and the celebracion of the Lordes body and bloud in the ende he addeth these wordes In whiche saith he as is folow the letter and to take the sygure for those thynges that are signified by them in a poincie of seruile infirmitie so to interprete the signes euill is the poincie of wandrynge erronâ— As he counteth it a fonde and wicked errour not to interprete the sigkes well and accordynge to Gods worde so by a streight litteral sence to take the signes for the thynges signified he esteemeth a seruile infirmitie What can be more plainly spoken against that interpretacion that you make vpon these woordes of Christe wherby you doo binde vs to a seruile litterall sence of this worde Js and in suche forte take the signes of this sacramente for the thinges signified as you affirme breade and wine whiche S. Augustine and the other Doctours call the externall signes cleane to be tourned into the body bloud of Christ The same Augustine contra AdimaÌ„rum Manich. The Lorde faieth this is my bobie when he gaue the signe of his body Also vpon the. 98. psal he speaketh in this maner Ye shall not eate that body that you se not ye shal not drinke that bloud that they shall shedde It is a misterie that I tell you whiche shal reliue you if you vnderstande it spiritually Wyll you not yet vnderstand from whence our men receiued this interpretacion will you not yet perceiue that wée sucked not it out of our owne singers but were led vnto it by the testimonies of holy scriptures and teachyng of these aucient fathers Will you not cease vniustly to bourden vs that wée cauill and dally vpon titles and sillables whereas your self in this sentence woulde driue vs to suche an vnderstandyng of this one sillable Js as the like is not in the whole Bible But ye will aledge for your selfe as you signifie in you writyng that Ambrose Cyprian Chrisostome and other auncient fathers haue in this case vsed the termes of transmutacion alteration conuersion transelementation c. Wherby they haue plainly declared theyr meaninge to bee as yours is and that no bread there remayneth but only the substance of Christes body True it is in déede that those holy fathers vsed such wordes not for that they were of your opinion but only to th end they might more reuerently as méete was and more liuely expresse the dignitie and effect of that heauenly mistery wherin Iesu
Christ by his vnfallible promisse vnfeinedly geueth to the faith of his people the very fruition of his body and bloud with the hole benefite of his precious death and passion and by the workinge of the holy ghost merueilously ioyneth vs in one body together with him Is not this thinke you a merueilous change and to mans estimation a miraculous worke when by the power of the holy ghost worde of god of commen breade and wine such as we daily féede our bodies with is made the dredful and reuerent sacramentes and mysteries of Iesus Christ wherby as I saide he doth not by a bare signe only but verely and in déede endow is faithfull people and make them partakers of his body and bloud Yea and that in such sorte that euen as truly as the bread doth norishe our body and euen as truly as the wine doeth comforte our spiritê so truly and vnfeinedly doeth the heauenly foode of his body and bloud toren and shed for vs by fait h in time of that holy supper no ryshe strengthen and comforte our soule and by the wonderfull workinge of his spirite make our bodies also apte to resurrection Truly when I earnestly consider the effecte of this sacrament as it must néedes be by the trueth of Christes promises I confesse I am not able with wordes to vtter so muche as in my minde I doo conceiue and together withal eschew the absurditie of your reall presence and transsubstantion Wherfore I merueile not if those holy fathers fearinge no suche inconueniences but lokinge rather pithely to expresse the thinge dyd vse those earnest wordes and manners of speakinge and yet mente not as you now of their wordes doo gather All though no similitude can sufficiently declare the thinge I wyll for the simplar forte so muche as I can indeuour by a comparison to set for the that I do conceiue If a temporal prince for certaine causes mouinge him would geue you a thousand pound land by the yere and for that purpose had caused the wrytinges to be made The same wrytinge vntill it bee confirmed by the prince is nothinge but common parchment and inke framed into letters by some inferiour mans hand neither doth it bring any effect but when the prince hath once added to his seale confirmed the graunt it is no more called parchement or common writing but the kinges letters patents And now hath that reuerence that all to whom they be shewed doo veile there bonetes as bringinge with it some parte of the princes maiesty Such a change is now made in those trifelinge thinges that before no man estemed You also to whom this lande should bee geuen would not thinke this writinge common parchement blotted with inke but the perfite déede of your prince wherby you were assuredly possessed of the foresaid lands Moreouer when the prince at the deliuery of the same should say sir here is a thousand pound land that I geue fréely to you and to your heires I thinke you would not be so fonde to thinke either that the Prince doeth mocke you because you sée not the laÌ„ds presently or els to conceiue with your selfe that you haue the landes really inclosed within the compasse of your writing For the kinges aucthoritie in the writyng geueth you as ful possession of the landes as though you helde theÌ„ if it were possible in your hande And you in this case might iustly saye to your friende shewing your letters patents Lo here is a thousande pounde lande that my prince hath geuen me If then there bee so greate a change made in framyng the couenant déede of an earthly prince If his seale doo bryng such force effecte to his gifte and letters patentes How much more merueilous change alteracioÌ„ or transmutacion muste wée thinke it to bee when the base creatures of breade and wine be consecrated into the sacrament of the euerlastyng couenante and testament of Iesu Christ wherin he geueth vs not earthly vanities but the precious foode of his body and bloude remission of sinnes and the heritage of his heauenly kingdome how muche more of effecte must this sacrament be that is sealed with the promisse and wordes of our sauiour Christ who is truth it selfe and cannot deceiue any that trusteth in him Wherefore to expresse this change of the externall elementes into so heauenly misteries to shewe the effecte of this sacrament to withdrawe the ignorant mindes of the people from the prophane cogitacion of a bare signe in this mattier the auncient fathers had good cause to vse suche wordes And yet therein doo they nothyng at all defende your miraculous workes that you deuise to be made in the Lordes supper As for the similitude wherewith you woulde declare the necessitie of your Labels depending vpon the first founded absurditie it is both of as smal force as other that you before vsed and you handle it with more sluttish eloquence then is méete for suche a mattier as this is For the drawyng of the Capons the scumming of the potte the stinkyng water the hewyng of wodde the puttyng on the broche with guttes garbage and al. c. Be phrases and termes more méete for the kitchinne then for the Diuinitee schoole and such as your self I thinke woulde not haue vsed if your mockyng spirite had not so rauisshed you as you wist not what you did If wée had resembled your Labels whiche you cutte out by drift of reason vnto so base mattiers you woulde haue sayd that wée had rayled and done otherwise then it became vs. But sens your selfe doth so take them wée must thinke that God oftentimes moueth his aduersaries to vtter trueth against them selues But if the same maister that you imagine to commaunde his seruaunte to make readie that hee may dine did meane onely that he should set vpon the table suche colde meate as was in the house because he saw no cause or necessitie of greater prouision And the seruaunte vpon his owne foolish head would mistake his maisters commaundement conceyuing that he woulde haue great straungers did kill his Capons Chickens and other prouision aboute his house and busied himselfe with more labour then thanke to make them readie Doo you not thinke I pray you that he might iustly be compted an vnprofitable seruaunt and worthy by correction to bee taught more witte for that he putteth his maister to greater chargies and himselfe to more paines then the mattier required if he had rightly vnderstanded his maisters will and commaundemente Euen so sir those thynges that you say foloweth by force of reason and argument vpon the first sentence do folow indéede only vpon that sence that your selfe doth imagine mistakyng your maisters wil and pleasure and not vpon that meanyng that Christe himselfe would haue his wordes to be taken in For all that he woulde haue done may be sufficiently done without the working of so manie miracles as you in this case would driue his omnipotencie vnto Wherefore wée are not
commonly of hym that hee was a deceiuour to purge him selfe of that suspicion witnessed that hee spake not of him selfe because he spake out of the lawe and prophetes euen so if any man sayinge that he hath the holy ghost speaketh of hym selfe and not out of the gospele wee must not beleue him For as Christ said the holy ghost shall not speake of him selfe but shall declare vnto you those thinges that it hathe hearde That is those thinges that I haue spoken he shal confirme These wordes of Chrisostome cleane ouerthroweth the ground of all your vnwriten verities beside the worde of god much more such doctrines as be expresly against the same as is your sole receiuinge and communion vnder one kind Wherfore neither your multitude of sundry nacions and great learned clerkes neither the continuance of .ix. C. yeres if it were so neyther the name of your holy mother the churche which you so often repete can bee any sure proufe of your doctrines without the expresse testimonies of the scripture to witnes the same For the holy ghoste whiche you assure your churche of doth not speake of himselfe saith Chrisostom but confirmeth that Christe spake before After that you haue at your pleasure in sundry partes of your treatise charged him that you write against with folly rashnes arrogancie and impudency euen in those pointes that the same crimes may bee more iustly retourned to your selfe and yours in this place also you indeuour to debase and imminishe his estimation extenuatinge his age continuance in study of holy scripture and maner of life in comparison of your late holy fathers which you doo greatly extolle Such is your shiftes when the matter will not healpe it selfe to transferre your talke to the persons by scorneful disdeining of other to procure your self aucthoritie What your opinion is of him your writing declareth but they whiche haue bene of longer and better acquaintance with him then you are doo right well know and in his behalfe doo protest that .xx. yeres sence he was able fully to haue answered stronger argumentê for these matters then any that you haue brought at this time But whatsoeuer hee is to you god bee praised in him he so liueth as the most malicious of your parte cannot iustly blame him and his learnings is suche as when the matter shal be tried I doubt not but it wil fal out that he with his .xl. yeres age and such other whom in like maner you disdaine shal shewe more true diuinitie then a many of your hoare heades and greate reading clerkes as you thinke whose aucthoritie and name alone ye iudge sufficient to beare downe whatsoeuer shall bee brought against them Towarde the ende you shewe your opinion of reall presence of Christes 13. Cap. Of reall presence body in the sacramente and in that parte blame vs as though we had more acquainted our selfe with Ismael and Agar as you say then with Abraham and Isaac thereby signifâ—yng that we misdoubted the almightie power of god in bringinge that to passe whiche he promiseth or speaketh in the institution of his sacramentes But I muste néedes iudge this to bee in you eyther ignorant blindnes or hatefull malice Blindnes if you doo not vnderstande and sée that in this controuersie wée stay not vpon gods omnipotency malice if you know it and vpbrayde vs with the contrary We graunt as fréely as you with Abraham and Isaac That god is able to performe whatsoeuer he both promise Wee graunt as freely as you with the Angell Thâ—â— no worde it 〈…〉 to god We graunte as fréely as you with Dauid That god hath done whatsoeuer his 〈…〉 We grauÌ„t with the holy fathers that 〈◊〉 greate and merueilous mutation and change is made in this sacrament by the power of gode worde Wee detest euen as muche as you all such as sée no more but common bread or a bare signe in this holy supper neither can wee thinke well of you when you doo so falsely charge us with that assertion But how can you shew that it was gods holy wil to haue so many miracles wrought as you without necessitie doo make in this sacramente Yea and of such sorte as be contrary to the maner of all those miracles that the holy scrinture mencioneth to bee wrought by his diuine power Moyses turned his rodde into a serpent but all that were presente sawe that it was a serpent He made water miraculously to come out of the rocke but al the children of Israell saw and tasted of the water Christe tourned water into wine but all the company dranke and felte it to be wine The same is to bee saide of all the residew of merueylous workes And when gods power had miraculously tourned these thinges that into the whiche they were tourned reserued and kepte that nature that was agreable to suche a thinge The serpent had the very nature of a serpent the water was of such nature as it behoued water to be the wins lost not the right nature of wins Otherwise it may séeme rather a iudglinge then miraculous workinge You neuer reade in all the course of the scripture that gods power tourned the substance of any thinge and left the qualitées of the other thinge that it was before sauing onely in this case that you imagine it God is able to turne darkenes into light and light into darkenes but it were madnes to require at gods almightie power to make lighte and not to haue a shininge that is to make lighte to be light and not to be light all at ones or to make light darkenes all one This were nothing but to peruert the order of gods wisedome Doo you not this in the sacramente when you apoint the body of Christ to be without quantitée proportion and figure or to be in a thousand places at ones which is proper only to his diuinitie Is not this to take away the nature of a body from his body and in déede to affirme it to be no body And yet wee say not but that god is able to worke that also if it be his pleasure But we say it was not gods wil and pleasure in ordeining the sacrament to haue it so For neyther is there any necessitie that should constraine him to it nor doth his word teach vs that ouer hee did the like Oh ye wyll say we muste beleue Christes wordes This is my body which be of as great power now as they were in the parlour at Hierusalent to make the very body of Christe really and carnaly present and so the Catholike church say you doth teache vs. Wherefore vpon this veritie once setled diuers other thinges must of necessitie followe by drifte of reason although they bee not expressely mencioned in scripture as the adoration of the sacrament the turninge of the substance of bread and wine the beinge of Christes body in many places at onâ—â— c. In déede in such is the vanitie of mans reason in gods