ther is also Christ and his sprite and God And yet Luther is condempned as an erityke because he wolde haue bread to be Ioyned with the body whiche is contrary to the catholyk churche Melancton Saynt Ambros wold neuer haue traueled sayth Melancton vnto Oecolampadius so many miracles as he doth speake of this matter to the declarynge of goddes omnipotencye and he had not thought the nature of breade to be chaunged in this mystery ¶ Erasmus Rothorodamus vnto Coradus Pellicanus in his Epist vi c.lxxvi pag. WHat maddnes were it for me yf I shoulde pronounce that there is nothinge else in the sacrament of the Alter but onely breade wyne I do acknowelege my selfe that I were worthy of death if euer eny man harde this of me either in earnest or in boorde that there is nothinge else in the blessed sacrament but onely breade and wyne or that ther is not really there present the very bodye bloud of our sauiour Iesu Christ And farther he saithe saynte Paule dothe thinke that an Angell is not to be harde if he do preathe an other gospell than the catholyke churche dothe approue and alowe â–ª yea the same churche hathe perswaded vnto me to beleue and to geue credence to the gospell by hyr instruction haue I euer learned how I ought to expouÌ„de the wordes of the gospell hitherto haue I euer worshypped in the sacrameÌ„t Christ which suffered death passion for me as all other trwe christenyd men hath done Nor yet hitherto dyd I neuer se any thing wherefor I ought to go from this mynde and stedfast opynion Nor no mans reasonynge shal be able to cary me awaye frome the holy senteÌ„ce and agrement of the fathers of Christes church For those eight wordes of Moyses in the begynnynge god made heaueÌ„ earth be of more strengthe with me theÌ„ al the argumentes reasons of Aristotle and all other philosophers True it is that the verye bodye of our Lorde and Sauiour Christ is there in the sacrament thoughe it be not to mans sences or reason perceptible But yet is that sacrament a pleage and wonderful memory of his inestimable loue towardes vs and a stedfost comfort wherby to stablysh oure hope towarde God The scripture doth make for vs. We haue these playne wordes in holy scripture This is my body whiche is geuen for you And this is my bloud which shal be shed for you Where do they fynd in holy scripture This is not my body or this is but a figure or signe and token of my bodye They shall neuer be able to bringe forth any place of the auncient doctors which shal by playne and expresse wordes contayne that there is not in the blessed Sacramente of the aulter the very body bloude of our sauiour Christ I pray you what thinge is in this matter whiche moueth you thus highly to extoll this spiritual receauing of the body bloud of our lorde in the sacrament Wolde you therby perswade vnto me that I should not holde with the corporal eatinge and drinkinge of the same body and bloude of our Lord also And wold you by that menes that I should now forsake the true doctrine whiche the catholike church hath euer still taught so manye ages together one folowinge and succedinge after another to harkeÌ„ vnto your newly inuented onelye spirituall eating and drinking of those high misteries therby vtterly secludinge the corporall eatinge and drinkinge of the same self blessed Sacrament Erasmus in his epistle to Balthasar byshop of Heldesyn pag. M. ccccc.lxxvii And suerly there is nothing more effectuall to norish in oure mother holy churche a perfight and an indissoluble concorde than that the same oure mother the Catholyke churche eatinge of one bodye and drinkinge of one bloude by one spirite is made and compacte into one bodye by whom she also receauinge life is knit vnto our lyuing head Christ And yet do we nowe se that all these great benefittes and high promocions notwithstandinge how that through the flighty craftes of oure desaytefull and stronge aduersarye Sathan it is brought to passe that the same most beneficial gifte of the sacramente of the body and bloud of our most mercyfull moste teÌ„derly louynge Sauiour geueÌ„ vnto vs to bringe all ê‘sons into vnite coÌ„cord hath ben the matter where vpoÌ„ in olde tyme so many discencions haue rysyn and of late yeares are now agayne renewed while the some ther be whiche do deny that ther is any thinge else in the blessed sacrament but onely the outwarde tokyns of the body bloud of our Sauiour Iesus Christ Some others do knowlege christ in the sacrameÌ„t but yet vnder the substance of bread and wine And again some ther were that sayde how that through the wordes of consecration the substaunce of breade and wyne do fyrst perishe and so succedeth after the bodye and the bloude of our Sauiour Christ Some others do holde that our Sauiour by the wordes of the consecration dothe become breade and wyne by their fantastical mindes making it but a light matter that was once incarnate and dyd for our sakes become man There haue also ben some that were called Starcoraniste whiche irreuerent parsons deserued well so vile a name because they both ymagin and speake so vylye and withoute all reuerence of so highe a Sacramente The countreye of Grece also to disquiet the vnitie of the Catholyke Churche hathe sente forth amongeste vs theyr leuayners so called because they dare presume contrarye to holy Scripture to leue the vse of pure bread vnlayuened and do consecrate in breade whiche is leuayned And after he sayth woulde to GOD that such persons as haue folowed Berengarius in his maner of erryng concerning the veritie of the body and bloude of our Sauiour Christ to be in the blessed sacrament of the Alter whiche thinge he denyed so to be woulde in lyke wyse folow hym in repentynge of theyr selues as he dyd and that whiche now in our dayes be infected with the same erroure wolde so vnyte them selues vnto the catholyke Churche as he dyd whiche dyed for his offence full sore repentauÌ„t Farthermore ther hath rysen aboute this blessed sacrameÌ„t innumerable questions As how is the transubstaÌ„tiacioÌ„ brought to passe that is to saye how dothe the substaunce of breade geue place vnto the very substaunce of the bodye of our Sauioure Christ Also how the accident of breade and wyne be preserued and do remayne after theyr former substauces be gone And howe is it that these accidentes do kepe styll theyr color theyr smel their sauor and also haue power to fyll lyke other fode All whiche qualytyes the breade and wyne had in them selues afore that they were consecrate Also at what moment the body bloude of Christ doth seace to be in the sacrament Also whether that after the formes be corrupted any other fubstaunce do succede Also how that one selfe same body maye be at once in places innumerable Also
as the breade made of grayne taken frome the grounde called by consecration is no more nowe commentable breade but the bodye and bloude of Christe stonding vpon .ii. thinges an earthly and an heauenlye euen so oure bodyes perceauing the sacrament be no more now corruptible hauīg hope of resurrection And ī his fyft boke agaynst heresyes By what meanes therfore both the myxed cup and the frute of breade perceaueth the worde of God is made the Eucharist of the body and bloude of Christ For God in that he is God hathe nether breth bones ne fleshe But speakynge as cōcernynge that disposition and proportion whiche is like vnto man whiche standeth compacte of flesh synowes and bones whiche is norished with the cuppe whiche is the bloode and is enoreasyd with the breade whiche is his body Tertulyane in his boke of resurrection of the flesh OVre fleshe eateth the bodye bloode of Christ that the soule also may be replenyshed and fully fed with God And in his boke of prayer he saith bread is the worde of the lyuinge God which came doune īto his fote stole of the earth from his throne of heauen Then his veraye bodye is demyd and thought to be in the similitude of breade Saynge This is my body Therfore we clamynge requirynge our dayelye bread do aske a perpetuite cōtynuaunce in Christ and an vnseperable vnite with his body Agaynst Marcyon he saith we do knowe receaue and beleue all the gospelles of Christ by the churche and not otherwyse S. Cypryan martyr ccxlix Cypryan Martyr in the fyrste boke of his Epistelles in the seconde epistle NOw not onely to the weake or sycke but to the valyant peace is necessarye Not only to persones departyng but to the liuinge communion shoulde be minystred to the intent we maye not leaue thē naked and weaponles whome we exhort to battayle But that we maye defend them with the shelde of the bodye and bloude of Christ And whē the body bloud of Christ is ministred that it maye be a sauegarde to the receauers and that we Arme them with the armour of the Lordes health whō we wolde saue agaynst our gostely enemy For why should we teache or moue them to spende their bloud in confessinge Christes name yf in this chiuallry we deny them the bloude of Christe Or by what meanes do we make them fyt for the cup of martirdome if we do not admyt them fyrste to drynke of the chalice of the righteous cōmunicatynge of the Lorde in the churche De cena domini Our Lorde maketh euen cōtinually vntill this daye in the sacramēt this his moste trew holy body maketh it holy blesseth it and deuideth it to them which deuoutely receaueth it In the same THe breade which the Lorde gaue to his disciples chaūged not in forme but in nature and by the omnipotente power of the worde is made fleshe And as in the personne of Christ the manhod was sene and the Godhed hydde so in the visible sacramente the diuine nature inuisible infundeth hym selfe to the entent that aboute the sacrament shoulde be deuotion And in the same This common bread chaūged into fleshe and bloude procureth to bodyes lyfe and increase Idem The high prest bryngeth forth bread wyne this is saith he my body they eate and drynke of the same bread after a visible forme but afore these words that meat was common only it was profitable for the body to be norished gaue help of a corporall lyfe But from what tyme it was of the Lorde spoken this do in remembraunce of me it is fleshe bloud As often as with these wordes and this faithe it is done that supersubstancial bread and cup of benediction solemplye consecrate it doth profight to life and health of the hole Man Also being a medecyn brent offeringe to heale infirmyties and pourge iniquities That it was an other thinge that fyrst was sette forth consumed and an other that was geuen of the master and destributed whan the false mynde of Iudas touched the holy meate The holy sanctifyed breade enteryd into the cursed mouthe the murdering mynde not beynge able to susteyne the myght of so greate a sacrament was blowen away lyke chaffe frome the floure and ran hedlynge to perdition to desperation and to the rope The sacrament Christe sōtyme calleth it hys bodye sometyme his fleshe and bloud sometime bread Origen in his .v. Homilye Domine non sum dignus WHan ye receaue the holy meat and vncorrupted dishe thou dost vse the breade and the cup of lyfe thou eatest and drinkest the body and bloud of our Lorde ther the Lorde enterest into thy house Dist Viii The sacramēt the Lord dyd institute when after the figuratyue lambe he dyd reache his body to his disciples at supper When these wordes be spokē saith Origen This is my body and this is my bloud ther is a certayne conuersion made of breade and wyne into the substaunce of the bodye and bloude of Christ Therfore the Lord Iesus goynge to the inuisible thinges of his Fathers magestie the figuratyue paschall beinge scelebrate with the disciples wyllynge to commende vnto them a certayne memoryall vnder forme of breade and wyne he dyd so geue his bodye and bloude to them that he myght shew the sacramentes of the olde law amonge which the sacrifice of the paschal lambe was chefe to be ended in his death the sacraments of the new law to be institute in whiche the mistery of Eucharistia excelleth Chrisostem in his .lxxxiii. Homili Vpon Saynt Math. LEt vs beleue God in euery thinge and not saye agaynst hym Verba dei defraudari non pūt yea although the thing that he sayth doth appere an inconuenience both to our sences thought vnderstandinge and dothe also exceade our sences capacite and reasone Let vs I beseche you beleue his wordes in al thinges but chefly in the sacrament not onely vpō those thinges which lye before vs His wordes can no the deceaued our sences ma◠easely be deceiued but considerynge also his wordes For by his wordes we can not be deceaued His wordes can not be false oursences are most easy to be dyssayued Wherfore seyng Christe hathe sayde This is my bodye let vs nothinge doute therof but beleue and perceaue it with the eyes of our vnderstanding In his .iii. boke Dialogorum Cap. iiii Beholde the dignite of the preisthode whervpon we speake for it is done in earth but his office is cōtayned in heuenly busynesses For consequently neither man nor Angell Non homo non Angelus nec Archangelus hoc sacramentū instituit nor archangell nor vertu nor any other creature but the holy gost hath institute this office and yet remayning in fleshe hath geuen to peruse the minystery of angelles For the which thing the byshop must as he that were in heuen and wer mixed to the vertues do this thing so it is lightenyd with the brightnes of lyfe For when
fleshe Super Marc. cap. xiiii Whan Chrâ—st had blessed he brake the breade and that do we also puttinge therto prayers saynge This is my body This that I do geue and you now take For the breade is not only a figure of our Lordes bodye but it is turned into our Lordes body For he sayth the bread that I wyll geue is my fleshe He sayd not it is a figure of my flesh but it is my fleshe And howe saith he Cur earo non uidetur is not fleshe sene Oh man for oure infirmitie this is done For breade and wyne be of those thinges wherewith we be accustomed withall Them we do not abhorre but bloude and fleshe set forth we beholdynge coulde not beare but shoulde abhorre Therfore the mercifull God condescending to oure infirmitie Transelementatio doth kepe the forme or kynde of breade and wyne and into the vertu of fleshe and bloude he chaungeth them Super Iohannem Cap. vi Take that the breade that is eaten of vs in misteries is not onely a certayne figuringe of our lordes fleshe but the very flesh For it is transformed by secrete wordes That breade by a misticall blessing and comming of the holy goste Transformatio is chaunged into the body and bloud of Christ And how sayest thou the fleshe appeareth not to vs but breade that we shulde not abborre the eatinge of it For if flesh shuld haue appeared we shoulde haue ben vnsemelye mynded agaynste the communion but now our lord condescendinge to our infirmitie appeareth to vs in suche misticall meat as we haue ben accustomed to The Iewes when they harde of the eatinge of his fleshe dydde misbeleue and therfore they spake a word of infidelitie that is How For when the thoughtes of mysbeleiffe entered into the harte then entered also how Wherefore he wyllynge to shew that it is not impossible but very necessary and that lyfe can none otherwyse be had except ye eate my fleshe ¶ Leo in his .xl. Epistle LEt those phantastical Christians tell me what body Iesus brought into the sight of his disciples the gates beynge shut ¶ Anselmne Byshoppe of Canterbury almost fyue hundred yeares paste sayeth vppon these wordes This is my body It appeareth vnto the vtter senses of man to be but breade But know ye by the sences of the mynde bycause saith Christ this is my body none other but that same in substaunce which shal be geuen to death vpon the crosse and crucified for you Oure Lordes body is consecrated with the signe of the Crosse the fount of baptisme is hallowed and also preistes are made by the same signe Aug. in psal xxxiii Haymo Homil passione Christi Math. li. The breade is chaunged into our Lordes fleshe and the wyne into his bloude not by a fygure nor by a shadowe but by the veritie ¶ Damascen in his .iiii. boke of the ryght catholyke faith The .iiii. Chapter Doest thou aske of me howe breade is made Christes body and wine and water his bloud I aunswer vnto the that the holy goost worketh these things aboue mans vnderstandynge but the breade and wyne are turned The bodye is ioyned vnto the deitye whiche body is of the virgin not that the bodye taken of the virgin commyth downe frome heauen but that the breade it selfe and wyne are chaunged into the bodye and bloude of God The bread wyne water through inuocation and the coÌ„mynge of the holy goste vnto them are aboue nature chaunged into Christes bodye and bloude and they are not two bodyes but one and the same bodye The breade and wyne be not a figure onely of Christes bodye and bloude God forbyd but the bodye and Bloude of Christ Dost thou se breade dost thou se wyne do they auoyde beneth as other meates do God forbyd Thinke not so for as wax if it be put once into the fyer no substaunce remayneth nothinge is lefte so here also thinke thou that the misteryes be consumed by the substaunce of the bodye Damasen lib. iiii ca. xiiii For as moch as our Lord is the spirituall Adam it hath be semed mannes natiuite to be spirituall And also his meate natiuite is geuen to vs by water and the sprite through holy baptizme I saye and the meate breade of lyfe Our Lorde Iesus Christ whiche came doune from heauen For he was aboute to suffer for vs voluntarye deathe in the nyght whiche he offred his owne selfe He dyd dispose a new testament to his disciples and Apostelles by theÌ„ to all others beleuing in hym In the parlor of the holy and gloriouse Syon eatinge the olde passouer with his disciples fulfillinge the olde testament He washed his Disciples fete gyuinge them a token of holy baptisme Afterwarde breakinge breade he gaue to them saying Take eate this is my bodye whiche for you shal be broken in remâ—ssion of synnes In like maner takyng the cupe of wyne and water gaue to them sayeng Drynke of this all This is my bloude of the newe Testament whiche shal be shed for you in remission of synnes Do ye this â—n remembraunce of me For how often so euer ye shall eate this breade and drinke this cuppe ye shall shewe the death of our Lord and confesse his resurrection vntil he come If the worde of God be a lyuynge thinge and of efficacite And all thinges that our Lorde woulde he dyd If he sayde let the lyght be made and it was made Be the fyrmamente made and it was made If by the worde of God the heauens were made and with the sprite of his mouth euery vertue of them If heauen and earth water fyer and ayer and al the ornament of them by the worde of our lorde be made perfight man him self an expressed beast Vis uerbi dei continuo manet If god hym selfe a wylling worde be made man and of the most pure and vndefiled bloude of the holy vyrgyn and in him selfe without seed haue susteyned fleshe Can not he make breade his bodye and wyne and water his bloude Argumentum a minori He sayde in the begynninge let the earth brynge forth grene grasse and euen vntyll nowe after rayne it bringeth forth fruites beinge helped and strengthed with Goddes worde For god sayde This is my body and this is my bloude Hoc SacramentuÌ„ tuÌ„ continuo fiet denec ueniat and this do in remembraunce of me And by the almyghty precepte of God vntyll he shall come it is done for as all thinges that God dyd the holy goost workinge he dydde And so nowe by the operation of the holy gooste these he doth aboue nature whiche nothinge but onely fayth can take Howe shall this be done to me saith the holy vyrgin for I knowe not manne The Aungell aunswered The holye gooste shall come vpon the and the vertue of the highest shall ouershadowe the. And nowe asketh thou Quomodo howe is breade made the body of Christ wyne and water