transubstantiation, as it is clear by that is said already; then is M. Harding's foundation not well laid, and therefore we may the better doubt of his conclusion. And whereas he saith, These new masters think it sufficient to acknowledge a sacramental changing, and to say, that the bread is changed into the sacrament of Christ's body, and that only for a shift; it may please him to remember that Beda, well near nine hundred years ago, expounded the same in like sort; and yet, that notwithstanding, was never counted neither shifter nor new master. Bed.in Octav. His words be plain: Panis et vini creatura in sacramentum carnis et sanguinis Epiph. Christi ineffabili Spiritus sanctificatione transfertur: "The creature of bread and wine, by the ineffable sanctification of the Spirit, is turned into the sacrament of Christ's flesh and blood." This place is counterfeit, found in all M. HARDING. THE THIRD DIVISION. Nothing can be plainer to this purpose than the sayings of St Ambrose: Licet and not to be figura panis et vini videatur, nihil tamen aliud, quam caro Christi et De Cons. Dist. 2. cap. Omnia St Ambrose. sanguis, post consecrationem credendum est2: "Although," saith he, quæcunque. "the form of bread and wine be seen, yet after consecration we must believe they are nothing else but the flesh and blood of Christ." After the opinion of this father, the shew and figure of bread and wine are seen, and therefore remain after consecration. And if we must believe that which was bread and wine before to be nones other thing but the flesh and blood of Christ, then are they no other thing indeed. For if they were, we might so believe. For belief is grounded upon truth; and whatsoever is not true is not to be believed. Hereof it followeth, that, after consecration, the accidents and shews only remain without the substance of bread and wine. In another place he saith as much: Panis iste5, &c.: De Sacra"This bread, before the words of the sacraments, is bread: as soon as cap.iv. the consecration cometh, of bread is made the body of Christ." Again in another place he saith most plainly, that "the power of consecration is greater De iis qui inithan the power of nature; because nature is changed by consecration." tiantur. The hundred By this father it is evident that the nature (178), that is to say, the substance of eighth un- bread and wine, by consecration being changed into the body and blood of Christ, ing in false their natural qualities, which be accidents, continuing unchanged for performance of tion, as shall the sacrament, remain without the substance of bread and wine. and seventy truth, stand interpreta appear. Accidents perform the sacrament. A strange kind of di. vinity. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. mentis, Lib. iv. Ambrose's books be extant, and known: among them all these words are not found. Gratian, the reporter of them, either of purpose or for want of discretion, as a man living in a very barbarous and corrupt season, allegeth often one doctor for another, the Greek for the Latin, the new for the old; as may soon appear to the learned reader. This writer, whom M. Harding would so fain have to pass by the name of Ambrose, in this very place purposely depraveth the words of Christ, alleging that for scripture that is not to be found so written in all the scriptures; which is not the manner of St Ambrose's dealing. But, for contentation of the reader, to answer that thing that seemeth worthy of no answer, we must understand that the bread, the wine, and the water, of their own nature, without further consideration, are nothing else but usual and simple creatures. And therefore St Augustine giveth this general [1 Ven. Bed. Op. Col. Agrip. 1612. In Epiph. Dom. Hom. Tom. VII. col. 320; where ejus for Christi.] [2 Ambros. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, De Consecr. Dist. ii. can. 74. col. 1954; where vini hic sit omnino nihil aliud, and credenda sunt. A note in Gratian says, Ex Lib. IV. de Sacram. cap. iv. et vi; but these words are not to be found in the place thus referred to.] contr. Lib. iii. Myst. cap. ii. rule touching the same: "In sacraments we must consider, not what they be August. of themselves, but what they signify." So St. Ambrose writeth of the water Maxim. of baptism: Quid vidisti? Aquas utique, sed non solas... Apostolus docuit, non Ambros. de ea contemplanda...quæ videntur, sed quæ non videntur: "What sawest thou iis qui init. (in thy baptism)? water no doubt, but not only water. The apostle hath taught us to behold not the things that be seen, but the things that be not seen." Otherwise, touching the very substance of the bread and the wine, he saith: Sunt quæ erant 10: "They be the same things that they were." And immedi- Ambros. de ately before he calleth the sacrament touching the bread and the wine, which Sacram. Lib. iv. cap. iv. are the material parts thereof, "a common and a known creature11." Ambros. de Sacram. Lib. Creatura so nota. Yet nevertheless, touching the effect of the sacrament, we consider not the iv. cap. iii corruptible natures, or outward elements, but direct our faith only to the body lennis et and blood of Christ. St Ambrose himself leadeth us thus to say: Ante bene- Ambros. de dictionem verborum cœlestium alia species nominatur: post consecrationem corpus Myst. cap. ix. [Christi] significatur 12: "Before the blessing of the heavenly words, it is called another kind; but after the consecration the body of Christ is signified." iis qui init. But, M. Harding will reply, thus 13 Ambrose saith: Figura panis et vini ridetur14: "The figure of bread and wine is seen;" therefore we must needs confess there are accidents without a subject. If any old writer, Greek or Latin, learned or unlearned, ever used this word figura in this sense, to wit, to signify a shew alone without any substance, then may M. Harding seem to say somewhat. If never any writer used it so, then have we good cause to doubt his conclusion. Verily, to leave other old writers of all sorts, St Ambrose himself saith: [Christus] apparet.......in figura humana 15: “Christ appeareth Ambros. in in the form or figure of a man." And St Paul saith to the 16 like purpose: cap. i. Formam servi accepit: "Christ took upon him the form of a servant." I think Phil. ii. M. Harding will not warrant us, upon the force of these words, that Christ had only the shape and shew, and not the very substance and nature, of a man's body for in so saying he should seem openly to favour the old condemned heresy of the Manichees. In saying otherwise, this word figura cannot further his purpose. But St Ambrose saith: Nihil aliud credendum 17: "We must believe there is nothing else." Therefore, saith M. Harding, there is no bread. I marvel he hath no further insight, nor better skill in his own arguments: for here he concludeth a plain contradiction against himself. For, if there be nothing else but the body of Christ, and we must also believe the same, then is there neither form, nor figure, nor weight, nor savour there; which is contrary to M. Harding's own first position; and yet by these words we must needs believe The meaning is, as it is before said, that, according to the doctrine of St. Augustine, in all sacraments we sequester our minds utterly from the sensible creatures, and with our faith behold only the things that thereby are represented. it. Epist. ad Col. For answer to the other two places of St Ambrose here alleged, touching the changing of natures, and making of Christ's body, it may please thee, gentle reader, to remember that it is 18 answered before in the second division hereof 19 unto the words of St Cyprian. I trow M. Harding will not say that the changing of any thing is straightway the corruption of the same. Origen saith: Si...mu- Orig. Tepi ̓Αρχών, tabuntur cæli, utique non perit quod mutatur 20 : "Albeit the heavens shall be Lib.i.cap. vi. changed, yet the thing that is changed is not therefore utterly abolished and August. Ambros, de iis qui init. Ambros. put away." The question between us is not, whether the bread be the body of Christ, or no; but whether in plain and simple manner of speech it be fleshly and really the body of Christ. St Augustine saith: Secundum quendam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est1: "After a certain manner (of speech) the sacrament of Christ's body is the body of Christ." And St Ambrose himself herein seemeth well and sufficiently to open his own meaning. For thus he writeth, as is before alleged: Post consecrationem corpus [Christi] significatur:... post Myst. cap. ix. consecrationem sanguis [Christi] nuncupatur2. In typum sanguinis Christi nos calicem sanguinis mysticum percipimus: carnem et sanguinem, quæ pro nobis Ambros. de oblata sunt, significamus. Similitudinem pretiosi sanguinis bibis1. Est figura coriv. cap. iv. poris et sanguinis Domini5. In similitudinem...accipis sacramentum® : "After Lib.i.cap.v. consecration, the body of Christ is signified: after consecration, it is called the blood of Christ:" "We receive the mystical cup of blood, in example of the blood of Christ: we signify the flesh and blood of Christ, that were offered for us. Thou drinkest the likeness of that precious blood:" "It is a figure of the body and blood of our Lord:" "For a likeness or resemblance (of the body of Christ) thou receivest the sacrament." Thus many ways it seemed good to St Ambrose to qualify the heat and rigour of his other words. 1 Cor. xi. Sacram. Lib. De Sacram. Luc. Lib. v. cap. vii. Now, if M. Harding, as his manner is, will call all these naked signs and bare figures, let him then remember, he maketh sport and game at St Ambrose, his own doctor. But the sacraments of Christ, notwithstanding they be signs and figures, as they be commonly called of the old fathers, yet are they not therefore bare and naked. For God by them, like as also by his holy word, worketh mightily and effectually in the hearts of the faithful. Touching Ambros. in the force of God's word, St Ambrose writeth thus: Vidimus,...et oculis nostris Videmur perspeximus, et in vestigia clavorum ejus digitos nostros inseruimus. enim nobis vidisse, quem legimus, spectasse pendentem, et vulnera ejus spiritu ecclesiæ scrutante tentasse: "We have seen him and beholden him with our eyes, and have thrust our fingers into the very holes of his nails. For we seem to have seen him whom we have read, and to have beholden him hanging on the cross, and with the feeling spirit of the church to have searched his wounds." So saith St Cyprian: Cruci haremus, [et] sanguinem sugimus, et intra ipsa Redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam: "We cleave to the cross, and suck up the blood, and thrust our tongues even within the wounds of our Ambros. de Redeemer." And in this respect St Ambrose saith: Baptismus est mysterium, Myst. cap. iv. quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit 1o: "Baptism is (not bare water, but) a mystery, that the eye never saw, the ear never heard, nor never entered into the heart of man." In respect hereof the element of water seemeth nothing. Even so in respect of Christ's body and blood, that are represented, the bread and wine seem nothing. Thus St Ambrose saith, in either sacrament "the power of consecration is greater than the power of nature" thus "by consecration nature is changed." Cypr. de Cœna Dom. is qui init. M. HARDING. THE FOURTH DIVISION. According to the which meaning Theodoretus saith: Videri et tangi Dialog. 2. possunt, sicut prius; intelliguntur autem ea esse, quæ facta sunt, et creduntur 12: "The bread and wine may be seen and felt, as before consecration; but they are understanded to be the things which they are made and believed." ['August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. Ad Bonifac. Epist. xcviii. 9. Tom. II. col. 267.] [ Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. Lib. de Myst. cap. ix. 54. Tom. II. cols. 339, 40.] [3... in edendo et potando carnem &c. significamus novum testamentum in his consequuti &c.... In cujus typum nos calicem mysticum sanguinis...percipimus.-Id. Comm. in Epist. ad Cor. 1. cap. xi. v. 26. Tom. II. Append. col. 149.] [ Id. de Sacram. Lib. IV. cap. iv. 20. Tom. II. cols. 370, 1.] [ Id. ibid. cap. v. 21. col. 371; where figura est.] [ Id. ibid. Lib. VI. cap. i. 3. col. 380.] [ Id. Expos. Evang. sec. Luc. Lib. v. cap. vii, 97. Tom. I. col. 1378.] [ Cypr. Op. Oxon. 1682. De Cœn. Dom. (Arnold.) p. 41.] [10 Hoc est illud magnum mysterium, &c. -Ambros. Op. Lib. de Myst. cap. iv. 19. Tom. II. cols. 329, 30.] ["Unto, H. A. 1564.] [12 Theodor. Op. Lut. Par. 1642-84. Inconfus. Dial. II. Tom. IV. p. 85.] THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. Sub stance Here, good christian reader, I beseech thee to consider thus much by the and naway. In the university of Oxford, and in the late solemn disputation holden ture not there against that godly father and martyr of blessed memory, Doctor Cranmer, changed. the archbishop of Canterbury, the authority of this father Theodoretus was utterly Anno 1554. refused in open audience, for that he was a Grecian, and therefore not thought to judge catholicly of the sacraments, according to the late determination of the church of Rome. Which thing notwithstanding, it appeareth M. Harding hath now reconciled him, and made him catholic. Howbeit, this thing seemeth very strange, that one man, in the uttering of one sentence, without any manner altering or change of word, should be both an heretic and a catholic, both together. Dial. 1. Im Concerning the greatest substance hereof, this place of Theodoretus is answered before, in the eighth article, and in the twenty-eighth division 13. Here he saith that "the bread and the wine are seen and touched, as they were before.” Hereof M. Harding concludeth thus: Ergo, there is neither bread nor wine remaining, but only accidents and shews without substance. This argument of itself is strange and wonderful, and the more for that it concludeth plain contrary, not only to the meaning, but also to the express and evident words of Theodoretus. For thus his words lie: Qui seipsum appellavit vitem, ille symbola Theo.for. et signa, quæ videntur, appellatione corporis et sanguinis honoravit; non naturam mutabilis. mutans, &c.14: "He, that calleth himself the vine, honoured the signs and tokens (whereby he meaneth the sacraments), that be seen, with the name of his body and blood; not changing the nature thereof, &c." And again: Signa mystica Theodor. in post sanctificationem non recedunt a natura sua. Manent enim in priori substantia 15: "The mystical signs after the consecration depart not from their own nature. For they remain in their former substance." Now let us compare this text with M. Harding's gloss. Theodoretus saith, "The bread and wine depart not from their own nature:" M. Harding saith, They depart utterly from their own nature. Theodoretus saith, "The bread and wine remain in their former substance:" M. Harding saith, There remain only the shews and accidents of bread and wine, without any their former substance. It is a bold gloss, that thus dareth to overthrow the manifest meaning of the text. I trow such dealing should be rectified by a writ of error. Of these plain words of Theodoretus we may well conclude thus against M. Harding: The substance of the bread and wine remaineth still as it was before; therefore the accidents and shews of bread and wine be not there without their substance. For the rest, how these mystical signs be understanded and believed to be the body and blood of Christ, it is answered before, in the eighth article, and twenty-sixth 16 division. Dial. 2. In Lib. Sent. Pros De Consec. "We do not in like sort," saith St Augustine, "take these two forms Dist. 2. cap. Nos of bread and wine after consecration, as we took them before: sith that we grant faithfully, that before consecration it is bread and wine that nature hath shaped; but after consecration that it is the flesh and blood of Christ that the blessing hath consecrated17." In another place he saith The hundred De Verbis Domini that this is not the bread which goeth into the body (179) (meaning Sermo 28. for bodily sustenance), but that bread of life qui animæ nostræ sub- truth, stantiam fulcit 18, "which sustaineth the substance of our soul.” cundum Lucam, [13 Here is an error: it should be the twentysixth division. See before, pages 547, &c.] [14 Theodor. Op. Immut. Dial. 1. Tom. IV. p. 18.] [17 August. in Lib. Sentent. Prosp. in Corp. Jar. Canon. Lugd. 1624. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, De Consecr. Dist. ii, can. 41. col. 1932. [18 August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. Serm. lxxxiv. 3. [19 Rab. Maur. Op. Col. Agrip. 1626-7. De Instit. Cleric. Lib. 1. cap. xxxi. Tom. VI. p. 11.] and seventyninth un For Rabanus saith: "Sacramentum.. in alimentum corporis redigitur 19." THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. The former of these two places may be easily discharged by that is answered before to the words of St Ambrose, in the third division hereof. St Augustine speaketh of the changing and advancing1 of the natures of bread and wine unto a spiritual and divine use, and not of the abolishing of the same. As for accidents and shews standing without subject and substance, he saith nothing. True it is, the bread, before the consecration, was nothing else but bare and common bread; now it is advanced2, and made a sacrament of Christ's body and blood; not by nature, but by consecration, above nature. Chrysostom saith: Chrysost. in Oculis intellectus ista perspiciamus. Nihil enim sensibile tradidit nobis Christus, &c. Sic et in baptismo3: "Let us behold these things with the eyes of our mind; for Christ hath delivered to us nothing that is sensible, &c. So likewise in baptism." I think M. Harding will not deny but the water in baptism is a thing sensible; likewise, that the bread and wine in the holy mysteries, or, at the least, the accidents and shews thereof, are things sensible. But St Chrysostom withdraweth us from the bread, the wine, the water, and all other like things, that be sensible, to the consideration of the body and blood of Christ, that are not sensible: in comparison whereof, all the rest are consumed, and seem nothing. Matt. Hom 83. Sacram. Lib. v. cap. iv. Touching the second place, the words be written both in St Augustine, and Ambros. de also in a book that is commonly known by the name of St Ambrose de Sacramentis, the meaning whereof nothing toucheth, neither the bread, nor the wine, but only the body and blood of Christ, which thereby are represented. And therefore this place, so unadvisedly chosen, can little further M. Harding's fantasy of empty accidents, hanging, I know not how, without substance. Lib. i. cap. xxxi. Dom. August. in August. in Tractat. 25. The words be plain of themselves without further exposition. Non iste panis,...qui vadit in corpus, sed ille panis vitæ æternæ, qui animæ nostræ substantiam fulcit: "Not this bread that passeth into the body, but that bread of everlasting life, that strengtheneth the substance of our soul." M. Harding Rab. Maur. knoweth that the sacrament is received into our bodies. Rabanus saith: Sacramentum... ore percipitur,... [et] in alimentum corporis redigitur: "The sacrament is received with the mouth, and is turned to the nourishment of the body." But Cypr.de Can. the body of Christ, as St Cyprian saith, est cibus mentis, non ventris, "is meat for the mind, not for the belly." So St Augustine saith: Panis...iste interioris hominis quærit esuriem3: "This bread seeketh the hunger of the inner man." Intus bibendo felix sum": "Drinking in my heart within, I am made happy." Tertullian saith: Ruminandus intellectu, et fide digerendus [est] 10: "That meat ought to be chewed with understanding, and to be digested with faith." Likewise Chrysostom: Magnus iste panis, qui replet mentem... non ventrem 11: "This great bread, that filleth the mind, and not the belly." Of this bread St Ambrose speaketh, and not of the sacrament, that is received into the body. Wherefore it appeareth, M. Harding was not well advised how little this place would make for his purpose. The old father Origen saith: Accidit, ut simpliciores quidam, Cant. Cantic, nescientes distinguere,...quæ sint, quæ in scripturis divinis interiori homini, quæ vero exteriori deputanda sint, vocabulorum similitudine falsi, ad ineptas quasdam fabulas et figmenta inania se contulerint 12: "It happeneth that simple folk, being not able to discern what things they be in the holy scriptures that are to be applied to the inner man, and what to the utter, being deceived by the likeness of words, turn themselves into 13 vain imaginations and foolish fables." Tertull. de Resur. Car, variis locis in Matt. Hom. 9. Orig. in [ August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. In Johan. Evang. cap. vi. Tractat. xxvi. 1. Tom. III. Pars II. col. 494. ] [ Id. ibid. Tractat. xxv. 17. col. 493.] [10 Tertull. Op. Lut. 1641. De Resur. Carn. 37, p. 406.] ["Chrysost. Op. Lat. Basil. 1547. Ex Matt. cap. v. De Orat. Domin. Hom. Tom. V. col. 716.] [12 Orig. Op. Par. 1733-59. In Cantic. Canticor. Prolog. Tom. III. p. 28; where similitudinibus.] [18 To, 1565, 1609.] |