conveniently called the body of Christ; and, because wine worketh blood in our flesh, therefore the wine hath relation unto the blood of Christ." Now, if M. Harding, touching this effect of feeding, will compare his accidents with Christ's body, then must he say that we eat accidents, and drink accidents, and be fed with accidents, and live by accidents; even as in the inner man we eat Christ, and drink Christ, and be fed with Christ, and live by Christ. Otherwise he must confess that, touching the effect of feeding, his accidents have no resemblance of Christ's body, and therefore can in no wise be called sacraments. But, saith M. Harding, the accidents represent the likeness of bread; and the bread that was representeth the body Christ1. Here is another subtle drift of M. Harding's reason; from accidents to bread, and from bread to Christ's body. And so we have here fancy upon fancy, and one likeness upon another; but neither scripture, nor council, nor doctor, either Greek or Latin, or old or new, to avouch the same. But here appeareth a marvellous perverse order in nature. For, by M. Harding's drifts, neither can the bread signify Christ's body, but only when the bread is abolished and nothing left to signify; nor can these accidents signify the bread, but only when there is no bread remaining there to be signified. And so the effect of M. Harding's drift and of this resemblance passeth from nothing to nothing, and standeth in nothing. Here it behoved M. Harding to have foreseen the inconveniencies that might have followed. For, if the accidents of the bread be the sacrament, forasmuch as in one piece of bread there be sundry accidents, it must needs follow of these positions, that in one piece of bread be sundry sacraments, and so sundry sacraments in one sacrament. Innocentius himself espied this inconvenience; and therefore he demandeth this question: Cum sint multæ species, cap. xxxviii. quomodo non sunt multa sacramenta2? Innoc. De Offic. Miss. Ambros. De illis qui init. But this resemblance or likeness St Augustine calleth visibilem speciem elementorum, "the visible form of the elements." By which words, saith M. Harding, he meant only the shews and accidents of the bread. Indeed St Augustine's words be true; but M. Harding's exposition is not true. For St Augustine by this word species meant not the outward forms or shews, as it is supposed, but the very kind and substance and nature of the bread. So St Ambrose saith: Ante benedictionem verborum cœlestium alia species Myst. cap. ix. nominatur; post consecrationem corpus [Christi] significatur3: "Before the blessing of the heavenly words it is called (not another form or another shew, but) another kind or nature; but after the consecration Christ's body is signified.” Which thing may also plainly appear by St Augustine himself in the same De Consecr. place. For thus he writeth: Panis, qui corpus Christi est, suo modo vocatur corpus Christi, cum re vera sit sacramentum corporis Christi, &c. Vocaturque ipsa immolatio carnis [Christi], quæ sacerdotis manibus fit, Christi passio, mors, crucifixio; non rei veritate; sed significante mysterio1. He saith, (not the form, not the shew, not the accident, but) "The bread, that is the body of Christ (not verily or indeed, but) after a manner, is called the body of Christ; whereas it is indeed a sacrament of the body of Christ, &c. And the oblation of the flesh of Christ, that is made with the priest's hand, is called the passion, the death, and the crucifying of Christ; not in truth of the matter, but by a mystery signifying." Dist. 2. Hoc est, quod dicimus. M. HARDING. THE THIRD DIVISION. Thus the forms of bread and wine are the sacraments of the body and blood [Body of Christ, 1565, 1609.] [ Sed quæritur, Utrum species panis et veritas corporis unum sunt sacramentum, an diversa sint sacramenta? &c. He concludes: Potest non incongrue responderi, quia omnia simul accepta sunt unum eucharistiae sacramentum, eo quod nullum sacramentum solum significet per se, sed omnia simul panis speciem repræsentant, quæ corpus Christi con tinet et significat.-Innoc. Papæ III. Op. Col. 1575. Myst. Miss. Lib. IV. cap. xxxviii. Tom. 1. pp. 392, 3. } [3 Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. Lib. de Myst. cap. ix. 54. Tom. II. col. 339.] [...panis, qui vere Christus caro est, suo &c.-August. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, De Consecr. Dist. ii. can. 48. col. 1937.] of Christ, not only in respect of the thing signified, which is the unity of the church, but also of the thing contained, which is the very flesh and blood of Christ, John vi. whereof the Truth itself said: "The bread that I shall give is my flesh, for the life of the world." THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. In the end M. Harding, not only without any authority either of scriptures, or of councils, or of doctors, but also without any manner shew or drift of reason, concludeth in this sort: "Thus the forms of bread and wine are the sacraments of the body and blood of Christ." Thus M. Harding bringeth in his conclusion without premises. By M. Harding's judgment St Augustine was not well advised, when he called the holy mystery sacramentum panis et vini3, De Fid. ad "the sacrament of bread and wine." He should rather have called it, by xix. this construction, "the sacrament of forms and shews." And whereas St Augustine saith, Accedat verbum ad elementum, et fit sacramentum; whereby he August. in meaneth that the bread itself is made a sacrament; M. Harding will rather Tractat. 60. expound it thus: "Let the word come to the element or creature of bread; and then the accidents thereof are made a sacrament." Petr. cap. Johan. Verily, touching the wine, Christ himself calleth it, not forms or accidents, Matt. xxví. but "the fruit," or, as Cyprian termeth it, "the creature of the vine," crea- Cypr. Lib. ii. Epist. 3. turam vitis7. St Cyprian calleth the bread after consecration panem... ex multorum grano- Cypr. in Orat. rum adunatione congestum3, "bread made (not of forms and accidents, but) of the (substance and) moulding of many corns." Dom. Johan. Lib. St Cyril saith: "Credentibus discipulis fragmenta panis dedit: "Christ unto Cyril. in his disciples, believing in him, gave (not accidents or shews, but) fragments or iv. cap. xxiv. pieces of bread.” Irenæus saith: "Of the same bread and wine after consecration augetur Iren. Lib. v. et consistit carnis nostræ substantia 1o, is increased and consisteth the substance of our flesh." Here must M. Harding needs say, as Marcus Constantius said before him, AdObject.27. that accidents are the fruit of the vine11; that corns and grapes be likewise accidents; that fragments and pieces of bread be nothing else but accidents; that the substance of our bodies is nourished and increased and standeth by accidents. Thus are their accidents fuga miserorum. They can prove and reprove all by accidents; and without their accidents they can do nothing. And thus, as bad surgeons, they make one salve to serve for all sores. Lib. xviii. St Gregory saith: 0 Timothee, depositum custodi, devitans profanas vocum Greg. in Job. novitates. Quia cum laudari hæretici, tanquam de excellenti ingenio, cupiunt, cap. xiv. quasi nova quædam proferunt, quæ in antiquorum patrum libris veteribus non tenentur. Sicque fit, ut, dum videri desiderant sapientes, miseris suis auditoribus stultitiæ semina spargant 12: "O Timothy, keep that thou hast received; and beware of the wicked novelties of words. For these heretics, seeking the commendation of the excellency of their wit, bring forth new things, that in the old books of the ancient fathers are not found. And so it happeneth that, while they would be taken for wise men, they scatter amongst their poor hearers the seeds of folly." Certainly, M. Harding and his fellows, as of shews they have made sacraments, even so of the holy sacraments and whole religion of Christ they have left nothing to the simple people but a sight of shews. [5 August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. Lib. de Fid. ad Petr. cap. xix. Tom. VI. Append. col. 30; where sacrificium.] [ Id. in Johan. Evang. cap. xv. Tractat. lxxx. 3. Tom. III. Pars II. col. 703; where accedit.] [7 creatura vitis.-Cypr. Op. Oxon. 1682. Ad Cæcil. Epist. lxiii. p. 152.] [ Id. ad Magn. Epist. Ixix. p. 182. See before, pages 516, 7, note 8.] [ Cyril. Alex. Op. Lut. 1638. In Joan. Evang. Lib. IV. cap. ii. p. 360. See before, p. 580, note 6.] ["...quid prohibet Christum appellare accidentia [12 Gregor. Magni Papæ I. Op. Par. 1705. Moral. Lib. xviii. in cap. xxviii. B. Job. cap. xxvi. 39. Tom. I. col. 573; where quia dum, and sapientes desiderant.] OF HIDING AND COVERING. THE TWENTY-SIXTH ARTICLE. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY, OR that the sacrament is a sign or token of the body of Christ, that lieth hidden underneath it. [OF THE UNSPEAKABLE MANNER OF THE BEING OF CHRIST'S BODY AND BLOOD UNDER THE FORMS OF BREAD AND WINE.-ARTICLE XXVI. H.A. 1564.] The two fifty-fifth un the outward form was never by any old father called the sacrament. M. HARDING. In Libro Sen Forma. That the outward form of bread, (255) which is properly the sacrament, is Operta. the sign of the body of Christ, we confess, yea, of that body which is covertly in or under the same, which St Augustine calleth carnem Domini hundred and forma panis opertam1, "the flesh of the Lord covered with the form tent. Prosperi truth. For of bread." But what is meant by this term "lieth,' we know not. As through faith grounded upon God's word we know that Christ's body is in the sacrament ; so, that it lieth there or underneath it, (by which term it may seem a scoff to be uttered to bring the catholic teaching in contempt,) or that it sitteth or standeth, we deny it. For lying, sitting, and standing, noteth situation of a body in a place, according to distinction of members and circumscription of place, so as it have his parts in a certain order correspondent to the parts of the place. But after such manner the body of Christ is not in the sacrament, but without circumscription, order, and habitude of his parts to the parts of the body or place environing. Which manner of being in is above all reach of human understanding, wondrous, strange, and singular, not defined and limited by the laws or bounds of nature, but by the almighty power of God. To conclude, the being of Christ's body in the sacrament is to us certain; the manner of his being there to us uncertain, and to God only certain. In thetwelfth article and fourteenth division. Phil. n. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. The entry of this article is the conclusion of the last. So artificially M. Harding's untruths are woven together. "The outward form of bread," saith he, "is the sacrament." But withal he should have added, that this form and manner of speech is only his own, peculiar only to himself and certain his fellows of that side; never used by any of all the old doctors and fathers of the church, either Greek or Latin, or learned or unlearned, or heretic, or one or other. or catholic These words of St Augustine are alleged and answered before1. That holy learned father never said, neither that the forms and accidents be the sacrament, nor that Christ's body is really hidden under the same; nor in this place speaketh any one word at all of any accidents. But the words wherein M. Harding is deceived are these, forma panis: which words signify not the outward forms and accidents, as he untruly expoundeth them, but the very kind and substance of the bread. So St Paul saith: Christus, cum in forma Dei esset, formam servi accepit: "Christ, being in the form (or nature) of God, took upon him the form (or nature) of a servant." By which words St Paul meant, that Christ was very God in substance, and that he took upon him the very substance of a man. [ August. in Lib. Sent. Prosp. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, Dist. ii. can. 48. col. 1937. See before, page 617.] So St Hierome [2 Our, 1565, 1609, and H. A. 1564.] Osee, Lib. iii. expoundeth the same words, speaking in the person of Christ: Declinavi ad Hieron, in eos deserens regna cœlorum, ut cum eis vescerer, assumpta forma servis: "I went cap. ii. down to them, leaving the kingdom of heaven, that I might eat with them, having taken the form of a servant." I think M. Harding will not say, Christ took a body of forms and accidents, that he might be conversant and live with men. So St Augustine saith: Secundum hanc formam non est putandus ubique August. ad diffusus: "Christ (not according to the shews or accidents of his body, but) 57. according to this kind, this nature, and this substance of his body, may not be thought to be poured and spread into all places." Thus St Paul, St Augustine, St Hierome, and other learned fathers use this word forma for nature and substance, and not for accidents. Dard. Epist. Spir. et Lit. And as touching the other word, operta, "covered," St Augustine meaneth not thereby that Christ's body is really contained and covered under the said form or kind of bread, but only that it is there as in a sacrament or in a mystery. In this sense St Augustine saith: Gratia Dei in veteri testamento August. de relata latebat: "The grace of God lay hidden covered in the old testament." cap. xv. And again: In veteri testamento occultabatur novum, id est, occulte significabatur: August. de The new testament was hidden in the old, that is to say, it was secretly contr. Donat. signified in the old." 66 Here, lest M. Harding should take these words strictly and grossly, as he doth the rest, and say, the new testament indeed and really was covered in the old, St Augustine himself hath prevented him, and opened his own meaning in this wise, as it is said before: Occultabatur,... id est, occulte significabaturs: "It was covered, that is to say, it was secretly signified." By which exposition, being St Augustine's, M. Harding might have learned likewise to expound these words: Caro operta forma panis, id est, occulte significata: "The flesh covered in the form or substance of bread; that is to say, privily signified in the form or substance of bread." But M. Harding thought it best to leave the matter, and to make his quarrel to the words: "This word lieth," saith he, "importeth a scoff wherewith to bring his catholic teaching into contempt." Verily, this must needs be a marvellous tender and a miserable doctrine, that may no ways be touched without suspicion of a scoff. But why is he more angry with us for uttering these words, "lieth hidden," than he is with his own doctors uttering the same? Baptism. Lib. i. cap. XV. De Consecr. Glossa. In his gloss upon the decrees it is written thus: Species panis, sub qua latet corpus:...species vini, sub qua latet sanguis: "The form of bread, under Hoc est. In which is hidden the body; the form of wine, under which is hidden the blood." These be his own fellows' words: they are not ours. in Serm. de Vixit Anno Willihelmus Haffliginensis, one of M. Harding's new doctors, saith thus: Will. Hafflig. Quærite Dominum, dum inveniri potest. In templo invenitur materiali: ibi latet Advent. sub specie panis 10: "Seek the Lord while he may be found. He is found in 1300. the material church of stone: there he is hidden under the form of bread." Vit. Christi, lvi. Another like doctor saith thus: Ibi est corpus Christi in tanta quantitate, Ludulph. in sicut fuit in cruce..... Unde mirum est, quomodo sub tam modica specie tantus Par. ii. cap. homo lateat: "The body of Christ is there as great in quantity as he was upon the cross. Therefore it is marvellous how so great a man can be hid under so small a form." [5 Hieron. Op. Par. 1693-1706. Comm. Lib. III. in Osee Proph. cap. xi. Tom. III. col. 1313. See before, page 618, note 2.] [ August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. Lib. ad Dard. seu Epist. clxxxvii. cap. iii. 10. Tom. II. col. 681.] [ Id. Lib. de Spir. et Lit. cap. xv. 27. Tom. X. col. 100. See before, page 618, note 12.] [ Id. De Baptism. Contr. Donatist. Lib. 1. cap. xv. 24. Tom. IX. col. 92. See before, page 595, note 15.] [9 Corp. Jur. Canon. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, De Consecr. Dist. ii. Gloss. in can. 48. col. 1937.] [10 Of this author, under the name of Guilelmus Affligemensis, an account may be found J. A. Fabric. Biblioth. Lat. Med. et Inf. Ætat. Patav. 1754. Tom. III. p. 137. See also Oudin. De Script. Eccles. Lips. 1722. Tom. III. col. 50. It is said that he flourished about A.D. 1260; and that some of his works were preserved in manuscript at the monastery in which he lived. This appears to have been not far from Brussels. See Lud. Guicciardin. Belgic. Descr. Amst. 1652. pp. 125, 6.] ["Ludolph. de Saxon. Vit. J. Christ. Lugd. 1510. Pars II. cap. lvi. fol. N. viii. 2.] Johan. à S. Liturg. Tertull. contr. Prax. Acts vii. If this word "hidden" so necessarily import a scoff, then must M. Harding needs think that his own doctors scoff at him, and laugh him to scorn. Certainly it is no indifferent dealing, the words being all one, so favourably to allow them in his own books, and so bitterly to mislike them in all others. Perhaps he will say, it is no catholic form of speech to say Christ lieth in the sacrament. And yet I see no great reason but it may stand as well with the catholic doctrine to say Christ lieth in the sacrament, as Christ sitteth in the sacrament. Yet Johannes à S. Andrea, a great doctor, and a special patron of that side, is well allowed to write thus, and that without any manner controlment or suspicion of scoff: Id...temporis contentio nulla erat, utrum corpus Christi insideret eucharistia1: "At that time there was no strife whether Christ's body were sitting in or upon the sacrament, or no." Thus was it lawful for him to write; and his writings are taken for good and catholic. But M. Harding saith: Christ's body is in the sacrament without circumscription or respect of place, strangely, wondrously, and singularly, and by the might of God's omnipotent power; and the manner of his being there is known only unto God. These be fair and orient and beautiful colours, but altogether without ground; and, to use the terms of M. Harding's religion, they are nothing else but accidents and shews without a subject. It is a strange and a marvellous matter, that, this presence of Christ in the sacrament being so certain and so singular, as M. Harding seemeth to make it, yet all the old learned catholic fathers should so lightly pass it over in silence, without any manner mention, as if it were not worth the hearing; or that M. Harding should so assuredly and so certainly know it, and yet God himself should not know it; or that God should know it, and yet, being a matter so singular and so necessary to be known, should never reveal the same to any either of the learned fathers or of the holy apostles, or make them privy to that knowledge. Indeed it behoveth us to humble our hearts unto the miracles and marvellous works of God. But every M. Harding's fantasy is not a miracle. The heretic Praxeas said, even as now M. Harding saith: Deo nihil est difficile: "Unto God nothing is hard." But Tertullian, that learned father, answered him then, even as we now answer M. Harding: Si tam abrupte in præsumptionibus nostris utamur hac sententia, quidvis de Deo confingere poterimus2: "If we so rashly use this sentence to serve our presumptions (or fantasies), we may imagine of God what we list." St Stephen saw Christ in heaven "standing:" St Paul saith, Christ is now at the right hand of God "sitting;" which thing also we confess in the articles of our faith. But in the sacrament, saith M. Harding, Christ is present without any manner such circumscription or circumstance or order of place; that is to say, as great in quantity as he was upon the cross, and yet neither standing, nor sitting, nor lying, nor leaning, nor kneeling, nor walking, nor resting, nor moving, nor having any manner proportion or position of his body, either upward or downward, or backward or forward; a very body, and yet not as a body; in a place, and yet not as in a place. This is M. Harding's catholic doctrine, without scripture, without council, without doctor, without any liking or sense of reason. Yet must every man receive the same at M. Harding's hand as the singular, strange, wonderful, omnipotent work of God. To conclude, Christ's body is in the mystical bread of the holy communion, not really, or corporally, or in deed, as M. Harding fancieth, but as in a sacrament and in a mystery; even as the blood of Christ is in the water of baptism. [ Id autem temporis contentio nulla fuit, an verum corpus Christi sacræ eucharistiæ insideret.Joan. a Sanct. Andr. in Epist. ante Liturg. Sanct. Patr. Antv. 1560. fol. 2. 2.] [2 Tertull. Op. Lut. 1641. Adv. Prax. 10. p. See before, page 490.] 641. |