Marginalia1554. Aprill. of the tyme, and to abstayne from al those things which may hynder the entraunce of our disceptation: & therefore first I aske thys question: When Christ sayd in the MarginaliaIohn. 6.sixt of Iohn: Qui manducat carnem meam. i. He that eateth my flesh. &c. doth he signifie in those wordes the eating of hys true and naturall flesh, or els of the bread and symbole?

Rid. I vnderstād that place of the very flesh of Christ to be eaten, but spiritually:MarginaliaSpirituall eating of the flesh of Christ. And farther I say, that the sacrament also pertaineth vnto the spirituall manducation. For wythout the spirite to eate the sacrament, is to eate it vnprofitably. For who so eateth not spiritually, he eateth hys own condemnation.

Wat. I aske thē whether the Eucharist be a sacramēt.

Rid. The Eucharist taken for a signe or symbole, is a sacrament.

Wat. Is it instituted of God?

Rid. It is instituted of God.

Wat. Where?

Rid. In the Supper.

Wat. With what wordes is it made a Sacrament?

Rid. By the wordes and deedes whych Christ sayd and did, and commaunded vs to say and do the same.

Wat. It is a thyng commonly receyued of all, that the Sacramentes of the new law geue grace to them that worthely receiue them.

Rid. True it is that grace is geuen by the sacrament, but as by an instrument.MarginaliaThe Sacramentes geue no grace but are instrumentes. The inward vertue & Christ geue the grace through the sacrament.

Wat. What is a sacrament?

Rid. I remember there by many definitions of a sacrament in Austine: but I wyll take that whych seemeth most fit to this present purpose. MarginaliaSacramēt defined.A sacrament is a visible signe of inuisible grace.

Wat. Ergo grace is geuen to the receiuers.

Rid. The societie or coniunction with Christ through the holy Ghost, is grace, and by the Sacrament we are made the members of the mysticall body of Christ, for that by the sacrament the part of the body is ingrafted in the head.

Wat. But there is a difference betwene the mysticall body, and naturall body.

Rid. There is (I graunt you) a difference, but the head of them both is one.

Wat. *Marginalia* The Syllogisme is thus to be formed: The Sacramēt of the new Testament hath a promyse of grace annexed. Bread and wyne haue no promise of grace annexed: Ergo, bread and wyne is no Sacrament of the new Testamēt. The Eucharist is a Sacrament of the new Testament:

Ergo it hath a promise of grace:

But no promise of grace is made to bread & wyne:

Ergo bread and wyne be not the sacramentes of the new Testament.

Rid. I graunt, that grace pertaineth to the Eucharist,according to thys saying: The bread which we breake, is it not the cōmunicatiō or partaking of the body of Christ? And lyke as he that eateth, and he that drinketh vnworthely the sacrament of the body and bloud of the Lord, eateth and drinketh his own damnation: euen so hee that eateth and drinketh worthely, eateth lyfe and drinketh lyfe. I graunt also that there is no *Marginalia* No promise made to bread & wyne, as they be cōmon bread and commō wyne, but as they be sāctified & made Sacramentes of the lords body and bloud, they are not now called bread nor wyne, and haue a promise annexed to thē, or rather (to say þ^e truth) annexed to the receauers of thē. promise made to bread and wyne. But in as much as they are sanctified and made the sacramentes of the body and bloud of the Lord, they haue a promise of grace annexed vnto them, namely of spirituall partaking of the body of Christ, to be communicated and giuen, not to the bread and wyne, but to them which worthely do receyue the Sacrament.

Wat. If the substance of bread and wyne do remaine, then the societie betwixt Christ and vs, is promised to them that take bread and wyne.

But that society is not promised to bread and wyne, but to the receiuers of hys flesh and bloud, Iohn. 6. Qui manducat. &c.

Ergo the substance of bread & wyne remaineth not.

Rid. The promise vndoubtedly is made to the flesh and the bloud, but the same be receiued in the sacramēt through fayth.

Wat. MarginaliaArgument.Euery Sacrament hath a promyse of grace adnexed vnto it:

But bread and wine haue not a promise of grace adnexed vnto it:

Ergo the bread and wyne are not sacraments.

Rid. MarginaliaSacramentes how they haue a promise of grace annexed, not absolutely but instrumentally.True it is, euery sacrament hath grace adnexed vnto it instrumentally. But there is a diuerse vnderstanding of thys word [habet] hath. For the sacrament hath not grace included in it: but to those that receyue it well, it is turned to grace.MarginaliaGrace not included in Sacramentes: but the receauing of thē turneth to grace in them that duely come vnto them. After that maner þ^e water in baptisme hath grace promised, and by that grace the holy spirit is geuen, not that grace is included in water, but that grace commeth by water:

Wat. Thys promyse is made to the flesh and bloud of Christ, and not to bread and wyne.

Ergo the sacrament is not bread and wyne, but the body and bloud of Christ.

Rid. There is no promyse made to hym that taketh common bread and common wine: but to him that receyueth the sanctified bread, and bread of the Communion, there is a large promyse of grace made: MarginaliaPromise made not to the symboles, but to the thyng of the Sacramēt.neyther is the promise geuen to the symboles, but to the thing of the sacrament. But the thing of the sacrament is the flesh and bloud.

Wat. Euery sacrament of the new testament geueth grace promised of God, to those þ^t worthely receyue it.

Ryd. MarginaliaSacramentes onely instrumentes of grace.Thys sacrament hath a promyse of grace, made to those that receyue it worthely, because grace is geuen by it, as by an instrument, not that Christ hath trāsfused grace into the bread and wyne.

Wat. But this promyse whych is made, is not but to those that worthely receyue the flesh and bloud: not the bread and wyne.

Rid. MarginaliaBread more largely taken in the Minor then in the Cōclusion.That proposition  

Commentary     Close

The word 'position' in Ridley's exchange with Watson in 1563, p. 974, is clearly a mistake (cf. Rerum, p. 691) which was corrected in 1570, p. 1619; 1576, p. 1381; 1583, p. 1452. This is another indication that the 1570 edition, in contrast to the other editions, was thoroughly proofread.

Wat. Where is that promise made?

Ryd. The bread which we breake, is it not a communication of the body of Christ: [And] Marginalia1. Cor. 11.we being many are one bread, one body of Christ?

Wat. What doth he meane by bread in that place?

Rid. The bread of the Lords table, the communion of the body of Christ.

Wat. Harken what MarginaliaChrysost. in 1. Cor. cap. 10.Chrysostome sayth vpon that place: Panis quem frangimus, nonne communicatio corporis Christi est? Quare non dixit participatio? Quia amplius quid significare voluit, & multam inter hæc conuenientiam ostendere. Non enim participatione tantum & acceptione, sed vnitate communicamus. Quemadmodum enim corpus illud vnitum est Christo, ita & nos per hunc panem vnione coniungimur. That is: The bread whych we breake, is it not the communication of Christes body? Wherefore dyd he not say participation? because he woulde sygnifye some greater matter, & that he would declare a great conuenience and coniunction betwyxt the same. For we doe not communicate by participation onely and receauing, but also by covnityng. For lykewyse as that body is covnited to Christ, so also we by the same bread are conioyned and are vnited to hym.

Rid. MarginaliaAunswere to Chrysostome.Let Chrysostome haue his maner of speaking and hys sentence. If it be true, I reiect it not. But let it not be preiudiciall to me to name it true bread.

Wat. MarginaliaIn 1. Cor. Cap. 10.All, saith Chrysostome, which sit together at one boord, do communicate together of one true body. What do I call (sayth he) this communicating? we are all the selfe same body. What doth bread signifie? MarginaliaBread signifieth the body after Chrisostome.The body of Christ. What be they that receyue it? The body of Christ. For many are but one body. Chrysostome doth interprete thys place agaynst you: MarginaliaOne bread, one mysticall body.All we be one bread, and one mysticall body, which doe participate together one bread of Christ.

Rid. All we be one mysticall body, whych do communicate of one Christ in bread, after the efficacie of regeneration or quickning.

Wat. Of what maner of bread speaketh he?

Ryd. Of the bread of the Lordes table.