as he knewe his thoughtes when he receiued hym to the feast,MarginaliaThe sacrament a figure of the Lordes body. in the which he dyd commend and deliuer the figure of his body and bloud to hys disciples.

The same holy Doctour also writyng agaynst Adamantius, sayth thus: Non enim dubitauit Dominus dicere, Hoc est corpus meum, cum daret signum corporis sui.MarginaliaAugust. contra Adamantum. For the Lord dyd not doubt to say: This is my bodye, when he gaue a signe of his body. And for a further declaration of the same Chapter he saith: Sic enim sanguis est anima, quomodo petra erat Christus &c. For the bloud is so the soule, as the rocke was Christe. Notwithstanding he dooth not say, that the rocke did signifie Christ: but he doth saye that the rocke was Christ.

Expressely doth Augustine here call the signe of Christes body, his body, plainely interpreting these words This is my body, as both he and Tertullian dyd before.

MarginaliaThe phrase of Scripture. Moreouer he taketh these three sentences: This is my body: The soule is the bloud: and Christ was the stone, to be of one phrase, and to be like speaches, or to be expounded, after one fashion. And this text: The rocke was Christe doth he commonly thus expounde: The rocke did signifie Christe,MarginaliaAugust. de Ciuit. lib. 18. ca. 48. as appeareth Lib. 18. de Ciuitate Dei. Cap. 48. Also in the booke of questions vppon Genesis, and in the booke of Questions vpon Leuiticus, handlyng the. 28. Chapter of Iohn: and in his Sermon of the Annunciation of our Lady.

MarginaliaHierom. in 1. Cor. cap. 1 In like manner also saint Hierome expoundeth it in the small scholies, writren vpon the first chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, and all other writers with one consent, so farre as I can reade: and so doth the text require it to be expounded. For Christe was not a naturall stone, as al men may well perceyue, and yet was he the very true stone figuratiuely,MarginaliaLyranus. as Lyra saith: Solet res quæ significat, nomine rei quam significat, nominari: The thing whiche signifieth is wont to be called by the name of the thåg whiche it doth signifie. And so is the stone signifying Christ, called Christ, which therby is signified. And as he doth approue this text, The stone was Christ, likewise doth he expounde: The bloud is the soule, with the whiche he dooth knyt this text:MarginaliaThis is my body, a figuratiue speach. This is my body, to be figuratiuely expoūded, as they be. Accordyng to this, doth the holy Doctour write, Psalme. 50. Nisi quis manducauerit carnem meam, non videbit vitam æternam. &c.MarginaliaAugust, in Psal, 50. Vnlesse a man do eate my fleshe, he shall not see eternal life. They vnderstoode that very foolishly, and conceyued the same carnally, & thought that our Lorde woulde cutte away lumpes or peeces of hys body and geue to them. And they saide: Thys is an harde saying. But they were harde of beliefe, and not the saying. For if they had not bene hard, but meeke, they would haue said to them selues: He speaketh not this without a cause, but because there is some hyd Sacrament or mysterie therin. They should haue aboden with hym, easie of beliefe, and not hard, and thē should they haue learned of him that which other learned, that taryed, after they were gone awaye.

In this maye we see, that our Saueour wylleth his precious fleshe to be eaten. But for the maner of eatyng, is, and hath bene much controuersie.MarginaliaThe grosse Caparnaites The Iewes of Capernaum were offended with Christe, when he sayde, he would haue his fleshe eaten: and except a man shoulde eate his fleshe, he could not come to lyfe eternal. They supposed grossely, and vnderstoode hym (if a man might so plainely speake it) butcherly, that he would cut out lumpes and peeces out of his body, as the butcher doth out of dead beastes, and so geue it them to eate of, as Augustine dooth here say. And vpon this grosse, or (as holy Augustine doth there call it) foolishe and fleshly vnderstandyng, they were offended, and sayd to hym: This is a sore or hard saying. They did shoote foorth their bolt, and vnwise saying ouer soone, and were offended before they had cause. They tooke that for hard and sore, which should haue bene passing pleasant and profitable to them, if they would haue hearde the thing declared throughly to the ende.

And euen so nowe, that which in this matter maye appeare at the first blush, a sore, strange, and intollerable sentence, for as much as we haue not heard of it before, but the contrary hath of long tyme ben beaten into our heades and perseaded to our mindes, yet by deliberation and indifferent, and abidyng a trial of that which at the first may appeare sore and intollerable, shal (I trust) be found a sweete truth, to such specially as your grace is, louing to heare and to knowe all truth. But the Capernaites were hard, as here saith Augustine, and not the word. For if they had not bene hard, but soft and pacient to heare, they woulde haue sayd in them selues. Christ saith not this without a cause, and there is some hyd mysterie therin: and so by pacient tariaunce, they should haue knowen the truth, that they coulde not attain to for peruerse hastines, or hast, which is a great stoppe Marginalia[illegible text] and let of true iudgement. But the Disciples taryed paciently, to heare further, and so dyd they knowe this speache of Christ to be the wordes of lyfe, that to the other ouer readyly departyng from Christ, were words of death: For they tooke them literally and grossely, and the letter (as Paule saith) sleyeth.Marginalia[illegible text]

But to shewe what the Disciples, remainyng with Christ dyd learne, saint Augustine doth consequently shew by the wordes of the Gospel, saying thus: Ille autem instruxit cos, & ait illis. Spiritus est qui viuificat, caro nihil prodest. &c. But he instructed them, and saide vnto them: The Spirite is that whiche geueth life, the fleshe profiteth nothing. The wordes that I haue spoken vnto you, are spirite and life. Vnderstande you that whiche I haue spoken, spiritually. You shal not eate this body which you see neither shal you drinke that same bloud which they shal shed forth, that shall crucifie me.MarginaliaThe wordes of the sacrament are to be vnderstand spiritually. I haue set forth to you a certain Sacrament or mysterie, which beyng spiritually vnderstād, shall geue you lyfe: and although it be requisite that this be celebrated visibly, yet it ought to be vnderstand inuisibly. In this do we see, that both Christ and Augustine woulde haue Christes wordes to be vnderstande spiritually, & not carnally: figuratiuely , and not literally, and therfore dooth he say: You shal not eate this body which you see, neither shal you drink that same bloud which they shall shed forth that shal crucifie me. And what els is this but that Christ would his bodye to be eaten, and his bloud to be dronken:MarginaliaThe body of Christ is not to be eaten carnally. But he would not his body to be carnally eatē, which was materially seene of them to whom he spake, nor his material or natural bloud to be carnally drunken, which his crucifiers should cause to issue from his naturall body crucified, as saith Augustine: but he ordeyned and wylled his body and bloud to be spiritually eaten and drunken in fayth & beliefe, that his body was crucified for vs, & that his bloud was shed for the remission of our sinnes.

This eating and drinking is nothing but such true fayth and beliefe as is shewed. Wherfore as Christe sayth: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, hath lyfe euerlasting. Euen so doth he say: He that beleueth in me, hath lyfe euerlasting. And S. Augustine agreeably to the same, treatyng vpon Iohn, doth say: At quid paras dentrē & ventē? Crede, & manducasti. &c.MarginaliaAugust. in Ioan. Why dost thou prepare thy teeth and belly? Beleue, and thou hast eaten. I do knowe that Christ ordeyneth his Sacrament to be receyued and eaten, which is in a certaine wise called his body, as after shal be more largely opened: but the same doth not feede the mynd of them, except it be takē spiritually and not corporally. Heb. 13. It is good to stablish the hart with grace, and not with meate.

And saint Augustine assentyng to the same, doth saye in a Sermon, that he maketh vpon these wordes, in the gospel of Luke: Lord teache vs to praye. Panem dixit, sed epiousion, hoc est supersubstantialem. &c.Marginalia[illegible text] He sayd bread, but supersubstantial bread. This is not the bread, which goeth into the body: but that bread whiche doth satisfie the substance of our soule. Our soules therefore, into whom nothyng corpora, can corporally enter, dooth not carnally receyue the bodye and bloud of our Saueour, neyther did he ordeyne his blessed body and bloud so to be eaten and drunken. Although our soules can not lyue, except they be spiritually fed with the blessed body and bloud of him, spiritually eating and drinking them, in taking also at times conuenient,MarginaliaThe Sacrament truly called the body and bloud of Christ. the blessed Sacrament, whiche is truely called his body and bloud: Not þ^t it is so really, but as is shewed by the interpretation both of Tertullian and Augustine, because it is a signe or figure of Christes bodye and bloud. And theMarginaliaSacramentes take their denomation of the thinges which they represent. signes or Sacramentes doth commonly, as sayth Augustine, both ad Bonifacium, and in his worke De Ciuitate Dei, take their denomination of the thinges by them represented and signified.

But for as much as some wyll obiect, that Augustine in the worde afore rehearsed, doth not speake of eating the Sacrament, for the text of the Scripture, vpon the whiche he doth ground, is not spoken by eatyng the Sacramente, which text is this: Vnlesse a man eate my fleshe. &c.MarginaliaObiection aunswered. I answeare, that true it is he began of spiritual eatyng and thereto serueth the text recited. Neuerthelesse he meaneth that Christ is not ordeyned to be eaten, either without the Sacramente or in the Sacramente, but spiritually of the faythful: as more euidently doth appeare by these woordes there folowing: Sacramentum aliquod vobis commendaui, quod spiritualiter intellectum viuisicabit vos, &c. I haue commended vnto you a Sacrament, which being vndestand of you spiritually, shall quicken you. Although it were necessary, that the same shoulde be celebrated visibly, yet notwithstanding it ought to be vnderstand inuisibly.

Here dooth he shewe, that he meaneth of eatyng not without the Sacrament only, but also in the Sacrament: