MarginaliaAnno 1552.Cust. I may well inough, for it is impossible to doe it. For Priestes commonly are confessed before they go to Masse: and how can they then take the Sacrament vnworthely?
MarginaliaConfessiō.Veri. In deede confession, if it be discretely vsed, is a laudable custome, and to the vnlearned man, and feeble cōscience so good as a Sermone. But notwythstanding because it was, neuer neither commaunded of Christ, nor receiued of the Apostles, nor much spoken of the olde Doctours, it can not make much for þe due receiuing of the Sacrament
An aside against the Catholic Sacrament of Confession; Protestants denied that it was instituted by Christ and was thus not a Sacrament. Catholics believed that it was instituted when the Risen Christ commanded the apostles to bind and loose sins (see John 20:21-23).
Custome. This liketh me very wel. But what gather you of it?
Veritie. This will I gather. The Massing Priest taketh the Sacrament otherwise then Christ either commaunded or taught: Ergo, he taketh it vnworthely, and so consequētly to his condemnation.
Cust. That is not so, for he doth altogether as Christ commaunded him.
MarginaliaThe Priest taketh the Sacrament not as Christ ordeyned it: Ergo the Priest taketh it vnworthely.Veritie. That shall appeare. For Christ commaunded it to be done in his remembraunce: the Priest doth it in remembraunce of dead men. Christ tooke breade: and left it breade: the Priest taketh bread and coniureth it away. Christ tooke bread and gaue thankes: the Priest taketh bread, and breatheth vppon it. Christe tooke bread, and brake it: the Priest taketh bread and hangeth it vppe. Christ tooke breade and dealt to hys Apostles: the Priest because hee is an Apostle him selfe, taketh breade and eateth it euery whitte alone. Christ in a Sacrament gaue his owne body to be eaten in faith: the Priest for lacke of faith receiueth accidences, and dimensions. Christ gaue a Sacrament to strengthen mens faith: the Priest geueth a sacrifice to redeeme mens soules. Christ gaue it to be eaten: the Priestes giueth it to be worshipped. MarginaliaDifference betweene Christs ordinance & the Priestes receauing.And to conclude. Christe gaue bread: the Priest sayth he geueth a God. Here is difference inough betwene Christ, and the Priest. Yet moreouer Christ at his Supper spake his woordes out and in a plaine tounge: the Prieste speaketh nothing but Latine or Greeke, which tounges he ofttimes perceiueth not, and much he whispereth least any other poore man should perhaps perceiue him. So it commeth to passe that the Prieste knoweth no more what hee himselfe sayeth, then what he doeth. This you may see that the Massing Prieste receiueth the Sacrament of Christes body farre otherwise then euer Christ minded, and so therfore vnworthely and to his condemnation
Another aside in which Verity offers a series of objections to the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist, some of them more caricatures of the doctrines than actual discussions of them. Many of them have also been raised in the disputations which Foxe has just related. Such objections include: offering masses for the intentions of the living and for the dead; reservation and worship of the Sacrament; the language in which the liturgy is prayed; the ritual of the mass.
[Back to Top]MarginaliaThe Sacrament called breaking of of bread.The Sacramente in the Scriptures is named Fractio panis, the breaking of bread: whiche, to say the trueth, were but a colde breaking, if there remained no breade to breake,but certaine phantasies of white, and round. Yet where as they with wordes, crossinges, blessinges, breathings, leapings, and much a do can scarsly make one God, MarginaliaAgaynst transubstantiation.they haue suche vertue in their fingers, that at one crosse they be able to make 20. Gods, for if they breake the Sacrament euery portion, yea euery mite must needes be a God. After the Apostles time there arose vppe heretickes
The heretics Verity describes are the Gnostics (from the Greek 'gnosis' - 'knowledge'), among the earliest and largest groups that denied elements of fundamental Christian belief; in this case, the incarnation: that God became a true human being in the person of Jesus.
'Sely': simple.
Verity explains the Protestant view of how the Eucharist is not the Body of Christ, when it has been traditionally called such. Verity's answer however falls rather close to Sacramentarianism, the early-modern heresy particularly feared in England, which claimed that the Eucharist was only bread and wine and nothing more. The view of the Protestant theologians in England was that the body and blood of Christ was truly, though not corporeally, present in the person who received the Sacrament with faith.
[Back to Top]Cust. The deuill on such like reasons: and therfore I will neuer trouble my braines to make you aunswere. But if it be true that you haue sayde, why is the Sacrament so well of Christ himselfe, as of hys Apostles, and the olde fathers called the body of Christ?
Veri. Because it is no straunge thynge in Scripture so to speake, as I haue declared before. But wil you stand to S. Augustines arbitrement in the matter?
Cust. To no man sooner.
MarginaliaThe cause why the scripture calleth the Sacrament the body of Christ.Veri. S. Augustine in an Epistle to his frende Bonifacius,geueth a good cause why the Sacramente, although it be not the body of Christ, is notwithstanding called the bodye of Christ.MarginaliaAugustinus ad Bonifacium Epist. 23. His wordes be these: Si Sacramenta quandam similitudinem earum rerum quarum Sacramenta sunt non haberent, omninò Sacramenta non essent. Ex hac autem similitudine plerumque earum rerum nomina accipiunt. Ergo, secundum quendam modum Sacramentum corporis Christi, corpus Christi est: Sacramentum sanguinis Christi, sanguis Christi est: If Sacraments had not a certaine similitude of those things wherof they be Sacraments, then were they no Sacramentes. Of the which similitude many times they take their name. Wherefore after a certaine manner the Sacrament of the body of Christ, is the body of Christ, and the Sacrament of the bloud of Christ, is the bloud of Christ. &c. And vpon the 23. Psalme he wryteth likewise: MarginaliaAugustine in Psal. 23.Christus quodammodo se ferebat in manibus suis, cum diceret: Hoc est corpus meum. Christ after a certaine manner and fashion, as it were, did beare himselfe in his owne handes when he sayde: This is my bodye. In manner (he sayeth) and after a fashion, not in very dede. MarginaliaAn other cause why the Scripture calleth the Sacrament the body of Christ.Again, when faithful menne receiue the Sacrament, they thinke not of the breade nor marke the wine, but they looke farther, & beholde the very body of Christ spread vppon the Crosse, and his very bloud poured downe for their sakes. So in Baptisme men regarde not greatly the water, but accounte them selues washed wyth the bloude of Christ. So sayeth S. Paule: MarginaliaRom. 6.What so euer we bee that are Baptised, wee are washed in the bloude of Christ. Wherefore to the faithfull receiuers you may say that the water of Baptisme is the bloude of Christe, and the breade and wine the body and bloud of Christ: for to them it is no lesse then if the natures were altered and chaunged. Whyche thynge you maye very well learne of Chrysostome. whose woordes are these. Mysteria omnia interioribus oculis con-
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