In that it is made one breade of manye graynes it is our bodye, sygnyfyenge that we though we be manye, are yet one bodye: lykewyse of the wyne in that it is made one wyne of manye grapes.
And agayne in that it is broken, it is Christes bodye, sygnyfyenge that hys bodye shulde be broken, that is to saye: suffer deathe, to redeame vs from our iniquitees.
In that it was dystrybuted, it was Christes bodye, sygnyfyenge that as verelye as that sacramēt is dystrybuted vnto vs, so verelye is Christes bodye and the frute of hys passyō dystrybuted vnto all faythfull men.
In that it is receyued, it is Christes bodye, sygnyfyenge that as verelye as the outwarde man receyueth the sacramente with hys tethe and mouthe, so verelye dothe the inwarde mā, through faythe receyue Christes bodye and frute of hys passyon, ād is as sure of it, as of the breade that he eateth.
|Another questyō.| Well sayde they, do you not thynke that hys verye naturall bodye, bothe fleshe and bloode is reallye contayned vnder the sacrament, and there actuallye present, besyde all symylytudes? |¶ An answere.| No sayde I, I do not so thynke. Notwithstondynge I wolde not that anye shulde counte that I make my sayenge (whiche is the negatyue) anye artycle of the faythe. For euen as I saye that you oughte not to make anye necessarye artycle of the faythe of your parte (whiche is the affyrmatyue). So I saye agayne, that we make none necessarye artycle of the faythe of oure parte, but leaue it indyfferent for all men to Iudge therin, as GOD shall open hys harte, and no syde to condempne or dyspyse the other, but to nouryshe in all thynges brotherlye loue, and to beare others infyrmytees.
|S. Austens texte.| The texte of Saynt Austē which they there aleaged agaynste me, was thys: that in the sacrament Christe was borne in his owne handes. Whervnto I sayde: that S. Austen dothe full well expounde hym selfe. For in a nother place he sayeth. Ferebatur tanquā in manibus suis. That is, he was borne after a certayne maner, in hys owne handes. And by that he sayeth after a certayne maner, ye maye soone perceyue what he meaneth.
How be it yf. S. Austen had not thus expounded hym selfe, yet he sayeth ad Bonifacium, that the sacrament of a thynge, hath a symylytude or propertye of the thynge which it sygnyfyeth. And for that cause it hath manye tymes the name of the verye thynge whiche it sygnyfyeth. And so he sayeth that he bare hym selfe, because he bare the sacrament of hys bodye and bloode, whiche ded so earnestlye expresse hym selfe, that nothynge myght more do it. If you reade the place of S. Austen ad Bonifacium, whiche I alleage in my laste boke, ye shall soone see them answered.
|Chrisostomus.| A nother place they alleaged out of Chrisostome, which at the fyrste blushe seameth to make well for them. But yf it be well wayed, it maketh moche lesse for thē then they wene. The wordes are these.
|Chrisostomes wordes.| Doste thou see breade and wyne: Do they departe from thē into the draughte as other meates do? God forbydde. For as in waxe when it cōmeth to the fyer, nothynge of the substaunce remayneth nor aboundeth: so lykewyse thynke that the mysteryes are consumed by the substaunce of the body.
These wordes I expounded, by the wordes of the same doctoure Saynt Chrisostome, which in a nother homelye sayeth on thys maner. The inwarde eyes as soone as they see the breade, they flye over all creatures ād thynke not of the breade that is baken of the baker, but of the breade of euerlastynge lyfe, which is sygnyfyed by the mystycall breade.