The Bloody Theatre, or Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians / who baptized only upon confession of faith, and who suffered and died for the testimony of Jesus, their savior, from the time of Christ to the year A.D. 1660

by Thieleman J. van Braght

Jac. It means the same to say: This is my body, or, my body is this, when regard is had to Christ’s true meaning; for since his body was food, therefore he took bread and said: My body is this, or this is my body, namely, food.

Fr. Corn. Is this not enough to make one crazy?—God bless us again, and the worthy mother of God. Bah, did not Christ say: Take and eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Now, was it the same body, which was given them? then it was not bread which he gave his apostles to eat. Let us hear what you will answer to this.

Jac. Even as I answered, that Christ says, that the same body which was given for us is food for the soul, as bread is for the body of man.

Fr. Corn. Bah, what mischief is this, and shall I not be able to advance something against you, by which I can once stop your accursed mouth? Did not St. Paul say, in the eleventh chapter of his first epistle to the Corinthians: Whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord? And should it be only a bit of common, simple bread, and a draught of stale wine? Why does St. Paul make such an exceeding great matter of it, and say, that a man should examine himself, and eat worthily of that bread, and drink worthily of that cup; for he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. Bah, you accursed Sacramentarian, is it still only a bit of common bread, or a memorial, eh?

Jac. The unworthy eating of the bread and the unworthy drinking of the cup of which Paul writes, lies in our conscience; for if I want to unite with the body of Christ, and with many brethren become one bread, and am at variance or in contention with any brother, I eat unworthily of that bread, and drink unworthily of the cup of the Lord; I shall thereby be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Therefore let a man examine himself, how he stands with his brother; for he that comes hypocritically, with a gnawing, troubled conscience, and eats and drinks unworthily, the same eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning that the body of the Lord in the breaking of the bread (which we break) becomes one with, or is participated in by us; and that the cup of blessing (which we bless) becomes one with, or is participated in by us in the blood of Christ, as Paul writes in the tenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians.

Fr. Corn. There you are caught; for if it is a communion or participation in the body and blood of Christ, it is certainly no longer bread and wine, I think.

Jac. Can you not understand, that by the participation in the broken bread we only signify and remember, that through the breaking of the body of Christ on the cross, and through the participation in the cup, we are become partakers of his blood, and have thereby obtained communion with his body. As we all become partakers of, and have communion in, a bread which we break and eat, so we being many are one body with the body of Christ, because we all are partakers of, and have communion in, his body, which we signify and remember, when we make ourselves partakers and communicants of one bread. This is the meaning of Paul in the tenth chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians.

Fr. Corn. Ah, bah, now I understand clearly, out and out, that you Anabaptists are so wicked, false, vile and crafty sacramentarians, as the * * * calves-tails can be; for the sacrament with you is nothing but a representation, signification and remembrance of the body and blood of Christ, and only a bit of bread and a cup of wine. I * * * upon your bit of bread, and your cup, by which you would represent, signify and remember the body of Christ, see.

Jac. I beg pardon, this is strange language concerning the ordinance of Christ; for he has nevertheless instituted the breaking of the bread and the drinking of the cup for our remembrance. But if the bread is Christ himself, as you say, how shall it be to us a remembrance of Christ, who, according to your saying, is present there himself? And if you get so angry at me, because I called the communion only bread and the cup, you must also be very angry at Paul, because, 1 Cor. 11:26, he writes: “As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup,” etc.

Fr. Corn. Silence! not so much talk; hold your tongue. For though St. Paul calls the sacrament of the altar so, it was nevertheless Christ himself, as he was born of his blessed mother, and died on the cross, see.