Natura. Gregor. Nyss. And Gregory Nyssene in like sort: Natura aquæ præcedente virga fidei, &c. vitam præstat1: "The nature of water (thus considered), the rod of faith going in Vit. Mos. before, giveth life." Otherwise he saith: Hoc beneficium non aqua largitur, &c., Greg Nyss. sed Dei præceptum, et Spiritus. Aqua vero subservit ad ostendendam purgationem2 : "It is not water (of his own nature) that giveth this benefit, but the commandment of God, and the Holy Ghost. The water serveth to shew us the cleansing of the soul." de Sanct. Baptism. cap. xv. By these examples, I trust it may appear what St Cyprian meant by the change of nature. Verily Origen, that ancient learned father, touching the bread in the Orig. in Matt. Sacrament of Christ's body, writeth thus: Non materia panis, sed super illum dictus sermo, est qui prodest, &c.3: "It is not the matter (or substance) of bread, but the word spoken over it, that doth profit." And therefore St Ambrose likeAmbros. de wise saith: Quanto magis operatorius est [sermo Dei], ut sint, quæ erant, et in aliud commutentur1? "How much more effectual is the word of God, that (the bread and wine) may be (in substance and nature) the same that they were before, and yet be changed into another thing?" Sacram. Lib. iv. cap. iv. August. in Tractat. 21. Leon. de 14. Bed. 1 Cor. x. Hom. 2. Ambros. 1 Cor. v. Notwithstanding this answer unto the discreet reader may seem sufficient, yet M. Harding forceth the matter further with this word, factus est. If this word, factus est, saith he, may signify an imaginative making, then why may not Verbum caro factum est be so expounded? O what simple shifts are these! Is M. Harding able to allege no bar, but that may be pleaded against himself? Or doth he think that this Latin word facere must needs signify transubstantiare ? St Augustine saith: Nos Christi facti sumus: "We are made Christs." Leo saith: Corpus regenerati fit caro crucifixi: "The body of the man that is regenerate is made the flesh of Christ that was crucified." Beda saith: Nos ipsi corpus Christi facti sumus": "We ourselves are made the body of Christ." Origen Orig. in Cant. saith, in like manner of speech: Spiritus sanctus non in turturem vertitur, sed columba fit: "The Holy Ghost is not changed into a turtle, but is made a dove." So St Ambrose: Victa anima...libidine carnis fit caro9: "The soul, being overcome with the pleasure of the flesh, is made flesh." And will M. Harding, upon warrant of this one word, conclude that our bodies be utterly transubstantiate, and substantially and really become the body of Christ? or that the Holy Ghost is verily transubstantiate into a dove? or the soul into flesh? Or in these very words that he hath alleged, Verbum caro factum est, "the Word, that is, the Son of God, was made flesh," doth he think that the Son of God left the nature of his Godhead, and was verily transubstantiate into flesh? Doubtless this were a monstrous doctrine, and in old times it was Cerinthus' and Ebion's horrible heresy 10. Verily Leo saith: Quamvis... Johannes scribat, Verbum caro factum est,... Verbum tamen non est versum in carnem 11: " Although St John say, 'The Word was made flesh,' yet was not the Word turned (or transubstantiate) into flesh." St Augustine saith of the heretics called Timotheani: Ad confirmandam hujusmodi impietatem, qua Deum asserunt versum esse a natura sua, cogunt evangelista testimonium dicentis, Et Verbum caro factum est. Quod ita interpretantur: Divina natura in humanam versa est 12: "These heretics, to confirm their wickedness, whereby they hold that God was changed from his own August. ad Epist. Leon. [Gregor. Nyss. Op. Par. 1638. De Vit. Mos. [ Id. In Baptism. Christ. Tom. III. p. 369.] [ Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. De Sacram. Lib. [5 Christus facti sumus.-August. Op. Par. 16791700. In Johan. Evang. cap. v. Tractat. xxi. 8. Tom. III. Pars II. col. 459.] [ Leon. Magni Op. Lut. 1623. De Pass. Dom. Serm. xiv. col. 176; where fiat.] [ Nam et nos ipsius corpus facti sumus.-Ven. Bed. Op. Col. Agrip. 1612. Ad Cor. 1. cap. x. Tom. VI. col. 365.] [ Orig. Op. In Cant. Canticor. Hom. ii. 12. Tom. III. p. 22.] [ Ambros. Op. Comm. in Epist. ad Cor. 1. cap. v. v. 5. Tom. II. Append. col. 127. [10 Cerinthiani... Jesum hominem tantummodo fuisse, nec resurrexisse asseverantes... Ebionæi Christum etiam ipsi tantummodo hominem dicunt.— August. Op. Ad Quodvultd. Lib. de Hær. 8, 10. Tom. VIII. col. 7.] [ Leon. Magni Op. Ad Leon. August. Epist. xcvii. cap. viii. col. 508. Leo quotes this passage from Theophilus Alexandrinus.] [19 August. Op. Ad Quodvultd. Lib. de Hær. Tom. VIII. col. 27; where quæ Deum asserit a sua versum natura. The Benedictine editors throw this into a note, as being a spurious addition to Augustine's treatise.] nature (and made man), rack the witness of the evangelist St John, saying, 'The Natura. Word was made flesh.' Which word they expound thus: The nature of God was Factus changed into the nature of man." Even thus M. Harding saith: The nature of est. bread is changed into the nature of Christ's body. Omnipo Marcion. Where is then that great force of this word, factus est, wherein M. Harding tentia. seemeth to have such trust? He might better say thus: The Word was made flesh, the nature and substance of the Word remaining still; so the bread is made flesh, the nature and substance of the bread nevertheless remaining still. And in this sort the old learned father Tertullian speaketh touching the same: [Christus] Tertul. contr. acceptum panem et distributum discipulis, corpus suum illum fecit, dicendo, Hoc est Lib. iv. corpus meum, hoc est, figura corporis mei13: "Christ, taking the bread, and dividing it to his disciples, made it his body, saying, 'This is my body;' that is to say (saith Tertullian), this is a figure of my body." Thus the holy fathers. expound what they meant by these words, The bread is made Christ's body. tia Verbi. 4. de Nativ. Epist. ad Gal. But St Cyprian further allegeth to this purpose the omnipotent power of God, Omnipoten"which," saith M. Harding, "far overpoiseth all these men's light fantasies." Thus he saith, as though that without this light fantasy of transubstantiation God could not be omnipotent; or as if there were such wonderful weight in his outward shews and empty accidents. But God worketh mightily, and sheweth his power omnipotent, not only herein, but also in all other his holy mysteries, as it is before declared in the fifth article, and the fourth division 14. Leo saith: [Christus] Leon. Serm. dedit aquæ, quod dedit matri. Virtus enim Altissimi, et obumbratio Spiritus sancti, quæ fecit ut Maria pareret Salvatorem, eadem fecit ut regeneraret unda credentem 15: "Christ gave to the water that he gave to his mother. For the power of the Highest, and the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, that caused Mary to bear the Saviour, the same power hath caused the water to regenerate the believer." To like purpose saith Chrysostom: Ut Saram non natura, sed Dei promissio fecit Chrysost. in matrem, &c.16: “As the promise of God, and not nature, made Sara a mother; even cap. iv. so our regeneration by nature is nothing. But the words of God, which the faithful know, being pronounced by the priest in the bath of water, do form and regenerate him that is baptized, as it were, in his mother's womb." So they were wont to sing at the hallowing of the font: "Descendat Spiritus sanctus in hanc plenitudinem aquæ, totamque ejus substantiam regenerationis fœcundet effectul: Totam sub"Let thy Holy Ghost come down into this fulness of water, and let it fill the whole substance thereof with the effect of regeneration." Thus Leo, Chrysostom, and other old fathers, acknowledge the omnipotency of God in the sacrament of baptism; yet did they not think it therefore necessary to transubstantiate the nature and substance of the water. The same St Cyprian (albeit indeed it is not St Cyprian, but a far later writer, as by good proofs it doth appear), writing only of the blessing of the holy oil, allegeth likewise the omnipotent power of God above nature. His words be these: Sanctificatis elementis, jam non propria natura Cypr. de præbet effectum; sed virtus divina potentius operatur:... adest veritas signo, et Chrism. Spiritus sacramento 18: "It is not nature that giveth effect unto the element of oil being sanctified, but the power of God worketh more mightily. The truth is present with the sign, and the Holy Ghost with the sacrament." Therefore it was no good catholic divine's part so lightly to shake off these new masters' sacramental changes, as matters of so small weight. It appeareth by these examples, that God therein sheweth his omnipotent power, and yet without any transubstantiation. Now if neither these words, panis natura mutatus, nor these words, factus est, nor these words, omnipotentia Verbi, nor all these words together, be able to prove [13 Tertull. Op. Lut. 1641. Adv. Marcion. Lib. Iv. 40. p. 571. See before, page 447, note 13.] [14 See before, pages 454, 5.] [15 Leon. Magni Op. In Nativ. Serm. v. cap. v. col. 52; where facit ut regeneret. See before, page 455.] [15 Καθάπερ γὰρ ἐκείνην μητέρα οὐχ ἡ φύσις εἰργάσατο, ἀλλ' ἡ ἐπαγγελία τοῦ Θεοῦ ... οὕτω δὴ καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς ἀναγεννήσεως τῆς ἡμετέρας φύσις μὲν οὐδεμία, τὰ δὲ ῥήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ διὰ τοῦ ἱερέως λεγόμενα, ἅπερ ἴσασιν οἱ πιστοὶ, ταῦτα ἐν τῇ κολυμβήθρᾳ τῶν ὑδάτων, καθάπερ ἐν νηδύϊ τινὶ, [1 Descendat in hanc plenitudinem fontis virtus [18 Cypr. Op. Oxon. 1682. De Unct. Chrism. (Arnold.) p. 47.] stantiam. Unct. transubstantiation, as it is clear by that is said already; then is M. Harding's foundation not well laid, and therefore we may the better doubt of his conclusion. And whereas he saith, These new masters think it sufficient to acknowledge a sacramental changing, and to say, that the bread is changed into the sacrament of Christ's body, and that only for a shift; it may please him to remember that Beda, well near nine hundred years ago, expounded the same in like sort; and yet, that notwithstanding, was never counted neither shifter nor new master. Bed.in Octav. His words be plain: Panis et vini creatura in sacramentum carnis et sanguinis Epiph. Christi ineffabili Spiritus sanctificatione transfertur1: "The creature of bread and wine, by the ineffable sanctification of the Spirit, is turned into the sacrament of Christ's flesh and blood." This place is counterfeit, found in all M. HARDING. THE THIRD DIVISION. 2. cap. Omnia Nothing can be plainer to this purpose than the sayings of St Ambrose: Licet and not to be figura panis et vini videatur, nihil tamen aliud, quam caro Christi et De Cons. Dist. St Ambrose. sanguis, post consecrationem credendum est2: "Although," saith he, quæcunque. "the form of bread and wine be seen, yet after consecration we must believe they are nothing else but the flesh and blood of Christ." After the opinion of this father, the shew and figure of bread and wine are seen, and therefore remain after consecration. And if we must believe that which was bread and wine before to be none other thing but the flesh and blood of Christ, then are they no other thing indeed. For if they were, we might so believe. For belief is grounded upon truth; and whatsoever is not true is not to be believed. Hereof it followeth, that, after consecration, the accidents and shews only remain without the substance of bread and wine. In another place he saith as much: Panis iste, &c.: De Sacra"This bread, before the words of the sacraments, is bread: as soon as cap.iv. the consecration cometh, of bread is made the body of Christ." Again in another place he saith most plainly, that "the power of consecration is greater De iis qui inithan the power of nature; because nature is changed by consecration" tiantur. The hundred By this father it is evident that the nature (178), that is to say, the substance of and seventy- bread and wine, by consecration being changed into the body and blood of Christ, truth, stand their natural qualities, which be accidents, continuing unchanged for performance of tion, as shall the sacrament, remain without the substance of bread and wine. eighth un ing in false interpreta appear. Accidents perform the sacrament. A strange kind of divinity. THE BISHOP OF SARISBURY. mentis, Lib. iv. Ambrose's books be extant, and known: among them all these words are not found. Gratian, the reporter of them, either of purpose or for want of discretion, as a man living in a very barbarous and corrupt season, allegeth often one doctor for another, the Greek for the Latin, the new for the old; as may soon appear to the learned reader. This writer, whom M. Harding would so fain have to pass by the name of Ambrose, in this very place purposely depraveth the words of Christ, alleging that for scripture that is not to be found so written in all the scriptures; which is not the manner of St Ambrose's dealing. But, for contentation of the reader, to answer that thing that seemeth worthy of no answer, we must understand that the bread, the wine, and the water, of their own nature, without further consideration, are nothing else but usual and simple creatures. And therefore St Augustine giveth this general [ Ven. Bed. Op. Col. Agrip. 1612. In Epiph. Dom. Hom. Tom. VII. col. 320; where ejus for Christi.] [2 Ambros. in Corp. Jur. Canon. Lugd. 1624. Decret. Gratian. Decr. Tert. Pars, De Consecr. Dist. ii. can. 74. col. 1954; where vini hic sit omnino nihil aliud, and credenda sunt. A note in Gratian says, Ex Lib. IV. de Sacram. cap. iv. et vi; but these words are not to be found in the place thus referred to.] [3 No, H. A. 1564.] [ It is, H. A. 1564.] [5 Panis iste panis est ante verba sacramentorum: ubi accesserit consecratio, de pane fit caro Christi.Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. De Sacram. Lib. IV. cap. iv. 14. Tom. II. col. 368.] [ Probemus... majorem vim esse benedictionis quam naturæ; quia benedictione etiam natura ipsa mutatur. Id. Lib. de Myst. cap. ix. 50. Tom. II. col. 338.] contr. Lib. iii. Myst. cap. 11. rule touching the same: "In sacraments we must consider, not what they be August. of themselves, but what they signify." So St Ambrose writeth of the water Maxim. of baptism: Quid vidisti? Aquas utique, sed non solas...Apostolus docuit, non Ambros. de ea contemplanda...quæ videntur, sed quæ non videntur: "What sawest thou is qui init. (in thy baptism)? water no doubt, but not only water. The apostle hath taught us to behold not the things that be seen, but the things that be not seen." Otherwise, touching the very substance of the bread and the wine, he saith : Sunt quæ erant 10: " They be the same things that they were." And immedi- Ambros. de ately before he calleth the sacrament touching the bread and the wine, which Sacram. Lib. are the material parts thereof, "a common and a known creature11." iv. cap. iv. Ambros. de Creatura so nota. Yet nevertheless, touching the effect of the sacrament, we consider not the iv. cap. iii corruptible natures, or outward elements, but direct our faith only to the body lennis et and blood of Christ. St Ambrose himself leadeth us thus to say: Ante bene- Ambros. de dictionem verborum cœlestium alia species nominatur: post consecrationem corpus Myst. cap. ix. [Christi] significatur 12: "Before the blessing of the heavenly words, it is called another kind; but after the consecration the body of Christ is signified." iis qui init. But, M. Harding will reply, thus 13 Ambrose saith: Figura panis et vini videtur14: “The figure of bread and wine is seen;" therefore we must needs confess there are accidents without a subject. If any old writer, Greek or Latin, learned or unlearned, ever used this word figura in this sense, to wit, to signify a shew alone without any substance, then may M. Harding seem to say somewhat. If never any writer used it so, then have we good cause to doubt his conclusion. Verily, to leave other old writers of all sorts, St Ambrose himself saith: [Christus] apparet.....in figura humana 15: "Christ appeareth Ambros. in in the form or figure of a man." And St Paul saith to the 16 like purpose: cap. i. Formam servi accepit: "Christ took upon him the form of a servant." I think Phil. ii. M. Harding will not warrant us, upon the force of these words, that Christ had only the shape and shew, and not the very substance and nature, of a man's body: for in so saying he should seem openly to favour the old condemned heresy of the Manichees. In saying otherwise, this word figura cannot further his purpose. But St Ambrose saith: Nihil aliud credendum 17: "We must believe there is nothing else." Therefore, saith M. Harding, there is no bread. I marvel he hath no further insight, nor better skill in his own arguments: for here he concludeth a plain contradiction against himself. For, if there be nothing else but the body of Christ, and we must also believe the same, then is there neither form, nor figure, nor weight, nor savour there; which is contrary to M. Harding's own first position; and yet by these words we must needs believe it. The meaning is, as it is before said, that, according to the doctrine of St Augustine, in all sacraments we sequester our minds utterly from the sensible creatures, and with our faith behold only the things that thereby are represented. Epist. ad Col. For answer to the other two places of St Ambrose here alleged, touching the changing of natures, and making of Christ's body, it may please thee, gentle reader, to remember that it is 18 answered before in the second division hereof 19 unto the words of St Cyprian. I trow M. Harding will not say that the changing of any thing is straightway the corruption of the same. Origen saith: Si...mu- Orig. πepi ̓Αρχών, tabuntur cœli, utique non perit quod mutatur 20 : "Albeit the heavens shall be Lib.i.cap.vi. changed, yet the thing that is changed is not therefore utterly abolished and [ Themself, 1565.] [8 August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. Contr. Maxim. Arian.Lib. II. cap. xxii. 3. Tom. VIII. col. 725. See before, page 467.] [ Ambros. Op. Lib. de Myst. cap. iii. 8. Tom. II. col. 327; where docuit te apostolus non.] [10 Id. De Sacram. Lib. IV. cap. iv. 15. Tom. II. col. 369; where sint.] ["1 ... creaturam solemnem et notam.-Id. ibid. cap. iii. 8. col. 367.] [12 Id. Lib. de Myst. cap. ix. 54. Tom. II. col. [JEWEL, II.] August. Ambros. de iis qui init. Ambros. put away." The question between us is not, whether the bread be the body of Christ, or no; but whether in plain and simple manner of speech it be fleshly and really the body of Christ. St Augustine saith: Secundum quendam modum sacramentum corporis Christi corpus Christi est1: "After a certain manner (of speech) the sacrament of Christ's body is the body of Christ." And St Ambrose himself herein seemeth well and sufficiently to open his own meaning. For thus he writeth, as is before alleged: Post consecrationem corpus [Christi] significatur:...post Myst. cap. ix. consecrationem sanguis [Christi] nuncupatur2. In typum sanguinis Christi nos calicem sanguinis mysticum percipimus: carnem et sanguinem, quæ pro nobis oblata sunt, significamus3. Similitudinem pretiosi sanguinis bibis1. Est figura corporis et sanguinis Domini5. In similitudinem...accipis sacramentum®: "After consecration, the body of Christ is signified: after consecration, it is called the blood of Christ:" "We receive the mystical cup of blood, in example of the blood of Christ we signify the flesh and blood of Christ, that were offered for us. Thou drinkest the likeness of that precious blood:" "It is a figure of the body and blood of our Lord:" "For a likeness or resemblance (of the body of Christ) thou receivest the sacrament." Thus many ways it seemed good to St Ambrose to qualify the heat and rigour of his other words. 1 Cor. xi. Ambros. de Sacram. Lib. iv. cap. iv. De Sacram. Luc. Lib. v. cap. vii. Now, if M. Harding, as his manner is, will call all these naked signs and bare figures, let him then remember, he maketh sport and game at St Ambrose, his own doctor. But the sacraments of Christ, notwithstanding they be signs and figures, as they be commonly called of the old fathers, yet are they not therefore bare and naked. For God by them, like as also by his holy word, worketh mightily and effectually in the hearts of the faithful. Touching Ambros. in the force of God's word, St Ambrose writeth thus: Vidimus,...et oculis nostris Videmur perspeximus, et in vestigia clavorum ejus digitos nostros inseruimus. enim nobis vidisse, quem legimus, spectasse pendentem, et vulnera ejus spiritu ecclesiæ scrutante tentasses: "We have seen him and beholden him with our eyes, and have thrust our fingers into the very holes of his nails. For we seem to have seen him whom we have read, and to have beholden him hanging on the cross, and with the feeling spirit of the church to have searched his wounds." So saith St Cyprian: Cruci hæremus, [et] sanguinem sugimus, et intra ipsa Redemptoris nostri vulnera figimus linguam9: "We cleave to the cross, and suck up the blood, and thrust our tongues even within the wounds of our Ambros. de Redeemer." And in this respect St Ambrose saith: Baptismus est mysterium, Myst. cap. iv. quod oculus non vidit, nec auris audivit, nec in cor hominis ascendit 10: "Baptism is (not bare water, but) a mystery, that the eye never saw, the ear never heard, nor never entered into the heart of man." In respect hereof the element of water seemeth nothing. Even so in respect of Christ's body and blood, that are represented, the bread and wine seem nothing. Thus St Ambrose saith, in either sacrament "the power of consecration is greater than the power of nature:" thus "by consecration nature is changed." Cypr. de Cœna Dom. iis qui init. M. HARDING. THE FOURTH DIVISION. According to the which meaning Theodoretus saith: Videri et tangi Dialog. 2. possunt, sicut prius; intelliguntur autem ea esse, quæ facta sunt, et creduntur 12: "The bread and wine may be seen and felt, as before consecration; but they are understanded to be the things which they are made and believed." ['August. Op. Par. 1679-1700. Ad Bonifac. Epist. xcviii. 9. Tom. II. col. 267.] [2 Ambros. Op. Par. 1686-90. Lib. de Myst. cap. ix. 54. Tom. II. cols. 339, 40.] [3... in edendo et potando carnem &c. significamus novum testamentum in his consequuti &c.... In cujus typum nos calicem mysticum sanguinis...percipimus. Id. Comm. in Epist. ad Cor. 1. cap. xi. v. 26. Tom. II. Append. col. 149.] [ Id. de Sacram. Lib. IV. cap. iv. 20. Tom. II. cols. 370, 1.] [ Id. ibid. cap. v. 21. col. 371; where figura est.] [" Id. ibid. Lib. vi. cap. i. 3. col. 380.] [ Id. Expos. Evang. sec. Luc. Lib. v. cap. vii. 97. Tom. I. col. 1378.] [9 Cypr. Op. Oxon. 1682. De Con. Dom. (Arnold.) p. 41.] [10 Hoc est illud magnum mysterium, &c.—Ambros. Op. Lib. de Myst. cap. iv. 19. Tom. II. cols. 329, 30.] ["Unto, H. A. 1564.] [12 Theodor. Op. Lut. Par. 1642-84. Inconfus. Dial. 11. Tom. IV. p. 85.] |