A19571:356
A Defence of the True and Catholic Doctrine of the Sacrament
A defence of the true and catholic doctrine of the sacrament of the body and blood of our saviour Christ with a confutation of sundry errors concerning the same, grounded and stablished upon God's holy word, [and] approved by the consent of the most ancient doctors of the Church. Made by the most reverend father in God Thomas Archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England and Metropolitan.A defence of the true and catholike doctrine of the sacrament of the body and bloud of our sauiour Christ with a confutacion of sundry errors concernyng the same, grounded and stablished vpon Goddes holy woorde, [and] approued by ye consent of the moste auncient doctors of the Churche. Made by the moste reuerende father in God Thomas Archebyshop of Canterbury, primate of all Englande and Metropolitane.
Imprinted at London : In Poules churcheyarde, at the sign of the Brazen serpent, by Reginald Wolfe. Cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum, Anno Domini. M.D.L. 1550Imprinted at London : In Poules churcheyarde, at the signe of the Brasen serpent, by Reginald Wolfe. Cum priuilegio ad imprimendum solum, Anno Domini. M.D.L. 1550
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
And yet S. Augustine showeth this matter more clearly and fully,1 than any of the rest, specially in an Epistle which he wrote ad Bonifatiū, where he saith, that a day or two before good friday, we use in common speech to say thus, To morrow or this day .ii. days, Christ suffered his passion. where in very deed he never suffered his passion but ones, and that was many years passed. Likewise upon Easter day we say, This day Christ rose from death. where in very deed it is many hundred years sithens he rose from death Why than do not men reprove us as liars, when we speak in this sort? But because we call these days so, by a similitude of those days, wherein these things were done in deed. And so it is called that day, which is not that day in deed, but by the course of the year is a like day. And such things be said to be done that day, for the solemn celebration of the sacrament, which things in deed were not done that day, but long before. Was Christ offered any more but ones? ⟨image 70⟩And he offered him self, & yet in a sacrament or representation, not only every solemn feast of Easter, but every day he is offered to the people, so that he doth not lye, that saith, he is every day offered. For if sacraments had not some similitude or likeness of those things, whereof they be sacraments, they could in no wise be sacraments. And for their similitude and likeness, commonly they have the name of the things, whereof they be sacraments. Therefore as after a certain manner of speech, the sacrament of Christs body, is Christs body: the sacrament of Christs blood, is Christs blood: so likewise the sacrament of faith, is faith. And to believe is nothing else, but to have faith: And therefore when we answer for young children in their baptism, that they believe, which have not yet the mind to believe, we answer that they have faith, because they have the sacrament of faith. And we say also that they turn unto God, because of the sacrament of the conversion unto God, for that answer pertaineth to the celebration of the sacrament. And likewise speaketh the Apostle of Baptism, saying: that by Baptism we be buried with him into death: he saith not, that we signify burial, but he saith plainly, that we be buried. So that the sacrament of so great a thing, is not called but by the name of the thing it self.
And yet S. Augustyne sheweth this matter more clearely and fully,