A19571:522
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.
But to set forth plainly the meaning of Theophylactus in this matter▪ As hot and burning iron is iron still, and yet hath the force of fire, and as the flesh of Christ still remaining flesh, giveth life, as the flesh of him that is God: so the sacramental bread & wine remain still in their proper kinds, and yet to them that worthily eat and drink them, they be turned not into the corporal presence, but into the virtue of Christs flesh and blood.
But to sette foorth playnely the meanyng of Theophylactus in this matter▪ As hot and burnyng yron is yron styll, and yet hath the force of fyer, and as the fleshe of Christ styl remainynge fleshe, geueth lyfe, as the flesshe of hym that is God: so the sacramentall bread & wyne remayne styll in their propre kyndes, and yet to them that worthyly eate and drynke them, they be tourned not into the corporall presence, but into the vertue of Christes fleshe and bloud.
And although Theophylactus spake of the eating of the very body of Christ, and the drinking of his very blood, (and not only of the figures of them) and of the conversion of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, yet he meaneth not of a gross, carnal, corporal, and sensible conversion of the bread and wine, nor of a like eating and drinking of his flesh and blood (for so not only our stomachs would yearn and our hearts abhor to eat his flesh and to drink his blood, but also such eating and drinking could nothing profit and avail us) ⟨image 92⟩but he spake of the celestial and spiritual eating of Christ, and of a sacramental conversion of the bread, calling the bread not only a figure, but also the body of Christ•, giving us by those words to understand, that in the sacrament we not only eat corporally the bread (which is a sacrament and figure of Christs body) but spiritually we eat also his very body, & drink his very blood. And this doctrine of Theophilactus is both true, godly and comfortable.