The apology of the Church of England, and an epistle to one Seignior Scipio…

14. WE say that the Eucharist is the Sacrament or visible Symbol of the Body and Blood of Christ, in which the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and what he did in his humane Body, is in a manner represented to our eyes, that we may give him thanks for his Death, and our Deliverance by it; and that by frequenting the Sacrament, we may often renew the Remembrance of it, and that by the Body and Blood of Christ, we may be nourished into the Hope of the Resurrection, and of eternal Life; and that we may be assured that the Body and Blood of Christ hath the same effect in the feeding of our Souls, which the Bread and Wine have in the repairing the Decays of our Bodies. To this great and solemn Feast the People are to be invited, that they may all communicate together, and may publicly signify and testify both their Union and Society amongst themselves, and that Hope which they have in Christ Jesus; and therefore, if there was any one heretofore, before the private Mass was introduced, who would be only a Spectator, and yet would abstain from the Holy Communion, the Bishops of Rome in the Primitive Times, and the ancient Fathers would have excommunicated him as a wicked man and a Pagan: ¹Nor was there any Christian man in those times, who communicated alone, in the presence of others who were only Spectators. So^* Calixtus long since decreed, that when the Consecration was finished, all should communicate, if they would not be deprived of the Communion of the Church, and be shut out of it; for so ⟨p. 30⟩(saith he) the Apostles ordained, and the Holy Church of Rome holds. And we say, that both the Parts of the Sacrament ought to be given to all that come to the Holy Communion, for so Christ commanded, and the Apostles instituted throughout the World, and all the ancient Fathers and Catholic Bishops so practised;³ and if any one shall do otherwise (saith Gelasius) he commits Sacrilege; and therefore our Adversaries, who exploding and rejecting the Communion, defend the private Mass, and a multitude of Sacraments, without the authority of the Word of God, without any ancient Council, without any Catholic Father, without any Example of the Primitive Church, and without Reason, and this against the express Command of Christ, and also against all Antiquity in so doing, act wickedly and sacrilegiously.