Christus in corde, or, The mystical union between Christ and believers considered in its…

But if there is not a corporal presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist, is there no presence at all? Are the Sacraments [Greek or Hebrew], naked signs and empty figures of Christ crucified? This indeed is charged upon us by the Papists and Lutherans. When Calvin saith, that the body of Christ is exhibited to us in the Sacrament,¹ Bellarmine cries out, that it is but mera ludificatio. When Wendilin speaks of the presence of Christs body in the Eucharist,² the Lutherans cry out, fucus est, dolus est, it is a colour, a cheat. Nevertheless we say, that the body and blood of Christ are truly, though spiritually, present, not as contained in the elements, but as exhibited to our Faith. Thus Reverend Calvin hath it,³ Dico in coenae mysterio per symbola panis & vini Christum verè nobis exhiberi; in the mystery of the Supper, by the Symbols of bread and wine, Christ is truly exhibited to us. Thus the excellent Usher, ⁴Of his precious body and blood we are really made partakers; (that is, in truth and in deed, and not in imagination only) although in a spiritual, and not a corporal manner. Thus the Church of England, ⁵In the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony, no bare sign, no untrue figure of a thing absent; but the Table of the Lord, the bread and ⟨p. 226⟩cup of the Lord, the memory of Christ, the annunciation of his death; yea, the communion of the body and blood of the Lord, in a marvellous incorporation; which by the operation of the Holy Ghost (the very bond of our conjunction with Christ) is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful. And again, The body of Christ is given,⁶ taken, and eaten in the Supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. It's true, the Papists and Lutherans make light of this spiritual presence: Gregory de Valentiâ calls it, merum somnium Calvinisticum, a mere Calvinistical dream. The Lutherans say, that this is not a true presence of Christs body, but [Greek or Hebrew] & imago, a spectrum or image. In answer to this, I shall offer two or three things.