also in other olde Fathers in sundrie places. S. Augustine writeth thus, Panis est,
& Panis est, & Panis est, Deus Pater, Deus Filius, & Deus Spiritus Sāctus. Deus, qui tibi
dat nihil melius, quā tibi dat: It is Bread, it is Breade, and it is Breade (meaning thereby,
not the Sacramente, but ye Spiritual Breade of life) God the Father, God the Sonne,
and God the holy Ghost. God, that geueth it vnto thee, geueth thee no better thinge, then him
selfe. So S. Hierome, Sancti vescuntur Coelesti Pane, & saturantur omni Verbo Dei,
eundem habentes Dominū, quem & Cibum: Holy men eate the Heauenly Breade, and are
filled with euery Woorde of God, hauinge the same Lorde, that is their Meate.
So S. Gregorie, Praesepe natus impleuit, qui Cibum Semetipsum mortalium menti∣bus
praebuit: Beinge borne he filled the m••nger, that gaue him selfe Meate to the mindes, or
Soules of men. In this sense, and none otherwise, Cyrillus saithe, I, that
is to saye, my Bodie, that shalbe eaten, shal raise him vp againe. For Christe is none other,
then his Fleashe.
Al these saieinges be true, and out of question. Yet notwithstandinge, that M.
Hardinge woulde geather hereof, is not true, that is, that either S. Augustine,
or any of these holy Fathers euer called the Sacramente, either Lorde, or God, or
Christe him selfe.
S. Augustine in diuers places teacheth vs, that Christes Bodie it selfe, and
the Sacramente thereof are sundrie thinges. And the difference he openeth in this
sorte, That Christes Bodie is receiued inwardely, with the minde: but the Sacrament is out∣wardely
pressed, and bruesed with the toothe. And therefore he calleth the Sacra∣ment,
Panem Domini, The Breade of the Lorde: But Christe him selfe he callethe,
Panem Dominum, The Breade, that is our Lorde. And expoundinge these woordes of
Christe, Geue vs this day our dayly Breade, He saithe thus, This Dayly Breade wee
may vnderstande, either for the Sacramente of Christes Bodie, whiche wee receiue euery daye,
(as then the whole people vsed to doo) or for that Spiritual foode (of Christes Bodie it
selfe) of whiche our Lorde saithe, Woorke ye the Meate, that perisheth not: and againe,
I am that Breade of Life, that came downe from Heauen. Here wee see an other no∣table
difference bitwéene Christes Bodie it selfe, and the Sacrament of his Bodie.
And, if it had pleased M. Hardinge, to haue taken better viewe of his places,
thus he might haue séene S. Augustine him selfe, euen in the same place, expounde
him selfe. For thus he saithe, Nulli est aliquatenus ambigendum, tunc vnumquen{que}
Fidelium Corporis, & Sanguinis Domini participem fieri, quando in Baptismate mem∣brum
Christi efficitur: nec alienari ab illius Panis, Calicis{que} consortio, etiam si, antequam
Panem illum Comedat, & Calicem bibat, de hoc saeculo in vnitate Corporis Christi con∣stitutus
abscedat. Sacramenti enim illius participatione ac beneficio non priuatur, quando
ipse hoc, quod illud Sacramentum Significat, inuenit: Noman may anywyse doubte, but
that euery Faithful man is then made partetaker of the Bodie, and Bloude of Christe, when in
Baptisme he is made a member of Christe: and, that he is not put from the felowship of that
Breade, and Cuppe, although he departe this life in the Vnitie of Christes Bodie, before he
Eate of that Breade, or Drinke of that Cuppe. For he looseth not the partetaking, and bene∣fite
of that Sacrament, so longe as he findeth the thing (that is, the Bodie of Christe it self)
whiche is Signified by that Sacramente. Here S. Augustine teacheth vs, that a
Faithful man is partetaker of Christes Bodie it selfe, ye althoughe he receiue not
the Sacrament of his Bodie.
And, as S. Augustine in these woordes here alleged by M. Hardinge saithe,
Christus praeparauit Cibum Seipsum, So writinge vpon S. Iohn he saithe thus,
Christus inuitauit nos ad Euangelium suum: & ipse Cibus noster est: quo nihil dulcius,
sed si quis habeat palatum in Corde: Christe hath called vs vnto his Gospel: and he himself
is our Meate: then whiche meate there is nothinge sweeter: if a man haue wherwith to taste
it in his harte.
So againe he saithe, Deus Panis intus est Animae meae: God is the inwarde Breade