To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
HEre I am to enquire into two practical questi∣ons. 1. What stresse is to be put upon faith in this Mystery: that is, how much is every one bound to believe in the article of this Sacra∣ment before he can be accounted competently pre∣pared in his understanding, and by his faith?
2. What is the use of faith in the reception of the Blessed Sacrament? and in what sense, and to what purposes, and with what truth it is said that in the holy Sacrament we receive Christ by faith?
If I should follow the usual opinions, I should say that to this preparatory faith it is necessary to believe all the niceties and mysteriousnesse of the blessed Sacrament. Men have introduced new opinions and turned the key in this lock so often till it cannot be either opened or shut, and they have unravel'd the clue so long till they have intangled it; and not only reason is made blind by staring at what she never can perceive, but the whole article of the Sacrament is made an objection and temptation even to faith it self; and such things are taught by some Churches and some Schooles of learning, which no Philo∣sophy did ever teach, no Religion ever did reveal, no prophet ever preach, and which no faith ever can receive: I mean it in the prodigious article of Transubstantiation;* 1.1 which I am not here to con∣fute, but to reprove upon practical considera∣tions; and to consider those things that may make us better, and not strive to prevail in dis∣putation. That therefore we may know the pro∣per offices of faith in the believing what relates to the holy Sacrament, I shall describe it in seve∣ral propositions.
1. It cannot be the duty of faith to believe any
thing against our sense; what we see and taste to be bread, what we see and taste and smell to be wine, no faith can engage us to believe the contrary. For by our senses Christianity it self, and some of the greatest Articles of our belief were known by them who from that evidence conveyed them to us by their testimony; and if the perception of sense were not finally to be relied upon,* 1.2 Miracles could never be a demonstration, nor any strange event prove an unknown proposition: for the Miracle can never prove the Article, unless our eyes or hands approve the miracle; and the Divinity of Christs person, and his mission and his power could never have been proved by the Resurrection, but that the resurrection was certain and evident to the eyes and hands of so many witnesses. Thus Christ to his Apostles proved himself to be no spirit, by ex∣posing his flesh and bones to be felt; and he wrought faith in St. Thomas by his fingers ends; the wounds that he saw and felt were the demonstrati∣ons of his faith: and in the Primitive Church the Valentinians and Marcionites, who said Christs bo∣dy was phantastical, were confused by no other ar∣gument but of sense: For sense is the evidence of the simple, and the confirmation of the wise; it can confute all pretences, and reprove all deceitful subtilties; it turns opinion into knowledge, and doubts into certainty; it is the first endearment of love, and the supply of all understanding: from what we see without, we know what to believe within; and no demonstration in the world can be greater than the evidence of sense. Our senses are the great arguments of vertue and vice; and if it be not safe to rely upon that evidence, we cannot tell what pleasure and pain is; and a man that is born blind may as well have the true idea of co∣lours,
as we could have of pain, if our senses could not tell us certainly: and all those arguments from heaven by which God prevails upon all the world, as Oracles, and Ʋrim and Thummim, and still voices, and loud thunders, and the daughter of a voice, and messages from above, and Prophets on earth, and lights and Angels, all were nothing; for faith could not come by hearing, if our hearing might be illusion. That therefore which all the world relies upon for their whole Religion, that which to all the world is the great means and in∣strument of the glorification of God, even our seeing of the works of God, and eating his pro∣visions, and beholding his light; that which is the great ministery of life, and the conduit of good and evil to us, we may rely upon for this article of the Sacrament: what our faith relies upon in the whole, she may not contradict in this. Tertullian said, that [It is (not only unreasonable, but) unlaw∣ful to contradict the testimony of our sense, lest the same question be made of Christ himself, lest it be suspected that he also might be deceived when he heard his Fathers voice from heaven] That therefore which we see upon our Altars and Tables, that which the Priest handles, that which the Com∣municant does taste, is bread and wine; our senses tell us that it is so,* 1.3 and therefore faith cannot be enjoined to believe it not to be so. Faith gives a new light to the soul, but it does not put our eyes out; and what God hath given us in our nature, could never be intended as a snare to Religion, or to engage us to believe a lie. Faith sees more in the Sacrament than the eye does, and tastes more than the tongue does, but nothing against it: and as God hath not two wills contradictory to each o∣ther, so neither hath he given us two notices and
perceptions of objects, whereof the one is affirma∣tive and the other negative of the same thing.
2. Whatsoever is against right reason, that no faith can oblige us to believe. For although reason is not the positive and affirmative measures of our faith, and God can do more than we can under∣stand, and our faith ought to be larger than our reason, and take something into her heart that reason can never take into her eye; yet in all our Creed there can be nothing against reason. If true reason justly contradicts an article, it is not of the houshold of faith.* 1.4 In this there is no difficul∣ty, but that in practice we take care that we do not call that reason which is not so: for although a mans reason is a right Judge, yet it ought not to passe sentence in an inquiry of faith, until all the information be brought in; all that is within, and all that is without; all that is above, and all that is below; all that concerns it in experience, and all that concerns it in act; whatsoever is of perti∣nent observation, and whatsoever is revealed: for else reason may argue very well, and yet conclude falsly; it may conclude well in Logick, and yet infer a false Proposition in Theology: but when our Judge is fully and truly informed in all that where she is to make her judgment, we may safely follow it, whithersoever she invites us.
If therefore any society of men calls upon us to believe in our Religion what is false in our experi∣ence; to affirm that to be done, which we know is impossible it ever can be done; to wink hard that we may see the better; to be unreasonable men, that we may off••r to God a reasonable sa∣crifice; they make Religion so to be seated in
the will, that our understanding will be uselesse, and can never minister to it. But as he that shuts the ••ye hard, and with violence curles the eye lid, forces a phantastick fire from the crystalline humor, and espies a light that never shines, and sees thou∣sands of little fires that never burn: So is he that blinds the eye of his reason, and pretends to see by an eye of faith; he makes little images of notion, and some atoms dance before him; but he is not guided by the light, nor instructed by the proposi∣tion, but sees like a man in his sleep, and grows as much the wiser as the man that dreamt of a Ly∣canthropy, and was for ever after wisely wary not to come neer a River. He that speaks against his own reason, speaks against his own conscience; and therefore it is certain, no man serves God with a good conscience that serves him against his rea∣son. For though in many cases reason must sub∣mit to faith, that is, natural reason must submit to supernatural, and the imperfect informations of art to the perfect revelations of God; yet in no case can a true reason and a right faith oppose each other: and therefore in the article of the Sa∣crament, the impossible affirmatives concerning Transubstantiation, because they are against all the reason of the world, can never be any part of the faith of God.
3. Whatsoever is m••tter of curiosity that our faith is not obliged to believe or confess.* 1.5 For the faith of a Christian is pure as light, plain as a Com∣mandment, easie as childrens Lessons: it is not given to puzzle the understanding, but to instruct it; it brings clarity to it, not darknesse and obscu∣rity. Our faith in this Sacrament is not obliged to inquire or to tell how the ho••y bread can feed the
soul, or the calice purifie our spirits; how Christ is united to us and yet we remain imperfect even then when we are all one with him that is perfect: there is no want of faith though we do not under∣stand the secret manner how Christ is really pre∣sent, and yet this reality be no other but a reality of event and positive effect; though we know not that Sacramental is more than figurative, and yet not so much as natural, but greater in another kind. It is not a duty of our faith to discern how Christs body is broken into ten thousand pieces and yet remains whole at the same time; or how a body is present by faith only, when it is naturally ab∣sent, and yet faith ought to believe things to be as they are, and not to make them what of them∣selves they are not. We need not to be amazed concerning our faith, when our overbusie reason is amazed in the article; and our faith is not de∣fective though we confesse we do not understand how Christs body is there incorporeally, that is, a body after the manner of a Spirit; or though we cannot apprehend how the Symbols should make the grace presential, and yet that the grace of God in the receiver can make the Symbols ope∣rative and energetical.
The faith that is required of those who come to the holy Communion is of what is revealed plain∣ly, and taught usually; what sets devotion for∣ward, not what ministers to curiosity; that which the Good and the plain, the easie and the simple man can understand. For if thou canst not understand the reciprocations and pulses of thy own arteries, the motion of thy blood, the feat of thy memory, the rule of thy dreams, the manner of
digestion, the disease of thy bowels, and the distem∣pers of thy spleen, things that thou bearest about thee, that cause to thee pain & sorrow; it is not to be expected that thou shouldest understand the secrets of God, the causes of his will, the impulses of his grace, the manner of his Sacraments, and the Oeconomy of his spirit. Gods works are secret, and his words are deep, and his dispensations mysterious,* 1.6 and therefore too high for thy under∣standing. St. Gregory Nazianzen * 1.7 sayes of God; the more you think you comprehend of him in your understanding, the lesse he is comprehended; like the sand of the glass which the harder you grasp the less you can retain; or like the sand of the sea which you can never number; but by going about it, you are confound∣ed, and by doing something of it, you make it impossible to do the rest. Curious inquiries are like the contentions of Protogenes and Apelles who should draw the smallest line; and after two or three essayes they left this monument of their art, that they drew three lines so curiously that they were scarcely to be discerned. And therefore since faith is not concerned in intrigues and hard questi∣ons, it were very well if the Sacrament it self were not disguised, and charity disordered by that which is not a help but a temptation to Faith it self. In the holy Communion we must retain an undoub∣ted* 1.8
faith, but not enquire after what manner the secrets of God are appointed. Whether it be or no; that is the object of faith to enquire, and to accept accordingly. What it is, he that is to teach others and speak mysteries may modestly dispute: but how it is, nothing but curiosity will look after. The Egyptians used to say, that unknown darknesse is the first principle of the world; not meaning that dark∣nesse was before light; but by Darkness they mean God, as Damascius the Platonist rightly observes; saying, This darknesse or obscurity is the begin∣ning of every intellectual being, and every Sacramental action:* 1.9 and therefore in their ceremonies they usually made three acclama∣tions to the unknown Darkness; that is, to God, whose secrets are pervious to no eye, whose dwelling is in a light that is not to be discerned, whose mysteries are not to be understood by us, and whose Sacraments are objects of faith and wonder, but not to be disordered by the mistaking, undiscerning eye of people that are curious to ask after what they shall never understand.
Faith is oftentimes safer in her ignorance than in busie questions; and to enquire after the manner of what God hath plainly and simply told,* 1.10 may be an effect of infidelity, but never an act of faith. If concern∣ing the things of God we once ask Why or How, we argue our
doubt and want of confidence: and therefore it was an excellent Counsel of S. Cyril:* 1.11 Believe firmly in the mysteries, and con∣sent to the words of Christ: but never so much as speak or think, How is this done? In your faith be as particular and minute, as Christ was in his expressions of it, * 1.12 but no more. He hath told us, This is his body This is his blood: believe it and so receive it: but he hath not told us how it is so; it is behind a cloud, and tied up with a knot of secrecy; therefore let us lay our finger on our mouth, and worship hum∣bly. But he that looks into the eye of the Sun shall be blind; and he that searches into the secrets of Majesty shall be confounded with the glory.
What is the use of faith in this Sacrament? It is tied but to little duty, and a few plain articles; what then is the use and advantages of it? To what graces does it minister, and what effect does it produce? To this the answer is easie, but yet such as introduces a further enquiry. Faith indeed is not curious but material: and therefore in the contemplation of this mysterious Sacrament and its Symbols, we are more to regard their signifi∣cation than their matter; their holy imployment than their natural usuage, what they are by grace than what they are by nature; what they signifie rather than what they are defin'd. Faith con∣siders not how they nourish the body, but how they support and exalt the soul: that they are Sa∣cramental not that they are also nutritive; that
they are made holy to purposes of Religion,* 1.13 not that they are salutary to offices of nature; that is, what they are to the spirit, not what they are to sense and disputation. For to faith Christ is pre∣sent; by faith we eat his flesh, and by faith we drink his blood; that is, we communicate not as men, but as faithful and believers; the meaning, and the duty, and the effect of which are now to be inquired.
1. It signifies that Christ is not present in the Sacrament corporally; or naturally, but spiritu∣ally; for thus the carnal and spiritual sense are op∣posed. So St. Chrysostom upon those words of Christ; the flesh profiteth nothing:
what is it to understand carnally?To understand them simply and plain∣ly as they are spoken. For they are not to be judged as they seem, but all mysteries are to be considered with internal eyes, that is, spiritually. For the carnal sense does not penetrate to the understand∣ing of so great a secret, saith St. Cyprian. For there∣fore we are not devourers of flesh, because we understand these things spiritually. So Theophilaect.
2. Since the spiritual sense excludes the natural and proper, it remains that the expression which is natural be in the sense figurative and improper; and if the holy Sacrament were not a figure, it could neither be a sign nor a Sacrament. But there∣fore it is called the body and blood of Christ be∣cause it is the figure of them; as St. Austin largely discourses;* 1.14 [
••or so when good Friday draws neer,
we say to morrow or the next day is the pas∣sion of our Lord; although that passion was but once, and that many ages since: and upon the Lords day, we say, to day our blessed Lord arose from the dead although so many years be passed since; and why is no man so foolish as to reprove us of falshood, but be∣cause on these dayes is the similitude of those things which were done so long since. Was not Christ once sacrificed? and yet he is sa∣crificed still on the solemnities of Easter, and every day in the Communions of the people; neither does he say false, who being asked, shall say that he is sacrificed; for if the Sa∣craments had not a similitude of those things whereof they are Sacraments, they would be no Sacraments at all. But most commonly, by their similitudes things receive their names.* 1.15] Thus Tertullian expresses this mystery. This is, my body, that is, the figure of my body; and St. Gregory Nazianzen calls the Passeover, be∣cause it antedated the Lords Supper, a figure of a figure.
3. But St. Austin added well; The body of Christ is truth and figure too. The holy Sacra∣ment is not only called the Lords body and blood, for the figure, similitude and Sacramen∣tality; but for the real exhibition and ministra∣tion of it. For it is truly called the body of Christ, because there is joyned with it the vital power, vertue and efficacy of the body; and therefore it is called by St. Austin,* 1.16 the intelligi∣ble, the invisible, the spiritual body; by St. Hierom▪ the Divine and spiritual flesh; the celestial thing, by St. Irenaeus; the spiritual food: and the body of
the divine Spirit,* 1.17 by St. Ambrose: for by this means it can very pro∣perly be called the body and blood of Christ; since it hath not only the figure of his death ex∣ternally, but internally it hath hidden and secret the proper and divine effect, the life-giving pow∣er of his body; so that though it be a figure, yet it is not meerly so; not only the sign and memori∣al of him that is absent, but it bears along with it the very body of the Lord, that is, the efficacy and divine vertue of it. Thus our blessed Saviour said of John the Baptist, that Elias is already come, because he came in the power and spirit of Elias. As John was Elias, so is the holy Sacrament the body and blood of Christ, because it hath the pow∣er and spirit of the body of Christ. And therefore the ancient Doctors of the Church in their Ser∣mons of these divine Mysteries, use the word Na∣ture and Substance, not understanding these words in the natural or Philosophical, but a Theological, in a sense proper to the Schools of Christians; by Substance meaning the power of the substance; by Nature, the gracious effect of his natural body: the nature and use and mysteriousnesse of Sacra∣ments so allowing them to speak, and so requiring us to understand.
4. And now to this spiritual food must be sitted a spiritual manner of reception; and this is the work of faith; that spiritual blessings may invest the spirit, and be conveyed by proportioned instru∣ments, lest the Sacrament be like a treasure in a dead hand, or musick in the grave. But this I chuse rather to represent in the words of the Fathers of
the Church than mine own. [
We see (saith St. Epiphanius) what our Saviour took into his hands, as the Gospel says,* 1.18 he arose at supper and took this, an•• when he had given thanks, he said, This is my body; and we see it is not equal, nor like to it, neither to the invisible Deity, nor to the flesh: for this is of a round form, without sense: but by grace he would say, This is mine; and every one hath faith in this saying: For he that doth not believe this to be true as he hath said, he is fallen from grace and salvation. But that which we have heard, that we believe; that it is his.] And again, [The bread indeed is our food; but the virtue which is in it, is that which gives us life: by faith and efficacy, by hope and the perfection of the Mysteries, and by the title of sanctification, it should be made to us the perfection of sal∣vation.* 1.19] For these words are spirit and life; and the flesh pierces not into the understand∣ing of this depth, unlesse faith come.] * 1.20 But then, [The bread is food, the blood is life, the flesh is substance, the body is the Church] For the body is in∣deed shewn, it is slain, and gi∣ven for the nourishment of the world, that it may be spiritu∣ally distributed to every one, and be made to every one the conservatory of them to the resurrection of eternal life,* 1.21] saith St. Athanasius. Therefore because Christ said, This is my body, let us not at all doubt, but believe, and receive it with the eye of the soul; for no∣thing sensible is delivered us; but by sensible
things he gives us insensible or spiritual,] so St. Chrysostom:* 1.22 [For Christ would not that they who partake of the divine Mysteries should at∣tend to the nature of the things which are seen, but let them (by faith) believe the change that is made by grace.* 1.23 [For according to the substance of the creatures, it remains after consecration the same it did before: But it is changed inwardly by the powerful vertue of the holy Spirit; and faith sees it,* 1.24 it feeds the soul, and ministers the sub∣stance of eternal life: for now faith sees it all whatsoever it is.
From these excellent words we are confirmed in these two things. 1. That the divine Mysteries are of very great efficacy and benefit to our souls. 2. That Faith is the great instrument in conveying these blessings to us.* 1.25 For as St. Cyprian affirms, the Sacraments of themselves cannot be without their own vertue; and the divine Majesty does at no hand absent it self from the Mysteries.] But then unless by faith we believe all this that Christ said, there is nothing remaining but the outward Sym∣bols, and the sense of flesh and blood, which pro∣fits nothing. But to believe in Christ, is to eat the flesh of Christ.* 1.26 I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall not hunger; that is, he shall be filled with Christ: and he that believeth in me shall not thirst: coming to Christ, and believing in him, is the same thing: that is, he that believes Christs Words and obeys his Commandments; he that owns Christ for his Law-giver and his Master, for his Lord and his Redeemer; he who lays down his sins in the grave of Jesus, and lays down himself at the foot of the Crosse, and his cares at the door of the Temple, and his sorrows at the Throne of
Grace; he who comes to Christ to be instructed, to be commanded, to be relieved, and to be com∣forted; to this person Christ gives his body and blood, that is food from heaven. And then the bread of life, and the body of Christ, and eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, are nothing else but mysterious and Sacramental expressions of this great excellency; that whoever does this, shall partake of all the benefits of the Crosse of Christ, where his body was broken, and his blood was poured forth for the remission of our sins, and the salvation of the world. But still that I may use the expression of St. Ambrose,* 1.27 Christ is handled by faith, he is seen by faith, he is not touched by the body, he is not comprehended by the eyes.
5. But all the inquiry is not yet past: For thus we rightly understand the mysterious Propositions; but thus we do not fully understand the mysterious Sacrament. For since coming to Christ in all the ad∣dresses of Christian Religion, that is, in all the mini∣steries of faith, is eating of the body and drinking the blood of Christ, what does faith in the recep∣tion of the blessed Sacrament that it does not do without it? Of this I have already given an ac∣count * 1.28: But here I am to add, That in the holy Communion all the graces of a Christian, all the mysteries of the Religion are summ'd up as in a di∣vine compendium; and whatsoever moral or my∣sterious is done without, is by a worthy Commu∣nicant done more excellently in this divine Sacra∣ment: for here we continue the confession of our faith which we made in Baptism; here we perform in our own persons what then was undertaken for us by another; here that is made explicit which was but implicit before; what then was in the root,
is now come to a full year; what was at first done in mystery alone, is now done in mystery and mo∣ral actions and vertuous excellencies together: here we do not only here the words of Christ, but we obey them; we believe with the heart, and here we confesse with the mouth, and we act with the hand, and incline the head, and bow the knee, and give our heart in sacrifice: here we come to Christ, and Christ comes to us; here we represent the death of Christ as he would have us represent it, and remember him as he commanded us to remem∣ber him; here we give him thanks, and here we give him our selves; here we defie all the works of darknesse, and hither we come to be invested with a robe of light, by being joined to the Son of Righteousnesse, to live in his eyes; and to walk by his brightnesse, and to be refreshed with his warmth, and directed by his spirit, and united to his glories. So that if we can receive Christs body and drink his blood out of the Sacrament, much more can we do it in the Sacrament: For this is the chief of all the Christian Mysteries, and the union of all Christian Blessings, and the investiture of all Christian Rights, and the exhibition of the Char∣ter of all Christian Promises, and the exercise of all Christian Duties. Here is the exercise of our faith, and acts of obedience, and the confirmation of our hope, and the increase of our charity. So that although God be gracious in every dispensati∣on, yet he is bountiful in this: although we serve God in every vertue, yet in the worthy reception of this divine Sacrament there must be a conjuga∣tion of vertues, and therefore we serve him more: we drink deep of his loving kindnesse in every effu∣sion of it; but in this we are inebriated: he al∣ways fills our cup, but here it runs over.
1. That by [Faith] in our dispositions and pre∣parations to the holy Communion, is not under∣stood only the act of faith, but the body of faith; not only believing the articles, but the dedication of our persons; not only a yielding up of our un∣derstanding, but the engaging of our services; not the hallowing of one faculty, but the sanctification of the whole man. That faith which is necessary to the worthy receiving this divine Sacrament, is all that which is necessary to the susception of Ba∣ptism, and all that which is produced by hearing the word of God, and all that which is exercised in every single grace; all that by which we live the life of grace, and all that which works by charity, and makes a new creature, and justifies a sinner, and is a keeping the Commandments of God.
2. If the manducation of Christs flesh and drink∣ing his blood be spiritual, and done by faith, and is effected by the spirit, and that this faith signifies an intire dedition of our selves to Christ, and sanctification of the whole man to the service of Christ, then it follows,* 1.29 that the wicked do not Communicate with Christ, they eat not his flesh, and they drink not his blood: They eat and drink indeed; but it is gravel in their teeth, and death in their belly; they eat and drink damnation to them∣selves. For unlesse a man be a member of Christ, unlesse Christ dwells in him by a living faith, he does not eat the bread that came down from hea∣ven. They lick the rock, saith St. Cyprian, but drink not the waters of its emanation: They receive the skin of the Sacrament, and the bran of the flesh,
saith St. Bernard. But it is in this divine nutri∣ment as it is in some fruits; the skin is bitterness, and the inward juice is salutary and pleasant: the out∣ward Symbols never bring life, but they can bring death;* 1.30 and they of whom it can be said (according to the expression of St. Austin) they eat no spiritual meat, but they eat the sign of Christ, must also re∣member what old Simeon said in his prophecy of Christ, He is a sign set for the fall of many; but his flesh and blood spiritually eaten, is resurrection from the dead.
vide Real presence per to∣tum.
1 John 1.1, 2, 3.
See Real Presence, Sect. 10.
See this largely discour∣sed of in the Rule of Consci∣••nce, lib. 1. chap. 2. Rule 3.
Ubi ad pro∣fundita∣tem Sacra∣mentorum perventum est, om••i•• Platonico∣rum cali∣gavit sub∣tilitas. S. Cyprian. de Spir. S.
— exigua est visHumani ingenii, tantó{que} angusta labori.Quippe minor natura aci∣em si intendere tentetAcrius ac penetrare Dei se∣creta supremi,Quis dubitet victo fragilem lacessere visu.Vim{que} fatigatae mentis sub pectore parvoTurbari, invalidis{que} hebe∣tem succumbere curis?Prudent. in Symmach. l. 2.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. O∣rat. 1.
Oportet igitur nos in sumptionibus Divinorum mysteriorum indubitatam retinere fi∣dem & non quaerere quo pacto. S. Bernardus. An sit, fidei est inqui∣rere: quid sit, Philosophi: quomodo sit, Curiosi.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉.
Multa etenim benè tecta la∣tent, nescita{que} prosuntDum mansueta fides quae∣dam dilata modestèSustinet, & nullo ignorat non edita damno.Prosper advers. ingrat, c. 35.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Just. Mart.
Firmam fidem mysteriis adhibentes, nunquam in t••m sublimibus rebus illud Quomodo aut cogitemus aut proferamus. lib. 4. in Johan. c. 13.
Non pa∣tiar me quicquam nescire de eo quem∣amem. Plin.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Chrysost. homil. 2. in 2 Tim. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Idem & S. Cyril. in defens. anathem. idem asse∣rit.
In Johan. hom. 46. vide etiam August. in Psal. 98.
Epist. 23. ad Boni∣fac. vide eundem contr. Adimantum cap. 12. Non dubitavit dicere Dominus hoc est corpus meum, cum signum daret corporis sui. Dicitur item ab Origene & Chrysostomo; in cap. 26. Mat. homil. 83. Typus & Sym∣bolum: ab eodem Origene, S. Basilio, & S. Ambrosio, & aliis; exem∣plum exemplar, & imago.
Contr. Marcion. lib. 4.
Laus fidei est cre∣derequod non vides. Aug.
Immortalitatis alimonia datur, à communibus cibis differens, corporalis sub∣stantiae retinens speciem, sed virtutis Divinae invisibi∣li efficientiaâ probans adesse praesentiam. S. Cyprian de coena Dom.
In Ancho∣rato.
Autor lib. de coenâ Dom. Fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio praebet experimentum. St. Gregor.
Arcanum coeli Dominus pro tempore celatUt sic nostra fides ad ju∣stitiam doceatur,Et fidei major merces ex∣inde sequatur.Petr. Blesens.
de peccat. in Spir. S.
S. Chry∣sost. ubi suprà in Mat. 26.
Theodo∣ret. dial. 1.
Bertram de corp. & sang. Domini.
ubi supra.
John 6.35.
in Lucam lib. 6. c. 8.
Chap. 1. Sect. 2.
Panis qui de coelo descend it non nisi ab eo accipi∣tur qui Domi∣num ha∣bet & Christi mem∣brum est. S. Hilar. de. Trinit. l. 8.
Non man∣ducant spirituali∣ter, sed premunt dentibus signum corporis & sangui∣nis.