that holy housel. That tyme they kept with them at Easter seuen dayes with great worshippe, whē they were deliuered from Pharao, and went from that land. So also Christen men kepe Christes resurrection at the tyme of Easter these vij. dayes, because through hys sufferyng and rising we be deliuered, and be made cleane by going to this holy housell, as Christ sayth in hys Gospell: Verelye, verelye I saye vnto you, ye haue no lyfe in you excepte ye eate my fleshe and drinke my bloude. Hee that eateth my fleshe and drincketh my bloude, abydeth in me, and I in him, and hath that euerlasting lyfe, and I shall rayse hym vppe in the laste daye. I am the liuelye bread that came dovvne from heauen: not so as your forefathers dyd eate that heauenlye bread in the vvilderneße, and aftervvarde dyed. Hee that eateth thys breade, liueth for euer.
MarginaliaIoan. 6.He blessed bread before hys sufferyng, and diuided it to hys Disciples, thus saying: Eate of thys bread, it is my bodye, and doe thys in my remembraunce.
MarginaliaMath. 26.
Luke. 22.
Mark. 14.Also hee blessed wyne in one cuppe, and sayd: Drinke ye all of thys: This is my bloude that is shedde for many, in forgiuenesse of sinnes.
Marginalia1. Cor. 11.The Apostles dyd as Christ commaunded, that is, they blessed bread and wine to housell agayn afterward in hys remembraunce. Euen so also their successors, and all priestes by Christes commaundement doe blesse bread and wyne to housell in his name with the Apostolike blessyng. Now, men haue often
Marginalia* Note how Christs wordes were taken by significatiō before Berengarius tyme.* searched and do yet often search, howe bread that is gathered of corne, and through fyers heate baked, maye bee turned to Christes body: or how wyne that is pressed out of manye grapes is turned through one blessing, to the Lordes bloud. Now saye we to such men, that some thinges be spoken of Christ by
Marginalia* A necessarye distinction.* signification, and some be things certaine. True thys is and certaine that Christ was borne of a mayde, and suffered death of his own accorde, and was buried, and on this daye rose from death. He is said to be bread by significatiō, & a lambe, & a lyon, and a mountayne. He is called bread, because hee is our lyfe and Angels lyfe. He is sayd to be a lambe for his innocencie: a Lyon for strength wherewith he ouercame the strong deuill. But Christ is not so notwithstandinge after true nature, neyther bread, nor a lambe, nor a lyon.
MarginaliaWhy is the housell called Christes body, when it is not so truelye?Why is then that holy housell called Christes bodye, or his bloud, if it be not truely that it is called? Truely the bread and the wyne, whiche in the supper by the priest is halowed, shewe one thyng without to humane vnderstanding, and an other thyng within to beleuing mindes. Without they bee sene bread and wyne both in figure and in tast, and they be truly after their halowing, Christes body and his bloude through ghostly misterye. An heathen childe is Christened, yet he altereth not hys shape without, though he be chaunged within. He is brought to þe fontstone sinfull through Adams disobedience: howbeit he is washed frō all sinne within, though he hath not chaunged hys shape without.
Marginalia* The water in baptisme, and bread and wine in the Lordes supper, compared.*Euen so the holy fonte water that is called the Welspryng of lyfe, is lyke in shape to other waters, and is subiect to corruption, but the holy ghostes might commeth to the corruptible water through the priestes blessyng, and it may after wash the body and soule from all sinne, through ghostlye myghte. Beholde nowe wee see two thynges in this one creature: after true nature, that water is corruptible moysture, and after ghostlye misterye, hath wholesome vertue. So also if we beholde that holye housel after bodily vnderstanding, then see we that it is a creature corruptible & mutable. If we acknowledge therin ghostly might, then vnderstand we that lyfe is therein, and that it geueth immortalitye to them that eate it with beliefe. Much is betwixte the inuisible myght of the holye housell, and the visible shape of his proper nature. It is
Marginalia* No transubstantiatiō.* naturally corruptible bread, and corruptible wyne: and is by mighty of Gods worde truly Christes body and his bloud: not so notwithstāding bodily, but ghostly. Much is betwixt the
Marginalia* Differēces betwixt Christes naturall body, and the Sacrament therof.* body of Christ which he suffered in, & the bodye that is halowed to housell.
Marginalia* Not the bodye that suffred is in the housell.The bodye truely that Christ suffered in was borne of the
Marginalia* Not the bodye that suffred is in the housell.* flesh of Mary, with bloud, & with bone, wt skin, & with synowes, in humane limmes, with a reasonable soule lyuyng: and his ghostly body, which we call the housell, is gathered of many cornes, without bloud and bone, without lymme, without soule, and therfore nothyng is to be vnderstande therin bodilye, but all is ghostly to bee vnderstande. What soeuer is in that housell, which geueth substaunce of life, that is of the ghostlye might, and inuisible doyng. Therfore is that holy housell called a mistery, because there is one thyng in it seene, and an other thyng vnderstanded. That which is ther
Marginalia* 2. difference.* sene, hath bodily shape: and that we do there vnderstand, hath ghostlye might. Certaynely Christes bodye which suffered death and rose frō death, neuer
Marginalia* 3. difference.* dyeth henceforth, but is eternall and vnpassible. That housell is temporall, not eternall,
Marginalia* 4. difference.* corruptible and dealed into sundrye partes, chewed betwene teeth, & sent into the bellye:
MarginaliaMath. 15.howbeit neuerthelesse after ghostly myght it is all in euery part. Many receaue that holy body: and yet notwithstanding, it is so all in euery parte after ghostly misterye. Thoughe some chewe the lesse, yet is there no more myghte notwithstāding in the more part, then in þe lesse, because it is whole in all mē after the inuisible myght. Thys misterye is a
Marginalia* 5. difference.* pledge and a figure: Christes bodye is truth it selfe. Thys pledge we do kepe mistically, vntyll that we be come to the truth it selfe, and then is this pledge ended. Truely it is so as we before haue sayd, Christes body and hys bloud: not bodilye, but ghostlye
Foxe quietly omits here two miraculous stories of the healing power which appeared in the original and (with caustic commentary) in the Parker/Joscelyn version (cf. A testimonie of antiquitie [London, 1566?], STC 159.5, fos. 39r and 40r).
At this point, Foxe omitted a passage stating that the Mass aided the souls of both the living and the dead (cf. A testimonie of antiquitie [London, 1566?], STC 159.5, fo. 47r).