Church, that is, the sacred signs and ceremonies. which Christ enjoined us to use; that by them he might place before our eyes the mysteries of our salvation, and more strongly confirm the faith which we have in his blood, and seal in our hearts his grace: and these we call figures, signs, types, patterns, forms, seals, signets, similitudes, examples, representations, remembrances, and memorials as likewise did Tertullian, Origen, St. Ambrose, St. Augustin, St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, St. Basil, Dionysius, and many other Catholic Fathers. Nor do we hesitate, with the same learned Doctors, to call them a kind of Visible Words, the Seals of Righteousness, and Symbols of Grace. At the same time also we expressly affirm, that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the body and blood of our Lord is truly exhibited to believers; that is, the flesh of the

* The Bishop, in his reply to Harding's Strictures, fully explains the nature of the Sacrament, and the manner in which it ought to be understood; he first cites the following Passage from St. Augustin ;- "This is the EATINGE of that meate, and the DRINKINGE of that drinke, that a man dwel in Christe and have Christe dwellinge in him." And again-“ of the Sacramentes of Christe, wee doo bothe speake, and thinke reverently, and as it becommeth us, and accordinge to the Holy Scriptures, Wee saie that a CREATURE is a CREATURE, that a SACRAMENTE is a SACRAMENTE, and not GOD. We saie

Son of God which quickeneth our souls, the meat which cometh from above, the food of immortality, grace, truth, life: and that, by participating in the communion of the body and blood of Christ, we are revived, strengthened, and refreshed unto Immortality, and so joined, united, and incorporated with Christ, that we may ever abide in him, and he in us.

We acknowledge two Sacraments, which properly ought to be so called-Baptism, and the Supper of the Lord: for these we find delivered and sanctified by Christ himself, and approved by St. Ambrose, St. Augustin, and the ancient Fathers.

Baptism is looked upon as the Sacrament of the Remission of Sins; as a type of that washing and purification which we have in the Blood of Christ and from this no one is to be excluded who is anxious to profess the Faith of Christ; not

with St. Augustin, The Sacramente is not our Lorde, but the breade of our Lorde." And again" In Sacramentes we must consider, NOT WHAT THEY BE IN DEEDE, but what they SIGNIFIE." The Defence of the Apologie. Ed. Lond. 1567. fol. p. 210.

even the children of Christians, since they are born in sin, and belong to the people of God.

We consider the Eucharist, or Supper of our Lord, as a visible symbol of the Body and Blood of Christ in which his death, resurrection, and all the actions of his human life are, in a certain degree, represented to our eyes; that we may give him thanks for his death, and our redemption through it: and by frequenting the Sacrament continually renew the remembrance thereof; that by feeding on the Body and Blood of Christ we may be brought into the Hope of the Resur rection, and of Everlasting Life; and that we may be assured, that his Body and Blood is as effectual for the nourishment of our Souls, as bread and wine for our Bodies. To this solemn feast the people ought earnestly to be invited, that they may all communicate together, and publicly declare and testify the unity that exists among themselves, and the hope which they have in Christ Jesus. For this reason, before the introduction of private mass, if any one wished to be a mere spectator, and was unwilling to participate in the Holy Communion, he was excommunicated, as an infidel and heathen, by the

1

ancient Fathers and Roman bishops of the pri mitive Church: nor was any Christian, in those days, allowed to communicate by himself, in the presence of others. For Calixtust long since decreed, that after the consecration all should communicate, or be excluded from the Church: observing, that such was the practice of the Apostles, which was followed by the Church of Rome. Moreover, when the people came to the Holy Communion, the Sacrament ought to be administered to them in both kinds. For thus Christ commanded, the Apostles every where ordained, and such was the undeviating practice of the primitive Fathers and Catholic Bishops: and whoever transgresses this regulation, is, according to Gelasius, guilty of Sacrilege. We therefore maintain that our opponents, who, rejecting the Communion, defend private masses, and a mutilation of the Sacrament without the

Chrysostom ad Ephes. Ser. III. de conser. Dist. i. Cap.

Omnes.

Known in the decree under the name of ANACLEtus. Dist. ii. Cap. Seculares. et cap. peracta.

De Cons. Dist. ii. cap. Comperimus.

§ Some copies have Multitudinem, alluding to the number of the Popish Sacraments.

authority of the word of God, without any ancient Council, without any Catholic Father, without the example of the primitive Church, and without reason; (and this, not only against the positive command and express declaration of Christ, but also in opposition to the uniform practice of antiquity,) are guilty of impiety and sacrilege.

We consider the Bread and Wine as the sacred and heavenly Mysteries of the Body and Blood of Christ; and that by them, Christ himself, being the true Bread of Eternal Life, is in such a measure administered to us, that, through faith, we actually receive his Body and Blood. In affirming this however we do not insinuate that the nature of the Bread and Wine suffers any material change, as many visionary writers have lately affirmed; although, at the same time, they have been unable to reconcile their conflicting sentiments on this subject: for it was not our Saviour's intention that the wheaten bread should change its nature, and become, as it were, a divine substance; but that we, as Theophylact observes,* should become new creatures, and in

* In Johan. Cap. vi.