And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
Ver. 24. This is my body] En praeclaram illam consecrationem, Behold that goodly consecration (saith Beza) for the which the shavelings say that they are more holy than the very Virgin Mary; for that Mary only conceived Christ, but they create him. Whereunto the Virgin might well reply, that she carefully nourished Christ, whom they cruelly devour. Dost thou believe (said the doctor to the martyr) that Christ's body and blood is in the eucharist really and substantially? I believe, saith he, that that is a real lie, and substantial lie. When Cranmer was brought forth to dispute in Oxford, Dr Weston, Prolocutor, thus began the disputation, Convenistis hodie, fratres, profligaturi detestandam illam haeresin de veritate corporis Christi in Sacramento, &c. We are gathered today, brothers to overthrow that wicked heresy concerning the truth of the body of Christ in the sacrament, At which mistake, various learned men burst out into a great laughter.