?'?8 Tn&MSUMTA.?TIATIOII. [BOOK If. tion oF his !woper opinio? as 8son se he returned home, and was sup- ported in them by a number of the wisest men of the age. In the year 1078, under the popedom of Gregory VII., in a council held at Rome, Berenger was again called on to draw up a new confession of faith, and to renounce that which had been composed by Humbert, though it had been solemnly approved and confirmed by Nicholas II. and a Roman council. In consequence of the threats and compulsion o� his enemies, Beteager confirmed by an oath, "that the bread laid on the altar became, alter consecration, the true body of Christ, which was born of the Virgin, suffered on the cross, and now sits on the right hand of the Father; and that the wine placed on the altar came, after consecration, the true blood which flowed from the side of Christ." In a council held at Rome, A.D. 1079, the pope had drawn up for Berenger, in consequence of the clamours of his enemies, a third confession, which he was obliged to confirm by oath. By this assent he professed to believe "that the bread and wine were, by the royate* rious influence of the holy'prayer, and the words of our Redeemer, substantially changed into the true, proper, and vivifylag body and blood of Christ." Berenger had no sooneF got out of the hands of his enemies than he maint?_i_n_ed his true sentiments, wrote a book in their defence, retreated to the isle of St. Cosme, near Tours, and bitterly ?epent?d of his dissimulation and want of firmness, until death, in 1088, put an end to his life and persecutions at the same time. And here we must observe, that the Roman Church, in the elevenill C' . ? / century, was not come to a fixed determination concerning the ,M?,-?. ? and ,Mmur of Christ's presence in the eucharist. This appears eva* .?-(?' ' dent from the thFee confessions of Berengvr, signed by order of three council8, which coufessions differed from each other, not only in the. torres and turn8 of expression, but also in the doctrines they contained. Gregory was of' the opinion that it was improper to pry too curiousl)' into the mysteries of the eucharist, or the m?nner in which Christ was present there, and that it was safest to adhere to the plain words of Scripture. And 0.8 this also was Berenger's opinion, the pope pro- nounced him innocent; but he was swayed by the clamorous council, and compelled to join outwardly with them. Indeed, them is every reason to believe that the pope was one in faith with Berenger on the afiicle in which the latter was condemned. In the commencement of the eleventh century, Aelfrick, archbishop of Canterbury, in his Saxon Homily, maintain8 the doctrine of Bet- �i tram, and in nearly his words. In his letter to Wulfin, bishop of . Schirburn, he says: "That houser (i.e., sacrament) is Christ'8 body-,
- ? not bodily, but spiritually; not the body which he suffered in, but the
' * ' ' bod? of which he 8pake when he ])]?ssed he bread and wine t6 hO? the night before his-sufi*er?ng, and said by the blessed bread,' This is my body.'" And in writing to the archbishop of York he 8aid: "The Lord halloweth daily, by the hand of the priest, bread to his body, and ? wine to his blood, in spiritual mystery, as we read in books. ,And yet notwithstanding, that lively bread is not bodily so, nor the self-same % body.that Christ suffered in. "e From these quotations ?F-?60?a?!?it ��. transubstanttation had not yet made much progress in England. See Usher's Answer, p. 79, sud Bishop Taylor on the Real Preseuce, sec. xii. 1
�
