Bishop John Cosin (1594–1672), was a Caroline Divine and Bishop of Durham. In his book, The History of Popish Transubstantiation (1676), he defends the “real presence” without transubstantiation.
His book is here via pdf: http://www.stevemacias.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/cosin-history-of-popish-transub-.pdf
Similar to how it is expressed in the 39 Articles, Cosin uses St. Augustine to explain what it means to eat Christ truly, and why the wicked “eat not” of Him.
“Why dost thou prepare thy stomach and thy teeth? Believe, and thou hast eaten.”
— St. Augustine, Tractate 26 on John
p. 54–55 — Cosin cites Augustine’s (St. Austin) line from John 6: “Ut quid paras dentes et ventrem? Crede, et manducasti.”
Cosin interprets this to mean that true eating is by faith, not by the mouth.
“For in this mystical eating, by the wonderful power of the Holy Ghost, we do invisibly receive the substance of Christ’s body and blood, as much as if we should eat and drink’ both visibly.” (pg. 55)
p. 94–95 — Cosin summarizes Augustine: “Without faith Christ is never eaten.” He stresses that for unbelievers, the bread may be a sign or antitype, but it does not become the “vivifying” Body of Christ to them.
p. 101–102 — Cosin explicitly says Augustine taught the same thing “above a thousand times,” and quotes him: “You are not to eat this body which you see, nor drink this blood which My crucifiers shall shed: I have left you a sacrament which, spiritually understood, will vivify you.”
Augustine on True Eating
Augustine distinguishes between eating outwardly (with teeth and stomach) and eating inwardly by faith.
Anglicans in Article 29 are faithful to Augustine’s emphasis that faith is the only way to feed on Christ’s life giving grace. The phrase “in no wise partakers” is meant to mean “not partakers unto salvation,” while still affirming that the wicked sacramentally receive Christ’s Body and Blood unto damnation. They appealed to Augustine, who held the same tension: faith gives life (“Believe, and thou hast eaten”), yet the unfaithful also receive the sacrament to their condemnation (“Many receive from the altar, and by receiving die”).
29. Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the use of the Lord’s Supper.
The Wicked, and such as be void of a lively faith, although they do carnally and visibly press with their teeth (as Saint Augustine saith) the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ, yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ: but rather, to their condemnation, do eat and drink the sign or Sacrament of so great a thing.
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