Cranmer Rejects Spiritual Presence in the Bread and Wine

"And if you will ask me the question, who be those false prophets and seducers of the people, the answer is soon made; the Romish Antichrists and their adherents, the authors of all error, ignorance, blindness, superstition, hypocrisy, and idolatry."

"For Innocentius the Third, one of the most wicked men that ever was in the see of Rome, did ordain and decree that the host should be diligently kept under lock and key."

"And Honorius the Third not only confirmed the same, but commanded also that the priests should diligently teach the people from time to time, that when they lifted up the bread called the Host, the people should then reverently bow down, and that likewise they should do, when the priest carrieth the Host unto sick folks. These be the statutes and ordinances of Rome, under pretense of holiness, to lead the people unto all error and idolatry; not bringing them by bread unto Christ, but from Christ unto bread."

"But all that love and believe Christ himself, let them not think that Christ is corporally in the bread, but let them lift up their hearts unto heaven, and worship him sitting there at the right hand of his Father. Let them worship him in themselves, whose temples they be, in whom he dwelleth and liveth spiritually: but in no wise let them worship him as being corporally in the bread; for he is not in it, neither spiritually, as he is in man; nor corporally, as he is in heaven; but only sacramentally, as a thing may be said to be in the figure, whereby it is signified."

Thus is sufficiently reproved the third principle error of the papists, concerning the Lord's Supper, which is, that wicked members of the Devil do eat Christ's very body, and drink his blood."

Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, "The Eating and Drinking," Book IV, Chapter XI. The Work of Thomas Cranmer. Courtney Library of Reformation Classics. Vol. 2. G.E. Duffield, ed. (Berkshire: Sutton Courtney Press, 1964). Page 214.