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As with Origen, Taylor first refers to Tertullian106 _{in The Real Presence and Spiritual in the section} on John 6; Tertullian argues that it is the Spirit that brings life, not eating Jesus’ flesh in any fleshy sense.107 _{A further reference to Tertullian in the same section shows him describing the word in} allegorical terms, which will reoccur in The Worthy Communicant:

because the Word was made flesh, therefore He was desired for life, to be devoured by hearing, to be ruminated or chewed by the understanding, to be digested by faith; for a little before He called His flesh also celestial bread, still, or all the way, urging by an allegory of necessity food, the memory of their fathers who preferred the bread and flesh of Egypt before the divine calling.108

101 _{Origen, Contra Celsum, VIII, ch. 33, quoted in Taylor, VIII, p. 44.} 102 _{Origen, Contra Celsum, VIII, ch. 57, quoted in Taylor, VIII, p. 46.} 103 _{Taylor, VIII, p. 110. The source of the quotation is unclear.} 104 _{Origen, Contra Celsum, VII, ch. 33, quoted in Taylor, VIII, p. 161.} 105 _{Taylor, VIII, p. 184. No attribution made.}

106 _{‘Tertullian’, in The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church, pp. 1352–3.}

107 _{Taylor, VI, pp. 21, 31. Referring to Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. 32.} 108 _{Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. 37, quoted in Taylor, VI, p. 34.}

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Eating the Word made flesh becomes hearing and understanding the Word. In the following section on the words of institution, Taylor includes Tertullian amongst a number of witnesses who refer to the sacrament as bread, Christ called bread his body.109 _{And again in the next section he shows} Tertullian referring to the sacrament as bread and Christ’s body in two quotations and in a further argument which shows that as eating the sacrament broke the fast it remained bread without substantial conversion.110

In his argument that sight, touch and taste are not deceived when we receive the sacrament Taylor turns immediately to Tertullian and his argument against the Marcionites based on the First Letter of John: ‘his testimony was false, if eyes, and ears, and hands be deceived.’111 _{Tertullian’s} argument about the witness of the senses for the Resurrection becomes Taylor’s argument for the unchanged substance of bread and wine. Tertullian argued that ‘it is not lawful to doubt of our senses’112 _{and this provides a firm foundation for Taylor’s argument that since we taste and touch} and see bread and wine, that is what they are, unaltered in substance by consecration. He also includes a section from Tertullian’s discourse on the resurrection of the body which refers to change and perdition in his discussion concerning the logical inconsistency of the argument that bread is both changed and yet perishes in transubstantiation.113

In his section showing that transubstantiation was ‘not the primitive doctrine of the church’ Taylor first quotes Tertullian in a discussion about baptism,114 _{and later in a section showing how} Christians were at pains to show their worship did not involve consuming blood: ‘Tertullian in his Apologetic presses further, affirming that to discover Christians they use to offer them a black pudding, or something in which blood remained, and they chose rather to die than to do it.’115 _Taylor returns to Tertullian’s writing against Marcion: ‘He proves against the Marcionites that Christ had a

109 _{Tertullian, An Answer to the Jews, ch. 10, referred to in Taylor, VI, p. 47.}

110 _{Taylor, VI, pp. 57–8. Referring to Tertullian, Against Marcion, ch. 40 and Tertullian, On Prayer, ch. 14.} 111 _{Tertullian, De Anima, ch. 17, quoted in Taylor, VI, p. 85.}

112 _{Tertullian, De Anima, ch. 17, quoted in Taylor, VI, p. 91.}

113 _{Taylor, VI, p. 127. Referring to Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. 55.} 114 _{Taylor, VI, p. 136. Referring to Tertullian, On Baptism, ch. 19.}

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true real body in His incarnation, by this argument, “because in the sacrament He gave bread as the figure of His body, saying, This is My body, that is, the figure of My body”.’116 _{This is a long} subsection (about 3 pages) as Taylor shows that Roman Catholic commentators have been concerned by Tertullian’s witness and so try to alter its sense, and also there are those who admit Tertullian’s sense but describe it as in error. Nevertheless, Taylor is confident that Tertullian believes the sacrament to be a figure of Christ’s body, and the elements remain bread and wine in substance, supporting his position.

As we found when looking at Taylor’s references to Origen, although McAdoo argues Tertullian’s teaching to be important to Taylor’s exposition in The Worthy Communicant, he, in fact, quotes him seldom. The first quotation is one we have already met in The Real Presence and Spiritual quoted above.117 _{Taylor refers to Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria, claiming both to have taught} ‘The word of God is called flesh and blood.’118 _{Taylor uses this in support of his argument that ‘The} “flesh” of Christ is His word: the “blood” of Christ is His spirit; and by believing in His word, and being assisted and conducted by His spirit, we are nourished up to life; and so Christ is our food, so He becomes life unto our souls.’119 _{Taylor refers to Tertullian’s teaching that ‘we are baptized in the} passion of our Lord’ in his argument that the Spirit is ministered in baptism and we feed on the body and blood of Christ in baptism by the ministration of the Spirit in the sacrament.120

In his description of the eucharistic sacrifice as an intercession for the whole church, Taylor uses a phrase from Tertullian, ‘by pure prayer’, as a description of the sacrifice.121 _{He also refers to} Tertullian in his admonition that those who come to the eucharist must enquire into themselves and come with pure heart – the quotation from Tertullian is an observation about the practice of pagan priests offering animal sacrifice! 122

116 _{Tertullian, Against Marcion, IV, ch. 40, quoted in Taylor, VI, p. 142.} 117 _{Taylor, VIII, p. 17.}

118 _{Taylor, VIII, p. 18. Referring to Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. 37.} 119 _{Taylor, VIII, p. 18. Again, referring to Tertullian, On the Resurrection of the Flesh, ch. 37.} 120 _{Tertullian, On Baptism, ch. 19 quoted in Taylor, VIII, p. 22.}

121 _{Tertullian, Letter to Scapula, ch. 2, quoted in Taylor, VIII, p. 40.} 122 _{Taylor, VIII, p. 65. Referring to Tertullian, The Apology, ch. 30.}

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Taylor returns to his overarching theme that the bread and wine remain unchanged in substance and he again quotes Tertullian’s defence of the evidence of our senses: ‘it is (not only unreasonable but) unlawful to contradict the testimony of our sense; lest the same question be made of Christ himself; lest it be suspected that He also might be deceived when He heard His Father’s voice from heaven.’123 _{And he again refers to Tertullian describing the sacrament as a figure of} Christ’s body.124 _{Finally, Tertullian is referenced in Taylor’s arguments for frequent communion}125 and for proper reverence at the eucharist.126