542 



LORD'S SUPPER. 



body and the blood of the Saviour wore offered and 

 lasted in the shape of bread and wine. This was the 

 belief of the church from the beginning ; and it can- 

 not be shown that it commenced at any particular 

 time, or supplanted another doctrine. The clearest 

 proof of this, that a similar doctrine, even if it be not 

 the same doctrine of transubstantiation is to be 

 found in all the churches, which long since separated 

 from the Catholic 1 . This rite is in remembrance of 

 the death and the resurrection of Jesus. But how 

 (says the writer) can we sin against the body and 

 the blood of Jesus ? How can we take it at all 

 unworthily, if the whole ceremony is a mere act of 

 commemoration ? To what purpose would be the 

 admonition, "This do in remembrance of me," if 

 there was no meaning attached to it but that of a 

 participation in the fruits of Jesus' death by an act 

 of commemoration ? The memory of Jesus is essen- 

 tially connected with all the benefits of his religion. 

 Further, as soon as we admit of a real presence of 

 Jesus in the eucharist, we must be ready to concede, 

 also that the bread and wine cease to exist in reality, 

 though they remain still in appearance. That which 

 really exists, is the sacramentally (not visibly) pre- 

 sent body and blood of Christ. By a miracle of the 

 Omnipotent, a change is effected, and this we call 

 transubstantiation. It has been proved already by 

 Leibnitz, that there is no philosophical contradiction 

 in this, and we find it the principle of a whole philo- 

 sophical school, the sceptics, to dispute the real 

 existence of appearances. Even the oldest Chris- 

 tian fathers, not only in sermons, but in passages ex- 

 planatory of their doctrines, and destined for the 

 instruction of the catechumens, expressed themselves 

 in such a way as to show us that the first Christians 

 were not only convinced of Christ's being present 

 through our belief, but also that the bread or wine 

 no longer existed. Justin Martyr, endeavouring to 

 give the emperor a notion of the religion of the 

 Christians, after describing the ceremony of con- 

 secration, says, " We eat this not as common bread, 

 and drink this not as common wine ; but as Jesus 

 Christ, after having been made man by the word of 

 God, had flesh and blood, so we believe also, that 

 the food consecrated by his words, has become the 

 flesh and blood of the man Jesus." (Acts 1.) We 

 know also, the Christians were accused, by the 

 pagans, of eating, in their secret assemblies, the 

 flesh of an infant a notion which certainly took its 

 rise from their doctrine of the Lord's supper, of 

 which the former might have heard some obscure 

 account. The Christians, in general (continues the 

 writer), kept this doctrine very secret (disciplina 

 arcani). If they believed that they received Christ 

 only through faith, it is not easy to see why they 

 made such a mystery of it. But this they did, and 

 instructed their catechumens in this doctrine but a 

 short time before their baptism. The dogma of trail- 

 substantiation is as old as the communion itself, and 

 was by no means first set up by Parrhasius Radbertus 

 in the ninth century, as is commonly asserted by the 

 Protestants. There is no reason why that real pre- 

 sence should be limited to the time when the Chris- 

 tian receives the eucharist ; for Christ distinctly says, 

 " This is my body," and tenders it, on that account 

 to his disciples. And how could it be decided at 

 what moment his presence commences, and when it 

 ceases ? The first Christians knew nothing about 

 this limitation. They regarded the consecrated host 

 with feelings of adoration ; they partook of it with 

 the utmost awe, and carried it with them in times ol 

 persecution, to encourage themselves with the enjoy- 

 ment of it. Origen, a writer of the third century 

 says, " You, who are allowed to partake in the holy 

 mysteries, you know how to keep the body of the 



Lord you receive, with all caution and reverence 

 (the Christians received it formerly with their hands), 

 lest any part of the hallowed gift fall to the ground; 

 you believe justly that you bring guilt upon your- 

 selves when, by negligence, you drop any part of 

 it." Equally strong terms are to be found in Cyril's 

 instructions to the new converts, as well as in the 

 liturgy of all the Oriental and Western churches, 

 the testimony of which is of the greater importance, 

 as it is not the testimony of a few single scholars, but 

 the public profession of entire churches. As from 

 the first times, the presbyter of the congregation per- 

 formed the consecration, the peculiar view of the 

 Catholic church, which considers the spiritual guide 

 of a congregation as a sacrificing priest, is explained. 

 The mass is nothing but this sacrifice, and, so far, 

 as old in its essential character as the Lord's supper, 

 though it first received its external additions and 

 form under Gregory the Great. The Lord's supper 

 is a sacrament, which by an external symbol, sancti- 

 fies the internal man. The Catholic view of com- 

 munion pervades the whole Catholic religious and 

 ecclesiastical system. This creed of the whole 

 Christian church, the Greek not excepted, as it is 

 represented here, remained uncontroverted until the 

 eleventh century, when the controversy between the 

 Greek and the Latin churches broke out, respecting 

 the bread to be used in the communion whether it 

 ought to be leavened or unleavened. Respecting 

 the doctrine of the supper, there arose no dispute 

 till the beginning of the thirteenth century, when the 

 priest Berengarius of Tours denied the doctrine of 

 transubstantiation, but not that of the substantial 

 presence of Christ. The whole church was surprised 

 at this innovation. This gave occasion, in the fourth 

 Lateran council, to a solemn proclamation of the 

 old creed of the church on transubstantiation. This 

 creed continued in full authority, and even Huss did 

 not impeach it ; nay, Huss and his adherents were 

 filled with reverence towards the sacrament, and 

 claimed even the cup. It had become customary in 

 latter times, from fear of spilling some part of the 

 blood, to give only the body to the laity, since in the 

 body the blood was contained (doctrine of concomit- 

 ance). The Hussites, however, believed that the 

 cup was a constituent part of the sacrament, without 

 which the sacrament would not be complete. The 

 church condemned this opinion as a heresy, in the 

 council of Constance, in 1415. By the reformation 

 of the sixteenth century, the whole Catholic system 

 was attacked, as the reformers, rejecting the tradi- 

 tions of the church, took the Bible alone for their 

 guide in matters of belief, and departed, at the same 

 time, from the Catholic theory of communion. If 

 they had left the Catholic doctrine on communion, 

 the priesthood and mass would necessarily have 

 remained too. By what means could the priests 

 of the new sect obtain their consecration ? It 

 was therefore necessary to establish a new theory 

 of communion ; or, rather, it was the natural conse- 

 quence, since the new church, founded on reason, by 

 which the scripture was to be searched, must needs 

 lose a sense of the Catholic mysteries. In the council 

 of Trent, session 13, are pronounced the following 

 canons, which represent the creed of the church: 

 1. If any one denies that there is contained in the 

 most holy sacrament of the altar, truly, really, and 

 substantially, the body and the blood, together with 

 the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and, 

 consequently the entire Christ, if such a one say, 

 that he is contained therein only as in a symbol, 

 velfigura, vel virtute, anathema sit (let him be curs- 

 ed). 2. If any one says, that there remains in the most 

 holy sacrament of the altar, the substance of the 

 bread and wine, together with the life and the blood of 



