Of transubstantiation.

We may now easily see what we are to think of the doctrine of transubstantiation. It is a wicked device of the Papists, which we shall briefly prove by a variety of arguments. Before doing this, however, it is proper that we should first state, in a few words, what the Papists understand by transubstantiation.

They suppose that by the act, or force of consecration, by which they mean the repeating, over the elements of bread and wine, the words, This is my body; This cup is the New Testament in my blood; the bread and wine are converted, or changed as to their substance, into the body and blood of Christ, so that all that remains of the bread and wine is the form, or accidents, viz.: the appearance, the smell, the taste, the weight, &c. They therefore, consider the words, which are used in the consecration of the “elements, productive, and creative. They hold that the change is effected, or made complete, in the very instant in which the priest pronounces the last syllable, DY; This is my bo-DY, after which the elements do not remain any longer bread and wine; but become the body and blood of Christ, which are now substantially present, and contained under the form of bread and wine, so that all who partake of them, eat his body, and drink his blood with the mouth.

As to the manner in which this change is effected, they do not agree among themselves. There are some who maintain that the substance of bread and wine is changed by transubstantiation, into the substance of the body and blood of Christ, so that the bread and wine become, as to their essence, the body and blood of Christ, retaining merely their external forms, which change is called a substantial change, or a change of the substance. There are others again who hold that the substance of bread and wine is not changed; but that it is annihilated, and that the substance of the body and blood of Christ takes its place, so that, after the consecration, the substance of Christ’s body and blood assumes the form, and accidents of the substance of the bread and wine, which change is called a formal change, or a change of the form. Lombard gives an exposition of both views, (lib. 4, dist. II.) and seems to approve of the former. The Papists call both changes transubstantiation. They affirm also that the pronoun this, denotes some vague or indefinite substance, contained under these accidents, in general, without having any reference to quantity, or quality, so that it refers neither to the bread, nor to the body of Christ; but to what was contained under the form, which, before consecration, was bread, but which, by the force of the words, became the body of Christ; so that the words, This is my body, mean according to their view, That which is contained under this, or under these forms, is my body.

They also differ widely among themselves in regard to the accidents, as to where they are grounded, or situated, whether in the body of Christ, or in the air, or in the original matter of the bread and wine, or whether they are the properties of any subject. The common opinion is, that they exist without any subject. This is the view of the Schoolmen, and of all the Papists, and consists of two principal parts; the one having reference to transubstantiation, and the other to the eating of Christ’s body with the mouth. But both of these things are inconsistent with the words of Christ, and are a wicked device. As it respects the eating of Christ’s body with the mouth, under the form of bread, it is overthrown by the same arguments by which we have established the spiritual eating of Christ’s body. And as it respects transubstantiation, we thus refute it:

1. That which is Christ’s body in the supper, remains, and is neither changed, nor annihilated, otherwise the body of Christ would not remain, or be present in the eucharist. But the bread in the supper is the body of Christ, sacramentally, as we have already shown: Therefore the bread in the supper remains, and is neither changed, nor annihilated. The minor proposition has already been proven, and may be established more fully,

1. By the words of Luke and Paul: This cup is the New Testament, &c. The bread is the communion of the body of Christ.

2. By this argument, drawn from these words: That which Christ broke, he called his body. But he broke the bread, and not some indefinite substance, or merely the accidents of the bread. Therefore, the bread is the body of Christ.

3. It is also proven thus: The pronoun this, refers either to the bread, or to the mere accidents of the bread, or to the body of Christ, or to some indefinite substance. But it cannot refer to some indefinite substance, for it was bread that Christ gave, and brake, and not something general, under the form of bread. Nor can it refer to the body of Christ, visible or invisible: for his visible body sat, and talked with the disciples; and an invisible body, Christ never had. The Papists themselves, confess that the body of Christ is not present, under the form of bread, when the priest commences to repeat the word This, but only after the change is effected, which, as we have already remarked, takes place when the last syllable of the words used in the consecration of the elements is pronounced. Nor can it refer to the mere accidents of the bread; for it was not the mere accidents that Christ broke. Therefore the particle this, cannot refer to anything else but the bread, so that the words of Christ, This is my body, must mean, This bread is my body.

2. Christ broke bread. But he did not break his body. Therefore the bread is not, in reality, his body.

3. The body of Christ was delivered for us unto death. But the bread was not thus given for us. Therefore, the bread is not, in reality, the body of Christ.

4. Christ does not say, as the advocates of the doctrine of transubstantiation do, My body is under these forms; or, My body is contained under these forms. Therefore they do not retain, but pervert the words of Christ.

5. Christ did not say, Let this be made; but, This is my body. Therefore, the words of Christ do not change the bread into the substance of his body, but merely teach, that the bread in this use is the body of Christ in a sacramental sense.

6. Paul expressly calls that which is given and received, bread, both before and after it is eaten. Therefore, the bread is neither annihilated, nor changed into the substance of the body of Christ, but remains bread.

7. In every sacrament there are two things; the signs and the things signified, or, as Irenaeus says, the earthly and the heavenly things, without which there can be no sacrament. But transubstantiation takes away from the eucharist the sign, or that which is earthly, which is bread and wine. Therefore, it destroys the nature, or true idea of a sacrament.

8. The mere shadow, or form of bread and wine, cannot confirm faith in heavenly things, but practices a deception, inasmuch as it is not what it appears to be. But the signs in the eucharist ought to confirm our faith in heavenly things, viz.: that we are as certainly fed with the body and blood of our Lord, as we are certain that we receive the bread and the wine: for the sacraments were instituted to confirm our faith by the use of visible signs. Therefore, transubstantiation which changes the signs into a mere shadow, cannot be true.

9. Transubstantiation destroys the analogy which there is between the sign, and the thing signified, of which Augustin speaks when he says, “That the body of Christ so nourishes the soul, as the bread nourishes the body; and as one bread is baked out of many grains, so we who partake of this one bread, being many, are made one bread, and one body” (Epis. 23, ad Bonif.) But the mere accidents of bread and wine cannot represent or sustain this analogy, because they cannot of themselves nourish; nor can we say, as the accidents of bread and wine nourish the body and sustain natural life, so the body of Christ nourishes the soul unto eternal life: for in this case the analogy would be between that which is real, and that which is a mere shadow. Therefore, the analogy which holds between the sign, and the thing signified, is evidently inconsistent with the doctrine of transubstantiation, and so refutes it.