gtsecc
17th November 2006, 02:52 PM
CHAPTER IV.
Q. Is the Holy Eucharist a sacrament?
A. Yes; all parties admit this, even those who look upon it as merely bread and wine.
Q. What is the sensible sign in this sacrament?
A. The appearances of bread and wine which remain after consecration, and under which our blessed Saviour is received into our souls.
Q. What is the inward grace contained in this sacrament?
A. The body and blood of Jesus Christ, the source and author of all grace.
Q. Where do you find Jesus Christ mentioned as the author of this sacrament?
[pg. 191]
A. In the Gospel account of its institution—Luke xxii, 19, &c., where Jesus Christ, "taking bread, gave thanks, and brake, and gave it to them, saying: THIS IS MY BODY; do this for a commemoration of me. In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: this is the chalice of the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you."
Q. What does the Catholic Church believe as to this sacrament?
A. That after the words of consecration are pronounced over the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is truly really, and substantially contained under the outward appearances of the bread and wine,—the whole substance of the bread being changed into his body, and the whole substance of the wine into his blood; we understand also, not his body and blood as they were in this world, but as they are now glorious and immortal in heaven.
Q. What do you mean by a glorious and immortal body?
A. I mean that kind of body of which St. Paul speaks,—l Cor. xv, 44: "It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body; if there be a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."
[pg. 192]
Q. Do the Greeks hold the same doctrine as the Catholics on this subject?
A. Yes; in their attestation, signed by seven Eastern Archbishops, (Perpet. de la Foi., tom. iii, p. 412, &c.,) we read: "1st, That the living body of Jesus Christ, who was crucified, who ascended into heaven, and who sits at the right hand of the Father, Is TRULY PRESENT in the Eucharist, but in an invisible manner; 2dly, that the bread and wine, after the invocation of the priest and the consecration, are substantially changed into the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that the accidents which remain are not bread and wine in reality, although they appear to be bread and wine; 3dly, that the Eucharist is a sacrifice for the living and the dead, established by Jesus Christ, and which we have from the Apostles by tradition; 4thly, that the body of Jesus Christ is eaten whole and entire, in an impassible state, by those who receive it, whether they be worthy or unworthy,—such as are worthy receive it for their salvation, the unworthy to their condemnation; that it is also immolated without effusion of blood, and justly adored as God."
Q. Was not the celebrated Calvinist, Claude, staggered by this Eastern document?
A. So much so, that he wrote to verify the fact; and we have the celebrated letter in an-
[pg. 193]
swer to him, dated May 21, 1672, confirming every word of the above document, in the dearest and strongest language, as containing the faith of the Eastern Church on the subject of the Eucharist. See Perp. de la Foi, already quoted, tom. iii.
Q. What did Luther teach on this subject?
A. "In vain I wished," he says, "to have denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,....the words of the Scripture are so plain and strong in favor of the mystery, that, spite of all my wishes, although I strained every nerve to reject it, yet I could never bring my mind to adopt the bold expedient." (Ep. Car. Amic.) Again he says: "The denial of the real presence is a piece of downright blasphemy, an impeachment of the Divine veracity;" .... and he calls the deniers, "a set of deviled, be-deviled, per-deviled, and superdeviled wretches."
Q. What is the real doctrine of even the Church of England on this sacrament?
A. In the Book of Common Prayer, we find the following question, "What is the inward part or thing signified?" (of the Lord's Supper.) The answer is: "The body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken, and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper."
[pg. 194]
Q. What says Leibnitz? Systema Theol., page 226: Paris, 1819.
A. "But pious antiquity plainly enough declared, that the bread was changed into the body of Christ, the wine into his blood,....and this change the Latins have rightly called Transubstantiation....here the Scripture is to be explained by that tradition, which the Church, as its keeper, has transmitted to us."
Q. What says Grotius? Vot. pro pace.
A. "I find in all the Liturgies—Greek, Latm. Arabic, Syriac, and others—prayers addressed to God, that, by his Holy Spirit, he would consecrate the gifts offered up, and make them the body of his Son. I was therefore right in asserting, that a practice so ancient and universal must be considered as having come down from the first ages, and ought not to have been altered."
Q. What says Dr. Parker, Protestant Bishop of Oxford? (Reasons for Abrogating the Test, p. 13, anno 1688.)
A. "It is evident to all men that are but ordinarily conversant in ecclesiastical learning, that the ancient Fathers, from age to age, asserted the real and substantial presence in very high and expressive terms." Indeed, almost all the learned bishops of the English Protestant Church are of the same opinion on this
[pg. 195]
matter. And no one can doubt, that a large section of that Church at present are as much Catholic, as the Catholics themselves, on the subject of the Real Presence (See the Modern Puseyite writers.)
Q. What inference do you draw from this powerful testimony in favor of the real presence?
A. That this portion of Catholic doctrine has the support of every Church deserving the name; that its opponents are few, generally ignorant, and always factious and full of sectarian prejudice. Hence, from the number and learning of the vouchers for the Catholic faith here under discussion, it is manifest, that that faith must be strongly and clearly laid down in Scripture.
Q. Is the Holy Eucharist a sacrament?
A. Yes; all parties admit this, even those who look upon it as merely bread and wine.
Q. What is the sensible sign in this sacrament?
A. The appearances of bread and wine which remain after consecration, and under which our blessed Saviour is received into our souls.
Q. What is the inward grace contained in this sacrament?
A. The body and blood of Jesus Christ, the source and author of all grace.
Q. Where do you find Jesus Christ mentioned as the author of this sacrament?
[pg. 191]
A. In the Gospel account of its institution—Luke xxii, 19, &c., where Jesus Christ, "taking bread, gave thanks, and brake, and gave it to them, saying: THIS IS MY BODY; do this for a commemoration of me. In like manner, the chalice also, after he had supped, saying: this is the chalice of the new testament in my blood, which shall be shed for you."
Q. What does the Catholic Church believe as to this sacrament?
A. That after the words of consecration are pronounced over the bread and wine, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true man, is truly really, and substantially contained under the outward appearances of the bread and wine,—the whole substance of the bread being changed into his body, and the whole substance of the wine into his blood; we understand also, not his body and blood as they were in this world, but as they are now glorious and immortal in heaven.
Q. What do you mean by a glorious and immortal body?
A. I mean that kind of body of which St. Paul speaks,—l Cor. xv, 44: "It is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body; if there be a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."
[pg. 192]
Q. Do the Greeks hold the same doctrine as the Catholics on this subject?
A. Yes; in their attestation, signed by seven Eastern Archbishops, (Perpet. de la Foi., tom. iii, p. 412, &c.,) we read: "1st, That the living body of Jesus Christ, who was crucified, who ascended into heaven, and who sits at the right hand of the Father, Is TRULY PRESENT in the Eucharist, but in an invisible manner; 2dly, that the bread and wine, after the invocation of the priest and the consecration, are substantially changed into the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, and that the accidents which remain are not bread and wine in reality, although they appear to be bread and wine; 3dly, that the Eucharist is a sacrifice for the living and the dead, established by Jesus Christ, and which we have from the Apostles by tradition; 4thly, that the body of Jesus Christ is eaten whole and entire, in an impassible state, by those who receive it, whether they be worthy or unworthy,—such as are worthy receive it for their salvation, the unworthy to their condemnation; that it is also immolated without effusion of blood, and justly adored as God."
Q. Was not the celebrated Calvinist, Claude, staggered by this Eastern document?
A. So much so, that he wrote to verify the fact; and we have the celebrated letter in an-
[pg. 193]
swer to him, dated May 21, 1672, confirming every word of the above document, in the dearest and strongest language, as containing the faith of the Eastern Church on the subject of the Eucharist. See Perp. de la Foi, already quoted, tom. iii.
Q. What did Luther teach on this subject?
A. "In vain I wished," he says, "to have denied the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist,....the words of the Scripture are so plain and strong in favor of the mystery, that, spite of all my wishes, although I strained every nerve to reject it, yet I could never bring my mind to adopt the bold expedient." (Ep. Car. Amic.) Again he says: "The denial of the real presence is a piece of downright blasphemy, an impeachment of the Divine veracity;" .... and he calls the deniers, "a set of deviled, be-deviled, per-deviled, and superdeviled wretches."
Q. What is the real doctrine of even the Church of England on this sacrament?
A. In the Book of Common Prayer, we find the following question, "What is the inward part or thing signified?" (of the Lord's Supper.) The answer is: "The body and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken, and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper."
[pg. 194]
Q. What says Leibnitz? Systema Theol., page 226: Paris, 1819.
A. "But pious antiquity plainly enough declared, that the bread was changed into the body of Christ, the wine into his blood,....and this change the Latins have rightly called Transubstantiation....here the Scripture is to be explained by that tradition, which the Church, as its keeper, has transmitted to us."
Q. What says Grotius? Vot. pro pace.
A. "I find in all the Liturgies—Greek, Latm. Arabic, Syriac, and others—prayers addressed to God, that, by his Holy Spirit, he would consecrate the gifts offered up, and make them the body of his Son. I was therefore right in asserting, that a practice so ancient and universal must be considered as having come down from the first ages, and ought not to have been altered."
Q. What says Dr. Parker, Protestant Bishop of Oxford? (Reasons for Abrogating the Test, p. 13, anno 1688.)
A. "It is evident to all men that are but ordinarily conversant in ecclesiastical learning, that the ancient Fathers, from age to age, asserted the real and substantial presence in very high and expressive terms." Indeed, almost all the learned bishops of the English Protestant Church are of the same opinion on this
[pg. 195]
matter. And no one can doubt, that a large section of that Church at present are as much Catholic, as the Catholics themselves, on the subject of the Real Presence (See the Modern Puseyite writers.)
Q. What inference do you draw from this powerful testimony in favor of the real presence?
A. That this portion of Catholic doctrine has the support of every Church deserving the name; that its opponents are few, generally ignorant, and always factious and full of sectarian prejudice. Hence, from the number and learning of the vouchers for the Catholic faith here under discussion, it is manifest, that that faith must be strongly and clearly laid down in Scripture.