• By the consecration of the bread and of the wine a conver- sion ia made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord, and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of His blood ' (llec. Cone. Trident., Sesa. xiii. cap. 4). ' Forasmucii as, in this Divine sacrifice, which ia celebrated in the Mass, that same Christ ia contained and immolated in an unbloody manner who once otTered Himself in a bloody manner on the altar of the Cross, the boly Synod teaches that this sacrifice is truly pro- pitiatory, and that by means thereof this ia effected — that we obtain mercy and find grace if we draw nigh contrite and penitent,' etc. (Twenty-second sesa. cap. 2). 'Wherefore, not only for the sins, etc., of the faithful who are living, but also for those who are departed in Christ, and not yet fully purified, it is ri^rlitly olTered ' (I't.). At the same time, it is held that propitiation is not the only, or even the principal, fruit (cauoo 6 of thirteenth aess.).
It would be out of place to develop the general objections to this view, which involves the grave religious defect of suggesting tli.at s.ilvation rests on an incomplete and therefore iiiseiure founda- tion. The relevant objections are that the tenet of transubstantiation, which is the presupposition of the theory, has no scriptural warrant, while the interpretation of the Eucharist as a per]ietual propitiatory ofl'ering is inconsistent with the NT teaching tli.at the sacrifice of Clirist was e.'jpiatory, and was ollered once for all (Ro 6'", He 7" 9"- *«•■* 10">- "• ", 1 P 3"*).
According to a modified view, the Eucharist ia a perpetuation of Christ's sacrifice, but not of the propitiatory sacrifice which lie ollered on Calvary. Attention is here transferred to the sacrifice which Christ presented, and continues to present, in the heavenly sanctuary (He 8'-'), and it is maintained that in the Eucharist the Church presents an offering which is organically connected with the ceaseless offering of her Head.
'The offering of our Heavenly High Priest,' to quote an Im- portant atatcuient of this view, 'includes in it a present and eternal offering of His life in heaven.' Rut the duty of the Ohurcll fa to repeat and represent the life of her Head in another and higher world ; and in the Eucharist she 'appropri- ates and reproduces the priestly offering of Him in whom she livea. Aa our Lord's oficring of Himself never enfls or can end, so In that offering Hia people, organirally united to Hhii, one with Him. must be ollered, anrl must offer themselvea ; and this they do in the expressive and touching symbols of the Eucharist' (Milligau, Ucaixnly PrieMood, p. 'iOO).
On this view, then, the Eucharist is a sacrifice which not only represents, but also, a.s a coii.se- quence or Chnst's union with the Church, forms a part of the offering made by Christ to God It IS commended on the ground that it satisfies the legitimate demand for a perpetual oblation which IS unscripturally ministered to in the sacri-
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SACRIFICE
fice of the Mass. But tlie scriptural evidence IS in conflict with its cardinal positions. Tlie ofloring of Christ, wliich is the ground of our salvation, was, according to passages already quoted, one which does nut need to be repealed, and we are therefore forced to seek it witliin the compass of Christ's earthly life — either in His death or in His obedience unto death. It is said, indeed, that that which is undiangeable and ever- lasting is not repeated, but it is hardly disputable that «liat was present to the mind of the writer to the Hebrews was the contrast of the ever-renewed to the completed, not to the never-ending ottering. Nor was it declared in the words of institution that the special purjiose of the Eucharist was to furnish the Church with an ordinance which should be a counterpart, and even a part, of the activi- ties of Christ s heavenly priesthood. Rather is it brought into close relation with the obedience unto death which preceded His entrance into glory.
On the whole, it may be concluded tliat, while the Eucharist, more than other means of grace, has the form of a sacrifice, it is at bottom, like them, only the occasion of sacrifice, i.e. of the presenta- tion to God of spiritual offerings. Wliether the outward act be prayer, or praise, or the Eucliarist, the offerings therein rendered to God are the faith, the penitence, and the self-surrender to wliich it gives expression, and which are sustained by the rite.
The Typology of Sacrifice, which has been inci- dentally touched on, requires more direct con- sideration at the close of this study, in which we have seen the sacrificial worship of the earlier dispensation disappear in the sacrifices of the New Covenant. From the typological point of view, the Levitical sacrifices come under the category of prediction. They difl'ered from the predictions proper in form, — Ijeing enshrined not in word but in institution and rite, — but they served the same end of testifying beforehand to the person, the life, and the work of Christ, and to the contents and conditions of His salvation. In the older works the study of sacrifice as prediction and ful- filment was assiduously prosecuted as at once alVording the deepest gratification to the believer, and furnishing a weapon of distinct apologetic value. In labouring at this task. Christian piety gave free play to fancy, and every feature of the OT ritual became eloquent of the unspeakable riches of Christ. Dogmatic prepossessions also supervened to dominate the discussion ; and, while the Romanist discovered in the Levitical system a foreshadowing and corroboration of the distinc- tive sacerdotal and sacramentarian tenets of his communion, the Protestant found in it an equally good witness for every fundamental article of the evangelical system of doctrine (Fairbairn, Typology of Scripture).