IIL Aryuments. — The doctrine of transubstantiation is defended by a literal interpretation of the words spoken by our Lord at the last supper, " This is my body," " This is my blood." From these words it is ar- gued that there is the real bodily presence of Christ's body, which is accounted for by the miracle of a change of substance of the bread and wine. In answer, it is urged,
1, The accounts which the Romanists give of this supposed miracle are at variance with their own state- ment of it. In such a case, for instance, as that of the miracle of jMoses' rod, every one would say " the i-od was changed into a serpent" (all the attributes of this last being present), not vice versa; so that by Roman- ists' own account it is Christ's body and blood that are chdnr/ed into bread and icine.
Wherever a miracle was wrought in the Old or New Test., as in the instance above alluded to, or in the turn- ing of the water into wine at Cana, such change was obvious to the senses: the appeal, in fact, for the real- ity of the miracle is to the senses; while, therefore, we might admit that if a Romish priest were to assert that he had converted our Saviour's body into bread and wine, he was safe as far as the senses go, we should hold, per contra, that if he professed to have turned bread and wine into the bodv and blood of Christ, that bodv §nd blood ought to be clear to the senses. We had
bread and wine before the consecration ; we have, as to sense, bread and wine after. In the whole history of miracles, nothing of this sort has ever been known ; nor can we, under such circumstances, admit that the al- leged change has taken place. Suppose Aaron's rod to have remained still wirb all the attributes of a rod, could Pharaoh and his court believe it to be now a ser- pent?
2. The late origin of the doctrine of transuljstantia- tion has been alleged as one reason for its rejection, and it is certainly a point worthy of considerable notice. If, however, it had been as early as the superstitious veneration fur relics and images, it would have been but an ancient error.
3. It must be evident to every one who is not blinded by ignorance and prejudice that our Lord's words, " This is my body," are mere figurative expressions; and that they were no more likely to be designed to be received literally than the declarations made In' our Lord that he was a " vine," a " lamb," a " door," a " way," a " light."
4. Besides, such a transubstantiation is so opposite to the testimony of our senses as completely to undermine the whole proof of all the miracles bj' which God has confirmed revelation. According to such a transubstan- tiation, the same bod\' is alive and dead at once, and may be in a million of different places whole and entire at the same instant of time ; accidents remain without a substance, and substance without accidents; and a part i)i Christ's body is equal to the whole. It is also contrary to the end of the sacrament, which is to repre- sent and commemorate Christ, not to believe that he is corporeally present (1 Cor. ix, 24, 25).
5. The practical evil of this and of consubstantiation (q. V.) is tiiat it leads to the paying divine adoration to a bit of bread, and the still more noxious superstition of thinking that Christ's body can be received and act like a medicine on one who is "not considering the Lord's body," as, e. g., an infant, or a man in a state of insensibility.
See Blunt, Diet, of Hist. Theol. s. v.; Gardner, Faiths of the World, s. v. ; Bingham, Christ. A ntiq. (see Index) ; Brown, Compendium, p. 6\o; Cosen, On Transubstantia- tion (1858); Hagenbach, Hist, of Doctrines (see Index); Hill, English Monasticism (Loud. 18G7) ; Kidder, Mes- siah, iii, 80; Knott, On the Supper of our Lord (I858),' Smith, Errors of the Church of Rome, dial. G; Thirl- wall, Transubstantiation: What Is IC? (1809); Van Oosterzee, Christ. Dor/mat. (see Index) ; Watson, Bibli- cal Diet. s. v.
Trap ("dpl^, mokesh. Josh, xxiii, 13, a snare, as elsewhere rendered; riSP^, nud/codeth. Job xviii, 10, a noose; Vi'^H'CO, mashchith, .Ter. v, 26, a destroyer, as elsewhere; and so ^Ijpa. Rom. xi, 9, lit. the chase). See Hunting.
Trapp, John, a Puritan divine, was born in 1601, and educated at Christ Church, Oxford. He was school- master at Stratford-on-Avon and vicar of Weston-on- Avon from 1624 until his death, in 1669. He wrote, God's Love-Tokens (Lond. 1637, 4to): — Theolo(jia. Theo- lorjicB (1641, 8vo) : — Commentaries on the Scriptures, viz.: St. John the Evangelist (1646, 4to) ; A II the Epistles and the Revelation of St. John (1647, 4to; 2d ed. 1649, 4to) ; All the Neio Testament (1647, 2 vols. 4to; new ed. 1663, imp. 8vo); Pentateuch (1650, 4to; 2d ed. 1654, 4to); Joshua to 2d Chronicles ; Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Sont/s of Solomon (1650, 4to); The Twelve Minor Prophets (1654, fol.); Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, and the Psalms (1656, fol.; 2d ed. 1657, fol.); Proverbs to Daniel (1656, fol.) — all published together in 1662 (5 vols. fol.). See Allibone, Diet, of Bi-it. and A mer. A u- thors, s. V.