ficantur, nempe corpus et sanguinem Jesu Christi, non minus esse cibum ac potum animae, quam panis et vinum sunt corporis cibus."
In the Scotch Confession of 1560, it is said, " We confess that believers in the right use of the Lord's Supper thus eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus Christ, and we firmly believe that He dwells in them, and they in Him, nay, that they thus become flesh of his flesh and bone of his bones. For as the eternal Deity gives life and immortality to the flesh of Christ, so also his flesh and blood, when eaten and drunk by us, confer on us the same prerogatives." 1
In the Belgic Confession adopted in 1563, it is said, u Ut iis no- bis [Christus] testificatur, quam vere accipimus et tenemus mani- bus nostris hoc sacramentum, illudque ore comedimus (unde et postmodum vita haec nostra sustentatur), tarn vere etiam nos fide (quae animae nostrae est instar et manus et oris) recipere verum corpus et verum sanguinem Christi, in animis nostris, ad vitam
spiritualem in nobis fovendam Dicimus itaque id quod
comeditur esse ipsissimum Christi corpus naturale, et id quod bibitur verum ipsius sanguinem : at instrumentum seu medium quo haec comedimus et bibimus non est os corporeum, sed spiritus ipse noster, idque per fidem." 2
Confessions in which Zwinglians and Calvinists agree.
The most important of these, as already mentioned, is the " Consensus Tigurinus," because drawn up for the express pur- pose of settling the disputes between the two parties, and because it was adopted by both. It was written by Calvin and published under the title " Consensio mutua in re Sacramentaria Ministro- rum Tigurinae Ecclesiae, et D. Joannis Calvini Ministri Geneven- sis Ecclesiae, jam nuncab ipsis authoribus edita." This " Consen- sus " was vehemently attacked by the Lutherans ; and Calvin, four years after its publication, felt called upon to publish an ex- planation and defence of it. In his letter prefixed to that defence and addressed to the ministers of Zurich and other Swiss churches, he says: The Lutherans now see that those whom they de- nounced as Sacramentarians agree, and then adds : " Nee vero si superstites hodie essent optimi et eximii Christi servi Zwinglius et Oecolampadius, verbulum in ea sententia mutarent."3 No document, therefore, can have a higher claim to represent the true
1 Art. xxi. ; Niemeyer, p. 352. 2 Art. xxxv. ; Ibid. pp. 385, 386.
8 See his Letter to the Swiss Churches prefixed to hia Consensionis Capitum Expositio ; Niemeyer, ut supra, p. 201
682 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
doctrine of the Reformed Church than this " Consensus." This document has already been quoted on a previous page to prove that its authors, (1.) Did not regard the sacraments as mere signs, or as simply badges of a Christian profession. (2.) But as means of grace, appointed, not only to signify and seal, but also to con- vey the benefits of redemption. (3.) That their saving and sancti- fying efficacy is not due to any virtue in them or in him that doth administer them, but solely to the blessing of God and the work- ing of his Spirit. (4.) That the sacraments are not means of grace to all indiscriminately, or to all who are their passive recipients, but only to believers or the chosen people of God. (5.) That their efficacy is not tied to the time of their administration. (6.) That the grace or saving gifts which the sacraments, when God so wills, are made the channels of communicating, may be, and in fact are, received before and without their use.
The last seven articles of the " Consensus" concern the Lord's Supper. In the twenty-first the local presence of Christ in that sacrament is denied. " Praesertim vero tollenda est quaelibet lo- calis praesentiae imaginatio. Nam quum signa hie in mimdo sint, oculis cernuntur, palpentur manibus: Christus quatenus homo est, non alibi quam in coelo, nee aliter quam mente et fidei intel- ligentia quaerendus est. Quare perversa et impia superstitio est^ ipsum sub elementis hujus mundi includere."
The twenty-second article teaches that the words, " This is my body," in the form of institution, are to be understood figura- tively. " Proinde, qui in solennibus Coenae verbis, Hoc est corpus meum, Hie est sanguis meus : praecise literalem, ut loquuntur, sen- sum urgent, eos tanquam praeposteros interpretes repudiamus. Nam extra controversiam ponimus, figurate accipienda esse, ut esse panis et vinum dicantur id quod significant. Neque vero novum hoc aut insolens videri debet, ut per metonymiam ad signum transferatur rei figuratae nomen, quum passim in Scripturis e jus- modi locutiones occurrant : et nos sic loquendo nihil asserimus, quod non apud vetustissimos quosque et probatissimos Ecclesiae scriptores extet."
Article twenty-third relates to spiritual manducation. " Quod autem carnis suas esu et sanguinis potione, quae hie figurantur, Christus animas nostras per fidem Spiritus sancti virtute pascit, id non perinde accipiendum, quasi fiat aliqua substantias vel commix- tio vel transfusio : sed quoniam ex carne semel in sacrificium oblata et sanguine in expiatione effuso vitam hauriamus."
Article twenty-fourth is directed against transubstantiation and