Apology says : " Idem effectus est verbi et ritus, sicut praeclare dictum est ab Augustino, sacramentum esse verbum visibile, quia ritus oculis accipitur, et est quasi pictura verbi, idem significans, quod verbum. Quare idem est utriusque effectus." 1
At other times, however, Luther, as appears from the passages above quoted, attributes to the Lord's Supper a peculiar effect due to the real, natural body of Christ therein received, which, in virtue of its union with his divine nature, is imbued with a su- pernatural, life-giving power. To this power he refers the glo- rious future resurrection of the believer. In this he made some approximation to the modern doctrine that the redemptive work of Christ consists in the infusion into our nature of a new force, or organic law which, by a process of natural, historical develop- ment, works out the salvation of soul and body. Julius Miiller rejoices that this view did not take root in the Lutheran Church, as it is, as he says, plainly contrary to Scripture. If the resur- rection of believers be due to the body of Christ as received in the Lord's Supper, what is to become of children, of confessors and martyrs, and of all the Old Testament saints, who never partook of the Lord's Supper.2
§ 19. Doctrine of the Church of Home on the LoroVs Supper.
Romanists regard the eucharist under two distinct aspects as a sacrament and as a sacrifice. The latter in their system is by far the more important. Mohler in his " Symbolik " almost entirely overlooks its sacramental character. And in the worship of the Romish Church the sacrifice of the mass is the central point. In the symbolical books, however, the two views are kept distinct. It is a sacrament inasmuch as it signifies, contains, and conveys grace. It includes an external sign and things signified. The external signs are bread and wine, which retain their form after consecration and after the change in their substance thereby affected. The things signified are, (1.) The passion of Christ. (2.) The grace of God given in the sacrament. (3.) Eternal Ufe.3 It has virtue to produce grace. " On voit," says Cardinal Gousset in the place referred to, " que le signe eucharistique est nn signe qui a la vertu de produire la grace ; mais il n'a cette vertu que par l'institution de Je*sus Christ."
The grace bestowed is not spiritual life, for that is communi-
1 vn. 5 ; Hase, Libri Symbolici, p. 201.
2 Dogmatische Abhandlungen, pp. 417, 418.
» Tkeologie Dogmatique. Par S. t. Le Cardinal Gousset, Archeveque de Reims. D« PEucharistie i. i. 695, 10th edit. Paris, 1866, vol. ii. p. 452.
678 PART III. Ch. XX. — THE MEANS OF GRACE.
cated in baptism, and is presupposed in those who receive the eucharist as a sacrament. On this point the language of the Ro- man Catechism and other Roman authorities is explicit, and in tone evangelical and Protestant. Thus the Catechism says, " Constat quemadmodum mortuis corporibus naturale alimentum nihil prodest, ita etiam animae, quae spiritu non vivit, sacra mys- teria non prodesse, ac propterea panis, et vini speciem habent, ut significetur, non quidem revocandae ad vitam animae, sed in vita conservandae causa instituta esse." * The benefits received are analogous to those which the body receives from its natural food. Bread and wine strengthen and refresh the body ; so the eucharist strengthens and refreshes the soul. And more than this, the food of the body is transmuted into the body; whereas the divine food received in this sacrament transmutes the soul into its own nature. " Neque enim hoc sacramentum in substantiam nostram, ut panis, et vinum, mutatur ; sed nos quodam modo in ejus na- turam convertimur : ut recte illud D. Augustini ad hunc locum transferri possit : 2 ' Cibus sum grandium ; cresce, et manducabis me. Nee tu me in te mutabis, sicut cibum carnis tuae ; sed tii mutaberis in me.' " 3
Lutherans make the forgiveness of sins, a blessing which the believer constantly needs, the great benefit of this ordinance. This is not its design in the view of Romanists, for they teach that for a man to approach the altar in a state of mortal sin, is a dreadful profanation. They enjoin, therefore, confession and ab- solution in the sacrament of penance, as a necessary preparation for this ordinance. Only venial sins are remitted by receiving the sacrament of the Lord's Supper. Nevertheless, as according to Romanists, Christ is really in both natures present in the eu- charist, they say " necessario fons omnium gratiarum dicenda est, cum fontem ipsum coelestium charismatum, et donorum, omnium- que sacramentorum auctorem Christum dominum admirabili modo in se contineat." 4 The virtue of the eucharist, both as a sacra- ment and as a sacrifice, rests, according to Romanists, in the doc- trine of
Tranmbstantiation.
Christ is present in this ordinance, not spiritually as taught by the Reformed, nor by the real presence of his body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine, but by the bread and wine
1 Calechismus Romanus, n. iv. quaest. 40 [60, li.] ; Streitwolf, Gottingen, 1846, vol. i. p. 344.
2 Confessionum, vii. x. 16; Works, edit. Benedictines, Paris, 1836, vol. i. p. 241, c. 8 Catechismus Romanus, ut supra, qusest. 39 ; p. 343. * Ibid. p. 342.