130. LANFKANC.— TRIUMPH OF TRANSUBSTANTIATION. 571
natus secundam claves Ecclesicc, quas ipse concessit Apostolis et eorum successoribus lesus Christus."
The Council of Trent, in the thirteenth session, 1551, reaffirmed the doctrine against the Protestants in these words: "that, by the consecra tion of the bread and of the wine, a conversion is made of the whole substance of the bread into the substance of the body of Christ our Lord (conversionem fieri totius substantial panis in tubstantiam corporis Christi Domini], and of the whole substance of the wine into the substance of his blood; which conversion is by the holy Catholic Church suitably and properly called Transubstantiation" The same synod sanctioned the adoration of the sacrament (i. e. Christ on the altar under the figure of the elements), and anathematizes those who deny this doctrine and practice. See SchafF, Creeds of Christendom, II. 130-139.
3. Thomas Aquinas, the prince of scholastic divines, has given the clearest poetic expression to the dogma of transtibstantiation in the fol lowing stanzas of his famous hymn, " Lauda Sion Salvatorem," for the Corpus Christi Festival :
"Dogma datur Christianis, Quod in carnem transit panis,
Et vinum in sanguinem. Quod non wpis, quod non vides, Animosa firmat fides
Procter rerum ordinem.
"Sub diversis speciebus, Signis tantum et non rebus,
Latent res eximice. Caro cibus, sanguis potus, Manet tamen Christus totus, Sub utraque specie.
"A sumente non concisus, Non confractus, non divisus,
Integer accipitur. Sumit unus, sumunt mille, Quantum isti, tantum ille, Nee sumitus consumitur.
" Sumunt boni, sumunt mali, Sorte tamen incequali Vita? vel inter itus. Mors est malis, vita bonis: Vide, paris sumptionis Quam sit dispar exitus.'*
" Hear what holy Church maintameth, That the bread its substance changeth
Into Flesh, the wine to Blood. Doth it pass thy comprehending? Faith, the law of sight transcending,
Leaps to things not understood.
Here, in outward signs, 'are hidden Priceless things, to sense forbidden ;
Signs, not things, are all we see : Flesh from bread, and Blood from wine : Yet is Christ, in either sign,
All entire, confess'd to be.
They, too, who of Him partake, Sever not, nor rend, nor break,
But entire, their Lord receive. Whether one or thousands eat, All receive the self-same meat,
Nor the less for others leave.
Both the wicked and the good Eat of this celestial Food ;
But with ends how opposite! Here 'tis life, and there 'tis death ; The same yet issuing to each
In a difference infinite."
572 FOUKTH PEEIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
See the Thes. Hymnol of Daniel, II. 97-100, who calls St. Thomas "summits laudator venerabilis sacramenti" and quotes the interesting, but opposite judgments of Mohler and Luther. The translation is by Edward Caswall (Hymns and Poems, 2nd ed., 1873, and previously in Lyra Catholica, Lond., 1849, p. 238). The translation of the last two stanzas is not as felicitous as that of the other two. The following ver sion preserves the double rhyme of the original :
" Eaten, but without incision, '* Here alike the good and evil, Broken, but without division, High and low in social level,
Each the whole of Christ receives : Take the Feast for woe or weal : Thousands take what each is taking, Wonder ! from the self-same eating, Each one breaks what all are breaking, Good and bad their bliss are meeting
None a lessened body leaves. Or their doom herein they seal."
4. The doctrine of transubstantiation has always been regarded by Protestants as one of the fundamental errors and grossest superstitions of Romanism. But we must not forget the underlying truth which gives tenacity to error. A doctrine cannot be wholly false, which has been believed for centuries not only by the Greek and Latin churches alike, but as regards the chief point, namely, the real presence of the very body and blood of Christ — also by the Lutheran and a considerable por tion of the Anglican communions, and which still nourishes the piety of innumerable guests at the Lord's table. The mysterious discourse of our Saviour in the synagogue of Capernaum after the miraculous feeding of the multitude, expresses the great truth which is materialized and carnal ized in transubstantiation. Christ is in the deepest spiritual sense the bread of life from heaven which gives nourishment to believers, and in the holy communion we receive the actual benefit of his broken body and shed blood, which are truly present in their power; for his sacrifice, though offered but once, is of perpetual force to all who accept it in faith. The literal miracle of the feeding of the five thousand is spiritually car ried on in the vital union of Christ and the believer, and culminates in the sacramental feast. Our Lord thus explains the symbolic significance of that miracle in the strongest language ; but he expressly excludes the carnal, Capernaitic conception, and furnishes the key for the true under standing, in the sentence: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life" (John 6: 63).