Project Canterbury
A Harmony of Anglican Doctrine
with the doctrine of the catholic and apostolic church of the East:
being the longer Russian catechism:
with an appendix consisting of notes and extracts from Scottish and Anglican
authorities.
Appendix: Consisting of Notes to the Foregoing Catechism, with Extracts from Public Documents of the Scottish and Anglican Churches, and from the Writings of Some of their Most Celebrated Divines;
Designed to shew that there is in the Anglican Communion Generally, and more Particularly and Pre-eminently in the Scottish Church, an Element of Orthodoxy, Capable, by a Synodical Act, of Declaring Unity and Identity with the Eastern Catholic Church.
by William Palmer [M]
Aberdeen: A Brown, 1846.
NOTE XXVI.
A. The Communion is a Sacrament in which the believer, under the forms of bread and wine, partakes of the very Body and Blood of Christ, to everlasting life.Orthodox Catechism, p. 61.
I. In the first English Liturgy we have the following rubric:
"Men must not think less to be received in part" (of the consecrated Bread) "than in the whole, but in each of them the whole Body of our Saviour Jesus Christ."
II. From the Catechism of the Church of England:"Q. What is the outward part, or sign in the Lords Supper? A. Bread and Wine, which the Lord hath commanded to be received. Q. What is the inward part, or thing signified? A. The Body and Blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken, and received by the faithful in the Lords Supper. Q. What are the benefits, whereof we are partakers thereby? A. The strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the Body and Blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and wine."
III. Bishop Nicholas Ridley:
"Both you and I agree in this, that in the Sacrament is the very true and natural Body and Blood of Christ, even that which was born of the Virgin Mary, &c."Foxe, Acts and Monuments, p. 1698. whence the same is quoted by Archbishop Laud in his Conference with Fisher. Û 35.
IV. Bishop Andrewes, quoting from Durandus with approbation, says:"Verbum audimus, motum sentimus, modum nescimus, praesentiam credimus."Resp. ad Apol. Card. Bell. c. i. p. 11.
V. Hooker writes as follows:
"These Holy Mysteries, received in due manner, do instrumentally both make us partakers of the grace of that Body and Blood, which were given for the life of the world, and besides also impart in true and real though mystical manner, the very Person of our Lord Himself, whole, perfect, and entire, as hath been shewed."Eccles. Polit. v. c. 67.
VI. Bishop Overall, who drew up that part of the English Catechism which relates to the Sacraments, has left the following:
"Before consecration we call them Gods creatures of bread and wine; now we do so no more, after consecration.... And herein we follow the Fathers, who after consecration would not suffer it to be called bread and wine any longer, but the Body and Blood of Christ."
And again: "It is confessed by all Divines, that upon the words of the Consecration, the Body and Blood of Christ is really and substantially present, and so exhibited and given to all that receive it; and all this not after a physical and sensual, but after a heavenly and incomprehensible manner. But there yet remains this controversy among some, whether the Body of Christ be present only in the use of the Sacrament, and in the act of eating, and not otherwise? They that hold the affirmative, as the Lutherans (in Confess. Sax.) and all the Calvinists, do seem to me to depart from all Antiquity, which place the presence of Christ in the virtue of the benediction used by the Priest, and not in the use of eating the Sacrament. And this did most Protestants grant and profess at first, though now the Calvinists make Popish magic of it in their licentious blasphemy."From the "Additional Notes to Nicholls Comment. on the Common Prayer."
VII. Dr. Sutton has these words:
"The Son of God, respecting our weakness, hath conveyed unto us His Body and Blood, after a divine and spiritual manner, under the forms of Bread and Wine." And so the Advertisement at the end of The First Book of Homilies "under the forms of Bread and Wine."
VIII. Baily, in his Practise of Piety:
"How can those bodies, which have been nourished with the Body and Blood of the Lord of life, but be raised up again at the last day?"
IX. And Bishop Montague:
"Our formal words are, This is My Body: This is My Blood:' This is more than, This figureth or designeth: A bare sign is but a phantasm. He gave substance, and really subsisting essence, Who said, This is My Body: This is My Blood. And our Catechism saith expressly, The Body and Blood of Christ are taken and eaten,' not the figure and sign of His Body and Blood,' which can neither be taken nor eaten."Answer to Gagger, &c. Û 36.
X. Bishop Cosin writes as follows:
"Our faith does not cause or make that presence, but apprehends it as most truly and really effected by the Word of Christ.... In this mystical eating, by the wonderful power of the Holy Ghost, we do invisibly receive the substance of Christ's Body and Blood, as much as if we should eat and drink both visibly."Hist, of Trans. ch. iii. Û 6.
XI. Bishop Taylor says, that we admit and use the word 'real' of the Eucharistic presence: that "when the real presence is denied, the word 'real' is taken for 'natural,' and does not signify transcendenter, or in its just and most proper signification. But the word substantialiter is also used by us in this question, which may be the same with that which is in the Article of Trent, Sacramentaliter praesens Salvator substantia sua adest?" Which words, he says, "if they might be understood in the sense in which we use them, that is, 'really,' 'truly,' without fiction or the help of fancy, but in rei veritate, so as Philo calls spiritual things, anagkaiotatai ousiai, most necessary, useful, and material substances,' might become an instrument of united confession." And again: "That which seems of hardest explication is the word corporaliter,... but the expression may become warrantable, and consonant to our doctrine."Of the Real Presence, &c. Sec. i. 8.
And again, in the same place as above:"When the holy man stands at the Table of Blessing, and ministers the rite of Consecration, then do as the Angels do, who behold, and love, and wonder that the Son of God should become food to the souls of His servants; that He, who cannot suffer any change of lessening, should be broken into pieces and enter into the body to support and nourish the spirit, and yet remain in heaven, while He descends to thee upon earth, &c."
"When any of our Divines or any of the Fathers deny that Body which was born of the Virgin, and was crucified, to be eaten in the Sacrament, as Ratramn, as St. Jerome, as Clement of Alexandria expressly affirm, the meaning is easy: they intend, that it is not eaten in a natural sense."Worthy Communicant, vii.
XII. Bishop Beveridge, in his Treatise on the XXXIX Articles:
"The Fathers are very frequent in repeating this truth. I shall instance but a few. St. Cyril of Jerusalem: With all certainty let us partake of it as of the Body and Blood of Christ; for under the type of bread His Body is given to thee, and under the type of wine His Blood is given unto thee; that partaking of the body and blood of Christ, thou mayest be of one body and blood with Him. So that we so partake of the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament, as that we are thereby made one body and blood with Himself. Therefore saith St. Hilary, Of the truth of the Flesh and Blood there is no place left to doubt; for now by the profession of the Lord Himself it is truly flesh, and^ truly blood; and these being received and taken down, cause that we should be in Christ, and Christ in us."On Art. xxxviii.
XIII. Thorndike writes as follows:
"If it be manifest that by the Sacrament of the Eucharist God pretends to tender us the communion of the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, then is there another presence of the Body and Blood of our Lord in the Sacrament, beside that spiritual presence in the soul, which living faith effecteth without the Sacrament, as well as in the receiving of it."Just Weights and Measures, p. 10.
XIV. The Scottish Bishop Forbes writes thus:
"The doctrine of those seems most safe and true, who most firmly believe that the Body and Blood of Christ is truly, really, and substantially present in the Eucharist, and received, but in a manner incomprehensible in respect of human reason, and ineffable, known to God alone, and not revealed to us in the Scriptures, not corporal, yet neither in the mind alone, or through faith alone, but in another way, known to God alone, and to be left to His omnipotence."Cons. Modest, de Euch. I. i. 7.
XV. Proposals of the British Bishops to the Easterns:
"We believe a perfect Mystery in the holy Eucharist, through the invocation of the Holy Ghost upon the elements, whereby the faithful do verily and indeed receive the Body and Blood of Christ."Prop. iv.
XVI. The Scottish Catechism of Aberdeen teaches;
"That the oblation of bread and wine is solemnly offered by the Priest to God as the great Christian Sacrifice: that God accepts this Sacrifice and returns it to us again to feast upon: for that upon the Priest's praying to God the Father to send the Holy Spirit upon them, the Bread and Cup are made by the Holy Spirit to be the Spiritual, Life-giving Body and Blood of Christ: that they are not destroyed, but sanctified: that they are changed into the Sacramental Body of Christ: that they are at once bread and wine and the Body and Blood of Christ, but not in the same manner; bread and wine by nature, the Body and Blood of Christ in Mystery; bread and wine to our senses, the Body and Blood of Christ to our understanding and faith."P. 39, 40. 33. 41.
XVII. The Scottish Catechism of Bishop Jolly has the following:
"Q. Does not our spiritual life, once given, (in Baptism) require proper nourishment to support it? A. Yes; it must be frequently nourished and supported by proper supplies of grace and strength, as our natural life is supported by our daily food. Q. What has God provided for the support of our spiritual life? A. He has provided for His Church, or people, in every age, a spiritual meat and a spiritual drink, suited to their particular situation. The people of God in the wilderness, on their way to the promised land, were refreshed by bread from heaven, and water out of the mystical rock, which rock was Christ. And their condition at that time was a figure of the Christian Church on its way to the heavenly Canaan. For now also, while the Church sojourns in the wilderness of this world, the same Christ is still the food and nourishment of it, communicated by the Bread of Life and the Cup of Salvation, which He has appointed for this purpose."P. 59, 60. and 62, 64, 05. See also the Scottish Catechism for the Diocese of Brechin, p. 48.
XVIII. On the subject of the Liturgy generally, the Scottish Bishop Rattray of Dunkeld writes as follows:
"When we are initiated into the Christian Covenant, regenerated both by water and the Holy Ghost, and made living members of Christ's mystical body the Church, we have then access to the Father by Him, and freedom to draw near unto God, and join with the Church in offering to Him the Sacrifice of the holy Eucharist, the proper worship of the faithful, and communicating in the Divine Mysteries of His holy altar; which is as necessary for continuing and maintaining our interest in this covenant, as Baptism is for entering us into it; and by which we are nourished and grow up into the spiritual life, which must languish and decay without this heavenly food, in the same manner as our animal life would do without our daily bread. . . Now that we may have a right understanding of this tremendous and mystical Service, we must observe,
I. That our Lord Jesus Christ, as our High Priest after the order of Melchisedeck, in the same night in which He was betrayed, did (while at His own liberty, and before He was in the hands of His enemies) offer up Himself a free and voluntary sacrifice to His Father, to make satisfaction for the sins of the world, under the symbols of bread and wine, the bread representing His Body and the wine His Blood: And having eucharistized or blessed them, that is, not only given thanks to God over them, and praised Him as the Creator and Governor of the world, and the Author of bread and all other fruits of the .earth, for His making such plentiful provision of good things for the use of man, and for the signal instances of His providence, towards the Jewish nation in particular, as was the custom of the Jews, and towards all mankind in general, especially for their redemption by His own death, but likewise offered them up to God as the symbols of His Body and Blood, and invocated a blessing, even the Divine power Of the Holy Spirit, to descend upon them; having, I say, thus eucharistized, or blessed them, He gave them to His disciples as His Body broken, and His Blood shed for them and for many, even as many as should believe and obey Him, for the remission of sins:
II. That this Sacrifice of Himself, thus offered up by Him as a High Priest, was immediately after slain on the Cross, and after He had by the power of the Spirit raised Himself from the dead, He entered into heaven, the true Holy of Holies, there to present this His Sacrifice to God the Father, and in virtue of it to make continual intercession for His Church, whereby He continueth a Priest for ever:
III. That He commanded the Apostles and their successors, as the priests of the Christian Church, to do (i. e. to offer) this (bread and cup) in commemoration of Him, or as the memorial of this One Sacrifice of Himself Once Offered for the sins of the world, and thereby to plead the merits of it before His Father here on earth, as He doth continually in heaven; and appointed it to be the only sacrifice of prayer and praise in the Christian Church, instead of the manifold sacrifices, whether bloody or unbloody, under the Law:
IV. That therefore in celebrating this Christian Sacrifice the people are to bring the oblation of bread and wine, which the priest receiving presenteth in their name to God on His altar, thereby offering to Him a part of His own of what He hath given them, as a tribute to Him, and an acknowledgment of His right over them and all they enjoy. The priest having thus placed the bread and wine on the altar, and called to the people to lift up their hearts, and they having answered, 'We lift them up unto the Lord,' he proceeds to give praise and thanks to God for the creation of the world and all things therein, visible and invisible; for all His benefits and the gracious effects of His providence towards mankind; for preparing them for the coming of Christ, particularly by the Law and the Prophets; and for sending Him in the fulness of time to take our nature upon Him, and to redeem us by His death. And in this act of praise and thanksgiving, the people are to join with the priest in repeating that Seraphic Hymn, 'Holy, Holy, Holy, &c' which in all Liturgies ever made a part of it. Then the priest rehearseth the history of the Institution, not only to shew the authority by which he acteth, contained in the words, 'Do this (i. e. offer this bread and cup) in commemoration of Me; but also, that by pronouncing over them these words, This is My Body, This is My Blood, he may consecrate this bread and cup to be the symbols and antitypes of the Body and Blood of Christ. Then, as Christ offered up His Body and Blood to God the Father under the symbols of bread and wine, as a Sacrifice to be slain on the Cross for our redemption, so there the priest offereth up this bread and cup as the symbols of this Sacrifice of His Body and Blood thus once offered up by Him; and thereby commemorateth it before God with thanksgiving. After which, He prays that God would favourably accept this Commemorative Sacrifice by sending-down upon it His Holy Spirit, that by His descent upon them He may make this bread and this cup (already so far consecrated as to be the symbols or antitypes of the Body and Blood of Christ, and offered up as such) to be verily and indeed His Body and Blood; the same Divine Spirit by which the Body of Christ was formed in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, and which is still united to it in heaven, descending on, and being united to these elements, and invigorating them with the virtue, power, and efficacy thereof, and making them One with It. Then the priest maketh intercession, in virtue of this Sacrifice thus offered up in commemoration of, and union with the One great personal Sacrifice of Christ, for the whole Catholic Church, and pleadeth the merits of this One Sacrifice in behalf of all estates and conditions of men in it, offering this memorial thereof not for the living only, but for the dead also, in commemoration of the Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and of all the Saints who have pleased God in their several generations from the beginning of the world; and for rest, light, and peace, and a blessed resurrection, and a merciful trial in the day of the Lord to all the faithful departed:
V. That this Bread and Cup being thus offered up to God as the symbols and antitypes of the Body and Blood of Christ, and returned back by Him invigorated with the life-giving power thereof by the descent of the Holy Spirit upon them, whereby they are made that very Body and Blood in virtue and effect, are as such first received by the Priest himself, and then by him, or the Deacons as ministering to him, distributed in the name of God to the people; who by being thus entertained by God on what had been offered up to Him, and feasting together at His table, do (according to the manner of transacting covenants used from the beginning) renew their covenant with Him and with one another; and by these pledges are assured of His being reconciled to them, and of their being in a state of favour with Him, and of peace and friendship one with another; and by thus partaking of the Sacrifice of Christ have a title to all the benefits purchased by it, which are the conditions on God's part of the New Covenant, of which He is the Mediator; and by eating and drinking His Body and Blood are made one body and one spirit with Him (it being the Spirit of Christ descending upon, and united to the bread and wine, which makes them His Body and Blood) and thereby our bodies, as united to and nourished by His Body, have a title to a glorious resurrection, being to be quickened by His Spirit, which thus dwelleth in us. And thus we have union and communion with the Father and the Son, in the Holy Spirit (as the bond of this mystical unity), and with one another also, even all our fellow-members of Christ's mystical Body, the holy Catholic Church."Instructions Concerning the Christian Covenant, p. 27.
NOTE XXVII.
Q. What is the most essential act in this part of the Liturgy? A. The utterance of the words which Jesus Christ spake in instituting this Sacrament, (Matt. xxvi. 26, 27, 28.) and after this the Invocation of the Holy Ghost and the Blessing the Gifts, that is, the bread and wine which have been Offered.Orthodox Catechism, p. 63.
I. Here shall be transcribed first some portion of the Consecration Prayer from the present Liturgy of the Scottish Church:
"For in the night that He was betrayed, He took bread; and when He had given thanks, He brake it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, Take, eat, THIS IS MY BODY, which is given for you: DO this in remembrance of Me. Likewise, after Supper, He took the Cup; and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of this, for THIS IS MY BLOOD, of the New Testament, which is shed for you and for many, for the remission of sins; DO this, as oft as ye shall drink it, in remembrance of Me.". . . [The Oblation.] "Wherefore, O Lord, and heavenly Father, according to the institution of Thy dearly-beloved Son, our Saviour Jesus Christ, we Thy humble servants, do celebrate and make here before Thy Divine Majesty with these Thy holy gifts, WHICH WE NOW OFFER UNTO THEE, the memorial Thy Son hath commanded us to make; having in remembrance His blessed passion, and precious death, His mighty resurrection, and glorious ascension; rendering unto Thee most hearty thanks for the innumerable benefits procured unto us by the same."... [The Invocation.] "And we most humbly beseech Thee, O merciful Father, to hear us, and of Thine almighty goodness vouchsafe to bless and sanctify with Thy Word and Holy Spirit these Thy gifts and creatures of bread and wine, that they may become the Body and Blood of Thy most dearly beloved Son.", . ."And we earnestly desire Thy fatherly goodness mercifully to accept this our Sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, most humbly beseeching Thee to grant, that by the merits and death of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and through faith in His Blood, we, and all Thy whole Church, may obtain remission of our sins, and all other benefits of His passion. And here we humbly offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice unto Thee, beseeching Thee, that whosoever shall be partakers of this holy Communion, may worthily receive the most precious Body and Blood of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, and be filled with Thy grace and heavenly benediction, and made one Body with Him, that He may dwell in them, and they in Him, And although we are unworthy, through our manifold sins, to offer unto Thee any sacrifice, yet we beseech Thee to accept this our bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences, through Jesus Christ our Lord; by Whom, and with Whom, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, all honour and glory be unto Thee, O Father Almighty, world without end, Amen.". . . After which, there follow immediately solemn Prayers by the consecrating Bishop or Priest for the whole Church, and for all estates and conditions of men.
II. With respect to the virtue of the words of Institution and the Invocation of the Holy Ghost, Bishop Sparrow, in his Rationale of the Book of Common Prayer, has the following passage:
"The holy Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, says St. Chrysostom, which the Priest now makes, is the same that Christ gave to His Apostles, &c. Again: Christ is present at the Sacrament now, that first instituted it. He consecrates this also; It is not man, that makes the Body and Blood of Christ by consecrating the holy Elements, but Christ, that was crucified for us. The words are pronounced by the mouth of the Priest, but the elements are consecrated by the power and grace of God. This is, saith He, my Body, &c.; by this word the bread and wine are consecrated." Oxford ed. 1840. pp. 211. 216, 220.
III. From Dr. Bretts Dissertation on the Liturgies:
"Tertullian says, He made His Body by saying This is My Body. But if Tertullian did mean that the whole consecration was really to be made by these words only, (though I do not think that he did, or that his words necessarily imply it) he is perfectly singular in his opinion. For as Mr. Johnson (Unbloody Sacrifice, P. I. p. 234.) has very fully proved, though the Church always believed that there was very great force and energy in those words, yet they did not believe that the recital of those words by the priest was all that was necessary to the consecration of the Eucharist. He plainly proves that they judged three things to be necessary to the consecration of this Sacrament: 1. The reciting the Words of Institution: 2. The Oblation of the Symbols: 3. The Prayer of Invocation. All these three ... in all the ancient Liturgies follow each other in the order here mentioned: and each of them was believed to contribute towards the consecration of the elements. ... St. Chrysostom, as cited by Mr. Johnson, says much the same that Tertullian does, only he explains a little more fully. The priest, says he, fulfilling his office, stands pronouncing those words, but the power and grace is of God: that word, This is my body, &c., changes the gifts laid in open view. And as the word that says Increase and multiply, was but once pronounced, but is virtually operative upon our nature ever since, so that voice, once pronounced, has its effects on the prepared Sacrifice on the table of the Churches from that time to this, and until His own advent. Here St. Chrysostom plainly teaches that this word of Christ, This is my body, operates as the word of God does in other cases, particularly as it operates in the words, Increase and multiply. As therefore the words Increase and multiply do not operate but when those rites are performed which God has appointed for that purpose, so neither, according to St. Chrysostom, do the words This is my body, but when those things are done which Christ did and commanded. What those things are, I shall shew more particularly, when I come to speak of the Oblation and Invocation."Dissertation on the Liturgies, p. 183.
Again: "Mr. Wheatley, a learned Divine, who has taken a great deal of useful pains to explain and defend the English Liturgy, says expressly, that none he yet knows, except the Church of Rome, ever attributed the consecration to the bare pronouncing of these words only."Ib. p. 193.
And again: "Renaudotius observes that a learned man, Richard Simon, who has wrote much upon this subject, affirms, that all the Orientals are of this opinion; which he seems to acknowledge is no other than what is commonly attributed to them; that is, that the consecration is made not by the sacramental words of our Lord Christ, but by the invocation of the Holy Ghost. But this opinion, he says, is wrongfully accused of error; because it is not a matter of faith to believe that the Eucharist is consecrated by our Lord's words only, neither has it been determined by the Church; forasmuch as not a few divines have without censure opposed that doctrine; which he proves chiefly by the authority of Ambrosius Catharinus, and Christopher de Capite Fontium.' (Renaudot. Comment, ad Liturg. Copt. St. Basil, p. 246.) Renaudotius seems afraid to speak so plain himself in this case as father Simon has done, knowing that the Missal of the Church of Rome clearly attributes the whole force of consecration to the words, This is my body, &c. However, he shews that this opinion was not condemned in the Council of Florence, . . . and that it was so far from being determined in that Council both by Greeks and Latins, as is pretended, that the consecration of the Eucharist was perfected by the words of institution only, that not only the Greeks declared the direct contrary, but even the Pope himself would not permit it to be so decreed. (Renaudot. ib. p. 240, 7.)"P. 242, &c.
IV. Speaking of the words of Institution, and referring to Chrysostom, (De Prod. Judae, Tom. v. p. 03.) the Scottish Bishop Rattray observes;
"It is by virtue of these words spoken by Christ, that the following Prayer of the Priest is made effectual for procuring the Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Bread and the Cup."Instructions, &c. p. 23.
And he refers to a passage in Bingham's Antiquities: "In the Mozarabic Liturgy and the old Gothic Missal published by Mabillon, there are prayers for the descent of the Holy Ghost to sanctify the Gifts, and make them the Body and Blood of Christ, even after the repetition of the words, This is My Body, and This is My Blood; which evidently shews that the ancient formers of the Liturgy did not think the consecration to be effected by the bare repetition of those words, but by prayer for the descent of the Holy Ghost upon the bread and wine."B. xv. ch. iii. Û 31.
See the passage which is quoted at length from the same Bishop Rattray on the subject of the Eucharist, under Note XXVI. Also the Scottish Catechisms; that of Aberdeen, pp. 38, 39; and that by Bishop Jolly, p. 63.
Here it will be proper to treat of the Great Oblation, which is made between the rehearsal of the words of Institution and the Invocation of the Holy Ghost, and which continues to be referred to in those prayers for the whole Church which follow immediately after the Consecration in the Scottish Liturgy. The points to be shewn are; 1. That there is in the Eucharist a Sacrifice, true, proper, and propitiatory, available both for the living and the departed: 2. That the Great Oblation itself ex parte nostra consists in the Bread and Wine, the antitypes of the Body and Blood of Christ, Offered after the rehearsal of the Words of Institution and before the Invocation of the Holy Ghost: 3. That the Sacrifice is consummated or perfected by the Holy Ghost Himself, Who descends and changes the Elements: 4. That a special efficacy attaches, in virtue of the change and consummation of the Sacrifice, to those commemorations and prayers for all estates in the Church both living and departed, which are made immediately after: 5. That the Sacrifice of the Eucharist is in a certain sense one and the same with that once for all made upon the Cross: 6. That it is in a certain sense true to say that Christ is offered or sacrificed in the Eucharist.
V. Bishop Andrewes on this subject writes as follows:"We hold with St. Augustine, Quod hujus Sacrificii Caro et Sanguis ante adventum Christi per victimas similitudinum promittebatur; in passione Christi per ipsam veritatem reddebatur; post adventum Christi per Sacramentum memoriae celebratur."Ans. to Card. Perr.
VI. Bishop Overall, who drew up the last Section of the Catechism of the Church of England, has left us the following comment on those words of the English Liturgy, "sufficient Sacrifice of that His precious Blood:"
"If we compare the Eucharist with the Sacrifice once made upon the Cross with reference to the killing or destroying of the Sacrifice, or with reference to the visibility of it, in that sense we call it only a commemorative Sacrifice, as the Fathers do. (Chrys. Horn. Contr. Jud. part 2. Sentent. lib. 4. dist. 12.) But if we compare the Eucharist with Christ's Sacrifice made once upon the Cross as concerning the effect of it, we say that (of the Cross) was a sufficient Sacrifice; but at the same time that this (of the Eucharist) is a true, real, and efficient Sacrifice, and both of them propitiatory for the sins of the whole world. .... Neither do we call this Sacrifice of the Eucharist an efficient Sacrifice, as if that upon the Cross wanted efficacy; but because the force and virtue of that Sacrifice would not be profitable unto us, unless it were applied and brought into effect by this Eucharistical Sacrifice, and other the holy Sacraments and means appointed by God for that end: but we call it propitiatory, both this and that, because they have both force and virtue in them to appease Gods wrath against this sinful world. Read Maid, de Sac. p. 323. Therefore this is no new Sacrifice, but the same which was once offered, and which is every day offered to God by Christ in heaven, and continueth here still upon earth by a mystical representation of it in the Eucharist. And the Church intends not to have any new propitiation or new remission of sins obtained, but to make that effectual and in act applied unto us, which was once obtained by the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross. Neither is the Sacrifice of the Cross, as it was once offered up there modo cruento, so much remembered in the Eucharist, (though it be commemorated,) as regard is had to the perpetual and daily offering of it by Christ now in Heaven in His everlasting Priesthood: and thereupon it was, and should be still the juge Sacrificium, observed here on earth, as it is in Heaven, the reason which the ancient Fathers had for their daily Sacrifice. (St. Chrysostom in 10. Heb. St. Augustin de Civ. Dei, lib. 10. c. 20.)"Additional Notes on the Book of Common Prayer, Nicholls's Commentary, p. 46.
Again, on the words of the Liturgy, "This our sacrifice of praise, &c.:"
"So the ancient Fathers are wont to call this Sacrifice, Sacrificium laudis et gratiarum actionis; not exclusively, as if it were no other Sacrifice but that; for they called it also, Sacrificium Commemorationis, and Sacrificium Spiritus, and Sacrificium obsequii, &c.; and, which is more, Sacrificium verum et propitiatorium."
VII. Mason on the same subject writes as follows:
"So often as we celebrate the Eucharist, so often do we offer Christ in a mystery, and sacrifice Him by way of commemoration or representation."Vindication of the Church of England, b. v. p. 470.
VIII. And to the same effect Bishop Jeremy Taylor:"As Christ is a Priest in heaven for ever, and yet does not sacrifice Himself afresh, (nor yet without a sacrifice could He be a Priest,) but by a daily ministration and intercession represents His Sacrifice to God, and offers Himself as sacrificed, so He does upon earth, by the ministry of His servants. He is offered to God, that is, He is by prayers and the Sacrament represented and offered up to God, as sacrificed; which, in effect, is a celebration of His death, and the applying it to the present and future necessities of the Church by a ministry like to His in heaven. It follows then, that the celebration of this sacrifice be, in its proportion, an instrument of applying the proper sacrifice to all the purposes, which it first designed. It is propitiatory, it is Eucharistical, it is impetratory: &c."Life of Christ, Disc. xix. Works, vol. iii. pp. 296, 298.
Again: "The Church is the image of heaven; the Priest the Minister of Christ; the holy Table a copy of the Celestial Altar; and the eternal Sacrifice of the Lamb slain from the beginning of the world is always the same. It bleeds no more after the finishing of it upon the Cross; but it is wonderfully represented in heaven, and graciously represented here; by Christ's action there, by His commandment here."Worthy Comm. i. Û iv.
IX. John Fell, sometime Bishop of Oxford:
"His Melchisedeckian or eternal Priesthood joined with Kingship was consummated in His resurrection, and is now continued in His service in the heavenly Sanctuary. In which heavenly sanctuary, lie perpetually offers His Blood and Passion to God, and as Man makes perpetual prayers and intercessions for us.... As also He hath instituted the same Oblation of His holy Body and Blood, and commemoration of His Passion, to be made in the holy Eucharist to God the Father by His Ministers here on earth, for the same ends, viz., the application of all the benefits of His sole meritorious death and sacrifice on the Cross, till His second return out of the heavenly Sanctuary." On Heb. v. 10.
X. Bishop Bull has the following passage:
"This is the constant language of the ancient Liturgies, 'We offer by way of commemoration.' . . . And this commemoration is made to God the Father, and is not a bare remembering, or putting ourselves in mind of Him. For every Sacrifice is directed to God, and the oblation therein made, whatsoever it be, hath Him for its object, and not man. In the Holy Eucharist, therefore, we set before God the Bread and the Wine, as 'figures or images of the precious Blood of Christ shed for us, and of His precious Body' (they are the very words of the Clementine Liturgy) and plead to God the merit of His Son's Sacrifice once offered on the Cross for us sinners, and in this Sacrament represented, beseeching Him for the sake thereof to bestow His heavenly blessings upon us."Works, vol. ii. p. 250.
XI. Johnson, in his Treatise on the Unbloody Sacrifice:"It seems clear, that the one personal Oblation performed by our Saviour Himself is not to be confined to any one instant of time, but commenced with the Paschal solemnity, and was finished at His ascension into heaven, there to appear in the presence of God for us. And if our adversaries will restrain the Oblation to the Cross alone, then they must exclude Christ's Sacerdotal entry into Heaven, as the Holy of Holies, and say that the Oblation was finished before the blood of the Sacrifice was brought into the most holy place, and there offered; contrary to what the Apostle teaches us (Heb. ix. 7); and therefore, few, I suppose, will presume thus far. And if it was consistent with the unity of the Oblation to be made in the Holy of Holies as well as upon the altar, in heaven as well as on the Cross, then I cannot conceive why the Oblation made in the Eucharist should make the Oblation cease to be one, any more than the double offering it on the Cross and in the Holy of Holies already mentioned."Unbloody Sacrifice, p. 93.
XII. Dr. Gloucester Ridley, treating of this same subject of the Sacrifice of the holy Eucharist, asserts that, "The Lord's Supper instituted in memory of Christ's death was itself a Sacrifice, as much as any of the Jewish Sacrifices were."The Christian Passover, p. 46.
XIII. Alexander Jolly, Bishop of Moray in Scotland writes thus:"Our resort must ever be to the Sacrifice of the death of Christ, which was prefigured, for the support of man's hope, by instituted typical sacrifices from the beginning (as we see in Adam's family); looking forward to it before its actual accomplishment; and now perpetuating the sacrificial remembrance of it in that Divine Institution, which He Himself ordained to shew it forth before God, and plead its merit, till He shall come again to judge the quick and the dead."Christian Sacrifice, p. 183.
XIV. Dr. Henry Philpotts, the present Bishop of Exeter:"In the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the Commemorative Sacrifice of the Body and Blood of Christ, the action and suffering of our great High Priest are represented and offered to God on earth, as they are continually by the same High Priest Himself in heaven; the Church on, earth doing, after its measure, the same thing as its Head in heaven; Christ in heaven presenting the Sacrifice and applying it to its purposed end properly, and gloriously; the Church on earth commemoratively and humbly, yet really and effectually, by praying to God, with thanksgiving, in the virtue and merit of that Sacrifice which it thus exhibits."Charge to the Clergy of his Diocese, A.D. 1836. p. 43.
XV. Dr. Hickes, in his "Christian Priesthood Asserted:"
"The Eucharist is a proper Sacrifice, or Offering, in which the bread and wine are offered in a proper and literal sense, and by consequence the ministers of it are, properly and literally speaking, 'Offering Priests.'.. The primitive Christians believed . . . this commemorative Sacrifice of bread and wine ... to be that mincha purum, that 'pure offering' foretold by the prophet Malachi ... a pure and unbloody sacrifice ... of divine institution. . . . Besides the first offering of all, there were two other Oblations of the elements in the Eucharist; one before the consecration, in which they were presented to God the Father upon the Altar as the first-fruits of His creatures,.... the other at the Consecration, when they were offered to Him as the symbols of Christ's Body and Blood, to represent that Oblation He made of both upon the Cross, and to obtain the benefits of His death and passion."P. 116, &c.
XVI. Johnson, in his Treatise on the Unbloody Sacrifice:"We have the judgment of the ancients with us, who do generally assert that Christ did offer bread and wine in the Eucharist, and offered them as a Melchisedeckian Priest, and as symbols of His Body and Blood; and that in and by these symbols He did mysteriously devote His natural Body to suffer according to the will of God. And this is a certain proof, that the Fathers took given, didomenon, not only as expressing, but as meaning and intending the time then present. . . . Whatever Christ did Himself, the same He commanded us to do. If therefore He offered His own Sacramental Body and Blood in the Eucharist, He has positively commanded us to do the same. . . Do this &c."P. 90.
XVII. Bishop Wilson writes as follows:
"He then, at that instant, (of the Institution,) gave His Body and His Blood a Sacrifice for the sins of the world. He then offered as a Priest Himself under the symbols of bread and wine: and this is the Sacrifice which His priests do still offer."On Matt. xxvi. 28.
And the same Bishop in his "Sacra Privata," has the following directions: [Upon first placing the Elements on the Altar,] "Vouchsafe to receive these Thy creatures from the hands of us sinners, O Thou self-sufficient God." [And immediately after the beginning of the Consecration, i.e. after the rehearsal of the Words of Institution,] "We offer unto Thee, our King and our God, this Bread, and this Cup... We give thanks to Thee for these and for all Thy mercies, beseeching Thee to send down Thy Holy Spirit upon this Sacrifice, that He may make this bread the Body of Thy Christ, and this cup the Blood of Thy Christ; and that all we who are partakers thereof, may thereby obtain remission of our sins and all other benefits of His Passion." . . . "And together with us, remember, O God, for good the whole mystical Body of Thy Son; that such as are yet alive may finish their course with joy; and that we, with all such as are dead in the Lord, may rest in hope and rise in glory, for Thy Son's sake, Whose death we now commemorate." ... "May I atone Thee, O God, by offering to Thee the pure and unbloody Sacrifice, which Thou hast ordained by Jesus Christ. Amen."Works, vol. ii. pp. 226, 228.
A similar Form was used by Bishop Jeremy Taylor, when the English Liturgy was proscribed by Parliament during the Great Rebellion, and may still be found printed with his other works.
XVIII. Dr. Grabe in his Adversaria writes as follows:
"The Oblation of bread and wine to God the Father, partly to agnize Him as the Creator and supreme Lord of all the world, partly to represent before Him the Oblation of Christ's Body and Blood on the Cross, to the intent that He might be propitious to them that offered, and for whom it was offered, and make them partakers of all the benefits of Christ's Passion; such action, I say, hath in all Christian Churches throughout the world ever been performed by Catholic Priests, even in the Apostles' time, as also by the heretics that had any Eucharist; and hath been observed under the notion that Christ did it Himself in the first institution of that holy Sacrament."Adversaria, in Bibliotheca Bodl.
XIX. Dr. Brett, in his "Christian Altar and Sacrifice:"
"An unbloody Sacrifice instituted by God instead of the many bloody Sacrifices of the Law." And again: "By taking the bread and giving of thanks Christ plainly made an oblation of it to God, before He brake it and pronounced it to be His Body. We ought therefore, as He did, to make an oblation of the Elements to God, before we consecrate or pronounce them to be the Body and Blood of Christ."P. 23, 25.
The same author in his Essay on the Primitive Liturgies has the following passage respecting the mixture of the cup with water:
"Likewise also mixing the cup with wine and water, and blessing it, He gave it to them, &c. Thus this most ancient Liturgy (the Clementine) not only testifies that it was the practice of the Church to mix water with the eucharistical wine, but teaches us that Christ Himself did so also, thereby informing us of the necessity of such a mixture, since it is necessary that we should offer the same elements which Christ offered, or we do not do as He did, and commanded us to do. All the Liturgies take notice of this mixture, and either direct by some rubric that water should be mingled with the wine, or make express mention of such a mixture in the recital of the Words of Institution, as the Clementine Liturgy has here done."P. 193.
XX. Bishop Overall, on those words of the Liturgy which occur after the Consecration, "That by the merits and death of Thy Son Jesus Christ, and through faith in His blood, we and all Thy whole Church, &c.:"
"This is a plain oblation of Christ's death once offered, and a representative Sacrifice of it for the sins and for the benefit of the whole world, of the whole Church; that both those which are here on earth, and those that rest in the sleep of peace, being departed in the faith of Christ, may find the effect and virtue of it. And if the authority of the ancient Church may prevail with us, as it ought to do, there is nothing more manifest, than that it always taught as much: and it is no absurdity to say, Here is an Oblation made for all, when it is not only commemorated to have been once offered, but solemn prayers are here also added, and a request made, that it may be effectual to all. (St. Chrys. 18 Matt. Hom. 72. in Johan.) . . . And in this sense it is not only an Eucharistical, but a propitiatory Sacrifice: and to prove it a Sacrifice propitiatory, always so acknowledged by the ancient Church, there can be no better argument than that it was offered up not only for the living, but for the dead, and for those that were absent, for them that travelled, for Jews, for heretics, &c., who could have no other benefit of it, but as it was a propitiatory Sacrifice. And that thus they did offer it, read a whole army of Fathers, apud Mald, de Sac. p. 342. Nos autem ita comparati sumus, ut cum tam multis et magnis autoribus errare malimus, quam cum Puritanis verum dicere. Not that it makes any propitiation as that of the Cross did, but only that it obtains and brings into act that propitiation, which was once made by Christ."Ib. pp. 49, 60.
XXI. Mede, in his work entitled "The Christian Sacrifice:"
"The Sacrifice of Christians is nothing but that One Sacrifice of Christ once offered upon the Cross, again and again commemorated. Which is elegantly expressed by those words of St. Andrew recorded in the History of His passion written by the Presbyters of Achaia; where Aegeas proconsul requiring of him to sacrifice to idols, he is said to have answered thus; 'I sacrifice daily to Almighty God, but what? not the smoke of frankincense, nor the flesh of bellowing bulls, nor the blood of goats. No; but I offer daily the unspotted Lamb of God on the Altar of the Cross; whose Flesh and Blood though all the faithful eat and drink of, yet all this notwithstanding, the Lamb that was sacrificed remains entire and alive still."P. 379.
XXII. And Herbert Thorndike, in his book entitled "The Epilogue:"
"Having shewed the presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, because in it is appointed that the faithful may feast upon the Sacrifice of the Cross, we have already shewed by the Scriptures that it is the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross in the same sense and to the same effect, as it containeth the Body and Blood of Christ."B. iii. c. v. p. 38. And again: " Inasmuch as the Body and Blood of Christ is in the Eucharist, in so much it is the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, &c. . . . Certainly the sacrifices of the old Law ceased not to be sacrifices, because they were figures and prophecies of that One Sacrifice upon the Cross, which mankind was redeemed with. And why should the commemoration and representation of that One Sacrifice upon the Cross be less properly a Sacrifice, in dependence upon and denomination from that One which the name of Sacrifice upon the Cross was first used to signify?"P. 40.
And again: "But whether the Eucharist, not only in regard of this Oblation, but also in regard of the Consecration, may be called a propitiatory Sacrifice, this, I perceive, is yet a question:" ... [and then resolving this question, he proceeds:] "I maintain, that the Consecration of the Eucharist is indeed a Sacrifice, whereby God is rendered propitious." . . . (pp. 41,43.) "For having maintained that the Elements are really changed from ordinary bread and wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, mystically present, as in a Sacrament; and that in virtue of the consecration, not by the faith of him that receives, I must admit and maintain whatsoever appears duly consequent to this truth, namely that the elements so consecrated are truly the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, inasmuch as the Body and Blood of Christ Crucified are contained in them, (and that not as in a bare sign), but yet not properly the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross, because that is a thing that consists in action, and motion, and succession, and therefore, once done, can never be done again. ... I say then, having proved the Consecration of the Eucharist to be the production of the Body and Blood of Christ Crucified (or the causing them to be mystically present in the Elements thereof, as in a Sacrament representing them separated by the crucifying of Christ), and the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross being necessarily propitiatory and impetratory both, it cannot be denied that the Sacrament of the Eucharist, inasmuch as it is the same Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross (as that which represented or tendered), and not merely signifieth, is truly said to be the thing which it representeth) is also both propitiatory and impetratory, by virtue of the Consecration of it, whereby it becometh the Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross. For is it not all the reason in the world that, if the Eucharist be the Sacrifice of Christ Crucified, the consecration of the Eucharist, i.e. the causing the Elements to become this Sacrifice, should be, and be accounted, and called the Sacrificing of Christ?" . . . Again: "As for the sayings of the Fathers, whereby the Eucharist is declared to be a Sacrifice in regard of the consecration, I do no way doubt that they are utterly innumerable: &c."P. 47.
XXIII. Johnson, in his Treatise on the Unbloody Sacrifice:"The other end of this Sacrifice is to procure divine blessings, and especially pardon of sin. In the first respect it is propitiatory; in the second expiatory, by virtue of its principal the grand Sacrifice. . . . The Liturgies are very full of proof to this purpose . . . and therefore they put up prayers for their deceased brethren in the most solemn part of the Eucharistical Office, after the Symbols had received the finishing Consecration. For as no desires are more sincere or affectionate than those which we conceive in behalf of our deceased friends, so certainly the ancients addressed these desires to God in such a manner as they thought most prevalent, that is, by virtue of the Eucharistical Sacrifice, then lying in open view."
"In some cases," he says, "the ancients were of opinion that the application of the merits of Christ's death might be made by virtue of the Oblation only, without eating and drinking the Eucharistical Body and Blood; as for instance to those who by banishments, imprisonment for Christ's sake, or other violent means, were debarred from the privilege of actual Communion, &c."P. 305.
XXIV. Dr. Grabe in his Adversaria has the following passage:
"This prayer, in which through the Body and Blood of Christ represented (i.e. made present, and offered through the mystical consecration) on the altar, God is entreated to be propitious to us, and to bestow upon men all good things, is that propitiatory Sacrifice or unbloody immolation and propitiatory Sacrifice of Christ,' of which very frequent mention occurs in the writings of the holy Fathers."
Again: "The English Divines teach that in the holy Eucharist the Body and Blood of Christ, under the species, that is, the signs of bread and wine, are offered to God, and become a representation of the Sacrifice of Christ once made upon the Cross, whereby God may be rendered propitious."Adversaria, in Bibliotheca Bodleiana.
XXV. Dr. William Forbes, first Bishop of Edinburgh:
"The holy Fathers very often say that the very Body of Christ is offered and sacrificed in the Eucharist, as is clear from innumerable passages, but not properly and really, with all the properties of a sacrifice preserved; but by (1) a commemoration and representation of that which was once accomplished in that One Sacrifice of the Cross, whereby Christ our High Priest consummated all other sacrifices; and (2) by pious supplication, whereby the Ministers of the Church, for the sake of the eternal Victim of that One Sacrifice, which sitteth in heaven at the right hand of the Father, and is present also on the Holy Table in an unspeakable manner, humbly beseech God the Father, that He would grant that the virtue and grace of this eternal Victim may be effectual and salutary to His Church for all the necessities of body and soul."Consid. Modest. 1. iii. p. 451.
XXVI. On the whole subject of this Note see also above, Notes XXVI, and XXVIII; and below, Note XXXVII: especially the passage quoted at length from the Scottish Bishop Rattray of Dunkeld, which stands at the end of Note XXVI.