Wesley Corpus

Wesley Collected Works Vol 10

AuthorJohn Wesley
Typetreatise
YearNone
Passage IDjw-wesley-collected-works-vol-10-141
Words397
Christology Communion Means of Grace
11.) And after the same manner is the bread in the sacrament Christ’s body; that is, as circumcision was the covenant, and the lamb the passover, by signification and representation, by type and figure. And so the elements are called by the Fathers, “the images,” (Orig. Dial. 3, Contr. Marcion,) “the symbols,” (Euseb. Dem. Evang. l. 1, c. 1, et ult,) “the figure,” (Aug. contr. Adimant., c. 12,) of Christ’s body and blood. Q. 64. What is then that which is seen and tasted in the eucharist? A. The things seen and tasted are the accidents only of bread and wine; there is the savour, colour, and quantity of bread and wine, without any of their substance; but under those accidents there is only the body and blood of Christ. (Catech. Rom., n. 37, 44.) REPLY. Our Saviour appealed to the senses of his disciples: “Handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” (Luke xxiv. 39.) Take away the certainty of sense, and there is no discerning a body from a spirit; and grant transubstantiation, and we take away the certainty of sense. Q. 65. Is the body and blood of Christ broken when the host is broken and divided ? A. No, because Christ is impassible; (Abridgment of Christ. Doctrine, c. 11, sec. Euchar.;) and, besides, there is whole and entire Christ under either species or element, under the species of bread, and under every particle of it; under the species of wine, and under every drop of it. (Conc. Trid, ibid., c. 3.) REPLY. If every particle of the host is as much the whole body of Christ, as the whole host is before it be divided, then a whole may be divided into wholes; for, divide it and sub divide it, it is still whole. Whole it is before the division, whole it is in the division, and whole it is after it. Thus unreason able, as well as false, is the doctrine of transubstantiation. Q. 66. Do they administer the sacrament in both kinds of bread and wine? A. No; the people are permitted to receive it only in one kind, and are denied the cup. (Trid, Sess. 21, c. 1.) REPLY. It is acknowledged that our Saviour instituted and delivered the sacrament in both kinds; (Concil. Constant., Sess. 13; Trid., Sess. 21, c.