Catholic Church -- Controversial literature; Catholic Church -- Doctrines
St. Paul, writing to the Corinthians, says: “Whosoever shall eat this
bread, _or_ drink the chalice of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of
the body _and_ of the blood of the Lord.”(379) The Apostle here plainly
declares that, by an unworthy participation in the Lord’s Supper, under
the form of either bread or wine, we profane both the body and the blood
of Christ. How could this be so, unless Christ is entirely contained under
each species? So forcibly, indeed, did the Apostle assert the Catholic
doctrine that the Protestant translators have perverted the text by
rendering it: “Whosoever shall eat this bread _and_ drink the chalice,”
substituting _and_ for _or_, in contradiction to the Greek original, of
which the Catholic version is an exact translation.
It is also the received doctrine of the Fathers that the Eucharist is
contained in all its integrity either in the consecrated bread or in the
chalice. St. Augustine, who may be taken as a sample of the rest, says
that “each one receives Christ the Lord _entire_ under each
particle.”(380)
Luther himself, even after his revolt, was so clearly convinced of this
truth that he was an uncompromising advocate of communion under one kind.
“If any Council,” he says, “should decree or permit both species, we would
by no means acquiesce; but, in spite of the Council and its statute, we
would use one form, or neither, and never both.”(381)
Leibnitz, the eminent Protestant divine, observes: “_It cannot be denied_
that Christ is received entire by _virtue_ of concomitance, under each
species; nor is His flesh separated from His blood.”(382)
As the same virtue is contained in the Sacrament, whether administered in
one or both forms, the faithful gain nothing by receiving under both
kinds, and lose nothing by receiving under one form. Consequently, we
nowhere find our Savior requiring the communion to be administered to the
faithful under both forms; but He has left this matter to be regulated by
the wisdom and discretion of the Church, as He has done with regard to the
manner of administering Baptism.
Our Redeemer, it is true, has said: “Drink ye all of this.” But it should
be remembered that these words were addressed not to the people at large,
but only to the Apostles, who alone were also commanded, on the same
occasion, to consecrate His body and blood in remembrance of Him. Now we
have no more right to infer that the faithful are obliged to drink of the
cup, because the Apostles were commanded to drink of it, than we have to
suppose that the laity are required or allowed to consecrate the bread and
wine, because the power of doing so was at the last Supper conferred on
the Apostles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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