* "Wo uso the name of Zuingle to characterize the form of doctrine which ho ac-
tually taught, and which was adopted in the church of Zurich, of which he was the
pastor; not in the sense in whicli the term Zuinglian is popularly used, to designate
what was really the Socinian or Remonstrant doctrine ou the Sacraments.

'■• Niemeyer Col. Conf., pp. 44, 47.



346 DOCTRINE OF THE REFORMED CHURCH

per in a gross carnal manner as the Papists pretend, but spirit-
ually and sacramentally, with a devout, believing, and holy mind,
as St. Chrj'sostom says," In his Epist. ad princip, German. (Op.
II., p. 546), he uses this language : " When the bread and wine,
consecrated by the very words of Christ are distributed to the
brethren, is not the whole Christ, as it were sensibly (if words
are required, I will say more that I am wont to do) presented to
the senses ? But how ? Is the natural body handled and eaten ?
By no means ; but offered to the mind to be contemplated, for
the senses we have the sacrament of this thing. * * * We
never have denied that Christ is sacramentally and in mysterio
present in the Lord's Supper, as well on account of believing
contemjslation, as the whole symbolical service."

The confessions which most nearly conform to this view are the
Confessio Tetrapolitana, The First Basel, and The First Helvetic
Confession. All these are apologetic. Tlie last named protests
against the representation that the Eeformed regard the sacra-
ments as mere badges of profession, asserting that they are also
signs and means of grace. In article 22, the Lord's Supper is
called coena mystica, " in wliich Christus truly offers his body
and blood, and hence himself, to his people ; not as though the
body and blood of Christi were naturally united with the bread
and wine, or locally included in them, or sensibly there present,
but in so far as the bread and wine are symbols, through which
we have communion in his body and blood, not to the nourish-
ment of the body, but of the spiritual or eternal life."

The most concise and perspicuous statement of this form of
the doctrine is to be found in " The Sincere Confession of the
ministers of the church of Zurich," dated 1545. Those ministers
say : " We teach that the great design and end of the Lord's
Supper, that to which the whole service is directed, is the re-
membrance of the body of Christ devoted, and of his blood shed
for the remission of our sins. This remembrance, however, can-
not take place without true faith. And although the things, of
which the service is a memorial, are not visible or present after a
corjDoral manner, nevertheless beHeving apprehension and the as-
surance of faith renders them present in one sense, to the soul of
the behever. He has truly eaten the bread of Christ * * *
who believes on Christ, very God and very man, crucified for us,
on whom to beheve is to eat, and to eat, to believe. * * *



ON THE lord's SUPPER. 347

Believers have in the Lord's Supper no other lifegiving food than
that which they receive elsewhere than in that ordinance. The
believer, therefore, receives both, in and out of, the Lord's Sup-
per in one and the same way, and by the same means of faith,
one and the same food, Christ, except that in the Supper the re-
cej)tion is connected with the actions and signs api)ointed by
Christ, and accompanied with a testifying, thanksgiving, and
binding service. * "•••' * Christ's flesh has done its work on
earth, having been offered for our salvation ; now it no longer
benefits on earth, and is no longer here.'" This is a remarkably
clear and precise statement, and should be remembered ; for we
shall find Calvin and others whose language is often so different,
avowing their concurrence with these ministers of Zurich, or at
least uniting with them in the statement of this doctrine.

Views of Calvin and of the Confession formed under his

influence.

Inst., iv., 17, 10. " We conclude that our souls are fed by the
flesh and blood of Christ, just as our corporal life is preserved by
bread and wine. For the analogy of the signs would not hold,
if our souls did not find their aliment in Christ, which, however,
cannot be the case, unless Christ truly coalesce into one with us,
and suj)port us through the use of his flesh and blood. It may
seem incredible indeed that the flesh of Christ should reach us
from such an immense local distance, so as to become our food.
But we must remember how far the secret power of the Holy
Spirit, transcends all our senses, and what foUy it must be even
to think of reducing his immensity to our measure. Let faith
embrace then what the understanding cannot grasp, namely,
that the Spirit unites things which are totally separated. Now
this sacred communication of his flesh and blood, by which
Christ transfuses his life into us, just as if he penetrated our
bones and marrow, he testifies and seals in the holy supper ; not
by the exhibition of a vain and empty sign, but by j)utting forth
such an energy of his Spirit as fulfils what he promises. What
is thus attested he offers to all who approach the spiritual ban-
quet. It is, however, fruitfully received by believers only, who
acccjjt such vast grace with inward gratitude and trust."

In 1561, Calvin wrote, in answer to the Lutheran Hesshuss,

' Guericbo : SymbolLk., s. 452.



348 DOCTEINE OF THE REFORMED CHURCH

and with a view to unite the two parties, his Tract de vera par-
ticipatione carnis et sanguinis Christi in sacra coena. In an ap-
pendix to that Tract, he says : " The same body then which the
Son of God once offered in sacrifice to the Father, he daily offers
to us in the supper, that it may be our spiritual aliment. Only
that must be held which was intimated as to the mode, that it
is not necessary that the essence of the flesh should descend from
heaven, in order that we may feed upon it ; but that the power
of the Spirit is sufficient to penetrate through all impediments
and to surmount all local distance. At the same time we do not
deny that the mode here is incomprehensible to human thought ;
for flesh naturally could neither be the life of the soul, nor exert
its power upon us from heaven ; and not without reason is the
communication, which makes us flesh of his flesh, and bone of
his bones, denominated by Paul a great mystery. In the sacred
supper we acknowledge it a miracle, transcending both nature
and our own understanding, that Christ's Life is made common
to us with himself, and his flesh given us as aliment."

Again, " these things being disposed of, a doubt still appears
with respect to the word substance; which is readily allayed, if
we put away the gross imagination of a manducation of the flesh,
as though it were like corporal food, which being j3ut into the
mouth, is received into the stomach. For if this absurdity be
removed, there is no reason why we should deny that we are fed
with Christ's flesh substantially, since we truly coalesce "with
him into one body by faith, and are thus made one with him.
Whence it follows we are joined with him in substantial connec-
tion, just as substantial vigor flows down from the head into the
members. The definition must then stand that we are made to
partake of Christ's flesh substantially ; not in the way of carnal
mixture, or as if the flesh of Christ, drawn down from heaven
entered into us, or were swallowed by the mouth ; but because
the flesh of Christ, as to its power and efficacy, \dvifies our souls,
not otherwise than the body is nourished by the substance of
bread wine."

We prefer giving these extreme passages as selected by Dr.
Nevin, instead of others of a different character, which could
easily be gathered from Calvin's works. Those of the latter class,
will turn up in their appropriate places. We proceed to quote



ON THE LOED's SUPPER. 349

some of the confessions, whicli most manifestly bear the impress
of Calvin's liand or spirit.

The Grallican Confession was adopted by the Protestants of
France, in 1559. In the 36th article it is said : Quamvis (Chris-
tus) nunc sit in ccelis, ibidem etiam remansurus donee veniat
mundum judicatnrus, credimus tamen, eum arcana et incom-
prehensibili Spiritus siii virtute nos nutire et vivificare sui cor-
poris et sanguinis substantia per fidem apprehensa. Dicimur
autem hoc spiritualiter fieri, non ut efficaci» et veritatis loco im-
aginationem aut cogitationem supponamus, sed potius, quoniam
hoc mysterium nostras cum Christo coalitionis tam sublime est,
ut omnes nostros sensus totumqe naturae ordinem superet, denique
quoniam sit divinum ac coeleste, non nisi fide percipi at appre-
hendi potest.

Art. 37. Credimus, sicut antea dictum est, tam in coena
quam in baptismo, Deum nobis reipsa, id est vera et efiicaciter
donare quicquid ibi sacramentaliter figurat, ac proinde cum signis
conjungimus veram possessionem ac fruitionem ejus rei, quee ita
nobis ofiertur. Itaque atfirmamus eos qui ad sacram mensam
Domini puram fidem tanquam vas quoddam afferunt, vere reci-
pere quod ibi signa testificantur, nempe corpus et sanguinem
Jesu Christi, non minus esse cibum ac potum animre, quam
panis et vinum sunt corporis cibus.

This is perhaps the proper place to state, though not in chro-
nological order, that at a meeting of the National Synod of
France, in 1571, Beza being president, an application was made
by certain deputies to have the clause in Art. 37 altered, which
asserts that we are nourished with the " substance of Christ's
body and blood." The synod refused to make the alteration,
and explained the expression by saying, they did not understand
by it, " any confusion, commixture, or conjunction " '■'•■ * but
this only, that by his virtue, all that is in him that is needful for
our salvation, is hereby most freely given and communicated to
us. Nor do we consent with them who say we do communicate
in his merits and gifts and spirit, without his being at all made
ours ; but with the apostle (Eph. v. 23), admiring this supernat-
ural, and to our reason, incomprehensible mystery, we do be-
lieve we are partakers of his body delivered to death for us, and
of his blood shed for us, so that we are flesh of his flesh, and bone
of his bones, and that we receive him together with his gifts, by



350 DOCTRINE OF THE REFORMED CHURCH

faith wrought in us by the incomprehensible virtue and efficacy
of the Holy Spirit." ' This decision was considered by the minis-
ters of Zurich as involvdng a condemnation of their doctrine, and
they complained of it accordingly. The following year, 1572,
therefore the Synod decided, that though they chose to retain
the word substance in the sense explained, they did so " with-
out prejudicing those foreign churches, which for reasons best
known to themselves do not use the word substance." And in-
stead of saying as they had done the year before, " that we must
truly participate in the second Adam, that ive may derive life
from him;" they substitute for the last clause the words :
" that by mystical and spiritual communication with him, we
may derive that true eternal life." " And the Lord's Supper,"
they add, " is principally instituted for the communication of it ;
though the same Lord Jesus be offered to us both in his sub-
stance and gifts, in the ministry of the word and baptism, and
received by faith." *

In the articles adopted by the Synod of London, in 1552,
and sanctioned by the authority of Edward YI., the article on
the Lord's Supper, gives in the first clause the scriptural lan-
guage, "To those who receive it worthily and with faith, the
bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ,"
&c. The second clause rejects transubstantiation. The third
denies the Lutheran doctrine, and asserts that as Christ is in
heaven, uon debet quisquam fidelium carnis ejus et sanguinis
realem et corporalem (ut loquantur) praesentiam in eucharistia
vel credere vel profiteri.

In the Thirty-nine articles of the church of England, adopted
in 1562, the article on the Lord's Supper corresponds in purport
exactly in the first three clauses, with the article of Edward VI.
Then follows these words : Corpus Christi datur, accipitur, et
manducatur in coena, tantum coeleste et spirituali ratione. Me-
dium autem quo corpus Christi accipitur et manducatur in coena
fides est. It is a remarkable fact that the Anghcan confessions
have decidedly a more Zuingliau tone than those of any other of
the Keformed churches. This may in part be accounted for by
the consideration that they were not irenical, drawn up to con-
ciliate Lutherans.

In the Scotch Con. of 1560, the language of Calvin is in a
' Quick's Synodicoii, I., p. 92. ' Quick's Synodicon, I., p. 104.



ON THE LOKD's SUPPER. 351

great measure retained. The only sentence that need be quoted
is the following : " We confess that believers in the right use of
the Lord's Supper thus eat the body and drink the blood of Jesus
Christ, and we firmly believe that he dwells in them, and they
in him, nay, that they thus become flesh of his flesh and bone of
his bones. For as the eternal deity gives life and immortality to
the flesh of Christ, so also his flesh and blood, when eaten and
■drunk by us, confer on us the same prerogatives."

In the Belgic Conf. adopted in 1563, the following words
occur, Art. 35. Christus testificatur, nos, quam vere hoc sacra-
mentum manibus nostris accipimus et tenemus, illudque ore
comedimus et bibimus (unde et postmodum vita nostra sustenta-
tur), tam vere etiam nos fide (qu£e anim« et manus et os est) in
animis nostris recipere verum corpus et verum sanguinem Christi,
unici servatoris nostri ad vitam nostram spiritualem. Nequa-
quam erraverimus dicentes, id quod comeditur esse proprium et
naturale corpus Christi, idque quod bibitur proprium esse san-
gujnem. At manducandi modus talis est, ut non fiat ore corpo-
ris, sed spiritu per fidem. It is not necessary to quote from
other Confessions language of the same import with that already
quoted. All the symbols above cited contain more or less dis-
tinctly the impress of Calvin's views, if we except perhaps those
of the church of England, which as before remarked, are more
of a Zuinglian cast. We come now to

TJiose symbols in loliich both Zuinglians and Calvinists agreed.

Perhaps the most interesting and important doctrine of this
class is the Consensus Tigurinus. Switzerland had long been
greatly distracted by the controversy on the sacraments. After
much persuasion on the part of his friends, Calvin was induced
to go to Zurich and to hold a conference with Bullinger, in 1549.
The result of that conference was the adoption of the articles
previously drawn up by Calvin himself, and afterwards published
with the title : " Consentio mutua in re sacramentaria Ministro-
rum Tigurinse Ecclcsiae, et D. Joannis Calvini Ministri Geneven-
sis Ecclesias, jam nunc ab ipsis authoribus edita." We have,
therefore, in this document the well considered and solemnly an-
nounced agreement of the Zuinglian and Calvinistic portions of
the Reformed church. This Consensus was soon made the object
of vehement attack by the Lutherans. Four years after its date,



352 DOCTEINE OF THE REF0S3IED CHURCH

Calvin felt himself called upon to puWish an explanation and de-
fence of it. In his letter, prefixed to that defence, and addressed
to the ministers of Zurich and other Swiss cliurches, he says :
The Lutherans now see that those whom they denounce as Sacra-
mentarians agree, and then adds, Nee vero si superstites hodie
essent optimi et eximii Christi servi Zuinglius et (Ecolampadius,
verhulum in ea sententia mutarent/

This Consensus embraces twenty-six articles, all relating tu
the sacraments, and especially to the Lord's Supper. In these
articles there is not a word, which any of the evangelical
churches of the present day would desire to alter. We should
like to print them all as the confessions of our own faith on this
whole subject. The first four are introductory. The fifth de-
clares the necessity of our union with Christ, in order that we
should partake of his life. The sixth declares that union to be
spiritual, arising from the indwelling of the Spirit. The seventh
sets forth the design of the sacraments. They are declared to be
badges of profession and Christian communion, excitements, to
thanksgiving and to the exercise of faith, and to holy life, and
syngraphce binding us thereto. Their principal end, however,
is said to be that God therein may testify his grace to us, repre- ■
sent and seal it. For though they signify nothing not announced
in the word, still it is a great thing, that they present, as it were,
living images before our eyes, and which affect our senses and
serve to lead us to the thing signified, while they recall to mind
the death of Christ and all his benefits, that our faith may be
called into exercise ; and besides this, what God had by his
mouth declared, is here confirmed and sealed. The eighth de-
clares that God inwardly works or communicates by his Spirit,
the blessings signified by the sacraments. They are, therefore,
as stated in the ninth article, not naked signs, but as it is there
expressed, " Though we distinguish, as is proper, between the
sign and things signified, we do not disjoin tlie truth (or reality)
from the signs ; since all who by faith embrace the promises
there presented, receive Christ with his spijitual gifts." In the

' Compare with this the language of Dr. Nevin, who endeavors to represent the
doctrine of CaJrin and Zuingle on this subject to be as wide apart as the poles. Ho
even says : '' If Calvinism, the system of Geneva, necessarily runs here into Zuin-
glianism, we may, indeed, well despair of the whole interest. For most assuredly no
church can stand, that is found to be constitutionally unsacrame.ital." P. 74.



ox THE loed's supper. 353

tenth article, it is, therefore said, v/e should look at the promise
rather than the signs. The signs without Christ, are declared in
the eleventh article, to be inanes larvce. The articles i'rom the
twelfth to the seventeenth, both included, relate to the efficacy
of the sacraments. It is denied that they have any virtue in
themselves, all their efficacy is referred to the attending power
of God, which is exercised only in the elect, and therefore, it is
added, the doctrine that the sacraments confer grace on all who
do not oppose the obstacle of mortal sin, falls to the ground.
In the eighteenth it is stated that the reason why the sacra-
ments fail to benefit unbelievers is to be referred to their want
of faith, and neither to the sacraments, which always retain their
integrity, nor to God. The nineteenth teaches that the bless-
ings received in the sacraments, are by believers received on other
occasions. And moreover, as is said in the twentieth, the benefit
received from the sacraments, is not to be restricted to the time
of administration, but may follow long afterwards. Those
baptized in infancy a,re often regenerated in youth or even old
age. In the twenty-first art. all local presence of Christ in the
Eucharist is denied. As a man he is in heaven, and is present
only to the mind and faith. The twenty-second states that the
words of institution, " This is my body," must be understood
figuratively. In the twenty-third, it is taught that manducation
of Christ's body implies no mixture or transfusion of substance,
but the derivation of life from his body and blood as a sacrifice.
The last three articles are directed against transubstantiation,
the Lutheran doctrine of the local presence, and the adoration of
the host.

The force of this document, as an exhibition of the true doc-
trine of the Eeformed church on this whole subject, is greatly
impaired in this meagre outline. We shall, however, have occa-
sion to refer to its more explicit statements, in the progress of
this investigation. The next witness to be cited is the i/eicZeZ-
herg Catechism. It was prepared at the command of Frederick
III,, elector of the Palatinate, by Caspar Olevian, a disciple of
Calvin, and Ursinus, a friend of Melancthon, and adojjted by a
general synod held at Heidelberg in 1563. This catechism hav-
ing symbolical authority, both in the German and Dutch Keformed
churches, is entitled to peculiar respect as a witness to the faith
of the Reformed church.

23 •



354 DOCTRINE OF THE REFORMED CHURCH

In answer to the 66th question the sacraments are declared to
"be "sacred visible signs and seals, instituted by God, that through
them he may more clearly present and seal the promise of the
gospel, viz. : that he, for the sake of the one oflering of Christ
accomplished on the cross, grants to us the forgiveness of sin and
eternal life." '

In answer to the following question, it is stated, that the design
both of the word and sacraments is to direct our faith to the
sacrifice of Christ on the cross as the only ground of our faith.

Question 75. " How art thou reminded and assured, in the
holy supper, that thou art a partaker of the one offering of
Christ on the cross, and of all his benefits ? Ans. Thus, that
Christ has commanded me to eat of this broken bread, and to
drink of this cup, and has promised, first, that as surely as I see
with my eyes the bread of the Lord broken for me, and the cup
handed to me, so surely v/as his body broken and ofi'ered for me
on the cross, and his blood shed for me. Second, that he himself
as certainly feeds and nourishes my soul to eternal life with his
crucified body, and shed blood, as I receive from the hand of the
minister, and after a coporal manner partake of the bread and
wine, which are given as the symbols of the body and blood of
Christ."

Ques. 76. " What is if then to eat the crucified hod,y and
drink the shed blood of Christ ?

"Ans. It is not only to embrace with a believing heart all the
sufferings and death of Christ, and thereby to obtain the pardon
of sin and eternal life ; but also, besides that, to become more
and more united to his sacred body, by the Holy Ghost ' who
dwells both in Christ and in us ; so that we, though Christ is in
heaven and we on earth, are, notwithstanding, flesh of his flesh
and bone of his bones ; and that we live and are governed for-
ever by one Spirit, as the members of the same body are by one
soul."

In the answer to the 78th, it is said that as in baptism the
water is not changed into the blood of Christ, nor is itself the
ablution of sin, but the symbol and pledge of those things, so in

' There is some slight variation as to phraseology, between the German and Latin
copies of this catechism. We unfortunately have not the authorized English version
at hand, and therefore are obliged to translate, except where Dr. Nevin has given
the English version, from the originals.



ON THE lord's SUPPER. 355

the Lord's Supper the bread is not the body of Christ, though
from the nature of a sacrament and usage of Scripture, it is so
called.

In answer to Ques. 79th, it is said that the bread is called
Christ's body, &c., " Not only thereby to teach us that as bread
and wine support this temporal life, so his crucified body and shed
blood are the true meat and drink whereby our souls are fed unto
eternal life ; but more esj^ecially, by these visible signs and
pledges, to assure us, that we are as really partakers of his true
body and blood (by the operation of the Holy Ghost), as we re-
ceive by the mouths of our bodies these holy signs in remembrance
of him ; and that all his sufferings and obedience are as certainly
ours as if we had in our own persons suffered and made satisfac-
tion for our sins to Grod."

In the following question. What is the difference between the
Lord's Supper and the Popish mass ? The first clause of the
answer is : " The supj^er of the Lord testifies to us that we have
perfect remission of all our sins, on account of the one sacrifice
of Christ which he himself made once for all upon the cross ; and
also that we, by the Holy Spirit, are united to Christ, who accord-
ing to his human nature is only in heaven at the right hand of
the Father, and is there to be adored by us."

There is nothing in this account of the Lord's Supper to which
exception would even now be taken. There is something in the
answer to the 75th question, which seems evidently intended to
cover Calvin's peculiar opinion of a miraculous influence from
the body of Christ in heaven, but it is also as evidently intended
to cover Bullinger's view on that subject. It is language to
which Zuingie and (Ecolampadius, as Calvin says on another
occasion, would not object. This is the more remarkable when