§ 111. The Eucharistic Theories compared. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin.
§ 111. The Eucharistic Theories compared. Luther, Zwingli, Calvin.
We now present, for the sake of clearness, though at the risk of some repetition, the three Protestant theories on the real presence, with the chief arguments.
Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin agree, negatively, in opposition to the dogma of transubstantiation, the sacrifice of the mass, and the withdrawal of the cup from the laity; positively, in these essential points: the divine institution and perpetuity of the Lord’s Supper, the spiritual presence of Christ, the commemorative character of the ordinance as the celebration of Christ’s atoning sacrifice, its importance as the highest act of worship and communion with Christ, and its special blessing to all who worthily partake of it.
They differ on three points,—the mode of Christ’s presence (whether corporal, or spiritual); the organ of receiving his body and blood (whether by the mouth, or by faith); and the extent of this reception (whether by all, or only by believers). The last point has no practical religious value, though it follows from the first, and stands or falls with it. The difference is logical rather than religious. The Lord’s Supper was never intended for unbelievers. Paul in speaking of "unworthily" receiving the sacrament (1 Cor. 11:27) does not mean theoretical unbelief, but moral unworthiness, irreverence of spirit and manner.
I. The Lutheran Theory teaches a real and substantial presence of the very body and blood of Christ, which was born of the Virgin Mary, and suffered on the cross, in, with, and under (in, sub, cum) the elements of bread and wine, and the oral manducation of both substances by all commun-icants, unworthy and unbelieving, as well as worthy and believing, though with opposite effects. The simultaneous co-existence or conjunction of the two substances is not a local inclusion of one substance in the other (impanation), nor a mixture or fusing-together of the two substances into one; nor is it permanent, but ceases with the sacramental action. It is described as a sacramental, supernatural, incomprehensible union.922 The earthly elements remain unchanged and distinct in their substance and power, but they become the divinely appointed media for communicating the heavenly substance of the body and blood of Christ. They become so, not by priestly consecration, as in the doctrine of trans-substantiation, but by the power and Word of God. The eating of the body is by the mouth, indeed, yet is not Caper-naitic, and differs from the eating of ordinary food.923 The object and use of the Lord’s Supper is chiefly the assurance of the forgiveness of sins, to the comfort of the believer.924 This is the scholastic statement of the doctrine, as given by the framers of the Formula Concordiae, and the Lutheran scholastics of the seventeenth century.
The confessional deliverances of the Lutheran Church on the Lord’s Supper are as follows: —
the augsburg confession of 1530.
"ART. X. Of the Supper of the Lord they teach that the [true] body and blood of Christ925 are truly present [under the form of bread and wine],926 and are [there]927 communicated to [and received by]928 those that eat929 in the Lord’s Supper. And they disapprove of those that teach otherwise."930
the altered augsburg confession of 1540.
Concerning the Supper of the Lord they teach that with bread and wine are truly exhibited931 the body and blood of Christ to those that eat in the Lord’s Supper.932
articles of smalkald (by luther), 1537.
"Of this Sacrament of the Altar, we hold that the bread and wine in the Supper are the true body and blood of Christ, and are given to, and re-ceived by, not only the pious, but also to and by the impious Christians."
In the same articles Luther denounces transubstantiation as a "subtle sophistry (subtilitas sophistica)," and the Romish mass as "the greatest and most terrible abomination (maxima et horrenda abominatio)." Pars III., Art. VI., in Mueller’s ed., pp. 301, 320.
formula of concord (1577). epitome, art. vii. affirmative.
"I. We believe, teach, and confess that in the Lord’s Supper the body and blood of Christ are truly and substantially present, and that they are truly distributed and taken together with the bread and wine.
"II. We believe, teach, and confess that the words of the Testament of Christ are not to be understood otherwise than as the words themselves literally sound, so that the bread does not signify the absent body of Christ, and the wine the absent blood of Christ, but that on account of the sacra-mental union the bread and wine are truly the body and blood of Christ.
"III. Moreover, as concerns the consecration, we believe, teach, and confess that no human work, nor any utterance of the minister of the Church, is the cause of the presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Supper, but that this is to be attributed to the omnipotent power of our Lord Jesus Christ alone.
"IV. Nevertheless, we believe, teach, and confess, by unanimous con-sent, that in the use of the Lord’s Supper the words of the institution of Christ are by no means to be omitted, but are to be publicly recited, as it is written (1 Cor. 10:16), ’The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?’ etc. And this benediction takes place by the recitation of the words of Christ.
"V. Now the foundations on which we rest in this controversy with the Sacramentarians are the following, which, moreover, Dr. Luther has laid down in his Larger Confession concerning the Supper of the Lord: —
"The first foundation is an article of our Christian faith, to wit: Jesus Christ is true, essential, natural, perfect God and man in unity of person, inseparable and undivided.
"Secondly: That the right hand of God is everywhere; and that Christ, in respect of his humanity, is truly and in very deed seated thereat, and therefore as present governs, and has in his hand and under his feet, as the Scripture saith (Eph. 1:22), all things which are in heaven and on earth. At this right hand of God no other man, nor even any angel, but the Son of Mary alone, is seated, whence also he is able to effect those things which we have said.
"Thirdly: That the Word of God is not false or deceiving.
"Fourthly: That God knows and has in his power various modes of being in any place, and is not confined to that single one which philosophers are wont to call local or circumscribed.
"VI. We believe, teach, and confess that the body and blood of Christ are taken with the bread and wine, not only spiritually through faith, but also by the mouth, nevertheless not Capernaitically, but after a spiritual and heavenly manner, by reason of the sacramental union. For to this the words of Christ clearly bear witness, in which he enjoins us to take, to eat to drink; and that this was done by the Apostles the Scripture makes mention, saying (Mark 14:23), ’And they all drank of it.’ And Paul says, ’The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ;’ that is, he that eats this bread eats the body of Christ.
"To the same, with great consent, do the chief of the most ancient doctors of the church—Chrysostom, Cyprian, Leo the First, Gregory, Ambrose, Augustin—bear witness.
"VII. We believe, teach, and confess that not only true believers in Christ, and such as worthily approach the Supper of the Lord, but also the unworthy and unbelieving receive the true body and blood of Christ; in such wise, nevertheless, that they derive thence neither consolation nor life, but rather so as that receiving turns to their judgment and condemnation, unless they be converted, and repent (1 Cor. 11:27, 29).
"For although they repel from them Christ as a Saviour, nevertheless they are compelled, though extremely unwilling, to admit him as a stem Judge. And he no less present exercises his judgment over these impenitent guests than as present he works consolation and life in the hearts of true believers and worthy guests.
"VIII. We believe, teach, and confess that there is one kind only of unworthy guests: they are those only who do not believe. Of these it is written (John 3:18), ’He that believeth not is condemned already.’ And this judgment is enhanced and aggravated by an unworthy use of the holy Supper (1 Cor. 11:29).
"IX. We believe, teach, and confess that no true believer, so long as he retains a living faith, receives the holy Supper of the Lord unto condemnation, however much weakness of faith he may labor under. For the Lord’s Supper has been chiefly instituted for the sake of the weak in faith, who nevertheless are penitent, that from it they may derive true consolation and a strengthening of their weak faith (Matt. 9:12; 11:5, 28).
We believe, teach, and confess that the whole worthiness of the guests at this heavenly Supper consists alone in the most holy obedience and most perfect merit of Christ. And this we apply to ourselves by true faith, and are rendered certain of the application of this merit, and are confirmed in our minds by the sacrament. But in no way does that worthiness depend upon our virtues, or upon our inward or outward preparations."
The three great arguments for the Lutheran theory are the words of institution taken in their literal sense, the ubiquity of Christ’s body, and the prevailing faith of the church before the Reformation.
1. As to the literal interpretation, it cannot be carried out, and is surrendered, as inconsistent with the context and the surroundings, by nearly all modern exegetes.933
2. The ubiquity of Christ’s body involves an important element of truth, but is a dogmatic hypothesis without sufficient Scripture warrant, and cannot well be reconciled with the fact of the ascension, or with the nature of a body, unless it be resolved into a mere potential or dynamic presence which makes it possible for Christ to make his divine-human power and influence felt wherever he pleases.934
The illustrations which Luther uses—as the sun shining everywhere, the voice resounding in a thousand ears and hearts, the eye seeing different objects at once—all lead to a dynamic presence, which Calvin fully admits.
3. The historic argument might prove too much (for transubstantiation and the sacrifice of the mass), unless we are satisfied with the substance of truth which underlies the imperfect human theories and formulas. The real presence of Christ with his people is indeed a most precious truth, which can never be surrendered. It is the very life of the church and the comfort and strength of believers from day to day. He promised the perpetual presence not only of his spirit or influence, but of his theanthropic person:, I am with you alway." It is impossible to make an abstract separation of the divine and human in the God-man. He is the Head of the church, his body, and "filleth all in all." Nor can the church give up the other important truth that Christ is the bread of life, and nourishes, in a spiritual and heavenly manner, the soul of the believer which is vitally united to him as the branch is to the vine. This truth is symbolized in the miraculous feeding of the multitude, and set forth in the mysterious discourse of the sixth chapter of John.
As far as Luther contended for these truths, he was right against the Sacramentarians, though he erred in the form of conception and statement. His view is mystical but profound; Zwingli’s view is clear but superficial. The former commends itself to devout feeling, the latter to the sober understanding and intellect.
II. The Zwinglian Theory.—The Lord’s Supper is a solemn commemoration of the atoning death of Christ, according to his own command: "Do this in remembrance of me," and the words of Paul: "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye proclaim the Lord’s death till he come."935 Zwingli emphasized this primitive character of the institution as a gift of God to man, in opposition to the Roman mass as a work or offering which man makes to God.936 He compares the sacrament to a wedding-ring which seals the marriage union between Christ and the believer. He denied the corporal presence, because Christ ascended to heaven, and because a body cannot be present in more than one place at once, also because two substances cannot occupy the same space at the same time; but he admitted his spiritual presence, for Christ is eternal God, and his death is forever fruitful and efficacious.937 He denied the corporal eating as Capernaitic and useless, but he admitted a spiritual participation in the crucified body and blood by faith. Christ is both "host and feast" in the holy communion.
His last word on the subject of the eucharist (in the Confession to King Francis I.) is this: —
"We believe that Christ is truly present in the Lord’s Supper; yea, that there is no communion without such presence .... We believe that the true body of Christ is eaten in the communion, not in a gross and carnal manner, but in a sacramental and spiritual manner by the religious, believing and pious heart."938
This passage comes so near the Calvinistic view that it can hardly be distinguished from it. Calvin did injustice to Zwingli, when once in a confidential letter he called his earlier eucharistic doctrine, profane."939 But Zwingli in his polemic writings laid so much stress upon the absence of Christ’s body, that the positive truth of His spiritual presence was not sufficiently emphasized. Undoubtedly the Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of the historic Christ of the past, but it is also a vital communion with the ever-living Christ who is both in heaven and in his church on earth.
Zwingli’s theory did not pass into any of the leading Reformed confessions; but it was adopted by the Arminians, Socinians, Unitarians, and Rationalists, and obtained for a time a wide currency in all Protestant churches, even the Lutheran. But the Rationalists deny what Zwingli strongly believed, the divinity of Christ, and thus deprive the Lord’s Supper of its deeper significance and power.
III. The Calvinistic Theory.—Calvin was the greatest divine and best writer among the Reformers, and his "Institutes of the Christian Religion" have almost the same importance for Reformed theology as the "Summa" of Thomas Aquinas for that of the Roman Church. He organized the ideas of the Reformation into a clear, compact system, with the freshness and depth of genius, the convincing power of logic, and a complete mastery of the Latin and French languages.940
His theory of the Lord’s Supper occupies a via media between Luther and Zwingli; he combines the realism of the one with the spiritualism of the other, and saves the substance for which Luther contended, but avoids the objectionable form. He rests on the exegesis of Zwingli. He accepts the symbolical meaning of the words of institution; he rejects the corporal presence, the oral manducation, the participation of the body and blood by unbelievers, and the ubiquity of Christ’s body. But at the same time he strongly asserts a spiritual real presence, and a spiritual real participation of Christ’s body and blood by faith. While Zwingli dwelt chiefly on the negative, he emphasizes the positive, element. While the mouth receives the visible signs of bread and wine, the soul receives by faith, and by faith alone, the things signified and sealed thereby; that is, the body and blood of Christ with the benefit of his atoning death and the virtue of his immortal life. He combines the crucified Christ with the glorified Christ, and brings the believer into contact with the whole Christ. He lays great stress on the agency of the Holy Spirit in the ordinance, which was overlooked by Luther and Zwingli, but which appears in the ancient liturgies in the invocation of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who unites in a supernatural manner what is separated in space, and conveys to the believing communicant the life-giving virtue of the flesh of Christ now glorified in heaven.941 When Calvin requires the communicant to ascend to heaven to feed on Christ there, he does, of course, not mean a locomotion, but that devotional sursum corda of the ancient liturgies, which is necessary in every act of worship, and is effected by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Calvin discussed the eucharistic question repeatedly and fully in his Institutes and in separate tracts. I select a few extracts from his Institutes (Book IV., ch. XVII. 10 sqq.), which contain his first and last thoughts on the subject.
(10) "The sum is, that the flesh and blood of Christ feed our souls just as bread and wine maintain and support our corporal life. For there would be no aptitude in the sign, did not our souls find their nourishment in Christ. This could not be, did not Christ truly form one with us, and refresh us by the eating of his flesh, and the drinking of his blood. But though it seems an incredible thing that the flesh of Christ, while at such a distance from us in respect of place, should be food to us, let us remember how far the secret virtue of the Holy Spirit surpasses all our conceptions, and how foolish it is to wish to measure its immensity by our feeble capacity. Therefore, what our mind does not comprehend, let faith conceive; viz., that the Spirit truly unites things separated by space. That sacred communion of flesh and blood by which Christ transfuses his life into us, just as if it penetrated our bones and marrow, he testifies and seals in the Supper, and that not by presenting a vain or empty sign, but by there exerting an efficacy of the Spirit by which he fulfils what he promises. And truly the thing there signified he exhibits and offers to all who sit down at that spiritual feast, although it is beneficially received by believers only who receive this great benefit with true faith and heartfelt gratitude." ...
"(18) ... Though Christ withdrew his flesh from us, and with his body ascended to heaven, he sits at the right hand of the Father; that is, he reigns in power and majesty, and the glory of the Father. This kingdom is not limited by any intervals of space, nor circumscribed by any dimensions. Christ can exert his energy wherever he pleases, in earth and heaven, can manifest his presence by the exercise of his power, can always be present with his people, breathing into them his own life, can live in them, sustain, confirm, and invigorate them, and preserve them safe, just as if he were with them in the body, in fine, can feed them with his own body, communion with which he transfuses into them. After this manner, the body and blood of Christ are exhibited to us in the sacrament.
"(19) The presence of Christ in the Supper we must hold to be such as neither affixes him to the element of bread, nor encloses him in bread, nor circumscribes him in any way (this would obviously detract from his celestial glory); and it must, moreover, be such as neither divests him of his just dimensions, nor dissevers him by differences of place, nor assigns to him a body of boundless dimensions, diffused through heaven and earth. All these things are clearly repugnant to his true human nature. Let us never allow ourselves to lose sight of the two restrictions. First, let there be nothing derogatory to the heavenly glory of Christ. This happens whenever he is brought under the corruptible elements of this world, or is affixed to any earthly creatures. Secondly, let no property be assigned to his body inconsistent with his human nature. This is done when it is either said to be infinite, or made to occupy a variety of places at the same time.
"But when these absurdities are discarded, I willingly admit any thing which helps to express the true and substantial communication of the body and blood of the Lord, as exhibited to believers under the sacred symbols of the Supper, understanding that they are received, not by the imagination or intellect merely, but are enjoyed in reality as the food of eternal life."
Calvin’s theory was not disapproved by Luther, who knew it, was substantially approved by Melanchthon in 1540, and adopted by all the leading Reformed Confessions of faith. We select a few specimens from one of the earliest and from the latest Calvinistic standards: —
heidelberg catechism (1563).
Question 76. What is it to eat the crucified body, and drink the shed blood, of Christ?
Answer. It is not only to embrace with a believing heart all the sufferings and death of Christ, and thereby to obtain the forgiveness of sins and life eternal; but moreover also, to be so united more and more to his sacred body by the Holy Ghost, who dwells both in Christ and in us, that although He is in heaven, and we on the earth, we are, nevertheless flesh of His flesh and bone of His bones, and live and are governed forever by one Spirit, as members of the same body are by one soul.
Q. 78. Do, then, the bread and wine become the real body and blood of Christ?
A. No: but as the water, in baptism, is not changed into the blood of Christ, nor becomes the washing away of sins itself, being only the divine token and assurance thereof; so also, in the Lord’s Supper, the sacred bread does not become the body of Christ itself, though agreeably to the nature and usage of sacraments it is called the body of Christ.
Q. 79. Why, then, doth Christ call the bread His body, and the cup His blood, or the New Testament in His blood; and St. Paul, the communion of the body and blood of Christ?
A. Christ speaks thus not without great cause; namely, not only to teach us thereby, that, like as bread and wine sustain this temporal life, so also His crucified body and shed blood are the true meat and drink of our souls unto life eternal; but much more, by this visible sign and pledge to assure us that we are as really partakers of His true body and blood, through the working of the Holy Ghost, as we receive by the mouth of the body these holy tokens in remembrance of Him; and that all His sufferings and obedience are as certainly our own, as if we had ourselves suffered and done all in our own persons.
westminster confession of faith (1647).
Chapter XXIX., section VII.
Worthy receivers, outwardly partaking of the visible elements in this sacrament, do then also inwardly by faith, really and indeed, yet not carnally and corporally, but spiritually, receive and feed upon Christ crucified, and all benefits of his death: the body and blood of Christ being then not corporally or carnally in, with, or under the bread and wine; yet as really, but spiritually, present to the faith of believers in that ordinance, as the elements themselves are, to the outward senses.
westminster larger catechism (1647).
Question 170. How do they that worthily communicate in the Lord’s Supper feed upon the body and blood of Christ therein?
Answer. As the body and blood of Christ are not corporally or carnally present in, with, or under the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper; and yet are spiritually present to the faith of the receiver, no less truly and really than the elements themselves are to their outward senses; so they that worthily communicate in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, do therein feed upon the body and blood of Christ, not after a corporal or carnal, but in a spiritual manner; yet truly and really, while by faith they receive and apply unto themselves Christ crucified, and all the benefits of his death.
Claus Harms, a typical Lutheran of the nineteenth century, published in 1817 Ninety-five Theses against Rationalism in the Lutheran Church, one of which reads thus (I quote from memory): "The Catholic Church is a glorious church; for it is built upon the Sacrament. The Reformed Church is a glorious church; for it is built upon the Word. But more glorious than either is the Lutheran Church; for it is built upon both the Word and the Sacrament."
"Vom Anbeten des Sacraments des heil. Leichnams Christi" (1523), addressed to the Bohemians (Erl. ed. XXVIII. 389, 404, 410); Kurzes Bekenntniss vom heil. Sacrament (1544), Erl. ed. XXXII. 420 sqq. In a letter to Buchholzer in Berlin, Dec. 4, 1539 (De Wette, V. 236), Luther reports that the elevation was given up at Wittenberg. But this must refer to the castle church, for in the parish church it continued till June 25, 1542 when Bugenhagen abolished it. See Köstlin, II. 588 and 683.
See above § 45, p. 218, and the two editions of the Taufbüchlein in the Erl. ed. XXII. 157, 291. In both editions dipping is prescribed ("Da nehme er das Kind und tauche es in die Taufe"), and no mention is made of any other mode. The Reformed churches objected to the retention of exorcism as a species of superstition. The first English liturgy of Edward VI. (who was baptized by immersion) prescribes trine-immersion (dipping); the second liturgy of 1552 does the same, but gives (for the first time in England) permission to substitute pouring when the child is weak.
He calls it in a letter to Spalatin, Feb. 5, 1528 (De Wette, III. 279), "epistolam tumultuarie scriptam." He alludes to it in several other letters of the same year (III. 250, 253, 263).
The passage is quoted in § 11, p. 60.
Letter to Link, May 12, 1528 (De Wette, III. 311): "Constantiam Anabaptistarum morientium arbitror similem esse illi, qua Augustinus celebrat Donatistas et Josephus Judaeos in vastata Jerusalem, et multa talia furorem esse Satanae non est dubium, praesertim ubi sic moriuntur cum blasphemia sacramenti. Sancti martyres, ut noster Leonardus Kaiser [a Lutheran of Bavaria who was beheaded Aug. 18, 1527] cum timore et humilitate magnaque animi erga hostes lenitatemoriuntur: illi vero quasi hostium taedio et indignatione pertinaciam suam augere, et sic mori videntur."
See above, p. 529 sq.
Schaff, Church History, vol. IV. 543-572; Creeds of Christendom, II 130-139.
Petrus de Alliaco (1350-1420) was one of the leaders of the disciplinary reform movement during the papal schism, and in the councils of Pisa and Constance, the teacher of Gerson and Nicolaus de Clemanges. He gives his views on consubstantiation and transubstantiation, which resemble those of Occam in his Quaestiones super libros Sententiarum (Argent. 1490), Lib. IV. Qu. VI. See Steitz, in his learned art. on transubstantiation, in Herzog2 XV. 831; and Tschackert, Peter von Ailli, Gotha, 1877.
"Esse verum panem verumque vinum, in quibus Christi vera caro verusque sanguis non aliter nec minus sit, quam illi sub accidentibus suis ponunt."
"Das bekenne ich," he wrote, Dec. 15, 1524, to the Christians in Strassburg (De Wette, II. 577), "wo D. Carlstadt oder jemand anders vor fünf Jahren mich hätte mögen berichten, dass im Sacrament nichts denn Brot und Wein wäre, der hätte mir einen grossen Dienst gethan. Ich habe wohl so harte Anfechtungen da erlitten und mich gerungen und gewunden, dass ich gern heraus gewesen wäre, weil ich wohl sah, dass ich damit dem Papstthum hätte den grössten Puff können geben. Ich hab auch zween gehabt, die geschickter davon zu mir geschrieben haben denn D. Carlstadt, und nicht also die Worte gemartert nach eigenem Dünken. Aber ich bin gefangen, kann nicht heraus: der Text ist zu gewaltig da, und will sich mit Worten nicht lassen ans dem Sinn reissen." The two persons alluded to are probably, as Ullmann conjectures, Wessel or Rhodius and Honius, who sent a letter to Luther with Wessel’s books.
In Walch, XIX. 1593 sqq.; Erl. ed., XXVIII. 389 sqq. He says in the beginning: "We Germans believe that Christ is verily with his flesh and blood in the sacrament, as he was born of Mary, and hung on the holy cross." He rejects the figurative interpretation because it might deprive other passages of their force.
Ullmann, Reformatoren vor der Reformation (1842), vol. II. 560-583. Melanchthon derived the controversy from Erasmus. "Tota illa tragoedia peri; deivpnou kuriakou' ab ipso [Erasmo] nata videri potest." Letter to Camerarius, July 26, 1529 ("Corpus Ref.," I. 1083). He was informed by Zwingli in Marburg: "se ex Erasmi scriptis primum hausisse opinionem suam de coena Domini." Letter to Acquila, Oct. 12, 1529 (IV. 970). Erasmus spoke very highly of the book of Oecolampadius on the Lord’s Supper, and would have accepted his view if it were not for the consensus of the church: "Mihi non displiceret Oecolampadii sententia, nisi obstaret consensus ecclesiae." Letter to Pirkheimer, June 6, 1526.
Preface to "Farrago rerum, theolog., Wesselo autore," published at Wittenberg, 1521 or 1522. Op., VII. 493 sqq. See Ullmann, l.c. p. 564 sq. This edition, however, excludes the tract De coena,—a proof that Luther did not altogether like it.
See §§ 66 and 68, pp. 378 sqq. and 387. Carlstadt is the real author of the eucharistic controversy, not Luther, as Hospinian and Hottinger assumed. But Luther and Zwingli were the chief actors in it. Carlstadt’s view passed out of sight, when the Swiss view was brought out.
This is the reason why Luther called Carlstadt and his sympathizers enthusiasts and fanatics. Schwarmgeister or Schwärmer.
His eucharistic tracts in crude and unreadable German are printed in Walch, XX. 138-158, 378-409, 2852-2929. Comp., also, vol. XV. 2414-2502. Carlstadt’s earlier eucharistic writings of 1521 strongly defend the corporal presence, and even the adoration of bread and wine, because they were the body and blood of Christ. Planck, l.c., II. 210 sqq., gives a full exposition of his earlier and later views. See, also, M. Göbel on Carlstadt’s Abendmahlslehre in the "Studien und Kritiken," 1842.
Letter to Briesmann, Jan. 11, 1525, De Wette, II. 612.
KöstIin (M. L., I. 726): Luther’s Widerwille gegen die menschliche Vernunft im Gebiete des Religiösen und Göttlichen wurde, seit er hier [in Carlstadt’s writings] sie auftreten sah, noch stärker und heftiger als früher. Früher stellte er hin und wieder noch unbefangen die Berufung auf Schriftbeweise und auf helle, evidente, vernünftige Gründe nebeneinander, indem er durch die einen oder anderen widerlegt zu werden begehrte: so ja auch noch beim Wormser Reichstag; solchen Ausdrücken werden wir fortan nicht leicht mehr begegnen."On Luther’s views of the relation of reason to faith, see above, § 9, p. 29 sqq.
The assertion of some biographers of Zwingli, that he already at Glarus became acquainted with the writings of Ratramnus and Wiclif, is without proof. He first intimates his view in a letter to his teacher Wyttenbach, June 15, 1523, but as a secret. (Opera, VII., 1. 297.) He published the letter of Honius, which explains the est to be equivalent to significat, at Zürich in March, 1525, but had received it in 1521 from two learned visitors, Rhodius and Sagarus. See Gieseler, III. 1, 192 sq., note 27 (Germ. ed.); and especially Ullmann, l.c., II. 569 sq.
Opera, III. 589. Walch gives a German translation, XVII. 1881. Planck (II. 261 sqq.) quotes all the important points of this letter.
Opera, III. 145. The section on the Lord’s Supper appeared also in a German translation. Planck, II. 265 sqq.
Ep. ad Budam Episc. Lingonensem, Oct. 2, 1525 (Op., III. 1, 892): "Exortum est novum dogma, in Eucharistia nihil esse praeter panem et vinum. Id ut sit difficillimum refellere, fecit Io. Oecolampadius qui tot testimoniis, tot argumentis eam opinionem communiit, ut seduci posse videantur etiam electi." Planck (II. 274): "Dass Oecolampad in dieser Schrift die ausgebreitetste Gelehrsamkeit und den blendendsten oder treffendsten Scharfsinn zeigte, dies haben selbst seine parteyischsten Gegner niemals geläugnet; aber sie hätten wohl auch gestehen dürfen, dass er die anständigste Bescheidenheit, die würdigste Mässigung und gewiss auch die redlichste Wahrheitsliebe darin gezeigt habe." Dr. Baur also, in his Kirchengesch. IV. 90, speaks very highly of the book of Oecolampadius, and gives a summary of it. Baur and Gieseler, among modern church historians, clearly betray their Swiss sympathy in this controversy, as well as Planck, although all of them are Germans of Lutheran descent.
In German translation, Walch, XX. 641.
Luther had used the same weak argument before, in his Address to the Bohemians (1523), where he says (Erl. ed., XXVIII. 393 sq.): "Wo man Solchen Frevel an einem Ort zuliesse, dass man ohn Grund der Schrift möcht sagen, das Wörtlin ’Ist’ heisst so viel als das Wörtlin ’Bedeut,’ so könnt mans auch an keinem andern Ort wehren, und würde die ganze Schrift zunichte; sintemal keine Ursach wäre, warum solcher Frevel an einem Ort gülte, und nicht an alten Oertern. So möcht man denn sagen, dass Maria ist Jungfrau und Mutter Gottes, sei so viel gesagt, Maria bedeut eine Jungfrau und Gottes Mutter. Item, Christus ist Gott und Mensch, das ist, Christus bedeut Gott und Mensch. Item, Rom. 1:16, Das Evangelium ist Gottes Kraft, das ist, das Evangelium bedeut Gottes Kraft. Siehe, welch ein greulich Wesen wollt hieraus werden."
In his Responsio ad Bugenhagii Epistolam, 1525. Opera, III. 604-614. In German, Walch, XX. 648.
Walch, XX. 667; Planck, II. 281-311. Köstlin and Dorner say that the Syngramma is more Calvinistic than Lutheran.
Even Löscher admits that Zwingli treated Luther with great respect in this book. Comp. Planck, II. 470 sq.; Köstlin, II. 94 sqq.
He informed Stiefel, Jan. 1, 1527 (De Wette, !II. 148), that he was writing a book against the "sacramentarii turbatores." On March 2l, 1527 (III. 165), he informed the preacher Ursinus that he had finished it, and warned him to avoid the "Zwingliana et Oecolampadia sententia" as the very pest, since it was "blasphema in Christi verbum et fidem." The work was translated into German by M. Judex. The closing passages blaming Bucer for accompanying a Latin version of Luther’s Kirchenpostille and Bugenhagen’s commentary on the Psalms with Zwinglian notes are omitted in the Wittenberg edition of Luther’s Works, 1548. Amsdorf complained of this omission, which was traced by some to Melanchthon, by others to Rörer, the corrector of Luft’s printing establishment. See Walch, XX. 53, and Erl. ed., XXX. 15.
Ein Tausendkünstler, a myriad-minded trickster.
He coins new names for the three parties, Tutisten, Tropisten, Deutisten. Erl. ed. XXX. 336.
"Wie man den Kindern pflegt fürzubilden einen Gaukelhimmel, darin ein gülden Stuhl stehe und Christus neben dem Vater sitze in einer Chorkappen und gülden Krone, gleichwie es die Mäler malen. Denn wo sie nicht solche kindische, fleischliche Gedanken hätten von der rechten Hand Gottes, würden sie freilich sich nicht so lassen anfechten den Leib Christi im Abendmahl, oder sich bläün mit dem Spruch Augustini (welchem sie doch sonst nichts gläuben noch keinem andern), Christus muss an einem Ort leiblichsein, aber seine Wahrheit [Gottheit?] is allenthalben." Erl. ed. XXX. 56.
Köstlin, M. Luther, II. 96 and 642; and Luthers Theologie, II. 172 sqq.
Werke, vol. II. Part II. 16-93. Afterwards translated into Latin by Gualter, Opera Lat.II. 374-416.
"Es wirt hie Gottes Wort Oberhand gwünnen, nit ’Schwärmer, Tüfel, Schalk, Ketzer, Mörder, Ufrührer, Glychsner [Gleissner] oder Hüchler, trotz, potz, plotz, blitz, donder [Donner], Po, pu, pa, plump,’ und derglychen Schelt-, Schmütz-, und Schänzelwort."Werke, II. Part II. 29.
Fleischfresser, Blutsäufer, Anthropophagos, Capernaiten, brödern Gott, gebratener Gott. Luther indignantly protests against these opprobrious epithets in his Short Confession, "als wären wir solche tolle, unsinnige, rasende Leute, die Christum im Sacrament localiter hielten, und stückweise zerfrässen, wie der Wolf ein Schaaf, und Blut söffen, wie eine Kuh das Wasser." But in the same breath he pays the opponents back with interest, and calls them "Brotfresser, Weinsäufer, Seelenfresser, Seelenmörder, eingeteufelt, durchteufelt, überteufelt." Erl. ed. XXXII. 402-404.
Water that has been used in washing.
Secunda, justa et aequa responsio ad Mart. Lutherum. The book is mentioned by Hospinian, but must be very rare, since neither Löscher nor Walch nor Planck has seen it.
It was afterwards called the "Great" Confession, to distinguish it from the "Small" Confession which he published sixteen years later (1544). Erl. ed. XXX. 151-373; Walch, XX. 11 18 sqq. In a letter dated March 28, 1528 (De Wette, III. 296), he informs Link that he sent copies of his Confession through John Hofmann to Nürnberg, and speaks with his usual contempt of the Sacramentarians. "Zwingel," he says, "est tam rudis, ut asino queat comparari."
"Es sind dreierlei Weise an einem Ort zu sein, localiter oder circumscriptive, definitive, repletive." He explains this at length (XXX. 207 sqq., Erl. ed.). Local or circumscriptive presence is the presence of wine in the barrel, where the body fills the space; definite presence is incomprehensible, as the presence of an angel or devil in a house or a man, or the passing of Christ through the tomb or through the closed door; repletive presence is the supernatural omnipresence of God which fills all space, and is confined by no space. When Christ walked on earth, he was locally present; after the resurrection, he appeared to the disciples definitively and incomprehensibly; after his ascension to the right hand of God, he is everywhere by virtue of the inseparable union of his humanity with his divinity.
Zwingli made the biting remark that Luther ends this book with the Devil, with whom he had begun his former book.
Zwingli’s answer in German is printed in Werke, II. Part II. 94-223; in Latin, Opera, II. 416-521. The answer of Oecolampadius, in Walch, XX. 1725 sqq.
De Wette, III. 560.
The letters of invitation in Monumenta Hassiaca, tom. III., and Neudecker, Urkunden, p. 95.
The 27th is given by Hedio in his Itinerary, as the day of their arrival, and is accepted by Baum, Erichson, and Köstlin. The usual date is the 29th.
There are still extant ten letters from the Landgrave to Zwingli, and three from Zwingli to the Landgrave, to which should be added four letters from Duke Ulrich of Württemberg to Zwingli. They are published in Kuchenbecker’s Monumenta Hassiaca, in Neudecker’s Urkunden aus der Reformationszeit, and in Zwingli’s Opera, vol. VIII., and are explained and discussed by Max Lenz in three articles quoted in the Literature. The correspondence began during the second Diet of Speier, April 22, 1529 (the date of the first epistle of Philip), and ended Sept. 30, 1531 (the date of Philip’s last letter), eleven days before Zwingli’s death. The letters of the Landgrave, before the Marburg Conference, treat of religion; those after that Conference, chiefly of politics, and are strictly confidential. The prince addresses the theologian as "Dear Master Ulrich," "Dear Zwingli," etc.
Vom Kriege wider die Türken, April, 1529, and Heerpredigt wider den Türken, published it the end of 1529, and in a second edition, January, 1530. In the Erl. ed., XXXI. 31 sqq. and 80 sqq.
R. Rothe calls Luther an old Catholic, not a modern Protestant, though the greatest Reformer and a prophet. (Kirchengesch. II. 334.)
"Du bist ein Schalk und ein Nebler." Melanchthon saluted Hedio in Latin, "I am glad to see you. You are Hedio." Baum, p. 459. Erichson, p. 16.
"Die Versammlung," says Ranke, III. 122, "hatte etwas Erhabenes, Weltbedeutendes."
"Corpus Reform.," I. 1048 sqq. He says: "Vos absentia Christi corpus tanquam in tragoedia repraesentari contenditis. Ego de Christo video exstare promissiones: ’Ego vobiscum usque ad consummationem seculi, et similes, ubi nihil est opus divellere ab humanitate divinitatem; proinde de sentio, hoc sacramentum verae praesentiae testimonium esse quod cum ita sit, sentio in illa coena praesentis corporis koinwnivanesse." He does not enter into an interpretation of the words of institution.
Erichson, p. 20, from Strassburg reports.
"Ich habe mich müde gewaschen," said Luther.
Bucer, in a letter to Blaurer in Constance, Oct. 18, 1529, charged Melanchthon especially with the obstinate refusal of brotherhood, and made him, even more than Luther, responsible for the failure of the Conference, adding, as a reason, that he was unwilling to lose the favor of the Emperor Charles and his brother Ferdinand. Baum, l.c., p. 463; Erichson, p. 45.
"In interiore hypocaustoad cubiculum Principis," says Jonas (Seckendorf, II. 140). It was not the Rittersaal, but the reception-room in the new east wing of the castle, adjoining the bedroom of the Landgrave. The castle has undergone many changes.
Justus Jonas reports ("Corp. Ref.," I. 1097, and Seckendorf, II. 140): "A Francofordia confluxerunt plerique, alii Rhenanis partibus, e Colonia, Argentina, Basilea, Helvetiis, etc., sed non sunt admissi in colloquium."
He added, "Wo nicht, so will ich euch auch über die Schnauze fahren, dass es euch gereuen wird, dazu Ursach gegeben zu haben."
Luther hastily prepared a memorandum for the Landgrave, with quotations from Hilary, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Cyprian, and Irenaeus, to counteract the quotations from Augustin. See Letters, ed. De Wette, III. 508-511.
As Luther reports the words, "Es sind keine Leut auf Erden, mit denen ich lieber wollt’ eins seyn als mit den Wittenbergern." In Zwingli’s dialect, "Es werend kine Lüt uff Erden, mit denen ich lieber wöllt’ ins sin, denn mit den Wittenbergern."
"Ihr habt einen anderen Geist als wir."
He wrote to Agricola, Oct. 12, 1529 ("Corp. Ref.," I. 1108): "Magnopere contenderunt, ut a nobis fratres appellarentur. Vide eorum stultitia! Cum damnent nos, cupiunt tamen a nobis fratres haberi! Nos noluimus eis hac in re assentiri."
De Wette, III. 512 sq.
I add the German original in the antiquated spelling, from the archives in Zürich (as published by Usteri in 1883):—
"Vom Sacrament des leibs und bluts Christi."
"Zum fünnffzehennden Gleuben unnd hallten wir alle | vonn dem Nachtmale unnsers lieben herrn Jhesu Christi | das man bede gestallt nach Innsetzung Christi prauchen soll | das ouch die Messe nicht ein werck ist | do mit einer dem andren tod oder lebendig gnad erlangt. | Das auch das Sacrament desz Altars | sey ein Sacrament desz waren leibs unnd pluts | Jhesu Christi und die geistliche Niessung desselbigen leibs unnd pluts | einem Iden Christen fürnemlich vonn nöthen | deszgleichen der prauch desz Sacraments | wie das wort | von Gott dem allmechtigen gegeben | unnd geordennt sey | damit die schwachen Gewissen | zu gleuben | zubewegen | durch den heyligenn Geist. Unnd wiewol aber wir unns | ob der war leyb unnd plut Christi | leiplich im prot unnd weinsey | diser Zeit nit vergleicht haben | so soll doch ein theyl gegen den anndern Christliche lieb | so fern Idesz gewissen ymmer leiden kan | erzeigen | unnd bede theyl | Gott den Allmechtigen vleyssig bitten | das er unns durch seinen Geist den rechten verstanndt bestetigen well. Amen."
Three copies were signed at Marburg (according to Osiander’s report, who took one to Nürnberg). They were long supposed to be lost, but two have been recovered and published by Heppe and Usteri from the archives at Cassel and Zürich (see Lit.). They agree almost verbatim, except in the order of signatures, the former giving the first place to the Lutheran, the latter to the Reformed names. The small differences are discussed by Usteri. l.c.
In a Latin letter to Reiffenstein, dated Marburg, Oct. 4, 1529; in the "Corp. Reform.," I. 109, and Seckendorf, vol. II. 140.
"In Zwinglio agreste quiddam est et arrogantulum."
"Mira bonitas naturae et clementia."
"Calliditas vulpina."
Comp. the remarks of Ranke, III. 124 sqq. He sees the significance of the Conference in the fact that the two parties, in spite of the theological difference, professed the same evangelical faith.
Erl. ed. XXXII. 396-425; Walch, XX. 2195 sqq. Comp. Luther’s letter to Hungarian ministers, April 21, 1544 (in De Wette, V. 644), where he announces his intention soon to add one more to his many confessions on the real presence. "Cogor post tot confessiones meas adhuc unam facere, quam faciam propediem et novissimam." The Erlangen editor says that the book was not published till 1545; but the titlepage of Hans Luft’s edition bears date "Am Ende: M. D. XLIIII." Melanchthon informed Bullinger of the appearance of the book in August, 1544; and Calvin heard of it in November, 1544.
Schwenkfeld sent Luther some books with appeals to his authority (1543). Luther returned an answer by the messenger, in which he called Schwenkfeld "a nonsensical fool," and asked him to spare him his books, which were "spit out by the Devil." In the Short Confession, he calls him always Stenkefeld (Stinkfield), and ein "verdampt Lügenmand."
See above, p. 606, note.
Dévay is the founder of the Reformed (Calvinistic) church in Hungary. See Revecz in Herzog2, III. 572 sqq.
"Summa," he wrote to Chancellor Brück, who sent him the program, and Amsdorf’s censure, "das Buch ist den Schwärmern nicht allein leidlich, sondern auch tröstlich, vielmehr für ihre Lehre als für unsere; ... und ist alles zu lang und gross Gewäsche, dass ich das Klappermaul, den Butzer, hier wohl spüre." De Wette, V. 709; "Corp. Reform." V. 113, 461.
Comp. above, p. 251. Melanchthon called the "Short Confession" "the most atrocious book of Luther " (atrocissimum Lutheri scriptum, in quo bellum peri; deivpnou kuriakou'instaurat). Letter to Bullinger, Aug. 30, 1544, in "Corp. Ref." v. 475. He agreed with the judgment of Calvin, who wrote to him, June 28, 1545 "I confess that we all owe the greatest thanks to Luther, and I should cheerfully concede to him the highest authority, if he only knew how to control himself. Good God! what jubilee we prepare for the Papists, and what sad example do we set to posterity!"
"Denn ich," he says after a few contemptuous words about Schwenk-feld, "als der ich nu auf der Gruben gehe, will diess Zeugniss und diesen Ruhm mit mir für meins lieben Herrn und Heilands Jesu Christi Richtstuhl bringen, dass ich die Schwärmer und Sacramentsfeinde, Carlstadt, Zwingel, Oecolampad, Stenkefeld und ihre Jünger zu Zürch [Zürich], und wo sie sind, mit ganzem Ernst verdampt und gemieden habe, nach seinem Befehl Tit. 3:10, Einen Ketzer sollt du meiden."
He ascribes to them indiscriminately "ein eingeteufelt, durchteufelt, überteufelt, lästerlich Herz und Lügenmaul" (l.c., p. 404).
He wrote in 1527: "Dem Oecolampad hat Gott viel Gaben geschenkt für [vor]vielen andern, und mir ja herzlich für den Mann leid ist." Erl. ed. XXX. 34.
In an answer to Bullinger, Zwingli’s successor, dated May 14, 1538 (De Wette, V. 112): "Libere enim dicam: Zwinglium, postquam Marpurgi mihi visus et auditus est, virum optimum esse judicavi, sicut et Oecolampadium, ita ut eorum casis me paene exanimaverit ... non quod invideam honori Zwinglii, de cuius morte tantum dolorem concepi," etc.
He had expressed the same doubt twelve years before, but in a milder tone, in a letter to Duke Albrecht of Prussia, April, 1532 (De Wette, IV. 352 sq.): "Sind sie" [Zwingli and his followers who fell on the battle-field at Cappel] "selig worden, wie dasselb Gott nicht unmöglich ist, einen Menschen in seinem letzten Ende, in einem Augenblick, zu bekehren, das gönnen und wünschen wir ihnen von Grund unsers Herzens: aber Märtyrer zu machen, da gehört mehr zu, denn schlecht selig werden." In the Short Confession (p. 411) he seems to count Zwingli and Oecolampadius among "the Devil’s martyrs."
"Solche gottlose Heiden, Socrates, Aristides, ja der gräuliche Numa, der zu Rom alle Abgötterei erst gestiftet."
De Wette, V. 778. The German in Walch, XVII. 2633. It should be remembered that in this letter, dated Jan. 17, 1546, he describes himself as "senex, decrepitus, piger, fessus, frigidus, monoculus," and "infelicissimus omnium hominum"
In a book of March, 1531, against an anonymous layman of Dresden, who charged him with stirring up the Germans to open rebellion against the emperor, he defends this pious cursing as the necessary negative supplement to the positive petitions of the Lord’s Prayer."Ich kann nicht beten," he says, "ich muss dabei fluchen. Soll ich sagen: ’geheiligt werde dein Name,’ muss ich. dabei sagen: ’Verflucht, verdammt, geschändet müsse werden der Papisten Namen, und aller, die deinen Namen lästern.’ Soll ich sagen: ’Dein Reich komme,’ so muss ich dabei sagen:’ Verflucht, verdammt, verstört müsse werden das Papstthum sammt allen Reichen auf Erden, die deinem Reiche zuwider sind. Soll ich sagen: ’Dein Wille geschehe,’ so muss ich dabei sagen: ’Verflucht, verdammt, geschändet und zu nichte müssen werden alle Gedanken und Anschläge der Papisten und aller die wider deinen Willen und Rath streben.’ Wahrlich, so bete ich alle Tage mündlich, und mit dem Herzen ohne Unterlass, und mit mir alle, die an Christum gläuben, und fühle auch wohl, dass es erhört wird. Denn man mussGottes Wunder sehen, wie er diesen schrecklichen Reichstag [the Diet of Augsburg, 1530],und das unmässliche Dräuen und Wüthen der Papisten zu nichte macht, und auch ferner sie gründlich zu nichte machen wird. Dennoch behalte ich ein gut, freundlich, friedlich und christlich Herz gegen jedermann; das wissen auch meine grössten Feinde." (Wider den Meuchler zu Dresden, Walsh, XVI. 2085; Erl. ed. XXV. 108.) Seven years later (1538) he made a similar statement in a tract on the Pope’s program of a Reformation: "Man soll nicht fluchen (das ist wahr); aber beten muss man, dass Gottes Name geheiliget und geehrt werde, des Papsts Name geschädet und verflucht werde, sammt seinem Gott, dem Teufel, dass Gottes Reich komme, des Antichrists Reich zu Grunde gehe. Solchen paternosterlichen Fluch mag man wohl beten, und soll ihn jeder Christ beten, weil die letzten Erzbösewichte am Ende der Welt, Papst, Cardinal, und Bischof so schändlich, böslich, muthwillig unsern lieben Herrn und Gott lästern und dazu spotten." Erl. ed. XXV. 151. When once asked whether we may curse in praying, Luther replied: "Yes; for when I pray, ’Hallowed be thy name,’ I curse Erasmus and all heretics who blaspheme God."Tischreden, vol. LIX. 22. In Marburg, at the dinner-table, he added after that petition, audibly, with a sharp voice, and closing his hands more tightly, "Und dass unser Name für tausend Teufel verdammt werde." Baum, Capito u. Butzer, p. 461.
See above, § 9, p. 31 sq. Köstlin, Luthers Theologie, II. 226, 290.
"Der Sache vom Abendmahl ist viel zu viel gethan."
Hardenberg, a Reformed minister at Bremen ((I. 1574), reported such a conversation as coming from the lips of his friend Melanchthon; but Melanchthon nowhere alludes to it. Stähelin (John Calvin, I. 228 sq.) accepts, Köstlin (M. L., II. 627) rejects the report, as resting on some misunderstanding. So also C. Bertheau in the article "Hardenberg" in Herzog2, V. 596 sq. Comp. Diestelmann, Die letzte Unterredung Luthers mit Melanchthon über den Abendmahlsstreit, Göttingen, l874; Köstlin’s review of Diestelmann, in the "Studien und Kritiken," 1876, p. 385 sqq.; and Walte in the "Jahrb. für prot. Theol.," 1883. It is a pity that the story cannot be sufficiently authenticated, for it certainly expresses what ought to have been Luther’s last confession on the subject.
De Wette, V. 211: "Bene vale et salutabis Dr. Joannem Sturmium et Johannem Calvinum reverenter, quorum libellos cum singulari voluptate legi. Sadoleto optarem, ut crederet Deum esse creatorem hominum etiam extra Italiam." From the last sentence it appears that he read Calvin’s answer to Bishop Sadolet. He is reported to have remarked to Cruciger: "This answer has hand and foot, and I rejoice that God raises such men who will give popery the last blow, and finish the war against Antichrist which I began." Calvin alludes to these salutations in his Secunda Defensio adv. Westphalum (Opera, ed. Reuss, IX. 92).
"Calvinus magnam gratiam iniit."
This letter of Melanchthon is lost, but Calvin alludes to it in a letter to Farel, 1539. Opera, X. 432. The words of Luther are: "Spero ipsum [Calvinum] olim de nobis melius sensurum, sed aequum est a bono ingenio nos aliquid ferre."
Ch. IV. p. 236 sqq. (De Coena Domini), Opera, I. 118 sqq.
Opera Calc., ed. Reuss vol. V. 385-416. On fol. 400 Calvin rejects the "localis corporis Christ praesentia" in the eucharist, but asserts "veram carnis et sanguinis communicationem quae fidelibus in coena exhibetur."
Opera, V. 429-460.
Pezel, Ausführliche Lehre vom Sacramentstreit, Bremen, 1600, p. 137 sqq. See Gieseler, vol. IV. 414 sq. (New York ed. of the E. transl.); Stähelin, Joh. Calvin, I. 227 (with Pezel’s report in full); Müller, Dogmat. Abhandlungen, p. 406; Köstlin, M. L., II. 615 and 687. It is remarkable in this connection that Luther spoke in high terms of the Swabian Syngramma, which was directed against the Swiss theory, but leaves no room for an oral manducation, and comes nearest to the Calvinistic view. Comp. Köstlin, Luthers Theologie, II. 147.
Opera, ed. Reuss, XII. 6 sq., 61 sq. Letters, ed. Constable, I. 416 sq.
Letters, I. 409 sq., Opera, XI. 774.
"Saepe dicere solitus sum: etiam si me diabolum vocaret, me tamen hoc illi honoris habiturum, ut insignem Dei servum agnoscam: qui tamen ut pollet eximiis virtutibus, ita magnis vitiis laboret."
In his book, "Dass die Worte Christi," etc. (1527, Erl. ed. XXX. 11), he calls the Sacramentarians "his tender children, his dear brethren, his golden friends" ("meine zarte Kinder, meine Brüderlein, meine gülden Freundlein "), who would have known nothing of Christ and the gospel if Luther had not previously written ("wo der Luther nicht zuvor hätte geschrieben"). He compared Carlstadt to Absalom and to Judas the traitor. He treated the Swiss not much better, in a letter to his blind admirer Amsdorf, April 14, 1545 (De Wette, V. 728), where he says that they kept silence, while he alone was sustaining the fury of popery (cum solus sudarem in sustinenda furia Papae), and that after the peril was over, they claimed the victory, and reaped the fruit of his labors (tum erampebant triumphatores gloriosi. Sic, sic alius laborat, alius fruitur). Dr. Döllinger (Luther, 1851, p. 29 sq.) derives the bitterness of Luther’s polemics against the Swiss largely from "jealousy and wounded pride," and calls his refutation of their arguments "very weak," and even "dis-honest" ("seine Polemik war, wie immer und gegen jedermann, in hohem Grade unehrlich," p. 31). The charge of dishonesty we cannot admit.
The philosopher Steffens, who was far from uncharitable bigotry, always went from Berlin to Breslau to commune with the orthodox Old Lutherans. Bishop Martensen, one of the profoundest Lutheran divines of the nineteenth century, thought that only in cases of necessity could a Lutheran commune with a Calvinist, who denies what Luther affirms, or evades the mystery of the real presence. Briefwechsel zwischen Martensen und Dorner, Berlin, 1888, vol. I. 262 sq. He changed his view afterwards. I could name eminent living Lutheran divines who would hardly allow even this exception. In America the Lutheran theory had largely given way to the Zwinglian until it was revived by the German Missouri Synod, and found a learned advocate in Dr. Krauth, who went so far as to propose to the General Lutheran Council the so-called "Galesburg rule" (1875): "Lutheran pulpits for Lutheran ministers only, Lutheran altars for Lutheran communicants only."
Zwingli’s Latin is better than his Züridütsch, in which his answers to Luther’s German attacks were written.
In July, 1545 (De Wette, V. 732 sq.), he wrote to his wife from Leipzig that he did not wish to return, and that she should sell house and home, and move "from this Sodoma" to Zulsdorf. He would rather beg his bread than torture his last days by the sight of the disorderly condition of Wittenberg.
These champions of Lutheran orthodoxy were not simply Lutherisch, but verluthert, durchluthert, and überluthert. They fulfilled the prediction of the Reformer: "Adorabunt stercora mea." Their mottoes were,—
"Gottes Wort und Luther’s Lehr
Vergehet nun und nimmermehr;"
and
"Gottes Wort und Luther’s Schrift
Sind des Papst’s und Calvini Gift."
They believed that Luther’s example gave them license to exhaust the vocabulary of abuse, and to violate every rule of courtesy and good taste. They called the Reformed Christians "dogs," and Calvin’s God "a roaring bull (Brüllochse), a blood-thirsty Moloch, and a hellish Behemoth." They charged them with teaching and worshiping the very Devil (den leibhaftigen Teufel), instead of the living God. One of them proved that "the damned Calvinistic heretics hold six hundred and sixty-six tenets [the apocalyptic number!] in common with the Turks." Another wrote a book to show that Zwinglians and Calvinists are no Christians at all, but baptized Jews and Mohammedans. O sancta simplicitas! On the intolerance of those champions of Lutheran orthodoxy, see the historical works of Arnold, Planck, Tholuck (Der Geist der lutherischen Theologen Wittenbergs im 17ten Jahrh., 1852, p. 279 sqq.), and the fifth volume of Janssen.
Die Rechtfertigungslehre wird vielfach zur Einschläferung statt zur Schärfung des Gewissens missbraucht."See Dorner’s letter of May 14, 1871, in the Briefwechsel just quoted, vol. II. 114. Dorner and Martensen, both masters in Christian dogmatics and ethics, kept up a most instructive and interesting correspondence of friendship for more than forty years, on all theological and ecclesiastical questions of the day, even during the grave disturbances between Germany and Denmark on the Schleswig-Holstein controversy, which broke out at last in open war (1864). That correspondence is as remarkable in theology as the Schiller and Goethe correspondence is in poetry and art.
The neat manuscript is still preserved in the library of the Wasserkirche at Zürich, where I examined it in August, 1886.
I have given the substance of several passages scattered through his polemical writings, and collected in the useful edition of Zwingli’s Sämmtliche Schriften by Usteri and Vögelin, vol. II., Part II., p. 571 sqq.
Martin Luther, II. 96 sq.
922 The Lutheran divines of the seventeenth century describe the real presence as sacramentalis, vera et realis, substantiatis, mystica, supernaturalis, et incomprehensibilis, and distinguish it from the praesentia gloriosa, hypostatica, spiritualis, figurativa, and from ajpousiva (absence), ejnousiva (inexistence), sunousiva (co-existence in the sense of coalescence), and metousiva (transubstantiation).
923 The Formula Concordiae (Epitome, Art. VII., Negativa 21) indignantly rejects the notion of dental mastication as a malicious slander of the Sacramentarians. But Luther, in his instruction to Melanchthon, Dec. 17, 1534, gave it as his opinion, from which he would not yield, that "the body of Christ is distributed, eaten, and bitten with the teeth.""Und ist Summa das unsere Meinung, dass wahrhaftig in und mit dem Brod der Leib Christi gessen wird, also dass alles, was das Brod wirket und leidet, der Leib Christi wirke und leide, dass er ausgetheilt, gessen, und mit den Zähnen zubissen [zerbissen]werde." De Wette, IV. 572. Comp. his letter to Jonas, Dec. 16, 1534, vol. IV. 569 sq. Dorner thinks that Luther speaks thus only per synecdochen; but this is excluded by the words, "What the bread does and suffers, that the body of Christ does and suffers." Melanchthon very properly declined to act on this instruction (see his letter to Camerarius, Jan. 10, 1535, in the "Corp. Reform." II. 822), and began about that time to change his view on the real presence. He was confirmed in his change by the renewal of the eucharistic controversy, and his contact with Calvin.
924 The Lutheran theory is generally designated by the convenient term consubstantiation, but Lutheran divines expressly reject it as a misrepresentation. The Zwinglians, with their conception of corporality, could not conceive of a corporal presence without a local presence; while Luther, with his distinction of three kinds of presence and his view of the ubiquity of Christ’s body, could do so. The scholastic term consubstantiatio is not so well defined as transubstantiatio, and may be used in different senses: (1) a mixture of two substances (which nobody ever taught); (2) an inclusion of one substance in another (impanatio); (3) a sacramental co-existence of two substances in their integrity in the same place. In the first two senses the term is not applicable to the Lutheran theory. The "in pane" might favor impanation, but, the sub and cum qualify it. Dr. Steitz, in a learned article on Transubstantiation, in Herzog,1 XVI. 347, and in the second edition, XV. 829, attributes to the Lutheran Church the third view of consubstantiation, but to Luther himself the second; namely, "die sacramentiche Durchdringung der Brotsubstanz von der Substanz des Leibes." To this Luther’s illustration of the fire in the iron might lead. But fire and iron remain distinct. At all events, he denied emphatically a local or physical inclusion. Lutheran divines in America are very sensitive when charged with consubstantiation.
925 The Latin text reads simply: corpus et sanguis Christi; the German text: wahrer Leib und Blut Christi.
926 Vere adsint et distribuantur. The German text adds: unter der Gestalt des Brots und Weins. The variations between the Latin and German texts of the original edition indicate a certain hesitation in Melanchthon’s mind, if not the beginning of a change, which was completed in the altered confession.
927 German: da.
928 German addition: und genomnen wird.
929 Vescentibus. The German text has no equivalent for this verb.
930 Et improbant secus docentes. In German: Derhalben wird auch die Gegenlehre verworfen, wherefore also the opposite doctrine is rejected. The sacramentarian (Zwinglian) doctrine is meant, but not the Calvinistic, which appeared six years afterward, 1536. The term improbant for the papal damnant, and anathema sit, shows the progress in toleration. The Zwinglian view is not condemned as a heresy, but simply disapproved as an error. The Formula of Concord made a step backwards in this respect, and uses repudiamus and damnamus.
931 Cum pane et vino vere exhibeantur, instead ofvere adsint et distribuantur. The verb exhibit does not necessarily imply the actual reception by unbelievers, which the verb distribute does. So Dorner also judges of the difference (l.c., p. 324).
932 The disapproval of those who teach otherwise is significantly omitted, no doubt in deference to Calvin’s view, which had been published in the mean time, and to which Melanchthon himself leaned.
933 I may mention among commentators (on Matt. 26:26 and parallel passages), De Wette, Meyer, Weiss (in the seventh ed. of Meyer on Matt., p. 504 sq.), Bleek, Ewald, Van Oosterzee, Alford, Morison, etc.; and, among Lutheran and Lutheranizing theologians, Kahnis, Jul. Müller, Martensen, Dorner. The Bible, true to its Oriental origin and character, is full of parables, metaphors, and tropical expressions, from Genesis to Revelation. The substantive verb ejsti(which was not spoken in the Aramaic original) is simply the logical copula, and may designate a figurative, as well as a real, identity of the subject and the predicate; which of the two, depends on the connection and surroundings. I may say of a likeness of Luther, "This is Luther’s," i.e., a figure or representation of Luther. It has a symbolical or allegorical sense in many passages, as Matt. 13:38 sq.; Luke 12:1; John 10:6, 14:6; Gal. 4:24; Heb. 10:20; Rev. 1:20. But what is most conclusive, even in the words of institution, Luther himself had to admit a double metaphor; namely, a synecdoche partis pro toto ("This is my body" for "This is my body, and bread;" to avoid transubstantiation, which denies the substance of bread), and a synecdoche continentis pro contento (" This cup is the new covenant in my blood," instead of " This wine,"etc.). The whole action is symbolical. At that time Christ, living and speaking to the disciples with his body yet unbroken, and his blood not yet shed, could not literally offer his body to them. They would have shuddered at such an idea, and at least expressed their surprise. Kahnis, an orthodox Lutheran, came to the conclusion (1861) that " the literal interpretation of the words of institution is an impossibility, and must be given up."(See the first. ed. of his Luth. Dogmatik, I. 616 sq.) Dorner says (Christl. Glaubenslehre, II. 853), " That ejstivmay be understood figuratively is beyond a doubt, and should never have been denied. It is only necessary to refer to the parables."Martensen, an eminent Danish Lutheran (Christl. Dogmatik, p. 491), admits Zwingli’s exegesis, and thinks that his " sober common-sense view has a greater importance than Lutheran divines are generally disposed to accord to it."
934 The Lutheran divines were divided between the idea of an absolute ubiquity (which would prove too much for the Lutheran doctrine, and run into a sort of Panchristism or Christo-Pantheism), and a relative ubiquity or multivolipraesentia (which depends upon the will). The Formula of Concord inconsistently favors both views. See Dorner’s History of Christology, II. 710 sqq. (Germ. ed.), and Schaff, Creeds, I. 322, 325 sq., and 348.
935 Zwingli calls the sacrament ein Wiedergedächtniss und Erneuern dessen, was einst geschehen und in Ewigkeit kräftig ist. His views on the Lord’s Supper are conveniently put together by Usteri and Vögelin, in Zwingli’s Sämmtliche Schriften im Auszuge, vol. II. 70-167.
936 Dorner (Gesch. der protest. Theol., p. 300): "Das Charakteristische in allen Schriften Zwingli’s vor 1524 ist sein Gegensatz gegen das heil. Abendmahl als Opfer und Messe." So also Ebrard.
937 He expressed at Marburg, and in his two confessions to Charles I. and to Francis I., his full belief in the divinity of Christ in the sense of the Nicene and Athanasian Creeds. Dorner says (l.c., p. 302): "Dass Zwingli Christum gegenwärtig denkt, ist unleugbar; er sei bei diesem Mahle Wirth und Gastmahl (hospes et epulum)."
938 Christum credimus vere esse in coena, immo non esse Domini coenam nisi Christus adsit ... Adserimus igitur non sic carnaliter et crasse manducari corpus Christi in coena, ut isti perhibent, sed verum Christi corpus credimus in coena sacramentaliter et spiritualiter edi, a religiosa, fideli et sancta mente, quomodo et divus Chrysostomus sentit. Et haec est brevis summa nostrae, immo non nostrae, sed ipsius veritatis, sententia de hac controversia. Niemeyer, Collectio Confess., pp. 71, 72.
939 Letter to Viret, September, 1542: "De scriptis Zwinglii sic sentire, ut sentis, tibi permitto. Neque enim omnia legi. Et fortassis sub finem vitae, retractavit ac correxit in melius quae temere initio exciderant. Sed in scriptis prioribus memini, quam profana sit de Sacramentis sententia."Opera, XI. 438.
940 Henri Martin (Histoire de France, Tom. VIII. 188 sq.) says of Calvin’s Institutes that they gave a religious code to the Reform in France and in a great part of Europe,"and that it is "une vraie ’Somme’ théologique, où se trouve impliqué l’ordre civil même, et qui n’est pas, comme celle de Thomas d’Aquin, le résumé d’un système établi, mais le programne et le code d’un système à établir ... Luther attire: Calvin impose et retient ... Volonté et logique, voilà Calvin" (p. 185). He calls him "le premier écrivain par la durée et l’influence de sa langue, de son style."
941 Some of the strongest passages on this point occur in his polemic tracts against Westphal. In the Second Defense he says: "Christum corpore absentem doceo nihilominus non tantum divina sua virtute, quae ubique diffusa est, nobis adesse, sed etiam facere ut nobis vivifica sit sua caso" (Opera, IX. 76)."Spiritus sui virtute Christus locorum distantiam superat ad vitam nobis e sua carne inspirandam" (p. 77). And in his last admonition: "Haec nostrae doctrinae summa est, carnem Christi panem esse vivificum, quia dum fide in eam coalescimus, vere animas nostras alit et pascit. Hoc nonnisi spiritualiter fieri docemus, quia hujus sacrae unitatis vinculum arcana est et incomprehensibilis Spiritus Sancti virtus" (p. 162). For a good exposition of the Calvinistic theory which substantially agrees with ours, we may refer to Ebrard (Abendmahl, II. 550-570), Stähelin (Calvin, I. 222 sqq.), and Nevin (Mystical Presence).