The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-03-05
THE Lonp,s suprEn.

SIR:-The definition OF ConHubstaniia
ltion, taken by Bishop Kahn from "Buck'
Theological Dictionary" is satisfactory t,
me. However, it is no advantage to mi
in this argument, that the definition upoI
which Te agree Is taken from a work tina
ia characterised by Its hostility to thu
Roman Catholic church, for the Bishop i
not unacquainted with the fact that thosC
PrOstestants who have maintained thu
Bymboliesl view Of the doctrine OF thu
Lords Supper from the Reformation
down to the present day, have opposed
the Lutheran doctrine almost as bitterly
as they have the Roman Catholic.
For the sake Of conscience l will give
this definition az the Bishop quotes Il;
"a tent Of the Lutheran church, with re-,
gard to the manner Of the change made
in the bread and wine in the Eucharist
The dlvinss OF that profession maintain
that, after conservation, the body and
blood OF our Saviour are substantially
presented, together with the substance
bread and wine, which Is called consub.
sanitation, or 'impRnation.' That Is,
that the substance OF the bread and the
substance Of the body are so united as to
form common substance, or that the
body Of Christ is locally copjoined with,
or included In, the bread. Now, il the
author OF that definition had consulted
the doctfinai, OF nymbolicAi books OF the
Lutheran church he could never have
said that che teaches such doctrine.
But first let me chow that this Was not
the doctrine Of Luther. He says: "We
ara not 90 insane az to believe that
Christ'a body is in this bread, In the gsoss
visible manner in which bread Ia in O
basket, or wine In the cup, as the fanatics
would like to impute It to ua. As the
fsthers. and we, Of times, express 1t,
"that Chriat's body Is in the. bread, Is
done for the ample purpose Of confeasfng
that Christ's body 10 there" (Work,
Leipzig, 174O. xix 4l6). Again he says :
we commit to the Divine Omnipotence
in what way His body and blood are given
to Jus in the Supper" lib. xxi, 10S."
Here we have Luther'a own explanation
Of the sense In which he used the ex-
pressiona In tho bread, with the bread,
and under the bread. He used them for
tho "simple purpose" Of expressing that
the body and blood OF the Saviour are
truly present in the Sacrament OF the
Lords Supper, ind by no msAnp ito s1.
plain "in what way" or manner they are
presented. It Is true that the word con.
substantiation was Rppliedto Luther'e doc.
trine because he made use OF the words In,
with and under the bread. But this
word,,it muet be remembered, was ap.
piled to bis doctrine Iby the Sacramento.
rians, who were his enemies, and who,
consequently we're at very little: pains to
ascertain Luther's purpose in using the
sxreaeioDs in the bread, &c. Luther'a
frienCs and -Torkerg understood them In
quite different sense from what his enc.
miee did. They say: 1.-THE expressions
under the bread, with the bread, in the
bread, have been used Tor the purpose oil
rejecting the Popish doctrine Of transub-
stantlahon, and for the purpose OF indi.
eating the SaCramentRt union Of the IN.
changed essence OF the bread and oil the
body OF Christ" Formula Concord, Art.
VII, A. D. l5e0). This Formula was pre-
pared only lthiIty.iour years after the
death Of Dr. Luther, and was aigued by
about 5000 professors, theologians and
teachers, some OF whom were contempt.
rary with Luther. Now, surely they
ought TO have known the meaning which
Luther attached to theseioft.quoted words,
and their testimony should be taken in
preference to that Of his enemies.
Do they say or intimate anything about
"the manner Of the change made In the
bread, etc2" Not at all. But on the con.
trary they speak Of "the unchanged eE.
ssnce of tho bread and Of the body"
There Is no substantial conjunction limited
at, no local inclusion oil one substance In
another. Tho only thing that Is said
about tho mode OF the presence Ia that II
is effected by means Of the sacramental
union. This last Is an expression EN-.
ployed by Luther. He says: II will cell
It a eacramental union, ioTasmuoh Rs the
body OF Christ and bread are thers given
us a. Sacrament" Works KIN, 1907.
And he proceeds in the same place to ex.
plain negatively what he meant
by this expression. ut Is not q
personal or natural union, as In God OF
Christ; it is perhaps also q different
union from that which the dove had with
the Holy Christ, and the flame with the
angel lex. S:2)-ina word 1t ia sacrs.
mental union" It is such q union as
takes PLACE NO whore else than In this
sacrament. But for q further expIana.
ton Of the meaning OF the expression,
saoIsmsntal union, l refer the reader to
Hutter's Oompsnd Of Lutheran Theology,
page l64. DR.. Hptter was the most
promin, mt as well as one Of the most
strictly Lutheran, Of all the theoiogians oil
his age, and was professor OF WittenberS
from 1906 to 1916. He says Of the pscra.
mental union that ut 10 an operation Of
divine power, by which two different
things, namely, an earthly, the bread and
wine, and heavenly, the body and blood
OF Christ, in tao trEe use Of the supper,
which coDsists In eating and drinking,
are united to one another sacramentally,
that Is, In q supernatural and inexpressi.
bic manner" This agrees exactly with
Luther'a words In his book: THAT the
words yet stand trn." He Gays; "EoB
II takes place we know not, nor should
We know. We should believe Gods
word, and mot prescribe mode or meas
ure 10 Him."
We learn from the quotations cited
that, however strongly Luther and his
cosdiptors in the Reformation insisted on
the real presence Of the body and blood
Of Christ In the supper, they did mol
prescribe the mode Of that presence
Much less did they teach consubstAntis'
ton, which implies GircumtDribed Of
local inclusion. II the word congubstan,
tiatiou, or impanRtion, had expressed
Luthef's view Of this sacrament he mos
certainly would not have hesitAted L
adopt them.
Now to state what Luther did hold, 81
briefly as can, It was this: He laugh
that the bread and wine remain real breaC
land wine, no essential change beini
wrought In them, that the body ant
blood Of ChIiBt are also really present ant
administered OF the same time that thu
lbresd and vine orc administered, that thu
two elements, the earthly and the heay
emily, are not substantially Gonjoined, bu
are united shcrSmentRIly, thSt 10, In
heavenly, incomprshenaible and insx
: pressible manner. And further The word
real presence are not used in carnal o
: physical sense, but a. opposed to an idea
presence, or q presence in efficacy merel
- n - q 4