OPINIONS OF THE BISHOP OF EXETER ON CERTAIN POINTS OF DOCTRINE.
Having had occasion to receive from the Bishop of Exeter an expression of his views on the subjects discussed in pp. 31-37, I asked and obtained permission to embody it in an Appendix, as his latest and most matured judgment on the matter to which it relates.
The Bishop says:—"I regard the Grace of the Eucharist as the Communion of the Death and Sufferings of our Lord. St. Paul (1 Cor. xi. 24), in his statement of the Revelation made to him from Christ, sitting at the Right Hand of God the Father, seems to me distinctly to affirm this Truth.
"His words τὸ κλώμενον (they should be rendered "which is being broken"), in their literal and plain signification, show that the Lord's Death is one continuous Fact, which lasts and will last till he comes and lays down His Mediatorial Kingdom, subjecting it, and Himself, its King, to the Father.
"I hold that it is, in short, a Sacrament of that continuous Act of our Lord's Suffering once for us on the Cross—the punishment appointed for sin during the days of His Mediation—that our Lord is, in some ineffable manner, present in the Sacrament of His Sufferings, thus communicated to us, by which He pays for us the penalty imposed on our guilt. In such a Presence I do not recognise anything material or local, though I most thankfully rejoice in it as real."
Next as to the point dwelt upon in pp. 66-70, as seeming to prescribe, and to render important, the position of the Celebrant at the Holy Communion: viz. that our Lord's having "given" or "presented" in a mystery, through the Elements, the Sacrifice of His Body and Blood, is the whole secret of their consecration to be that which they represent: and that we, too, must "give," "present," or "offer," the Elements with the same intention, if we would effectually plead the Sacrifice, and receive the Sacrament:—
The Bishop of Exeter, still commenting on 1 Cor. xi. 24, compared with St. Luke xxii. 19, speaks as follows:—
"The use of the present participle in these cases, seems to me to show, that the words ought to be rendered 'which is being given,' and 'which is being broken,' and must be referred to the Act of Crucifixion. The words, thus understood, seem to me to illustrate and to be illustrated by Gal. ii. 20. 'I am crucified with Christ [lit., I have been, and continue to be, crucified with Him— συνεσταύρωμαι], and the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' [Comp. 'This is my Body which is being given for you.']
"And again, Gal. iii. 1, 'Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you.' I know not where it is said or implied that we are crucified together with Christ, unless in thus feeding on, and receiving, and partaking of the Dying of Christ, and the showing forth of His Death, as oft as we eat and drink the Body being broken and the Blood being shed."
Again the Bishop, as regards the Roman Doctrines of Transubstantiation and Concomitancy, quotes, as in entire accordance with his own, the following sentiments of the Rev. C. Smith, Rector of Newton, Suffolk, and author of the valuable work, 'An Enquiry into Catholick Truths, hidden under certain Articles of the Creed of the Church of Rome:'—"This is a great mystery; but we must not forget that it is the Lord; and, instead of pretending to explain how it is our Lord feeds us on this most real Sacrifice, and how He can give us, now he is glorified, His own Body and Blood separately, let us rejoice that he nourishes and cherishes His purchased Church by the 'still unconsumed sacrifice (as St. Chrysostom calls it) of Himself.' How mean and impertinent are Transubstantiation and Concomitancy, and the Impanation and Invination of Rome and her followers!"