American Lutheranism vindicated

by S. S. Schmucker

EXAMINATION OF THE LUTHERAN SYMBOLS. CHAPTER X. THE LORD'S SUPPER.

That the doctrine of the real presence of the body and blood of the Saviour in the eucharist, is taught in the symbolical books, is acknowledged by the Plea of the Rev. Mr. Mann, and indeed generally admitted, though variously stated and explained. It would therefore be unnecessary to quote those symbols in proof, were it not that many of our readers have not access to them elsewhere, and that the completeness of our representation, as well as the plan of our work require it. The following passages will suffice to explain this view:—

Augsburg Confession, Art. X.

OF THE LORD'S SUPPER.

"Concerning the holy Supper of the Lord, it is taught, that the true body and blood of Christ are truly present, under the form of bread and wine, in the Lord's Supper, and are there administered and received."—Symb. Books, p. 112.

Apology to the Confession, Art. VII., VIII. (IV.)

"Our adversaries (the Romanists,) do not object to the tenth article (of the Augsburg Confession,) in which we confess that the body and blood of Christ our Lord, are truly present in the holy supper, and administered and received with the visible elements, the bread and wine, as hitherto maintained in the (Romish) church, and as the Greek Canon shows."—Symb. Books, p. 227.

Smalcald, Article VI.

"Concerning the Sacrament of the Altar, we hold that the bread and wine in the Eucharist, are the true body and blood of Christ, which are administered and received, not only by pious, but also by impious Christians."—Symb. Books, p. 384.

Luther's Smaller Catechism.

"What is the Sacrament of the altar?

"Ans.—It is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, with bread and wine, instituted by Christ himself, for us Christians to eat and drink."—Symb. Books, p. 124.

Form of Concord, Pt. I., Art. VII.

"We teach that the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, are truly and essentially, or substantially, present in the Lord's Supper, administered with the bread and wine, and received with the lips by all those who use this sacrament, be they worthy or unworthy, good or evil, believing or unbelieving; being received by the believing unto consolation and life, but by the unbelieving unto judgment."-Symb. Books, p. 570.

"We believe, teach, and confess, that the words of the testament of Christ, are not to be understood otherwise than according to their literal sense, so that the bread does not signify the absent body of Christ, and the wine the absent blood of Christ, but on account of their sacramental union, that the bread and wine ARE truly the body and blood of Christ." (Sondern dass es wahrhaftig um sacramentlicher Einigkeit willen der Leib und Blut Christi sei. Sed ut propter sacramentalem unionem panis et vinum vere sint corpus et sanguis Christi.)—Idem., p. 571.

"We believe, teach, and confess, that not only the truly believing and the worthy, but also the unworthy and the unbelieving, receive the true body and blood of Christ."-Page 572.

"In addition to the above clear passages, incontestably teaching the real presence, it deserves to be ever remembered, that only fourteen years after the Form of Concord was published, when Duke Frederick William, during the minority of Christian II., published the VISITATION ARTICLES OF SAXONY, in 1594, in order to suppress the Melancthonian tendencies to reject this and other peculiarities of the symbols, the Article on this subject which was framed by men confessedly adhering to the old symbols, and designing to re-enunciate their true import, and which was enforced upon the whole church in Saxony as symbolic, gives the most objectionable view of this doctrine, viz.: I. 'The pure doctrine of our church is, that the words, 'Take and eat, this is my body: drink, this is my blood, are to be understood simply and according to the letter.' II. That the body (which is received and eaten,) is the proper and natural body (der rechte natuerliche Leib) of Christ, which hung upon the cross; and the blood (which is drunk) is the proper and natural blood (das rechte natuerliche Blut) which flowed from the side of Christ.' Mueller's Symb. Books, p. 847. Now we cannot persuade ourselves, that this is the view of a single minister of the General Synod, or of many out of it; and yet these are the views that those are obligated to receive, who avow implicit allegiance to the former symbolical books of our church in Europe. If any adopt the modification received by many of our distinguished divines, such as Reinhard Storr, Knapp, and others, they do not faithfully embrace the symbolical doctrine, and cannot fairly profess to do so."

In regard to the arguments against this view of the mode of the Saviour's presence, we shall merely add an enumeration of the principal, and refer the reader for a more full and detailed discussion of the subject to Discourse IV. contained in our History of the American Lutheran Church, pp. 120 to 154, 5th edition.

The Reformers justly rejected the Romish error, that the bread and wine were transformed and transubstantiated into the body and blood of Christ. But they still adhered to the opinion, that the real body and blood of the Saviour are present at the Eucharist, in some mysterious way, and are received by the month of every communicant, worthy and unworthy. This view of the subject appears inconsistent with the Word of God, for various reasons:-

(a) When Christ uttered the words, this (bread) is my body, his body was not yet dead, but living and reclining, at their side at the table. It was therefore certainly not received by them into their mouths. The language must, therefore, have been figurative, such as Jesus was accustomed often to employ. Thus, when he said, "I am the door" John x. 9, he certainly does not mean a literal door, such as a door of wood or stone or brass or of any other material. He means that the acceptance of the atonement and mediation by the sinner is the appointed condition of salvation to him. Thus also when he says, "I am the true vine" John xv. 1; or "The field is the world," "The seed is the word," &c., he evidently is speaking figuratively and communicating important moral truth, by images drawn from physical nature, as is naturally done by nearly all writers and speakers of all ages and in all languages.

(b) The blessed Saviour himself exhorts us, "Do this in remembrance of me;" but we can remember only that which is past and absent. Hence when he admonishes us to do this in remembrance of him, he teaches us, that he is not personally or bodily present at the eucharistic celebration.

(c) Paul also represents the design of this ordinance to be, "To show or publish the Lord's death," until he comes. But the Lord's death upon the cross occurred about eighteen hundred and twenty years ago. Therefore, according to Paul, the object of the holy supper is to commemorate a past event, and not a present person.

(d) The doctrine of the real presence of the true body and blood of Christ, contradicts the clear and indisputable testimony of our senses, for as the body and blood are to be received by the mouth of the communicant, they must be circumscribed by space, and the reception must be a local and material one, which if it did occur at sacramental occasions, could be observed by the senses.

(e) It contradicts the observation of all nations and all ages, that every body or material substance must occupy a definite portion of space, and cannot be at more than one place at the same time.

For these and other reasons the great mass of our ministers and churches, connected with the General Synod, reject this doctrine, as inconsistent with the word of God. The disposition to reject this error, or at least to leave the mode of the Saviour's presence undecided, was manifested by Melancthon himself, as is evident from his having stricken out the words which teach it from the Augsburg Confession, and from his having inserted others in their stead of a general nature, leaving room for different opinions on this question. The same disposition prevailed extensively in Germany in the latter third of the sixteenth century. But during the first quarter of the present century, the conviction that the Reformers did not purge away the whole of the Romish error from this doctrine, gained ground universally until the great mass of the whole Lutheran Church, before the year 1817, had rejected the doctrine of the real presence. During the last twenty years the doctrines and writings of the Reformation in general have been the subject of extensive study by the reviving church in Germany, and as is natural, a small portion of the churches have embraced the symbolic view of this doctrine in full, and have become known as Old Lutherans, whilst others, both there and in this country, have embraced various modifications of it. But the great body of the ministers and churches regard the real presence of the body and blood of the Saviour, in any proper sense, which the words convey, as a misapprehension of the word of God.

The supposed special Sin-forgiving Power of the Lord's Supper.

On this subject, important as it is, especially to the masses of the less educated, who are most liable to these erroneous views, but little need be said in addition to the principles established on the subject of the sacraments in general. The word of God clearly inculcates the doctrine, to which Luther and his coadjutors gave such prominence, that no one can be justified or pardoned except by a living faith in Christ, and such a faith is found only in the regenerate mind. And whenever the sinner exercises this living faith in Christ he is justified, that is, his sins are pardoned, he is in a state of justification, and continues in it, until by deliberate, voluntary violation of God's law, he falls from grace. Now, every communicant either possesses this faith, or he does not. If he does, he is justified or pardoned before he communes; if he is destitute of this faith, his communing cannot justify or pardon him; for man is justified by faith alone. Yet are there thousands of church members who afford no satisfactory evidence of regeneration, or of that faith which works by love, and purifies the heart, and overcomes the world; who, because they approach the sacramental table with seriousness and sincerity, and perhaps with some sorrow for their sins, believe that they obtain pardon for their transgressions, and yet still continue in their unregenerate state. It cannot be said that the symbolical books clearly teach the above error, but they are not sufficiently guarded, and are understood by many as inculcating the doctrine, that a sincere and devout participation of the Lord's Supper secures the pardon of sin, even where satisfactory evidences of regeneration are wanting, the persons referred to mistaking a mere historical belief for a living faith. Hence, as the Scripture nowhere connects the forgiveness of sins with the duty of sacramental communion, any more than with the performance of any other prominent christian duty, it is not proper that we should do so. The design of the Holy Supper is to show forth the Lord's death, to profess the name of the Redeemer before the world, to confirm the previous faith of the communicant, to bring him into closest spiritual communion with his blessed Saviour, and to secure his special spiritual blessing: but not to bestow forgiveness of sins upon the unregenerate, however serious they may be. Against this dangerous error all should therefore carefully guard, and ever remember the declaration of the Lord Jesus when he said, "Unless a man be born again (become a new creature in Christ Jesus) he cannot see the kindom [sic] of God."