The Landgrave's chancellor, John Feige, having reminded them in the prince's name that the object of this colloquy was the re-establishment of union, "I protest," said Luther, "that I differ from my adversaries with regard to the doctrine of the Lord's Supper, and that I shall always differ from them. Christ has said, This is my body. Let them show me that a body is not a body. I reject reason, common sense, carnal arguments, and mathematical proofs. God is above mathematics.[225] We have the Word of God; we must adore it and perform it!"
THE DISCUSSION—FIGURES.
"It cannot be denied," said Œcolampadius, "that there are figures of speech in the Word of God; as John is Elias, the rock was Christ, I am the vine. The expression This is my body, is a figure of the same kind." Luther granted that there were figures in the Bible, but he denied that this last expression was figurative.
All the various parties, however, of which the Christian Church is composed see a figure in these words. In fact, the Romanists declare that This is my body signifies not only "my body," but also "my blood," "my soul," and even "my Divinity," and "Christ wholly.[226]" These words, therefore, according to Rome, are a synecdoche, a figure by which a part is taken for the whole. And, as regards the Lutherans, the figure is still more evident.[227] Whether it be synecdoche, metaphor, or metonymy, there is still a figure. In order to prove it, Œcolampadius employed this syllogism:—
"What Christ rejected in the sixth chapter of St. John, he could not admit in the words of the Eucharist.
"Now Christ, who said to the people of Capernaum, The flesh profiteth nothing, rejected by those very words the oral manducation of his body.
"Therefore he did not establish it at the institution of his Supper."
Luther.—"I deny the minor (the second of these propositions); Christ has not rejected all oral manducation, but only a material manducation, like that of the flesh of oxen or of swine."[228]
Œcolampadius.—"There is danger in attributing too much to mere matter."
SCRIPTURE EXPLAINED BY SCRIPTURE.