Page:Delineation of Roman Catholicism.djvu/261

 CHip. IY.] Tit ANSUBSTAN'TIATION', 253 stantiaon there are many natural and ordinary' impossibilities. Now fo the proof of this we maintain thtt the doctrine affirms "that the essence of a thing remains without the essence; that is, without itself;*' and also that "this doctrine makes a thing to he a,d' not to be at the same time and in the same respect." The doctrine of transubstantiation is against the nature and essence of a body. The body of Christ is not now a natural body, but a spirit- ual body, agreeably to St. Paul: "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body." And in whatever this spirituality consists, it is such as cannot admit of manducation. And here is the first contra- diction. The Body of Christ, say they, is the sacrament. The same body is in heaven. In heaven it cannot he broken naturally; in the sacrament they say it is broken naturally and properly; therefore, ac- cording to their doctrine, the same body is and is not, it can and cannot be broken. All men in their sober senses believe, that what is circum- scribed by its proper place is' there, and nowhere else. For if it were there and in another place, it would be two, and not one; and there- fore the body of Christ would be in a thousand places at once, and yet be but one body. For to be in heaven and upon so many altars, is to make a body to be a spirit, and to make a/inite to be infinite; for nothing can be so but an infinite spirit. It is true, God can create a new body; but a body, while it remains such, cannot be a spirit. A body must also be in a place. If these things could be otherwise, then the same thing, at the same time, could be a body and a spirit, limited and nnlimited, wholly in a place and wholly out of a place, finite and in6nite, a body and yet no body, one and yet many, the same and not the same; that is, it should not be itself. Indeed, the doctrine of tran- substantiation attributes to the body of Christ the incommunicable attribute of ubiquity, either actually or potentially. But let us enumerate some more of the impossibilities of transub- stantiation. According to it, the same thing is larger and less than itself, for it is larger iu one host than in another; for the wafer is Christ's body, and yet one wafer is larger than another; therefore Christ's body is larger than itself. The same thing is above itself and below itself, within itself and without itself. It is as truly a body as that which is most divisible, and yet it is as indivi.'sible as a spirit; and it is not a spirit, but a body. It is a perfect bod[ in which the feet are farther from the head than the head from the east, and yet there is no space between head and feet at all; so that the parts are farther off and nearer, without any distance at all; being farther and not far- ther, distant and not distant. By this also there is magnitude without extension of parts. By this doctrine the same thing lies still and yet moves; it stays in a place and yet goes away from it; it removes from itself, and yet abides close by itself, and in itself, and out of itself; it is removed, and yet cannot be moved; broken, and yet cannot be di- vided; it is brought from heaven to earth, and yet is nowhere in the way, nor ever stirs from heaven; it ceases to be where it was, and yet does not move from thence, nor yet ceases to be at all. It supposes body of Christ "not born of the Virgin Mary," that is, a body _m__sde of bread. It supposes that Christ's body is there, without .i?wer of mov- ing, or seeing, or hearing, or undoratanding; he can neimer remember ttor foresee, nor save himself from robbers or vermin, corruption or l

�