The Anatomy of the Mass, Book 1 · Chapter 35
CHAP. XXXV. In what ſenſe the Fathers have called the Euchariſt a Sacrifice.
THe ancient Fathers indeavouring to draw the Heathen unto the Chriſtian Faith, who eſteemed there is no Religion without ſacrifice, and the Jewes whoſe Religion under the Old Teſtament did chiefly conſiſt in Sacrifices, have called the holy Supper a Sacrifice, and the Sacred Table an Altar, and thoſe that ſerve at it, Levites.
But they ſhew ſufficiently how they call the holy Supper a Sacrifice, ſince they call it Euchariſt, that is to ſay Thankeſgiving, and not a Sacrifice of Propitiation. Saint Auſtin calleth it indeed the Sacrifice of our price in the ninth Book of Confeſſions, chapter 12. But wee have produced a multitude of places out of the ſame Father, that ſay, that in matter of Sacraments the ſignes are wont to take the name of the things ſignified. That this is the ſenſe and meaning of the Fathers when they ſpeak thus, appeareth in that they call alſo the Euchariſt Chriſts death. As Cyprian in his 63 Epiſtle,*Paſſlo eſt Domi… ſacr…fi…um quod offe…imus. The Lords Paſſion is the Sacrifice wee do offer. And Chryſoſtome in the 21 Homily upon the Acts of the Apoſtles,aforeign. Whileſt this death is a perfeciting, and this dreadfull Sacrifice, and theſe ineffable myſteries. And ſo the Canon Hoc eſt, in the 2 Diſtin…tion of the Conſecration,bVocatur ipſa immolatio c…n…s quae Sacer… dot…s manibus ſit Chr…ſti paſſio, m…rs, crucafixio, non r… veritate, ſed ſignificante myſterio. The immolation of Chriſts fleſh which is made by the hands of the Prieſt, is called the Paſſion, Death, and Crucifixion of Chriſt, not according to the truth, but by a ſignificant myſtery.
Auſtin in his 23 Epiſtle to Bonifacius: Was not Chriſt once ſacrificed in himſelfe? and yet hee is ſacrificed to the People in a ſacred ſigne. And in his 10 Book of the City of God, chap: 5.cSacrificium viſibile inviſibilis Sacrific…i Sacramentumid eſt ſacrum ſign…m. The viſible Sacrifice is a Sacrament, that is to ſay a ſacred ſigne of the inviſible Sacrifice. And a little after, *Illud quod ab omnibus appellatur Sacrificiū, eſt ſignum veri ſacrificii.That which men do call Sacrifice, is a ſigne of the rue Sacr fice. Note that he ſaith, that men do call it a Sacrifice, acknowledging tacitely the holy Scripture doth not call it ſo. Wee have then in theſe places of S. Auſtin, a cleare expoſicion of this place wherein he calleth the Euchariſt the Sacrifice of our price.
The ſixth Book of Apoſtolicall Conſtitutions of Clemens, chap. 23aPro ſacrificio cruē to rationale & incruentum ac myſticum ſacrificium inſtituit, quod in mortem Domini per ſymbola corporis et ſangumis ſui celebratur. The Lord inſtead of a bloody Sac…fice hath inſtituted a reaſonable, and unbloody, and myſticall Sacrifice, which is celebrated in conſideration of the Lords death by the ſignes of his body and blood.
In the 4. Book of Sacraments attributed to S. Ambroſe, chap. 5. wee have theſe words of the ancient Service:bFac nobis hanc oblationem aſcriptam, rationabile acceptabilem, quod eſt ſigura corporis & ſanguinis Domini. Grant that this oblation be imputed unto us as reaſonable, acceptable, which is the FIGƲRE of the body and blood of the Lord. The ſucceeding ages have razed out the word Figure.
Procopius Gazaeus upon the 49. chap. of Geneſis, Chriſt gave to his Diſciples the Image, or Figure, and Type of his body and blood, receiving no more the bloody Sacrifices of the Law.
Euſebius in the 10 chapter of his firſt Book of the Evangelicall Demonſtration, aforeign.The Lord having offered a Sacrifice and an excellent victime unto his Father for the ſalvation of us all, hath appointed us to offer continually the remembrance of it inſtead of a Sacrifice.
And in the ſame place,bforeign. Wee have received the remembrance of this Sacrifice for to celebrate it at his own table, by the ſignes of his Body and Blood, according to the inſtitution of the New Teſtament.
In a word, the Fathers are full of ſuch places. Wherefore in the Euchariſt they put no difference between the Sacrament and the Sacrifice. But to ſpeak properly, there is ſuch difference between a Sacrifice and a Sacrament, as between giving and receiving: For in a Sacrifice we offer unto God, but in a Sacrament we receive from God. The Fathers do not make this diſtinction. For, by reaſon the Sacrament is a ſigne and a figure of the Sacrifice, they call the Sacrament a Sacrifice.
This kind of ſpeaking, to call the Lords Supper a Sacrifice, had its beginning from the offerings and gifts, which in old time the people offered upon the ſacred table afore the Communion, which gifts were commonly called Sacrifices and Oblations. Cyprian in his Sermon of Almes,aLocuples & Dives, Dominicum celebrare te credis, quae sorbonum non reſpuis, quae in Dominicū ſine ſacrificio venis, quae part…m de ſacrificio quod pauper ob…ulit ſumis. chides a rich woman that had brought no Sacrifice, and yet took her part of the Sacrifices the poor had brought. And in the 21 Diſtinction at the Canon Cleros, bHypod acon oblatioues in …eplo Domini … ſide…bus ſuſ…p…nt, & L…vitis ſuperpon… das altari bu…d…ſerat.Let the Subdeacons in the Lords Temple receive the Oblations of the Faithfull, and carry them to the Levites, that they may put them upon the Altars. Which manner of ſpeech remaines yet at this day in the Maſſe, wherein the Prieſt before the Cō ſecration, ſaith, Receive, Lord, thi… immaculate Hoſt, &c. as is acknowledged by Bellarmin in his firſt Book of the Maſſe, ch. 27. And he prooves it by Ire…eus, who in the 4 Book, chap. 32. ſaith, we offer unto God a Sacrifice of his creatures, that is to ſay, bread and wine: And that, even before the Conſecration.
In that therefore, the Fathers have ſaid nothing but what is agreeable & conformable unto the Faith. Yet nevertheleſſe the abuſe that hath followed thereon a longtime after, is unto us an excellent example that the ſafeſt way is to cleave to the Apoſtles language, and not to depart from the ſtile of the holy Scripture.