Doctrines and Practices of the Ancient Church Relating to the Eucharist, Chapter 4
CHAP. IV. The Fourth Difference. The Church of Rome has brought in the Word SPECIES, to ſignifie thoſe Accidents without any Subject: But the Fathers never take it in this Senſe.
I Need only refer the Reader, for the firſt part of this Aſſertion, to the Thirteenth Seſſion of the Council of Trent, Can…n 2. & 3. where the Word Species is ſo uſed: And to what we heard before out of their Catechiſm, of the Species of Bread and Wine ſubſisting without any Subject in which they are. Every one knows this is their Customary Word, to expreſs Appearances of things by, when nothing real is under them to ſupport them
But now we ſhall ſee this to be a ſtrange and foreign uſage of this Word, which the Fathers know nothing of in their Senſe; but in ſtead of denoting Accidents (by the Word Species) which are in no Subject, they uſe it commonly for the Substance, the Nature, the Matter of a thing, the Subject it ſelf that appears: Not for Appearances without a Subject.
S. Ambroſe often uſes this Word Species, but never in the Senſe of the Romanists: For which take theſe Inſtances.
S. Ambroſe ſays (a)Serm. 21. Dominum rogatum ad Nuptias aquae ſubſtantiam in vini ſpeciem commutaſſe., That at the Marriage (of Cana) our Lord being requested, did change the Substance of Water into the Species of Wine. That is, not into the Appearance of Wine, but into real Wine that he changed it.
And in another place *Serm. 22. Speciem magis neceſſariam Nuptiis praeſtitit., He provided for the Marriage a more neceſſary Species: i. e. Wine, more agreeable to a Marriage-Feaſt than Water.
In another Book (b)Officior. lib. 2. cap. 28. Hic numerus captivorum, hic ordo praeſtantior eſt quam ſpecies poculorum., ſpeaking of Holy Veſſels which he broke for the Redemption of Captives, he ſays, This Number and Order of Captives far excels the Species of Cups. i.e. all ſorts of them.
Again elſewhere (c)De iis qui initiant. cap. 9. Gravior eſt ferri ſpecies quam aquarum liquor.. The Species of Iron is heavier than the Liquor of Water: i. e. the Subſtance of Iron.
S. Auſtin (d)In Joan. tract. 11. Omnes in Moyſe baptizati ſunt in nube & in mari. Si ergo figura maris tantum valuit, ſpecies baptiſmi quantum valebit?. They were all baptized into Moſes in the Cloud and in the Sea. If therefore the Figure of the Sea availed ſo much, how much will the Species of Baptiſm avail?
In another place (e)Serm. ad Infantes. Ut ſit ſpecies viſibilis panis, multa grana in unum conſperguntur.. To make the viſible Species of Bread, many Grains are mixed together into one.
Again (f)Lib. 3. de Trinit. cap. 4. Quod cùm per manus hominum ad illam viſibilem ſpeciem perducitur, non ſanctificatur ut ſit tam magnum Sacramentum, niſi operante inviſibiliter Spiritu Dei, &c., ſpeaking of the Bread in the Sacrament, he ſays, When by Mens Hands it is brought to that viſible Species (i. e. to the Subſtance of Bread) it is not ſanctified ſo as to become ſo great a Sacrament, without the inviſible Operation of the Spirit of God.
So elſewhere (g)In Joan. tract. 26. Omnes eundem ſpiritualem potum biberunt; aliud illi, aliud nos; ſed ſpecie viſibili quidem, tamen hoc idem ſignificante virtute ſpirituali.. They all drank of the ſame ſpiritual Drink; they one thing, and we another; but tho' another as to the viſible Species, yet as to the Spiritual Virtue ſignifying this ſame thing. Where the Viſible Species, it's plain, denotes Water to the Jews, and Wine to us, not the Accidents only.
And in another Tractate (h)Tract. 45. in Joan. Videte, fide manente, ſigna variata. Ibi petra Chriſtus, nobis Chriſtus quod in altari Dei ponitur; & illi pro magno Sacramento ejuſdem Chriſti biberunt aquam profluentem de petra, nos quid bibamus norunt fideles: ſi ſpeciem viſibilem intendas, aliud eſt, ſi intelligibilem ſignificationem, eundem potum ſpiritualem biberunt.to the ſame ſenſe, ſpeaking of the Jews. Behold the Signs are varied, Faith remaining the ſame. To them the Rock was Chriſt; to us, that which is placed on the Altar is Chriſt: They drank the Water flowing from the Rock, for a great Sacrament of the ſame Chriſt; what we drink, the Faithful know. If you regard the Viſible Species, it is another thing; but if the intelligible Signification, they drank the ſame ſpiritual Drink.
And ſo in another Book (i)Lib. 3. de Trinit. cap. 10. Cùm autem ſuſcipitur, aliquando in Angelo demonſtratur, aliquando in ea Specie quae non eſt quod Angelus, quamvis per Angelum diſpoſita miniſtretur., ſpeaking of things aſſumed to ſignifie matters to us, he ſays, When it is aſſumed, ſometimes it is ſhewn in an Angel, ſometimes in that Species which is not what an Angel is, tho' it is ordered and diſpoſed by an Angel's Miniſtry. And his next Inſtance of ſuch things is, ipſum Corpus, a Body it ſelf.
So Gaudentius (k)In Exod. tract. 2. Rectè etiam vini ſpecie tum ſanguis ejus exprimitur, quia cùm ipſe in Evangelio dicit, Ego ſum Vitis vera, ſatis declarat ſanguinem ſuum eſſe omne vinum quod in figura paſſionis ejus offertur.. Alſo by the Species of Wine his Blood is then rightly expreſſed; for when he ſays in the Goſpel, I am the true Vine, he fully declares, That all the Wine that is offered for a Figure of his Paſſion, is his Blood.
Arnobius jun. (l)In Pſal. 104. Succurrit, non ſolum cis ſpeciem frumenti, ſed & vini & olei adminiſtrans.. Our Lord ſuccours them, not only by affording them the Species of Corn, but alſo of Wine and Oyl. Where the Word Species, to be ſure, relates to the Subſtance and the thing it ſelf, not to the Accidents of Corn, and Wine, and Oyl.
Sedulius (m)Lib. 2. Operis Paſchal.ſpeaking of the Offerings of the Wiſe Men that came to Chriſt, ſays,
Ipſae etiam ut poſſent Species oſtendere Chriſtum;
Aurea naſcenti fuderunt munera Regi,
Thura dedere Deo, Myrrham tribuere Sepulchre.
That is,
They point to Chriſt even by the Gifts they bring;
Gold they preſent unto him as a King,
Incenſe as God, Myrrh for his Burying.
The things they preſent are, you ſee, his Species.
Salvian's words are plain (n)Lib. 1. de Gub. Dei. p. 21. Edit. Baluz. Adde medicatas aquas veldatas vel immutatas, Speciem ſervantes, Naturam relinquentes.. Add, ſays he, thoſe healed Waters either given or changed, which preſerved their Species, and relinquiſh'd their Nature. Here Species is taken for the Subſtance remaining, and Nature for the Qualities of the Water that were changed.
Walafridus Strabo (o)De Rebus Eccleſ. cap. 16. Corporis & ſanguinis ſui Sacramenta panis & vini ſubſtantia Diſcipulis tradidit— Nihil ergo congruentiùs his Speciebus ad ſignificandam capitis & membrorum unitatem, potuit inveniri.ſhewing how Chriſt in the Laſt Supper delivered to his Diſciples the Sacraments of his Body and Blood in the Subſtance of Bread and Wine, adds, Nothing more agreeable than theſe Species could be found, to ſignifie the Unity of the Head and Members.
Rupertus Abbas (p)De Offic. lib. 2. cap. 9. In illum in quo fides non eſt, praeter viſibiles Species panis & vini, nihil de Sacrificio pervenit.. Nothing of the Sacrifice enters into him that has no Faith, beſides the viſible Species of Bread and Wine. No one ever thought, but that the Wicked partak'd as much of the outward Elements as the Faithful; but he ſays a little before, That when the Prieſt diſtributes the Sacrifice to be eaten by the Faithful, the Bread and Wine is conſumed and paſſes away. Therefore by the viſible Species he means the Bread and Wine, which the Wicked only partake of.
It has been largely proved by Salmaſius (q)Simplicius Verinus de Tranſubſt. p. 230, &c., That in the Civil Law and the Theodoſian Code, the word Species is uſed for things there ſpoke of; as, Species annonariae, for all ſorts of Corn; Species publicae, for Goods brought to the ſeveral Ports; Species vini, frumenti, olei, for Wine, Corn, and Oyl; and not the Accidents of them.
It is not to be expected that any thing ſhould be cited out of Greek Authors, whoſe this Word is not; and yet it is obſervable, That even among them the Word foreign, that anſwers to the Latin Word Species, is taken in the Senſe of the Latin Fathers, and not in that of the preſent Church of Rome. To give only two Inſtances.
The Author under the Name of Dionyſius the Areopagite (r)Eccleſ. Hierarch. cap. 3. foreign., ſpeaking of Chriſt's Incarnation, uſes the Phraſe of Aſſuming our Species; which his Scoliaſt, Maximus, thus explains; foreign, that is, foreignWhen he had aſſumed our Species or Nature; not meerly an Appearance of our Nature.
Theophylact (s)In Marc. 14. foreign.. Becauſe, ſays he, Bread and Wine are things familiar to us, and we could not endure, but ſhould abhor to ſee Fleſh and Blood ſet before us; therefore Chriſt, the Lover of Men, condeſcending to us, preſerves the Species of Bread and Wine, (that is, the Elements themſelves) but he changes them into the Vritue of his Fleſh and Blood.
To conclude this Head, Bertram (t)Lib. de Corp. & Sang. Chriſti. Secundùm Speciem viſibilem, ſecundùm viſibilem Creaturam, & ſecundùm creaturarum ſubſtantiam., following the Senſe of the Ancients, uſes theſe Phraſes indifferently; according to the viſible Species, and according to the viſible Creature, or according to the Subſtance of the Creatures. Which are Modes of Speech which the preſent Roman Church will not allow of in the Euchariſt: For they tell us their plain Belief, what Species are, in a Sequence on Corpus-Chriſti day, which explains it thus:
Sub diverſis Speciebus,
Signis tantum, & non rebus,
Latent res eximiae.
Admirable things lie hid under the different Species, which are only Signs, and not Things.