THE
HISTORY OF POPISH TRANSUBSTANTIATION;
TO WHICH IS OPPOSED THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURE,
THE ANCIENT FATHERS, AND THE REFORMED CHURCHES.
(BY John Cosin, Bishop of Durham.)
(Continued.)
CHAPTER V.
The doctrine of Transubstantiation is contained neither in Scripture
nor in the writings of the Fathers.
The word Transubstantiation is so far from being found either in the Sacred Records, or in the Monuments of the Ancient Fathers, that the maintainers of it do themselves acknowledge that it was not so much as heard of before the twelfth century. For though one Stephanus, Bishop of Autun, be said to have once used it, yet it is without proof that some modern writers make him one of the tenth century; nor yet doth he say, that the Bread is transubstantiated, but as it were transubstantiated, which well understood might be admitted.
Nay, that the thing itself without the word, that the doctrine without the expression, cannot be found in Scripture, is ingeniously acknowledged by the most learned Schoolmen, Scotus, Durandus, Biel, Cameracensis, Cajetan, and many more, who finding it not brought in by the Pope's authority, and received in the Roman Church, till 1200 years after Christ, yet endeavoured to defend it by other arguments.
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And indeed, the words of institution would plainly make it appear to any man that would prefer truth to wrangling, that it is with the Bread that the Lord's Body is given, (as His Blood with the Wine,) for Christ, having taken, blessed, and broken the Bread, said, "This is My Body;" and St. Paul, than whom none could better understand the meaning of Christ, explains it thus; "The Bread which we break is the κοινωνία, Communion or communication of the Body of Christ," that whereby His Body is given, and the faithful are made partakers of it. That it was Bread which He reached to them, there was no need of any proof, the receiver's senses sufficiently convinced them of it; but that therewith His Body was given, none could have known, had it not
