The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

ead inhere in the bread, and all the attributes of Christ's body inhere in
His body: the reason of this inherence is not arbitrary; but bread has its
qualities because it is bread, and body has its qualities because it is body;
bread cannot have the qualities of body because it is not body, and body
cannot have the qualities of bread because it is not bread; and the
phenomena by which the mind recognizes the presence of bread and body
correspond with the qualities of each, so that the real phenomenal
evidences of bread are proofs of true bread, and the phenomenal evidences
of body are proofs of true body. So far, then, it is clear that the doctrine of
the true presence is in perfect accord with the sound metaphysic with
which the doctrine of transubstantiation conflicts. But it will be urged that
the difficulty remains that the phenomenal evidences of the presence of
true body are wanting in the Supper, and that our doctrine is so far in
conflict with the testimony of the senses, equally with the Romish. This
difficulty, which has often been triumphantly urged, has really no force.
The senses may be competent to decide on the presence and reality of
what is offered to them, but may be incompetent to decide whether a thing
is really present, which does not come within their sphere. That I see the
furniture in my room is proof that there is furniture there; but that I do not
see the air in my room is no proof that air is not there. That I see the bread
in the Supper is proof that bread is there; but that I do not see the body is
no proof that the body is not there. But, says the objector, if the body be
there, it must be clothed with the essential attributes of body, such as
visibility and tangibility. You would see it and touch it, if it were there, on
your own principles that properties inhere in substance. The theological
answer to this is, that this objection assumes the natural presence of a
natural body per se, while the doctrine to which it professes to be an
objection is, that there is a supernatural presence of a supernatural body
through the divine, with which it is one person. The metaphysical answer
is, that though the properties which become known phenomenally, inhere
in substance, the same substance, under different conditions. exhibits
different properties. I take a compound