of the eucharist," he says, "after the invocation of the Holy Spirit, is no longer common bread, but the body of Christ, so, after the invocation, that sacred unguent is no longer a mere, or, if any one prefers so to speak, common unguent, but a charism of Christ and of the Holy Spirit, made efficient by the presence of His divinity." (Catech., XXI.) Now the oil was conceived to be changed, not by loss of its proper substance, but by the presence of a divine factor. It is plainly suggested, therefore, that Cyril may have regarded the elements as ceasing to be (common) bread and wine, simply in the sense that they become something more than bread and wine, the Divine Logos being joined with them and giving them a sacred character by His presence. This view, already announced by Justin Martyr and Irenæus, appears in an elaborated form with Gregory of Nyssa. (Orat. Catech., XXXVII.) Nothing beyond this view is necessarily indicated by the language of Cyril of Alexandria: "Do not doubt that this [change in the clements which makes them the life-giving body and blood of Christ] is true, since He Himself distinctly says, This is my body,' and 'This is my blood.' Rather receive with faith the word of the Saviour, for He who is the truth will not lie." (Comm. in Luc., XXII. 19.) Chrysostom, in his fervid rhetoric, uses expressions which might be understood to indicate the presence of the actual body of Christ in the eucharist. (Hom. in Matt., L.; Hom. in 1 Cor., XXIV.; Hom. in Eph., III.; Hom. in Joan., XLVI.) But rhetoric is not dogmatic teaching; and, besides, Chrysostom uses language which at least distinctly repudiates transubstantiation. The consecrated bread, he says, is worthy to be called the body of the Lord," although the nature of bread remains in it." (Epist. ad Cæsar Monachum, quoted in Ridley's works, with comments on genuineness, Parker Society edition.) Hilary states that in the eucharist the flesh of Christ is truly received, and serves as the means by which He is joined in natural connection (naturaliter) with believers. (De Trin., VIII.) This language, however, does not necessarily imply anything more than the view imputed to Gregory of Nyssa. The bread and wine, transfused with a heavenly virtue by their union with the Logos, may have been regarded by him as answering in all essential respects to the body and blood of Christ, and hence worthy to be so designated. Ambrose probably goes beyond every other writer of the period in the profusion of images, by which he illustrates the change wrought in the elements, referring to the transformation of Moses's rod, of the Nile, of the waters of Marah, and to the bursting forth of fire at the command of Elijah. (De Mysteriis, IX.) He also uses this expression, which looks very much like a positive assertion of the doctrine of transubstantiation : "Hoc quod conficimus corpus ex Virgine est,-This which we prepare is the body from the Virgin." (Ibid.) But, on the other hand, he affirms that the eucharistic food is not corporeal, but spiritual, and intimates that it is made the living bread from heaven simply by the union with it of the divine nature of Christ. (De Mysteriis, IX.; De Sacramentis, VI. 1.) Moreover, the change accomplished is named by him, in certain instances, a transfiguration. (De Incarn., IV.; De Fide, IV. 10.) It must be confessed, however, that it is quite as much the historical environment of Ambrose as the facts of his language, which would dictate the conclusion that he did not entertain the strict doctrine of transubstantiation. It seems contrary to the position which he occupied that he should have embraced this dogma, -a dogma not to be found among his predecessors in the Latin Church, and still rejected by the balance of the scholarly authority of that Church in the ninth century. It appears, then, that the doctrine of transubstantiation was neither an acknowledged doctrine of the Church, nor one which was held by any considerable number of eminent theologians, if indeed it was held by any. Still, the lan guage of certain writers was in close affiliation with such a doctrine. The Church in this period was evidently drifting through a mystical maze in the direction of the amazing dogma of transubstantiation. As to the positive theory of the eucharist which was most prevalent, Gieseler expresses the following conclusion: "It was the dominant teaching at this time concerning the elements of the eucharist, that the Logos so unites Himself with them as He did once with humanity, and that they receive thereby a divine power, and to this extent undergo an inner change and transformation. As related to the body and blood which Christ assumed in His incarnation, bread and wine were pronounced mere images and signs." (Dogmengeschichte.) The eucharist was currently styled a sacrifice. As such it was associated with the sacrifice of Christ which it memorialized. In proportion, however, as there was no apprehension of the doctrine of transubstantiation, it is obvious that the eucharistic sacrifice did not have the meaning which it came ultimately to possess in the Roman Catholic mass. The benefits of this sacrifice were supposed to extend to the dead. The prayers of the Church for the departed, as Cyril of Jerusalem teaches, have great virtue when the sacrifice is upon the altar. (Catech. XXIII. 8, 9.) From Augustine we have this description of the sacrificial virtue of the eucharist: "When sacrifices either of the altar or of alms are offered on behalf of all the baptized dead, they are thank-offerings for the very good, they are propitiatory offerings for the not very bad; and in case of the very bad, even though they do not assist the dead, they are a species of consolation to the living. And when they are profitable, their benefit consists either in obtaining a full remission of sins, or at least in making the condemnation more tolerable." (Enchirid., CX.) Gregory the Great, writing nearly two centuries later than Augustine, illustrates the drift of the age in the strong emphasis which he eucharistic sacrifice both for The following are among his places upon the virtue of the the living and for the dead. statements upon the subject: "Quoties ei hostiam suæ passionis offerimus, toties nobis ad absolutionem nostram passionem illius reparamus." (Hom. in Evang., XXXVII. 7.) "Si culpæ post mortem insolubiles non sunt, multum solet animas etiam post mortem sacra oblatio hostiæ salutaris adjuvare; ita ut hanc nonnunquam ipsæ defunctorum animæ expetere videantur." (Dialog., IV. 55.) This last statement Gregory supplements by narratives of instances in which souls were certified to have been released from their misery by the sacrifice of the altar. - CHAPTER VI. ESCHATOLOGY. 1. CHILIASM. According to the report of Epiphanius, the doctrine of Christ's personal reign on earth was still held by Apollinaris, and Jerome indicates that his view was shared by the uncultured multitude in Palestine. But already, in the early part of the fourth century, this doctrine had become comparatively obsolete. As to the thousand years which the Apocalypse specifies, Augustine suggests that they denote either the last thousand years of the world's history, or the whole duration of the world, the number one thousand being indicative not so much of definite time as of totality. By the reign of the saints in the millennial period, nothing further, as he teaches, is to be understood than the dominion which pertains to the Church. "The Church even now is the kingdom of Christ, and the kingdom of heaven. Accordingly, even now His saints reign with Him, though otherwise than as they shall reign hereafter." (De Civ. Dei, XX. 7-9.) To obviate a millenarian use of the reference to the "first resurrection," Augustine taught that this denotes simply the resurrection of the soul from sin. (Ibid., XX. 6.) 2. CONDITION BETWEEN DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION. It was the current doctrine of the Church at the opening of this period, that there is a twofold intermediate state; that the righteous in general pass to a happy abode, and there anticipate the more perfect bliss of heaven; while the lost, in a place severed from the |