Works › The Book on the Sacrament of the Eucharist
Volume 38 · pp. 375–378
Chapter I, 11-12
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Marginal label (printed p. 376): Qui omnia physicis rationibus volunt discutere, tria et quatuor scelera committunt.
11. SED CONTRA haec adhuc objiciunt quidam sophistae dicentes, quod secundum hoc aliquod nunc temporis est in quo substantia panis est sub forma panis, et aliquod nunc temporis quo substantia illa transsubstantiata est in corpus Christi: haec igitur nunc aut sunt idem nunc, aut duo nunc. Si sunt idem, tunc sequitur, quod in eodem indivisibili nunc est aliquid substantia panis et corpus Christi: et ad hoc sequi videtur, quod contradictoria sint simul vera: quia si est substantia panis, sequitur quod non sit corpus Christi: et sic in eodem indivisibili nunc est substantia panis, et non est substantia panis: et est corpus Christi, et non est corpus Christi per eamdem rationem: hoc autem est impossibile: ergo illa nunc quae dicta sunt, non idem indivisibile nunc. Si autem dicatur, quod sunt duo nunc, tunc, cum nihil sit medium tempus, ut jam probatum est, sequitur quod duo nunc immediate sequuntur in eodem continuo tempore: quod est impossibile et contra demonstrationes multas quae in sexto Physicorum inducuntur.
Ad hoc autem dupliciter potest responderi. Si enim concedere volumus, quod est idem tempus omnium temporalium quod continuitatem suam habet a continuitate motus caeli et si hoc concedimus, quod ista mutatio supernaturalis et aliae supernaturales mutationes sunt in nunc temporis: tunc dicemus, quod idem est nunc in quo substantia panis est panis, et in quo transsubstantiata est in corpus Christi: sed illud nunc quia est continuans nunc in tempore habet rationem finis respectu praeteriti, et habet rationem principii respectu futuri: et ideo in principio illius est panis, et in fine illius factum est quod est corpus Christi: quia jam facta est transsubstantiatio per quam est corpus Christi. Unde in principio, hoc est, in ipso nunc secundum quod habet rationem principii, factum est quod est corpus Christi, et ante non fuit corpus Christi. In eodem autem secundum quod habet rationem finis est panis: et continue post hoc non erit panis.
Si quis tamen ista subtiliter inspiciat, videbit pro certo secundum philosophiam, quod illud quod secundum substantiam et actum et motum non est sub motu caeli sicut causatur ab illo, hoc pro certo non cadit sub nunc temporis, neque sub tempore: et quia tales supernaturales mutationes et etiam subjecta ipsarum secundum quod sunt subjecta talium mutationum, non sunt sub motu caeli, sequitur pro certo, quod nec sint in nunc temporis, neque in tempore secundum istam temporis rationem qua Philosophi de tempore loquuntur: tales enim mutationes non sunt motus tales qui sunt actus imperfecti, eo quod nihil de eis exit de potentia in actum, sed actus perfectissimi, in quibus non est nisi demonstratio unius perfecti ex alio perfecto, absque eo quod continue amittat unum et accipiat alterum, et sunt tales mutationes actus, sicut dicimus motus intelligentiae actus, vel motus qui sunt de luce ad lucem, numquam de potentia ad actum exeundo: et non sunt tales motus ut in aliquo continuo mensurante, sed potius sunt de vicibus in vices: et illae vices remanent discretae et non continuae, sicut vices pronuntiationis elementorum litteralium in oratione: et in talibus non est inconveniens, quod duae vices se immediate consequantur, ita quod nihil sui generis sit medium. Et hoc modo dici potest, quod in una vice est panis, et in nulla vice post illam erit panis, et in illa consequente vice est corpus Christi, et in nulla vice ante illam erat corpus Christi. Et hanc solutionem ego puto esse veriorem quam priorem. Unde etiam, Jacobi, I, 17, ubi ab ipso Deo removet temporis mutationem, statim etiam removet eam quae est per vicis successionem; dicens: Apud quem non est transmutatio, nec vicissitudinis obumbratio. Et si dicamus, quod talis vicis successio dicitur tempus, tunc participabit nomen temporis aequivoce ad tempus quod est verus motus secundum prius et posterius, de quo Philosophi loquuntur, dicentes quod adjacet id motui primi mobilis, et per illud numerantur omnes motus qui causantur ab ipso motu primi mobilis: et tale nunc temporis non continui est, quo mensuratur actus creationis, et omnes illi actus divini qui sunt in mysterio incarnationis et sacramenti, sicut jam ante determinatum est.
Marginal label (printed p. 376): Those who wish to examine all things by physical reasonings commit three and four crimes.
11. BUT AGAINST these things certain sophists still object, saying that according to this there is some now of time in which the substance of bread is under the form of bread, and some now of time in which that substance has been transubstantiated into the body of Christ. Therefore these nows are either the same now or two nows. If they are the same, then it follows that in the same indivisible now something is the substance of bread and the body of Christ; and to this it seems to follow that contradictories are true at the same time, because if it is the substance of bread, it follows that it is not the body of Christ. And thus in the same indivisible now there is the substance of bread and there is not the substance of bread; and it is the body of Christ and is not the body of Christ by the same account. But this is impossible. Therefore those nows which have been mentioned are not the same indivisible now. But if it is said that they are two nows, then, since there is no intermediate time, as has now been proved, it follows that two nows immediately follow in the same continuous time, which is impossible and contrary to many demonstrations which are introduced in the sixth book of the Physics.
But to this one can respond in two ways. For if we wish to concede that there is the same time of all temporal things which has its continuity from the continuity of the motion of heaven, and if we concede this, that this supernatural change and other supernatural changes are in a now of time, then we shall say that the same is the now in which the substance of bread is bread and in which it has been transubstantiated into the body of Christ; but that now, because it is a now continuing in time, has the account of an end with respect to the past and has the account of a beginning with respect to the future. And therefore in the beginning of it there is bread, and at the end of it there has been made what is the body of Christ, because the transubstantiation through which it is the body of Christ has now been made. Hence in the beginning, that is, in the now itself according as it has the account of a beginning, there has been made what is the body of Christ, and before it was not the body of Christ. But in the same according as it has the account of an end there is bread, and continuously after this there will not be bread.
Yet if anyone inspects these things subtly, he will see for certain according to philosophy that that which according to substance and act and motion is not under the motion of heaven as caused by it, this for certain does not fall under the now of time nor under time; and because such supernatural changes, and also their subjects according as they are subjects of such changes, are not under the motion of heaven, it follows for certain that they are neither in the now of time nor in time according to that account of time by which the Philosophers speak of time. For such changes are not such motions as are imperfect acts, in that nothing of them goes out from potency into act, but they are most perfect acts, in which there is nothing except the manifestation of one perfect thing from another perfect thing, without its continuously losing one and receiving the other. And such changes are acts, just as we call the motions of intelligence acts, or motions which are from light to light, never going out from potency to act; and they are not such motions as in some measuring continuum, but rather they are from turns to turns. And those turns remain discrete and not continuous, as the turns of pronunciation of literal elements in speech; and in such things it is not unfitting that two turns immediately follow each other, so that nothing of their genus is in the middle. And in this way it can be said that in one turn there is bread, and in no turn after that will there be bread; and in the following turn there is the body of Christ, and in no turn before that was there the body of Christ. And I think this solution is truer than the former one. Hence also, James 1:17, where he removes from God himself change of time, at once he also removes that which is through succession of turn, saying: "With whom there is no transmutation, nor shadowing of vicissitude." And if we say that such succession of turn is called time, then it will participate in the name of time equivocally with time which is true motion according to before and after, concerning which the Philosophers speak, saying that it lies adjacent to the motion of the first movable thing, and through it all motions are numbered which are caused by the very motion of the first movable thing. And a now of non-continuous time is such, by which the act of creation is measured, and all those divine acts which are in the mystery of the Incarnation and of the sacrament, as has now been determined before.
12. Non est autem hic praetereundum, quod cum dicimus: Corpus Christi nunc incepit esse hic sub formis suis sacramentalibus in altari, et non fuit hic ante hoc, non intelligitur quod corpus Christi locali motu descendat de caelo et incipiat hic esse: quinimo dum incipit esse in altari, remanet in caelo in dextera Dei, et tamen incipit esse hic. Talia enim quod corpus Christi sine omni motu et mutatione sua sit simul hic et alibi, et incipiat esse hic et alibi, habet corpus Christi in quantum est divinum, et non in quantum est corpus: et quia deitas est ubique, sequens in aliquo proprietatem deitatis corpus divinum accipit posse esse in pluribus locis simul: alias autem corpus esset in uno loco tantum. Unde sicut Deus per hoc dicitur hic vel alibi: quia apparet hic vel alibi sine motu et mutatione quae fiat in ipso: ita corpus Christi incipit esse hic vel ibi: quia visibiliter sub specie sacramenti apparet hic vel alibi sine omni mutatione et motu qui fiat in ipso. Et similiter est dicendum quando post sumptionem sacramenti desinit esse in altari, et est in caelo, quod motu locali non reascendit in caelum a quo descendendo ante non discesserat: sed tunc non est hic, quia hic visibiliter non apparet.
12. But this must not be passed over here, that when we say, The body of Christ now began to be here under its sacramental forms on the altar, and it was not here before this, it is not understood that the body of Christ descends by local motion from heaven and begins to be here. Indeed rather, while it begins to be on the altar, it remains in heaven at the right hand of God, and nevertheless begins to be here. For that the body of Christ without any motion and change of itself is simultaneously here and elsewhere, and begins to be here and elsewhere, the body of Christ has insofar as it is divine, and not insofar as it is a body; and because deity is everywhere, the divine body, following in some respect the property of deity, receives the ability to be in many places at once. Otherwise a body would be in one place only. Hence just as God is said to be here or elsewhere through this, that he appears here or elsewhere without motion and change which is made in him, so the body of Christ begins to be here or there, because visibly under the species of the sacrament it appears here or elsewhere without any change and motion which is made in it. And similarly one must speak when after reception of the sacrament it ceases to be on the altar and is in heaven, that by local motion it does not re-ascend into heaven from which, by descending, it had not departed before; but then it is not here, because here it does not visibly appear.
Haec est fides Catholica in locutionibus istis: et ideo haec verba a nobis dicta caute et fideliter sunt tenenda. Et propter tales hujus materiae difficultates dixit Spiritus sanctus, Exod. XII, 10: Si quid residuum fuerit, igne comburetis. Quia multa manent in secretis Dei residua, quae humanus non potest penetrare intellectus: et haec igni Spiritus sancti et igni devotionis sine magna discussione sunt committenda, etc. Advertendum enim est quod dicitur, Amos, II, 1: Super tribus sceleribus Moab, et super quatuor non convertam eum, eo quod incenderit ossa regis Idumaeae usque ad cinerem. Moab enim ex patre interpretatur, et signat eos qui quoad perfidiam sunt ex patre diabolo, qui omnia physicis rationibus volunt discutere, qui tria et quatuor scelera committunt. Tria quidem, quorum primum est: quia immensum ad inopiam physicorum corporum mensurare volunt. Secundum autem, quia capacitatem sui intellectus ultra immensitatem Dei extendunt, cum hoc sit impossibile. Tertium autem, quod secreta majestatis Dei temere perscrutantur. Et haec tria sunt cordis eorum scelera. Quatuor autem sunt. Primum, quia cum invisibilia Dei perfecte in vestigio et imagine non demonstrentur, isti arguunt ad ea quae sine exemplo sunt, sicut exemplum in naturalibus inveniunt. Secundum autem, quod ea quae per ablationem et eminentiam exponere deberent, ipsi per positionem exponant, ut inferiora de divinis affirmentur. Tertium autem scelus est, quia Deo propria sua non relinquunt: cum tamen omni regi sua propria relinquantur. Quartum vero est, quod et maximum est: quia fidem quae supra intellectum et rationem est, ipsi sub ratione supprimere intendunt.
De primo horum scelere dicitur, Isa. XL, 18: Cui similem fecistis Deum? aut quam imaginem ponetis ei? In omnibus enim physicis nihil simile penitus invenitur.
De secundo dicitur, II ad Corinth. X, 4 et 5: Arma militiae nostrae non carnalia sunt, sed potentia Deo ad destructionem munitionum, consilia destruentes, et omnem altitudinem extollentem se adversus scientiam Dei, et in captivitatem redigentes omnem intellectum in obsequium Christi, etc.
De tertio dicitur, Proverb. XXV, 27: Sicut qui mel multum comedit non est ei bonum, sic qui perscrutator est majestatis opprimetur a gloria.
De quarto autem dicitur, Job, XI, 7 et seq.: Forsitan vestigia Dei comprehendes, et usque ad perfectum Omnipotentem reperies? Excelsior caelo est, et quid facies? profundior inferno, et unde cognosces? Longior terra mensura ejus, et latior mari. Et ideo nihil invenitur in creaturis superioribus, vel mediis, vel infimis, quod sufficienter opus Dei manifestet.
De quinto dicitur, Isa. XL, 17: Omnes gentes quasi non sint, sic sunt coram eo, et quasi nihilum et inane reputatae sunt ei: nihil enim omnium quae facta sunt, est Deus, et ab omnibus eminenter elevatur, sicut dicitur, Eccli. XLIII, 30: Gloriantes ad quid valebimus? ipse enim Omnipotens super omnia opera sua. Unde Dionysius in libro de Divinis nominibus: « In ipso oportet affirmare omnium positiones, et omnes potentias negare tamquam de eo qui super omnia existit. » Et, Eccli. XLIII, 31: Terribilis Dominus et magnus vehementer, et mirabilis potentia ipsius. Et ideo sicut ipse in nullo genere entis est, sed excellit omnia, ita actio ipsius et opus in nullo est actionis vel operationis genere, sed omnia excellit: et ideo etiam mutationes, quae sunt supernaturales in sacramento, non sunt mutationes quae sunt in genere, sed sunt super omnem mutationem.
This is the Catholic faith in these locutions; and therefore these words said by us must be held cautiously and faithfully. And because of such difficulties of this matter the Holy Spirit said, Exodus 12:10: "If anything shall remain, you shall burn it with fire." Because many remaining things remain in the secrets of God which human understanding cannot penetrate, and these must be committed to the fire of the Holy Spirit and the fire of devotion without great discussion, etc. For one must notice what is said, Amos 2:1: "For three crimes of Moab, and for four, I will not convert him, because he burned the bones of the king of Idumaea even to ash." For Moab is interpreted "from the father," and signifies those who with respect to unbelief are from their father the devil, who wish to discuss all things with physical reasons, who commit three and four crimes. Three indeed, of which the first is that they wish to measure the immense by the poverty of physical bodies. But the second is that they extend the capacity of their understanding beyond the immensity of God, although this is impossible. But the third is that they rashly scrutinize the secrets of God's majesty. And these three are the crimes of their heart. But there are four. First, because since the invisible things of God are not perfectly demonstrated in vestige and image, they argue toward those things which are without example just as they find an example in natural things. But the second is that they explain by position those things which they ought to explain by removal and eminence, so that lower things are affirmed of divine things. But the third crime is that they do not leave to God his own proper things, although nevertheless to every king his own proper things are left. But the fourth, and it is the greatest, is that they intend to suppress faith, which is above understanding and reason, under reason.
Concerning the first of these crimes it is said, Isaiah 40:18: "To whom have you made God similar? or what image will you place for him?" For in all physical things nothing similar at all is found.
Concerning the second it is said, II Corinthians 10:4 and 5: "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but powerful for God unto the destruction of fortifications, destroying counsels and every height exalting itself against the knowledge of God, and reducing every understanding into captivity unto the service of Christ," etc.
Concerning the third it is said, Proverbs 25:27: "As it is not good for him who eats much honey, so he who is a searcher of majesty will be oppressed by glory."
But concerning the fourth it is said, Job 11:7 and following: "Perhaps you will comprehend the traces of God, and find the Almighty unto perfection? He is higher than heaven, and what will you do? deeper than hell, and whence will you know? His measure is longer than earth, and broader than the sea." And therefore nothing is found in higher, middle, or lowest creatures which sufficiently manifests the work of God.
Concerning the fifth it is said, Isaiah 40:17: "All nations are as if they were not, so are they before him, and they are reckoned to him as nothing and emptiness"; for nothing of all things which have been made is God, and he is eminently elevated above all things, as is said, Ecclesiasticus 43:30: "We who glorify, for what shall we be able? For he himself, the Omnipotent, is above all his works." Hence Dionysius in the book On the Divine Names: "In him it is necessary to affirm the positions of all things, and to deny all powers, as concerning him who exists above all things." And Ecclesiasticus 43:31: "The Lord is terrible and exceedingly great, and his power is wonderful." And therefore just as he himself is in no genus of being, but excels all things, so his action and work is in no genus of action or operation, but excels all things; and therefore also the changes which are supernatural in the sacrament are not changes which are in a genus, but are above every change.
De sexto scelere dicitur, Isa. XXIV, 16: Secretum meum mihi, secretum meum mihi: nullus enim in sinu secreti Dei fuit, qui propria deitatis sit scrutatus, nisi Filius, sicut dicitur, Joan. I, 18: Deum nemo vidit umquam: unigenitus Filius, qui est in sinu Patris, ipse enarravit.
De septimo autem scelere, quod fidem sub intellectu et ratione ponere nituntur, dicit Gregorius, quod fides non habet meritum, cui humana ratio praebet experimentum. Et de talibus dicit Dominus, Joan. III, 12: Si terrena dixi vobis, et non creditis, quomodo, si dixero vobis caelestia, credetis? quia etiam in terrenis multa operatur Deus, quae non capimus per rationem, et multo minus capere possumus ista caelestia supernaturalia et supermundana, quae ipse supercaelesti et divina sua potentia et sapientia operatur. Sapient. IX, 16 et 17: Difficile aestimamus quae in terra sunt, et quae in prospectu sunt invenimus cum labore: quae autem in caelis sunt quis investigabit? Sensum autem tuum quis sciet, nisi tu dederis sapientiam, et miseris spiritum sanctum tuum de altissimis? His igitur erroribus occupati sunt, qui nimis investigant mysteria deitati soli nota. Rex enim Idumaeae Christus est, sicut dicitur, Isa. LXIII, 1: Quis est iste qui venit de Edom, tinctis vestibus de Bosra? De quo etiam dicit Psalmista, Psal. LIX, 10: In Idumaeam extendam calceamentum meum: quia in carne et sanguine calceata venit ad nos divinitas. Hujus regis ossa, hoc est, fortiora mysteria incendit in cineres, qui calore proprii ingenii succensus usque ad minima vult investigare: et ideo omnibus illis quae dicta sunt tribus et quatuor sceleribus involvitur. Ad Roman. XII, 3: Dico... omnibus qui sunt inter vos, non plus sapere quam oportet sapere, sed sapere ad sobrietatem. Humana sapientia enim incerta est: quia scilicet dicitur, Abdiae, v. 8: Perdam sapientes de Idumaea, et prudentiam de monte Esau. Et ideo dicitur, I ad Corinth. I, 17: Non in sapientia verbi, ut non evacuetur crux Christi. Hic igitur sic loquendum est, sicut diximus.
Concerning the sixth crime it is said, Isaiah 24:16: "My secret to me, my secret to me"; for no one was in the bosom of the secret of God who scrutinized the proper things of deity except the Son, as is said, John 1:18: "No one has ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has narrated him."
But concerning the seventh crime, that they strive to place faith under understanding and reason, Gregory says that faith has no merit to which human reason furnishes proof. And concerning such persons the Lord says, John 3:12: "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how, if I shall tell you heavenly things, will you believe?" because even in earthly things God works many things which we do not grasp by reason, and much less can we grasp those heavenly, supernatural, and supermundane things which he himself works by his supercelestial and divine power and wisdom. Wisdom 9:16 and 17: "We judge with difficulty the things that are on earth, and the things that are in our sight we find with labor; but the things that are in the heavens, who will search them out? But who will know your sense, unless you give wisdom and send your holy spirit from the highest places?" Therefore those who investigate too much the mysteries known to deity alone are occupied with these errors. For the king of Idumaea is Christ, as is said, Isaiah 63:1: "Who is this who comes from Edom, with garments dyed from Bosra?" Concerning whom the Psalmist also says, Psalm 59:10: "Into Idumaea I will extend my shoe," because deity, shod in flesh and blood, came to us. He burns the bones of this king, that is, the stronger mysteries, into ashes, who, enkindled by the heat of his own talent, wishes to investigate even the least things; and therefore he is entangled in all those three and four crimes which have been said. Romans 12:3: "I say... to all who are among you, not to be wise more than one ought to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety." For human wisdom is uncertain, because, namely, it is said, Obadiah, v. 8: "I will destroy the wise from Idumaea and prudence from Mount Esau." And therefore it is said, I Corinthians 1:17: "Not in the wisdom of speech, lest the cross of Christ be emptied." Therefore here one must speak as we have said.
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