XIII

One of the chief marks of the history of Eucharistic doctrine in the Church of England in the nineteenth century was the revival of clear and definite teaching that the body and blood of Christ are present in the Sacrament under the form of bread and wine, and that the Eucharist is a sacrifice of the body and blood so present. Emphasis has been laid by some writers who have adopted this general standpoint on the spiritual character of the body of Christ since His resurrection, and therefore in heaven and in the Eucharist; and on the identity between the sacrifice offered by our Lord in heaven since His ascension and the sacrifice offered in the Church on earth. The most prominent and best equipped teachers who have advocated positions opposed to this theology have not maintained Zwinglian doctrines such as had been widespread in the Church of England since the time of the Plain Account ascribed to Bishop Hoadly, or merely virtualistic doctrines which had been frequent both before and after that time; but have asserted the spiritual presence of Christ throughout the celebration of the rite and the spiritual reception of Christ by the souls of the communicants on making their Communion. While Zwinglianism and mere Virtualism have been more widely held among non-episcopal bodies, still, at any rate among some Lutherans abroad and some Presbyterians at home, there has been much teaching of a real spiritual gift and a real feeding of the soul on Christ in the reception of the Eucharist.