'Unspeakable gift received': the Laudian affirmation of Article XXIX

In The Teaching of the Anglican Divines in the Time of King James I and King Charles I on the Doctrine of the Holy Eucharist (1858), Henry Charles Groves - a clergyman of the Church of Ireland - subjects Pusey's reinterpretation of Article XXIX to strong critique. Pusey attempted to read the Article to mean that, because of an 'objective' presence of Christ in the elements, the wicked do eat the Body of Christ in the Sacrament, but unfruitfully. Groves contrasts this with "the old Anglican doctrine":

But all this inconsistency might have been saved by following the old Anglican doctrine concerning the eating or partaking of Christ in the Sacrament, a specimen of which is afforded by Bishop White: "Augustine teacheth only two kinds of manducation in the Sacrament: one both corporal and spiritual, wherein the body of a man receiveth the outward elements of Bread and Wine, and the soul receiveth the true body and blood of Christ by faith; the other corporeal only, wherein the receiver partaketh the outward sign, and not the thing signified." And that the old Anglican divines never thought that the Article was capable ofthe interpretation argued for by Dr. Pusey, may be inferred from the unreserved manner in which they appeal to it.

Groves use of Bishop White is significant. Francis White, states Grove, "is justly to be regarded as one of what has been called the Laudian school of theology". He had received orders in the late 1580s, and was directed by James I to engage in debate with the Jesuit Fisher. White was consecrated to the episcopate in 1626, with John Cosin preaching at the consecration. He was translated to Norwich (1629) and then to Ely (1631). His Laudian credentials are seen in his 1632 consecration of the chapel of Peterhouse, Cambridge, and his 1635 publication of Treatise of the Sabbath-Day, a condemnation of "Sabbatarian errour", defending "The keeping holy the Lord's-day, and of other Festivals, ordained by the Church and State, is a worke of piety, a nursery of Religion and Vertue". Dedicating the work to Laud, he rejoiced in "our Mother Church":

Our Nationall Church of England is A Vine-yard of the LORD of Hostes: A sound body compacted, united, and knit together, in an uniforme profession of one and the same orthodoxall verity, which was once given to the Saints, in the holy Apostles dayes: And which in all substantials, was maintained by the holy Primitive Fathers: Our publike forme of Divine Service and worship is in every part thereof religious and holy ... The Ecclesiasticall Officers and Ministers of our Church are Bishops, Priests, and Deacons, such officers as have administred sacred things, in the Christian Church, yea, in all Christian Churches, for fifteen hundred yeares, ever since the holy Apostles dayes.

It is these impeccable Laudian credentials which make White's robust affirmation of Article XXIX - quoted at length by Groves - particularly noteworthy:

the Sacrament is not instituted in vaine, although Christ's Bodie and Blood are not locally present in the outward elements: for if upon the worthy receiving of the Sacrament, the Holy Ghost truly and effectually communicates unto us Christ's Bodie and Blood, to be the food and life of our soules, and doth not so effectually and fruitfully communicate the same by any other meanes, then there is great use in this Sacrament, and unspeakable benefit received by it, although Christ's Bodie and Blood are not locally contained within the outward signes.

'Not locally present in the outward elements ... not locally contained within the outward signs': this is the doctrinal basis of Article XXIX, the classically Reformed understanding here unambiguously affirmed by the Laudian White. What is more, White points to an extensive list of patristic witnesses proclaiming the teaching of Article XXIX:

they affirme expressely, that infidels and wicked persons receive the Bodie of Christ onely sacramento tenus, (Aug. de Civ. Dei, 1. xxi.c.25, et in Joh.iv.27.) that is, according to the visible signe; and not revera, in truth, and in deed: Panem Domini non Panem Dominum, (Id. in Joh. Tr. 59): the Bread of the Lord, and not the Bread which is the Lord (or the Lord's Bodie.) The author bearing the name of S. Cyprian saith, Lambunt Petram, wicked men (like Esop's foxe) licke the outside of the rocke, but sucke not out the honey. They receive (saith Bernard) corticem Sacramenti & furfur Carnis, the outwarde barke of the Sacrament, and the branne of Christ's Flesh. Beda: Omnis infidelis non vescitur carne Christi, No unbeliever eateth the Flesh of Christ. Hilarius: Panis qui descendit de Coelo non nisi ab eo accipitur qui Dominum habet et Christi membrum est, The Bread which came down from heaven is received of him onely which hath the Lord, and is a member of Christ. Cyril of Alexandria: Forasmuch as wicked men do not live, nor are reformed to immortalitie, they eate not that Flesh. Origen: If it were possible for one, persevering a wicked man, to eat the Word, which became Flesh, being living Bread, it would not have beene written, Whosoever eateth this Bread shall live for ever. S. Chrysostome: This Bread filleth the mind, and not the belly; this is our bread, and the bread of angels.

Such teaching, White states, allows us to rightly understand the 'realist' language that can be used by the Fathers regarding reception of the Sacrament:

whereas some of the Fathers say, that the Bodie of Christ is received into the mouth; they understand by the Bodie of Christ, the Sacrament or outward signe of His Bodie; as appeareth not onely by their owne exposition, where they call the outward signe a figure of Christ's Bodie, but also because they say, the Body of Christ is visibly eaten, and His Blood is visibly drunke. Also they affirme, that the Bodie of Christ is spirituall food, and passeth not into the bodie, but into the soule.

The post-1833 embarrassment regarding Article XXIX is not to be found in the writings of Bishop White. Laudian affirmation of the Article was clear and explicit, contrasting with Puseyite attempts to empty it of meaning. What is more, the Laudian White's teaching on Article XXIX is a reminder of how the Article, rather than encouraging a 'low' view of the Sacrament, brings us to perceive how the gift of the Lord in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is, because received by faith, always abundantly fruitful; that the Lord's Body and Blood cannot fail to bring us grace and life everlasting.