Foremost among the influential theologians who besides Westphal, took a
decided stand against the Calvinists and their secret abettors in
Lutheran territories were John Brenz in Wuerttemberg and Martin Chemnitz
in Brunswick. John Brenz [born 1499, persecuted during the Interim,
since 1553 Provost at Stuttgart, died 1570], the most influential
theologian in Wuerttemberg, was unanimously supported in his
anti-Calvinistic attitude by the whole ministerium of the Duchy. He is
the author of the _Confession and Report (Bekenntnis und Bericht) of the
Theologians in Wuerttemberg Concerning the True Presence of the Body and
Blood of Christ in the Holy Supper_, adopted at the behest of Duke
Christopher by the synod assembled in Stuttgart, 1559. The occasion for
drafting and adopting this _Confession_ had been furnished by
Bartholomew Hagen, a Calvinist. At the synod in Stuttgart he was
required to dispute on the doctrine of the Lord's Supper with Jacob
Andreae, with the result that Hagen admitted that he was now convinced
of his error, and promised to return to the Lutheran teaching.
The _Confession_ thereupon adopted teaches in plain and unmistakable
terms that the body and blood of Christ are orally received by all who
partake of the Sacrament, and that Christ, by reason of the personal
union, is omnipresent also according to His human nature, and hence well
able to fulfil the promise He gave at the institution of the Holy
Supper. It teaches the real presence (_praesentia realis_), the
sacramental union (_unio sacramentalis_), the oral eating and drinking
(_manducatio oralis_), also of the wicked (_manducatio impiorum_). It
holds "that in the Lord's Supper the true body and the true blood of our
Lord Jesus Christ are, through the power of the word [of institution],
truly and essentially tendered and given with the bread and wine to all
men who partake of the Supper of Christ; and that, even as they are
tendered by the hand of the minister, they are at the same time also
received with the mouth of him who eats and drinks it." Furthermore,
"that even as the substance and the essence of the bread and wine are
present in the Lord's Supper, so also the substance and the essence of
the body and blood of Christ are present and truly tendered and received
with the signs of bread and wine." (Tschackert, 541.) It protests: "We
do not assert any mixture of His body and blood with the bread and wine,
nor any local inclusion in the bread." Again: "We do not imagine any
diffusion of the human nature or expansion of the members of Christ
(_ullam humanae naturae diffusionem aut membrorum Christi
distractionem_), but we explain the majesty of the man Christ by which
He, being placed at the right hand of God, fills all things not only by
His divinity, but also as the man Christ, in a celestial manner and in a
way that to human reason is past finding out, by virtue of which majesty
His presence in the Supper is not abolished, but confirmed." (Gieseler
3, 2, 239f.) Thus, without employing the term "ubiquity," this
_Confession_ prepared by Brenz restored, in substance, the doctrine
concerning the Lord's Supper and the person of Christ which Luther had
maintained over against Zwingli, Carlstadt, and the Sacramentarians
generally.
As stated above, Melanchthon ridiculed this _Confession_ as "Hechinger
Latin." In 1561 Brenz was attacked by Bullinger in his _Treatise
(Tractatio) on the Words of St. John 14_. In the same year Brenz replied
to this attack in two writings: _Opinion (Sententia) on the Book of
Bullinger_ and _On the Personal Union (De Personali Unione) of the Two
Natures in Christ and on the Ascension of Christ into Heaven and His
Sitting at the Right Hand of the Father_, etc. This called forth renewed
assaults by Bullinger, Peter Martyr, and Beza. Bullinger wrote: "_Answer
(Responsio)_, by which is shown that the meaning concerning 'heaven' and
the 'right hand of God' still stands firm," 1562. Peter Martyr: _Dialogs
(Dialogi) Concerning the Humanity of Christ, the Property of the
Natures, and Ubiquity_, 1562. Beza: _Answers (Responsiones) to the
Arguments of Brenz_, 1564. Brenz answered in two of his greatest
writings, _Concerning the Divine Majesty of Christ (De Divina Maiestate
Christi)_, 1562, and _Recognition (Recognito) of the Doctrine Concerning
the True Majesty of Christ_, 1564. In the _Dresden Consensus (Consensus
Dresdensis)_ of 1571 the Philippists of Electoral Saxony also rejected
the omnipresence (which they termed ubiquity) of the human nature of
Christ.
In order to reclaim the Palatinate (which, as will be explained later,
had turned Reformed) for Lutheranism the Duke of Wuerttemberg, in April,
1564, arranged for the Religious Discussion at Maulbronn between the
theologians of Wuerttemberg and the Palatinate. But the only result was
a further exchange of polemical publications. In 1564 Brenz published
_Epitome of the Maulbronn Colloquium ... Concerning the Lord's Supper
and the Majesty of Christ_. And in the following year the Wuerttemberg
theologians published _Declaration and Confession (Declaratio et
Confessio) of the Tuebingen Theologians Concerning the Majesty of the
Man Christ_. Both of these writings were answered by the theologians of
the Palatinate. After the death of Brenz, Jacob Andreae was the chief
champion in Wuerttemberg of the doctrines set forth by Brenz.
In his various publications against the Calvinists, Brenz, appealing to
Luther, taught concerning the majesty of Christ that by reason of the
personal union the humanity of Christ is not only omnipotent and
omniscient, but also omnipresent, and that the human nature of Christ
received these as well as other divine attributes from the first moment
of the incarnation of the Logos. Following are some of his statements:
"Although the divine substance [in Christ] is not changed into the
human, and each has its own properties, nevertheless these two
substances are united in one person in Christ in such a manner that the
one is never in reality separated from the other." "Wherever the deity
is, there is also the humanity of Christ." "We do not ascribe to Christ
many and various bodies, nor do we ascribe to His body local extension
or diffusion; but we exalt Him beyond this corporeal world, outside of
every creature and place, and place Him in accordance with the condition
of the hypostatic union in celestial majesty, which He never lacked,
though at the time of His flesh in this world He hid it or, as Paul
says, He humbled Himself (_quam etsi tempore carnis suae in hoc saeculo
dissimulavit, seu ea sese, ut Paulus loquitur, exinanivit, tamen numquam
ea caruit_)." According to Brenz the man Christ was omnipotent,
almighty, omniscient while He lay in the manger. In His majesty He
darkened the sun, and kept alive all the living while in His humiliation
He was dying on the cross. When dead in the grave, He at the same time
was filling and ruling heaven and earth with His power. (Gieseler 3, 2,
240f.)
In Brunswick, Martin Chemnitz (born 1522; died 1586), the Second Martin
(_alter Martinus_) of the Lutheran Church, entered the controversy
against the Calvinists in 1560 with his _Repetition (Repetitio) of the
Sound Doctrine Concerning the True Presence of the Body and Blood of
Christ in the Supper_, in which he based his arguments for the real
presence on the words of institution. Ten years later he published his
famous book _Concerning the Two Natures in Christ (De Duabus Naturis in
Christo)_, etc.,--preeminently the Lutheran classic on the subject it
treats. Appealing also to Luther, he teaches that Christ, according to
His human nature was anointed with all divine gifts; that, in
consequence of the personal union, the human nature of Christ can be and
is present where, when, and in whatever way Christ will; that therefore
in accordance with His promise, He is in reality present in His Church
and in His Supper. Chemnitz says: "This presence of the assumed nature
in Christ of which we now treat is not natural or essential [flowing
from the nature and essence of Christ's humanity], but voluntary and
most free, depending on the will and power of the Son of God (_non est
vel naturalis vel essentialis, sed voluntaria et liberrima, dependens a
voluntate et potentia Filii Dei_); that is to say, when by a definite
word He has told, promised, and asseverated that He would be present
with His human nature, ... let us retain this, which is most certainly
true, that Christ can be with His body wherever, whenever, and in
whatever manner He wills (_Christum suo corpore esse posse, ubicunque,
quandocunque et quomodocunque vult_). But we must judge of His will from
a definite, revealed word." (Tschackert, 644; Gieseler 3, 2, 259.)
The _Formula of Concord_ plainly teaches, both that, in virtue of the
personal union by His incarnation, Christ according to His human nature
possesses also the divine attribute of omnipresence, and that He can be
and is present wherever He will. In the Epitome we read: This majesty
Christ always had according to the personal union, and yet He abstained
from it in the state of His humiliation until His resurrection, "so that
now not only as God, but also as man He knows all things, can do all
things, _is present with all creatures_, and has under His feet and in
His hand everything that is in heaven and on earth and under the earth.
... And this His power He, _being present_, can exercise everywhere, and
to Him everything is possible and everything is known." (821, 16. 27.
30.) The Thorough Declaration declares that Christ "truly fills all
things, and, being present everywhere, not only as God, but also as man,
rules from sea to sea and to the ends of the earth." (1025, 27ff.)
Again: "We hold ... that also according to His assumed human nature and
with the same He [Christ] _can be, and also is, present where He will_,
and especially that in His Church and congregation on earth He is
present as Mediator, Head, King, and High Priest, not in part, or
one-half of Him only, but the entire person of Christ, to which both
natures, the divine and the human, belong, is present not only
according to His divinity, but also according to, and with, His assumed
human nature, according to which He is our Brother, and we are flesh of
His flesh and bone of His bone." (1043 78f.) In virtue of the personal
union Christ is present everywhere also according to His human nature;
while the peculiarly gracious manner of His presence in the Gospel, in
the Church, and in the Lord's Supper depends upon His will and is based
upon His definite promises.