The  reader  will  recollect  that  Peter  Lombard  had  not  ventured  to  maintain
the  transformation  of  the  substance  of  the  bread.  Later  theologians  did
not  hesitate  to  do  this  ;  they  taught  that  the  accidens  alone  remained  ;
a  theory  which  they  supported  by  a  pretended  Aristotelic  definition  of
subject  and  accident.4  This  was  the  point  taken  up  by  Luther.  The
objections  raised  by  Peter  of  Ailly  to  this  hypothesis  had,  at  a  former
period,  made  a  great  impression  upon  him  ;  but  he  now  also  thought  it
dishonest  to  introduce  into  Scripture  any  thing  which  was  not  found  in  it,
and  that  its  words  were  to  be  taken  in  their  plainest  and  most  precise
meaning  ;  he  no  longer  acknowledged  the  force  of  the  argument,  that  the
Church  of  Rome  had  sanctioned  this  hypothesis  ;  since  she  was  that  same
thomist  aristotelic  church,  with  which  he  was  engaged  in  a  mortal  struggle.
Moreover,  he  believed  himself  able  to  prove  that  Aristotle  had  not  even  been
understood  on  this  point  by  St.  Thomas.5  But  a  yet  more  important
doctrine,  as  affecting  the  practical  views  of  Luther,  was,  that  the  celebra-
tion of  the  sacrament  was  a  meritorious  work — a  sacrifice.  This  dogma
was  connected  with  the  mysterious  notion  of  the  identity  of  Christ  with
the  Church  of  Rome,  which  Luther  now  entirely  rejected.  He  found
nothing  of  it  in  the  Scripture  ;  here  he  read  only  of  the  promise  of  redemp-

1  "It  does  not  beseem  the  pope  to  exalt  himself  above  the  temporal  power,
save  only  in  spiritual  offices,  such  as  preaching  and  absolving  "  (p.  494).
2  De  Captivitate  Babylonica  Ecclesise  Prasludium  M.  L.,  ubi  praecipue  de
natura,  numero  et  usu  sacramentorum  agitur.     Opp.  ed.  Jen.,  ii.  259.
