g of the liquid.
Because of the great multitude there would be difficulty also in giving
the chalice cautiously for the form of wine, which also when kept for
a long time would sour and cause nausea or vomition to those who would
receive it; neither could it be readily taken to the sick without danger
of spilling. For these reasons and others the churches in which the
custom had been to give both forms to laymen were induced, undoubtedly
by impulse of the Holy Ghost, to give thereafter but one form, from the
consideration chiefly that the entire Christ is under each form, and
is received no less under one form than under two. In the Council of
Constance, of such honorable renown, a decree to this effect appeared,
and so too the Synod of Basle legitimately decreed. And although it
was formerly a matter of freedom to use either one or both forms in the
Eucharist, nevertheless, when the heresy arose which taught that both
forms were necessary, the Holy Church, which is directed by the Holy
Ghost, forbade both forms to laymen. For thus the Church is sometimes
wont to extinguish heresies by contrary institutions; as when some
arose who maintained that the Eucharist is properly celebrated only when
unleavened bread is used, the Church for a while commanded that it be
administered with leavened bread; and when Nestorius wished to establish
that the perpetual Virgin Mary was mother only of Christ, not of God,
the Church for a time forbade her to be called Christotokos, mother of
Christ. Wherefore we must entreat the princes and cities not to permit
this schism to be introduced into Germany, into the Roman Empire, or
themselves to be separated from the custom of the Church Universal.
Neither do the arguments adduced in this article avail, for while Christ
indeed instituted both forms of the Sacrament, yet it is nowhere found
in the Gospel that he enjoined that both forms be received by the laity.
For what is said in Matt. 26:27: "Drink ye all of it," was said to the
twelve apostles, who were priests, as is manifest from Mark 14:23, where
it is said: "And they all drank of it." This certainly was not fulfilled
hitherto with respect to laymen; whence the custom never existed
throughout the entire Church that both forms were given to laymen,
although it existed perhaps among the Corinthians and Carthaginians
and some other Churches. As to their reference to Gelasius, Canon
Comperimus, of Consecration. Dist. 2, if they examine the doc