[the Zwinglians] wish the word
'presence' to be understood only concerning efficacy and the Holy
Spirit. 10. We, however, require not only the presence of power, but of
the body. This Bucer purposely disguises. 11. They simply hold that the
body of Christ is in heaven, and that in reality it is neither with the
bread nor in the bread. 12. Nevertheless they say that the body of
Christ is truly present, but by contemplation of faith, _i.e._, by
imagination. 13. Such is simply their opinion. They deceive men by
saying that the body is truly present, yet adding afterwards, 'by
contemplation of faith,' _i.e._, by imagination. 14. We teach that
Christ's body is truly and really present with the bread or in the
bread. 15. Although we say that the body of Christ is really present,
Luther does not say that it is present locally, namely, in some mass, by
circumscription; but in the manner by which Christ's person or the
entire Christ is present to all creatures.... We deny
transubstantiation, and that the body is locally in the bread," etc. (2,
222. 311. 315.)

Such were the views of Melanchthon in and before 1530. And publicly and
formally he continued to adhere to Luther's teaching. In an _Opinion_
written 1534, prior to his convention with Bucer at Cassel, he said: "If
Christ were a mere creature and not God, He would not be with us
essentially, even if He had the government; but since He is God, He
gives His body as a testimony that He is essentially with us always.
This sense of the Sacrament is both simple and comforting.... Therefore
I conclude that Christ's body and blood are truly with the bread and
wine, that is to say, Christ essentially, not figuratively. But here we
must cast aside the thoughts proffered by reason, _viz._, how Christ
ascends and descends, hides Himself in the bread, and is nowhere else."
(2. 801.) In 1536 Melanchthon signed the Wittenberg Concord, which
plainly taught that the body and blood of Christ are received also by
unworthy guests. (CONC. TRIGL. 977, 12ff.) In 1537 he subscribed to the
_Smalcald Articles_, in which Luther brought out his doctrine of the
real presence in most unequivocal terms, declaring that "bread and wine
in the Supper are the true body and blood of Christ, and are given and
received not only by the godly, but also by wicked Christians." (CONC.
TRIGL. 493, 1.) In his letter to Flacius of September 5, 1556,
Melanchthon solemnly declared: "I have never changed the doctrine of