On the Consecration

So in the action of the Eucharist the minister acts as an ambassador in the place of Christ, who is Himself there present, and through the minister pronounces these words: “This is My body; this do,” etc., and for this reason His Word is efficacious. Therefore it is not a man, the minister, who by his consecration and blessing makes bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ, but Christ Himself, by means of His Word, is present in this action, and by means of the Words of His institution, which is spoken through the mouth of the minister, He brings it about that the bread is His body and the cup His blood.—Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, II:229