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I I ON DOCTC DOC ' 1 • *• # • t • • « I • • • « • • ■ • •. . • • • REMARKS ON DOCTOR STRACHAN'S PAMPHLET AGAINST THE CATHOLIC DOCTRINE OF THE REAL PIIESENCE OF CHRIST'S BODY AND BLOOD IN THE EUCHARIST: ADDBCSSBO Sr HIM |i TO HIS CONGREGATION OF ST. JAMES' CHURCH, IN YOR!:, UPPER CAI^yiDA: AlTD OCCASIONED BT TUB RONOBABLB JOHN ELMSLET's PUBLICATION Of TRB BISHOP or STBASBOOBO'S OBSCRVATIORS ON THE SIXTH CBAPTEB or ST. John's gospel. 31s t)ic SElcb. flOm. 9. iWacBonalH. Vteat ttcnnalt KINGSTON. JkVDl JLTERJM PARTEM. KINGSTON: tBINTBD rOB THE ACTHOB, BY JAMES MACPABLANB AMD COMPANT. 18S4. ."> V S b 07) ^^ '^1 '0 K ft INTRODUCTION. \\ Had the polemical pamphlet edited by the Honble. and Venble. Arch- deacon of York — D. D. L. L. D. been but the Lucubration of some ob- scure Commoner ; I douSt much if it ever would have elicited the high Encomiums, which certain Journalists have lavished upon it; or even oc- cupied for one moment the attention of the public. But Rank and Title with our gullible English are generally preferred to Talent and Truth. Hence, to Publishers, and those concerned in the Book-making Business; whose interest depends on humouring this John Bull propensity ; the works of an Honble. and Venble., of a Right Honble. and Right Revd., of My Lord such a one, or of Sir Somebody, be what they may, are far more prized in general, and more eagerly sought after for publication, as sure to have a more immediate run, than the finest productions of untitled and plebeian Genius. — Our Poet Laureate, Southey, was sensible ol this, when in the year 1811, in order to puff off his Peninsular War, which be was then composing, he applied through the Spanish Legation for the title of honorary Member of the royal historical and Jleademical Society of Madrid: for the obtaining of which from the prime Minister, Don Euse- bio Bardaxi, at the instance of Don Manuel Abellia, then Chief Secretary to the Spanish Embassy at our Court; he made a present to this last, of his lumpish Quarto poems, Maddoc and Don Rodrigo. A Puffer, he knew, in England is sure to gather pelf; be he Clerical, medical, musi- cal, Farcical, or any cal you please. Not that I would insinuate from all this, or even imagine for one moment, that the Honble. and Venerable Individual, whose pamphlet we here revise, ever meant his well earned Titles as an offset to his work. But they have certainly in this instance had the usual biassing effect on the undiscerning minds of his rash Pane- gyrists : else how could they have so lauded to the skies a lucubration, which has nothing in it, original; absolutely nothing to recommend it for either stile or argument, above the sickening religious Tract Effu- sions, which so inundate every corner of the British Dominions; and all the United States of North America ? — We find in it the same ignorant misrepresentation of Catholic Doctrine ; the same recklessly unfounded assertions: the same twisting of the Sacred Text from its natural, roost obvious and universally established meaning, to make it tally with the preferred conjectures of private interpretation ; and suit the Sectarian System adopted by each : the same ignorance of the primitive Church, and of the writings of the holy Fathers: the same vain boastings of irre- sistible might and triumph, to cover the misgivings of weakness aud De- ii. feat. These are, aod have ever been the eoDtroveraial characteristics of protestant polemics of every denomination ; and these are those most consistently displayed in the pamphlet before us edited by the Archdea-* con of York. So truly is this the case, that those accustomed to read anti-catholic publications, can, without looking into the pamphlet in question, imagine all the thousand times refuted, trite arguments it con- tains. Viewing, as we did, the most sacred Dogma of our holy Religion at- tacked by n person of such Dignity in Church and State, as the Honble. and Venble. the Archdeacon of York, D. D. L. L. D., and knowing the weight that Rank and title in the minds of the ignorant give to the argu- ments of persons in an exalted sphere of Life; Seeing also in the public Papers the insult offered to our Catholic Bishop in the present sent him by the Author, of an elegant bound copy of the pamphlet, made to prove him and all those of his Religion stuU\fitd foots, for believing in a Myste- ry revealed by the Deity incarnate; and believed by all the Great and Learned in the world for fifteen hundred years- before the pretended Re- formation; and since, by the far greatest portion of Christians: we look it upon ourselves, (our Bishop being at too great a distance for previous consultation) to repel from Catholics the c4)arge of atuhijication', and shew the public the reasons we have fur believing, as spoken, and under- stood by nil Christians for so many ages, ihe words of the Redeemer. Though the Dignified personage we oppose, is one whom we esteem from acquaintance, our motto is, and ever shall be: Amicvs Plato; H£01» AMIGA VeAITAS. I ' t( ct (t (1 (( {( nt''-- c ■■i'--> f 1 * U,v «. ristiei of se most Irchdea- 1 to rend phlet in is it con- :i.:," ■* ■' "<' •»' ^ <"f /H '. P' ■ ir w I REMARKS. gion at- Honbl«. wing the the argu- lie public sent hioD' to prove a MystP- ireat and uded Re- we took previous (ton; and nd under- ledcemer. teem from to; MAGI» Before entering on the subject-matter of the Doctor's pam- phlet, we cannot help noticing a remarkable sentence in his in- troductory Letter addressed to the congregation of St. James in York. It is as follows : ^^ For having known no instance of " such conversion in this Province ; it seemed scarcely crcdi- " ble that a person, who had been carefully educated to mature '* age in the Doctrines of the protestant Church, should have " suddenly abandoned them, and attached himself to the Ro- " man Catholic persuasion." Without mentioning, as we could, many instances of persons well known to the Dr. himself, as well as to us, who, *' though " carefully educated to mature age in the Doctrines of their " particular sects," have thought proper to change their Reli- gion : is not the Dr. himself a remarkable instance of the kind ? Had he not been *' carefully educated to mature age in the " Doctrines of Presbyterianism ;'" when, notwithstanding, *' he " suddenly abandoned them, and attached himself to the Church " of England's persuasion." And who can blame him for ha- ving done so, if he can but show that hiii conduct in that respect was as much influenced by the pure lov : of truth, and disinte- rested conviction, as that of the honourable Individual, which he condemns ? There is however this well known Difference between the two Conversions in question, that the Hon. John Elmsley, like all those who turn Catholic under the British Sectarian Government, had much to lose in a worldly sense by changing his Creed ; whereas the Dr. by doing so, had all to gain. Besides, it was only after his failing to get himself ap- pointed Pastor to a Presbyterian Congregation in another pro- 4^ vinee* that he turned round, end sued more eueeessfuily for ad- inlssion into the English Church. What the Dr. therefore blnmrs in the conduct of his late Purishioner cannot be the mere changing of his Creed ; for of this the Dr. himself had set him the Exnmple : besides, the pure rr/ttrming principle authorizes every one to judge for himself by Scripture, and determine accordingly : for it attaches no absolute, or infallible certainty to the particular Doc- trines of any cf its Churches. The whole sum then of Mr. £lrosley*s offence must be, his having left the many fallible protestant Churches, for the one infallible Catholic one. It is not however as the Dr. affects to suppose, so rare and incredible a thing to see Protestants, ** who had been carefully ** educated to mature age in the Doctrines of the protestant ** Church, abandoning them suddenly, and attaching themselves " to the Roman Catholic persuasion." We could mention ma- ny such in the first Ranks of Life, and several to whom the Dr. even in point of Education, might own himself inferior. Need I name the Honble. and Rev. Mr. Spencer, Son of Earl Spencer and Brother to Lord Allhorp; late a pastor of the Doctor's own Church ; and now a Catholic Clergyman ? what worldly honors and emoluments did he not forego to embrace a state so frowned upon in his native Land by the Powers that be ; and railed against by our abounding Fanatics of every Des- cription? We could name a great many others lately convert- ed to the Catholic Church in the Land itself of the Pharos; several of whom are equally distinguished for their high rank in Life, and Superior Education : but the one just mentioned will, I think, suffice to keep the Honble. John Elmsley in coun- tenance for the wise and independent step he has taken, not- withstanding the blame which the Dr. tries to attach to it. In the United States of America, where the Reforming principle is fully acted up to, namely, the right of every one, without let or hindrance, to judge for himself in matters of Religion : where no Church and State authority obliges all, under the severest penalties and privations, to swear their B«- being >» lief in iti avowedly fallible dogmatic DecisionH : where no Law-Church, by Statute makou perjured Hypocrites of Sham Believers in its parliamentary Code of Doctrines ; but ConviC' lion alone is left to sway the mind ; not unnatural and anti- christian Conipuliion : in such a Country it is no ways strange that sucii numberless Conversions to the Catholic Failh are daily and every where made an-J making; not of the untaught and ignorant only, but of the most learned and talented, virtu- ous and exemplary. Witness but the other day in New York on the 8th of January last, the reception into the Catholic Church of Mr. Gardener Jones, Sun of the Rev. Mr. Jones, Pa^tor of (he reformed Dutch Church ; who declares that he owes his Conversion to the total failure of Dr. Brownlee to parry the solid arguments adduced in Defence of their Church by the Catholic Clergy whom he had solonmly challenged to public Disputation. The Man had absolutely nothing to op- pose to them, but the thousand times refuted prctcstant ca- lumnies and misrepresentations ; but ignorant, unfounded and blasphemous surmises ; and the most disgusting, foul-mouthed vituperations, all drawn from the well saved old store of anti- catholic Repellants; the fittest ammunition to be used against the Romans. On the 6(h of the same month, the eminently learned Dr. Coleman, a Native of Massachusetts, though educated a Qua> ker, was baptized, and professed himself a Catholic in St. Ma- ry's Church in Albany. ,, ., ,. These are but a few of the numberless instances we could * cite of buch Conversions in our Neighbourhood : and w hich, being now made known to the Dr. it can no more seem to him " scarcely credible that a person who had been carefully edu- "catcd to mature age in the Doctrines of the protestant " Chuich, should have suddenly abandoned them, and attach- " ed himself to the Roman Catholic persuasion.'* In his Letter to Mr. Elmsley, page 5, the Dr. expresses himself as follows : " I am astonished that the Bishop (of " Strasbourgh's) Exposition of the 6th Chapter of St. John, *' should have rondo so deep an impression on your mind ; forno *^ tenet of the Roman Church appearsi to mo so completely un. '^ scriptural, and so cxtrcntoly pernicious, as that of Trnnsub- ^* btantiation ; nor any that hns been more triumphantly refuted " by Protestant Writers. And had I been called upon to point " out the weakest portion of tho Bishop^s Treatise, I should " have pointed to that, uhich you have published." If this really be the way in which the Dr. views the Texts alluded to in the (Jth Chapter of St. John; wc may coose to wonder at the unhappy facility with which every new Teocher can turn the sacred Text from its plainest, original and Catholic meaning, to just what suits his own particular whim and pur- pose. According to the Dr., the Saviour's plainest, strongest, and most solemn and repeated affirmation of a thing; is the weakest possible proof ihat ever he aflirmed any such thing! ! ! This is really worse than the hired Lawyer's Logic, which can prove that Black is White and While Black in favourof his re- taining Clients. The Saviour aHirms, verse 5*2, that the Bread that he gives vs is his flesh for the lift of the world. This, says the Dr., is no proof ut all that he aflirmed it to bo his fleshy nor, if so ; is his aflirniing it to be his flesh, any proof that it was his flesh. Just as, at the last Supper, when the Sa- viour, taking Bread into his handsj blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to his Disciples, saying : take and eat, this is my Body. Matth. 26. 26. This according to the Dr. is (he weakest proof possible that what Christ then gave to his Disciples, was his Body. Nay it proves that it was not his Body: making the Saviour act as one would in Derision to any hungry sup- plicant for Bread ; sliould he take up a Stone and say to the petitioner : take and eat, this is Bread. The Stone is here of- fered as the sign of Bread with just as much propriety as, ac- cording to the Dr.; the Bread in the band of the Saviour was oflcred as the sign of his Body : that is to say in neither case was that given, which was said to be given. Here is exactly a parallel case. But can any one believe the Saviour to have acted so ^ No surely ; for when the almighty Father promises »ur mind ; for no completely un. tat of Trnnsub. phantly refuted d upon to point atisc, I should ;d.'» lews the Texts c may cease to )' new Teacher al and Catholic vhim und pur- nest, strongest, 1 thing; is the such thing! ! ! >gic, which can [ivourof his re- ihat the Bread world. This, i it to be his any proof that when the Sa- and brake »7, caty this is my is the weakest Disciples, was Bodtj: making y hungry sup- nd say to the )ne is here of- apricty as, ac- j Sai^iour was n neither case re is exactly a viour to have ilher promises his Children Bread, he will not otTcr them a Stone ; or when a FwA, he will not give them a Se.rpmt. Luke II. II. What- ever he promises to give them, ho will give them, and just such as ho has promised it: for howcvor impossible iho fiiMihiicnt of his promise may seem to us, we are : .s::iurc(l that with Gad^vo word ia impossible. Luke 1. 37. Hut, according to (he Doc- tor's interpretation of the Saviour's v.ords, this is mi) Bodij means, this is not my Body^ but only the sign of my Body. The Bread that I will give you is my Flesh lor the life of the world; John, 5*2. r*icans, the Bread that I will give you^ is not my Fleshy but merely Breads as a sign of my flesh: and this earthly material sign shall be the heavenly and immortali lemn act of religious Worship, thon (hat most ftimplc and so- lemn one of the protestant Church; by uffering up in every place that cnnimemorativc Sacrifice of Christ's Death; and that than ohlitlion^ so uneqiiivocnily predicted to the 3v\\s^ ns follows: / htive no pleasure in you^ saith the Lord of Hosts; and I will not receive a Gift at your hand : for from the risi' g of the Sun to the going down thcrtof great is my rame among the G nlihs: and in every place there is Sacrifick; and there is offered to my name a clean oblation ; for my name is great among the GentiteSy siith the Lard of Hosts. — Is the protestant communion rite celebrated in every p'ace9 If not, it cannot be the Sacrifice and clean oblation^ spoken of in this prophecy. That ii is not so celebrated, the Dr. himself must own. But where is the place on all the surface of (his Globe, where the name of the Lmd of Hosts ; the name of God made Man; the name of Jesus Chiist ; in vlu'ch, while (he Jews were rejected, the Gentiles are all called to h'ir\; wh" , I say, is that spot on eaith, where the n.iire oi Christ has been heard, and where l!.c Catholic Church is not to bu found daily offering up to God her Euchaiistic sacrifice and clean oblation ? que chec appr glos! form "sti "dH »' ae[ " (C( " ^ve it I £1 Rock; and » that is, the vail. Malth. ft Christian >uccn Elisa- ily imagined nd drinking most dimple igiova toor- Vhy thrn is 's Church } ith the firsi e Cnlholic r Ch. 1. V. inn and So- ipic Mhd so- p in every Deulh; and le Jrwp, ns f]/ Hosts; Ifieriai' g uiy rame acripick; ; for my of Hosts. ry p'ace9 spoken of r. himself ice of this ne of God i the Jews whrt, I has been und daily oblation 9 The Dr. next page 34, inculcates strongly to his people fre- quent communion ; and endeavours to do away with that check, \\hich the teriifu'. words of St. Paul put against the approach to the Sacrament of Hic unrepcnting sinner; with a gln»s upon (he alarming text, not unworthy of the boldest Re- formers. "Some, says he, arc perhaps d(.t;'rred, from the "striking observation < '' Snint Fitul, that he who latcth and " dri'iketh unworthUf;, eatelh anil Jrinketh iJamnalinn to him- " ae'f not tlisiurning the LonPH Body. Now, by Damnation " (continues the Dr.) is not here meant, as many suppose, " everlasting Destruction ; but thu immediate Disapprobation, **the Di.xpleasure of the Most High; which Displeasure is ' iiianifestcd, as the Apostle states, by visiting unworthy "Communicants with temporal Judgments, in order to their " final Salvation. At the same time it were to be wished that " the wonl Damnation had been rendered Condemnation ^ as " it ought to have been ; and as it actually has been in a sub- " sequent Verso of the same Chapter." ' How much the man would wish, nolwithstonding all the Saintly Cant that follows, to biing in all kinds of Fish into his Not, without casting out any ! But why labour so hard and awkwardly to do that, which his Church has long since Done in a Sovereign Degree? For, notwithstanding all the wonder- ful qualities, which he ascribes to his Sacrament, she has declared it to be, what he too proclaims it, nothing, absolutely nothing more but the bare Elements of Bread und wine. Why then should any tremble to approach and cat that, in which no one can limcern the Body of the Lordf unless, as the Dr. savs, symbolically. And if I am guilty only of a Sffmbolical offence, I can only incur a symbolical Damnation; or, (though the Difference seems more in the sound than in the sense ) just as the Dr. would have it, a symbolical con- demnation. Nor would it seem quite just that I should be real- ly so Pamred^ or co'ulemned^ Soul and Body, (for, in spite of the Doctv.r'." accommodating Gloss, those finally rfflmnerf or con- demned by God, are, in the opinion of all Christians, lost U>r- 22 Cl t( ■ever) I say i' could hardly seem just that I should be reaVy so Damned^ or condemned for eatin>; with only the movth vf Faithy a mere eaithly Symbol ; imagining it lo be, what it re- ally, or substantially is not, the Body and Blood of I hrisi. As I eat therefore figuratively , if I eat thus unwoithily, 1 can be condeii.ned on\y figuratively^ not in reality. So the Doctor^s hearers of all Descriptions may go unalarni- cd to their Sacrament ; without any fe.-.r of being, as the Apos- tle says, guilty of the Body and Blond of the Lord : for where these really are not, they cjinnot really be profaned. We now enter upon the Doctor's weak, frothy and Tyro-hke polemical Essay ; in which he promised to prove, page 7th, that " the Catholic Doctrine of Transubatautiatun^ was un- " known to the primitive Church ; and without the slightest *^ countenance from Scripture : And that, as to the 6th Chapter of St. John, many able Divines, both ancient and modem, are of opinion that it has no reference to the Lord's Supper ; and "is directly opposed to the Doctrine of a real (wc reject the "word physical (or reasons already given) presence of the " Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist." Let us now see how he proves all that ; and makes good his pledge so solemnly given. — Does he quote from the works of the Fathers, or his able Divines bcth ancient and modern, to shew that they taught a Doctrine contrary to that of Tiansubstantiatibn? No ; he merely mentions, page 42, the Liturgy attributed to St. James the Brother of our Lord ; which he says, f and what is very true,^ agrees with all the other ancient Liturgies. — Me then names Paschasius, as the first proposer of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation ; Raban, Arch Bishop of Mentz, as one who opposed the innovation with determined hostility ; and Scotus, who wrote against it, and " whose work, he says, circulated " through Christendom, more than two hundred years, without " incurring the Charge of Heresy, or experiencing any mark of " reprobation from Pope, Council, Clergy or Laity. — Bertram " too, he affirms, wrote a Book, on the Body and Blood of the "Lord in answer to the interpretation of Paschasius; which t( . I be really so he mouth vf p, what it rc- " t. hrisi. As uly, I can be ' go unalurni- as the A)M)s- r/ : for where (I. ind T}TO-like ve, page 7lh, un, was 11 n- the slightest ! 6th Chapter 1 modem, are Supper; and \c reject the sence of the Let us now is pledge so the Faihrrs, I shew that l)stantiatibn ? attributed to s, Cand what urgies. — Mc Doctrine of as one who and Scotus, , circulated ar8, without nny mark of —Bertram Uood of the iius; which 23 " was widely disseminated through the Christian world, and " wa? never condemned for Heresy. Many other eminent Men "he ad Is, wrote au'l contended against this novel Doctrine ; "who?e names in a brief review like this need not be mention* " ed," &c. This is all the authorities the Dr. produces, without citing a single sentence of thdr writings to prove from their own wor)or. ignorant, stultified Papists ! There is no man among us, not all the world over, nor ever was, who can compare with the Venerable, a'i he is stiled, the Archdeacon of Ynik, in Upper Canada, for Wisdom, Learning, ecclesiastical know. leJg-, &c. &c. Well: there is more hope for a fool^ says Solomon, than Jor one^ who is wise in his own Conceit : and therefore do we pronounce the Archdeacon incurable. The Dr. ends by declaring what he could not believe: so did the Jews at Caphcrnaum, John 6. — He says, the Church of Rome holds to the Letter which killeth : the Church of En- gland to the spirUy which, giveth life. — f always understood that \-i 87 ance; iht sring Mor- rrection of ng reveal- iour grant- leased are however, Dr. : and ny of his ason and >retends to miracle," iation from ition is not I, or a true »t intended )d'3 word; le Saviour )roved him ', sajs the ea^ will ap- e .spiritual 1.''— Alas! nan among n compare of Yoik, ical know. fooly says nceit : and elieve: so le Church rch of En- 'stood that I the protestant adhered to the Letter exclusively. Else, whose spirit does ho follow ? Why, his own, and only his own: for 'he dea-f Letter of the Scripture, as interpreted by himself, is his on- ly Rule of Faith No other authority on Earth is to control him ; in spite of what the Dr. advances, page 44, that ^* without the *' Testimony of the Church, it is impossible to prove the Canon " of the Xew Testament ; or to establish the authority of the **■ Books it contains," ^c. Why, Man ; this is real downright Popery. O Doctor, Poctor ! Is this at last the splendid proof afforded us of your depth in Divinity ; your logical skill in reasoning; your acquaintance with Ecclesiastical History ; and, (consider- ing your far famed grammatical acumen,) your elegant stile as an English Classical Writer? Yet in truth we must declare that your present polemical Essay claims, in manner as well as matter, the nearest possible kindred with the every-day drivel- ling Lucubrations of our ignorant, anti-catholic. Tract-peddling Scribblers. In the third and last part of the Doctor's pamphlet, page 64. How has the Dr. discovered, contrary to the current opinion of the Fathers, and ancient ascetical writers, hat the Saviour's allegorical speech to the Samaritan woman at the Well ; as well as that of Wisdom, Prov. 9, did not allude to the soul re- freshing and sustaining effects of the Eucharistic Mystery? for surely he and his prophets -could speak allegorically of that which he was one day to give us in reality. Page 65. The Saviour says to his Apostles, or Pastors, collectively taken ; to you it is given to understand the Mtfs- teries of the Kingdom of God; but to the rest in parables ; that seeing, they may not see; and hearing they may not undei stand. Does not this show that they who will not hear those, whom Christ has sent to teach all Nations ; as the Fa- ther had sent himself; and whom he therefore commands us to hear, as we would himself, Luke 10. 16. Does it not show that such seeing, shall not see ; and hearing shall not under- tand. Hence we need not wonder at the Doctor's own blind- ts trass and ttt^tificaiion ; bince he derives not his religious in- structions from the lawful successors of those to whom Christ promised the right understanding of his revealed Mysteries. Page 66 and 67. " The Saviour, says the Dr. rectifying the mistake of the Jews, tells them that it was not Moses, but God, who gave them the Manna, but that he now gave them the true Bread from Heaven ; of which, the Manna was but a type, or Figure ; for the Bread of God is /le, who cometh down from Htavtn^ and givelh his Life Jor the World.^'* So the Manna then, according to the Dr. was a miraculous Type of a Type ! ! ! the Type of the protestant's poor drop and crumb ! ! ! And the Saviour by declaring himself to he the Bread of God^ the Bread of life^ the living and life-giv'mg Breads the true Bread that eometh down from Heaven and giveth his life for the Worlds proves that he is nothing of the kind ; for that all these fine speeches and promises point only at the Baker's loaf and the Vintnor*s Drug. " - ^ <■ Page 69. "There is one thing, says the Dr. which the Sa- " viour never fails to demand ; and that is, faith in his testi- " mony and words.'* But what great faith is necessary to be- lieve that Bread is Bread and Wine Wine ? Page 74. All Jargon. Page 76. The Jews strove among themselves saying: liow can this Man gweushis flesh to eat. " This oral manducation of hi? very flesh, says the Dr. they "deemed monstrous and absurd." They arc deemed so too hy Protestants. — " But continues he, these gross conceptions, " which our Lor J hastens to rectify, have been adopted by the " Roman Catholic Church ; and yet they loudly exclaim against " those who cleave to the Truth." The Catholic Church ne- ver adopted the gross conceptions of the Caphernaites. Her ideas on the Sacrament, as to its Dignity, sanctity and saving efficacy^ are as far above them, and above those of the protes- tant Church, as the Heavens are above the Earth ; and the word of the Creator is above that of the Creature. But protestants ;oin with the Caphernaites, in exclaiming Mf«i5(rAarcf saying, and who can hear it ; and go back and walk no more with him. igious m* om Christ stenes. lifying the , but God, them the lut a type, Imonfrom he Manna a Type ! ! ! And the the Bread 3read that ie Worlds these fine and the ch the Sa- his testi- •ary to be- ve among sh to eat. I Dr. they zd so too nceptions, ted by the ini against Ihurch ne- tes. Her [ind saving he protes- d the word )rotestants •d saying, ! with him. Page 77^ Mclchisadeck is a type of the Saviour, and a» cording to the Dr. the Saviour is but a Type of Melchisadeck ; if he gi'.'es nothing better than Melchisadeck gave, which was just only Bread and Wine. O Dr. thou art indeed but a typi- cal Dr. ! t. Page 78. We admit that the Bread and Wine offered by Melchisadeck was a typical Sacrifice ; and hence that the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Jesus Christ, was not a typical, but a real one ; the very thing itself prefigured taking place of the Figure : as was to be the case with all the other legal shadows and typical Resemblances. Page 79. " Had the primitive Church believed or suspected " the real presence of Christ's true Body and Blood in the " Sacrament ; they never would have thought, (in the Doctor's " opinion) of praying for the sanctification of the Elements of " Bread and Wine, as is expressed in all the Liturgies." O Dr. thou art the Blind Man leading the Blind. — So no prayer in such supposition : no pre-sanctifying Blessing is to be invo- ked upon the Elements offered up (as was usual in every sa- crifice) and about to be changed by the Omnipotent word. Did not the Saviour himself at the last supper, take the Ele- ments into his sacred hands; and, looking up to Heaven, first bless them ; and giving them to his Apostles, desired them to do just what he had done : that is, look up to heaven and in- voke thence that transmutating blessing upon them, which makes them what Christ said they were, when he gave them ; and would be, when his lawfully ordained pastors did, as he commanded them to do, that is, just what he himself had done ? Page 80. But I can perceive that what puzzles the Dr. is, because after the consecration it is often still called Bread. Yes ; but it is as frequently called flesh and the Body of our Lord. It is stiied Bread, 1st. because it retains the external form and qualities of Bread. If it did not, it would be a miracle, to confirm, not a mystery to try our faith in the words of Christ. 2d. Because it is a figure as well as a reality. It is a figure of the food of the Soul, as Bread is of the food of the Body. But it 30 is as our Lord himself declares it ; the living Bread which came down Jrom Heaven ; hin very fleshy and that n eat in- deedj which he has given for the Life of the }Vorlif. The same may be said of the Cup, or his Blood, the very Blood which he said at his last supper was about to be shed for the remission of sins. Is the prutestant Sacrament this? Ibid. *' The Bread and Wine quickened by the Spirit ^ who is the giver of Life:^^ and yet the mere earthy, inanimate ElementS'of Bread and wine ! ! who ever heard such contra- dictory stuff ? How very credulou- are the incredulous? They who strain at a Gnat often stoallow a Camel. Page 81. The Doctrine of Transubstantiatifny a New Doctrine! f ! wih what calm eifrontery does the Man advance, ignorantl}', we presume, the most notorious and palpable un- truths, as we shall prove by and by ! His quotations from St. Ignatius could not be better chosen against himself. / delight noty says the Saint, in Corruptible food ; nor in the entertain- ments of this world : The Bread of God is what I covet. Hvaveuly Bread— Bread of Lile ; namely^ the fi.esh of Jesus Christ the Son of God: and I am athirstfor the Drink of God, namely , his Blood ; which is a feast oj Love, that failethnot^andlfe everlaMing. .' ■ Page 82. In the testimonies of Saint Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, St. Augustine, Gelasius, and Facundus, without dwelling on their allegorical allusions to the mystery, which they studiously concealed from the knowledge of the pagan public, and all who were not the Initiated : we shall afford from the same authors the most indubitable evidence that they held the same Doctrine of the real presence and transub- stantiation, which is held at the present day by the Catholic Church. Page 85. Had the Saviour but retracted his saying that his flesh was meat indeed ; and his Blood Drink indeed ; and told them, as the protestants affirm, that his flesh was not meat indeed ; nor his Blood drink indeed ; but that he meant only that they should eat mere Bread as a memorial of his Body ; his stn vouch* allows go froi had An( tawdr Dr. tings preser is tli( time Bu< testar and I: the fi" calls hid which n cat tn- r/ rink, I only propose to you, a figure and memorial of these, that i?, msrc Bread and winf : the Delusion would at once have been removed ; and they would have remained with him ; ^eeing nothing at all repugnant to their feelings and understanding in his Doctrine. But did he retract any of his strong asseverations on the Subject? Not one word did he vouchsafe to undeceive them, if they were deceived : but he allows them to go ; and asks also his Apostles if they too would go from him, rather than believe that he could give what he had promised to give. And here, at la^t, we have dragged ourselves through the tawdry, trailing, tautological trash of argument adduced by the Dr. : and come at last to the demonstrative proof from the wri- tings of the most ancient Fathers that the Doctrine of the real presence, taught by the Catholic Church at the present Day, is tlie same as was universally taught, and all along from the time of the Apostles. ■ .. >, ing, between him and his fellow Reformer, Carlostadius, who had broached Dr. Strachan's sfjmbolical real presence. ( What an idea!) The battle began by a haughty Defiance given by Luther to Carlostadius, to write against him on the real pre* sence ; at the same time flinging to him, as an earnest of the polemical contest, a florin of Gold, which Carlostadius pocket* ed. They then shook hands ; drank to each other*s health and success in a Bumper of Beer, and parted, with the most fixed Determination to oppose each other in their respective views of this hitherto dread and adorable Mystery. Zuinglius in Switzerland adopts next the symbolical system, followed and improved upon by Calvin in Geneva, whemt it was im* ported into England, and, like an unclean Leaven, to please the taste of all parties, was mixed up in the thirty-nine Articles. Yet, •' happy," says the protestint Bishop Bancroft, in reference to this same Calvinislic derivation of Doctrine ; and very differ* ent from our Anglo-Calvinistic Archdeacon of York : " a thou* "sand times happy our Island, had neither English or Scot " ever put foot in Geneva ; had they r^over become acquainted " with a single individual of tho Genevese Doctors." See his survey of pretended holy Discipline. The war of the Sacrament being once declared among the Reformers, became the source of deadly strife. Duplicity, Stra- tagem and intrigue among the Belligerents. In vain did Bu* cer by tricks and evasions, and even Melancton, succeed in maintaining for a time a false and feverish Truce between the parties. But art so gross could not long continue to deceive them. All compromise was found to be hollow and hopeless ; and, at last, the three great Eucharistic factions, the Lutheran, Calvinistic and Zuinglian, all broke loose in their respective Directions of Heresy : each Branch again subdividing itself in* to new factious Distinctions under the Countless names of I % ann. and Nor stjnr Doc that! t( t( m< ot "Pj $3 i Reforma* of the real in Germa* was lodg- tadius, who e. (What ce given by ic real pre- irnest of the ills pocket« ler's health th the most if respective . Zuinglius im, followed u it was irn- to please the line Articles. , in reference id very differ- rk : "a thou- lish or Scot le acquainted s." See his 3d among the jplii'ity, Slra- i vain did Bu- I, succeed in between the ue to deceive tnd hopeless ; he Lutheran, Bir respective ding itself in- ess names of Panarti, Aecidentarii^ Corporarii^ Annhonarii^ Tropiatt tamorphiatcct IscarintUlot^ Schwenkfeldianay &c. &c. &c to such an extent did the caprice of private judgment carry . « freaks on this one solemn subject, that an author of Htllar- mine's tirie counted no less than two hundred different opi- nions on the wordiof our Puviour, This ia my Body. (See Travels of an lri:ih Gentle nan in quest of Religion.) Thus the protectants, in attempting; to escape the hard sayings which offended the Caphernaitci, found themselves unable to agree on any other explanation. Hence the duplicity of the Lan- guage in which it is expressed in most of the protestant For- mularies — particularly in that of the Church of England. It would make a Book of no small Dimensions, to detail all the furious Contests, the tricks and trimming3 on this sole sub- ject by the first Reformers. Let us close the subject then with the promised authorities which confirm the E^icharistic Doctrine of the Catholic Church. .^ And first I would ask Dr. Strachan, if, as he says, page 45* 47, the Doctrine of Trutisubstantiation was first established in the thirteenth Century by pope Innocent the third ; how did it happen that Bciengurius was condemned for writing against it nearly two hundred years before? How did it also happen that his much lauded Scotua Erigenua had written against it in the reign of Charles the Bald, about two hundred years ptior to BeriMigarius ; and was therefore, as f said, condemned in three successive Councils; particularly in that of Quercy, ann. 849 ; together with Felix of IJrgel ; Claudius of Turin ; and Gotescale, the inventor of the presbyterian predestination.' Nor did Paschasius write his Treatise in defence of Transuh- slJntiation, till Scotus had attacked that universally established Doctrine. And though the Dr. unblushfnglv afTiri::!*, page 48, that the work of Scotus *' circulutcd through Christendom " more than two hundred years, without incuning the charge " of Heresy ; or experiencing any mark of reprobation from " Pope, Council, Clergy or Laity ;" his work was written against by Florus, the Deacon of Lyons, and a learned profes- / ".•) 8or, author of additions to Btde*.-* Mnrtyrology, as well as hy Pasc'iailua; nn;l ho hiiiDcIf, expelled France by OhrtHes the U.ilil, ill oon-tcfi'ioiicc of an oi.ler froin Po;)C Nicholas the first. See T. 15, IJil)l. Pair. And lialuza l\ 2. Agobard, Apjiend. Again I asik how, if^Mhe honour of establishing the Doctrine " ofrransubstunliation in UI5, belongs to Innocent the thirl ;^* as the Diictor allinns, pngc 49 ; how does it happen that the schi-tmutical Greeks hell it before their separation from the Latin Church in the ninth Century ; n^ they still hol.l it to the present Day ? How co iies it that the Paulician Heresy of the 7th Centur/ rejecte I Transub tantiation, if transubs»tantiation wa? not taujs'U in the Church before the 9th, nor establii!>hed in it before the 1 Jih Century? Mow was it that the Mani* chocans rejected thii Doctrine in the 3d Century? And, ap- proachin ; nearer still to the p ire fountain of Christian Faith, how is it that the Gnostic Heretics denied it in the very firbt age of the Church ? Th!i?e Heretics professed to believe in Jesus Christ and his Doctrine pr(ipoun:led by their private Juds^ment. They held that Jesui Christ suffered only in op- penrance ; and that it was not his real Flesh,, but a fantastical Bodff (something like our Doctor's Sjimbtl'cal one in the Protestant Sacrament) which suffered and bled on the cross. It seems that they also had an unaccountable aversion to the Doctrine of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the Eucharist; and this too, if we believe Doctor Strachan, 1200 years before that Doctrine was established. Saint Ignatius says of them in the very first Century : Tkey abstain from the Eucharist and from prayer^ because they do not acUnowledf^e the Eucharist to he THE F'lgsh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which SUFFERED FOR OUR SiNS ', AND WHICH THE FaTHER BT HIS GOODNESS RESUSCITATED. ( Ep. ad Smym. p. 36. Tom. 2. P. P. Apost. Amstolodami 1721.) Here the Father makes the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ in the Eucharist to be iden- tically the same which suffered on the Cross, and arose from the Dead. Jesus Christ himself had equally identified his Flesh and Blood under both forms : under the form of Bread, I \ i I well as hy harles ihc } the dnt. Ap^iend. Duclrine he thirl ;" n that the from the .1 it to the csy of the !)tantiation ['stahlisihed the Mani- And, np- tian Faith, e very firj)! t helieve in ?ir private only in ap- fantastical ime in the n the cross. sion to the Eucharist ; cars before of them in chnriat and '■ Eucharist ST, WHICH ER BT HIS Tom. 2. p. makes the to be iden- arose from ;ntified his i of Bread, thia^ said he, is my Body^ which t« given for you ; and under the form of Wine, this is my Blood of the New Testament^ WHICH shall be shed for many. It was not Bread that was given, nor IVine that was shed for many. Now these Gnostics would not have abstained from the Protestant Eucharist of mere Bread and Wine. There is nothing in it, that could have offended them. But they were offended at the Catholic Doctrine of the Real Presence of the flesh of Christ in the Sacrament. U clashed with their Heresy, and therefore they abstained from it. It is known, however, to every one ac- quainted with ecclesiastical History, (hat Carlostadius, in re- jecting the Doctrine of the real presence, only renewed the error of the Docotjc and other Branches of the Gnostic Heresy, broached and branded in the Apostolic age itself. To this Heresy we are indebted for the evidence thus furnished of the primitive Belief of the Real presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Mystery of the Eucharist. There must be He- resies, said the Apostle, that they also who are approved among you^ may be made manifest. 1 Cor. 11. 19. To the same cause are we indebted for another brftliant, but apparently accidental Testimony in the Second Century. St. Irenseus, who was trained in the Doctrine of the Redeemer, by St. Poly carp, the Disciple of St. John, uses the Real presence of Christ in the Eucharist as an argument against other Heretics of his time who denied the Resurrection of the Flesh. He compares it with the manner in which the Vine and the Wheat are propagated to furnish the matter of the Eucharist before the Consecration. " And as, says he, a Section of the Vine laid in the Earth, produces fruit in due Season ; and in like manner the Grain of Corn is multiplied, by the Blessing of God ; which afterwards is used for the Benefit of Man ; and receiving on it the Word of God, bgcomcs the Eucharist, WHICH IS THE Body and Blood of Christ. So our Bodies^ nourished by that Eucharist, and then laid in the Earth, and dissolved in it, shall in due lime rise again. Iren. adversus Hcerit. L. 5. C. 11. P. 395. 397. 399. So TertuUian in like manner says : our fltsk it fed with tki Body and Blood of Christ ; that the Soul may be nourished with God. (De Resurrectione Carnis, Cap. 8. p. 6fi9.^ In the third Century, Origen, speaking of the Doctrine of the Church, says ; in former times Baptism was obscurely repre- sentMilin the cloud and in the Sea: but now Regeneration is in kind ; in Water awl the Holy Ghost. — Thrn^ obscurely^ Manna was the food : but now in kind^ the Flesh of the Word of God is the true Food ; even as he said^ aiy flcsh is meat indeed, AND Mr Blood is Drink indeed. (Hum. 7. in Num. Tom. ■2. p. 290.) -f^ ■■•■•■--'■ ••' i^^- ■i'-Ti .^■' ^J^^^'Viil Ijiiii rn.^il HA " In the fourth Century, among a Host of others, take St. Cyril of Jerusalem. The Bread and Wine^ says he, whichy before the Invocation of the adorable Trinity^ were nothing but Bread and Wine ; become after this Invocation^ the Body and Blood of Christ. (Catech. Mystag. L. N. 4. p. 281.) See the Rev. J. Hughes' Letters to Beckenridge. ** When it behoved them, who had known by miracles the ** Divine virtue and power of the Saviour, to receive his word ** willingly, and to ask the explanation of any thing that appeared ** difficult, they do quite the reverse: ** How can this Man **give us his flesh to eat ?" They, not without great impiety, "cry aloud of God ; nor does it occur to their mind that nothing " is impossible with Gud, For since they were sensual, they "could not (as Paul says) understand spiritual things: but so ** great a mystery seems to them an absurdity. Let us, how* " ever, take occasion of great profit from the sins of others ; "and putting firm faith in the mysteries, let us never, in matters " so sublime, either think or utter that: How? For this is a " Jewish word, and the cause of great punishment. Therefore, " even Nicodemus, when he said : Hoto can these things be " dime ? justly heard in reply: Art thou a master in Israel^ **and knoioest not lluss things^ Instructed then, as we have " said, by the fault of others, when God o|ierates, let us not "ask, hmo? but let us leave to Him alone the way and the ** knowledge of his own work. For as, tliough no one knows (t (( <( (I (t (t . u, (t tl pr( ii ct vol "do« "W " am "to '1 St ^with (hi novrished HO.) rinc of t. What Shepherd ever fed his Sheop with " his own Limbi? Nay, many Mothers give their Children to " other Nurses : whereas he feeds us with his own Blood," &c. (Horn. 82. p. 787. What numberless other passages could I not cite from the Writings ot this illustrious Father and Oracle of the Chuich, in proof of this same Doctrine of the Re.d presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Sacraim nt ; or Tran^ubstantiation ; and to shew, in Contradiction to Dr. Strachan's ignorant asserticm, page 92.93. that " the whole of the Discourse at Caphernaum is "indirect opposition to transub^tantiation; a doctrine, he says, " unkn>twn to the primitive Church, and which receives no *' Countenance from anv of the Fathers :" whereas thisi Father reasons from that very Discourse in favour of Transubstantia* tian. 'Let us," says the same holy Father, "believe God in all " tilings ; and gainsay him not ; although what he says appears " to be contrary to the testimony of our Eyes and our Reason " Let the authority of his Word supersede the testimony of " our eyes and our Reason. Since therefore his Word said : "Mt« is my Body; let us rest satisfied and believe. Let us " behold it with the eyes of Faith." [Hom. 4. in Joan.] In answer to the Dr. denying to Jesus Christ the possibility of being pres'^nt in more places than one at a time ; and even of being at all here on Earth as Man ; (see page 7. and page 6t>.) hear what the holy Doctor says : " We always offer the ** same holy Victim ; not as in the old Law, sometimes one, ** and sometimes another : but here it is always the same : for «, «*, it *'. u Dis 41 WoM. Than more pure, tilled with id with this le, and dare on account are nourish* Body, one Shei'p with Children to )wn Blood," ;ite from the e Chuich, in J of Christ's itiation ; and int asserti. St. Augustine, 3xplaining the Psalm 33d, in which it is said, according to the Septuagint that David wa» carried in his own hands; expresses himself as follows : **Who can comprehend, " my Brethren, how such a thing can be performed by a Man ? ** Who is it that holds himself in his hands? A Man may in- " deed be held in the hands of another ; but never in his own. " We cannot therefore discover how this can be understood of " David in a literal sense ; but can easily see how it can be " understood of Chrijt according to the Letter : for Christ " bore hinudfin his own handsy when giving himself to us, he " said : this is my Body ; for he then bore that Body in his **own hands.'* [Horn. 88. on VA. Mat.] '* Jesas Christ," says St. Chrysostom, ^ himself drank from " his Chalice ; lest his apostles hearing his words, should say " within themselves : do we then drink his Blood and eat his "flesh? and be troubled at the thought. For, when he " spoke of these Mysteries, many were scandalized." This shews that the Bishop of Strasbourg was not the first to un- derstand the Saviour's Discourse at Caphemaum as spoken concerning the Eucharist. — " To prevent this trouble," con- " tinues the Saint, " and to remove all uneasiness from their "minds in their participation of the Mysteries, he set the first " example ; and this was the reason why he drank his own « Blood.'' [Epist. ad Hedib.] ^ • *^ '• -' - 'V^ St. Jerom in the same sense declares : " Moses gave us not " the true Bread : but our Lord Jesus did. He invites us to " the feast, and is himself our meat. He eats with us, and we *' receive and eat him." " We must then believe that Jesus Christ put himself into m ihed with )ody. In f God and by eating e Body of ' Body." it is said, 'm hia oum nprehend, by a Man ? m may In- II his own. erstood of V it can be lor Christ to us, he ody in his Jrank from should say and eat his when he d.» This irst to Un- as spoken ble," con- from their it the first ^ his own ive us not rites us to IB, and we (nself into " hij mouth," exclaims J. J . Rousseau in a tone of triumph against the Mystery of the Eucharist ; as if he had discovered something as original as sarcastic. He must have known full well (and so should our Dr who joins in his inlidel sneer, page 5, j that Venerable Antiquity had thought of this long before his time ; and that this most just consequence, incomprehensible though it be to human Inteller^t, had in noways shaken the reliance due to the word of a (lod Men in the mind of the great Arch Bishop of Constantinople ; of th'^* learned Solitary of Bethlem ; and of all the most enlightened Characters of the primitive ages. — Amic. Disc. Neither is the adoraiion of the Sacrament of so late a date as the Doctor, page 46, 47, would insinuate. — " Approach the ** Chalice," says St. Cyril of Jerusalem ; " not stretching out " your hands, but bending towards the Earth in a posture of " Adoration, to pay your homage." [Const. Ap. 1. 2.] . ..^ ■ St. Ambrose : " We must say, that his footstool is the Earth ; '' and by the Earth we tnmt understand the flesh of Christ, " which tu this day we adore in the holy Mysteries ; and which " the Apostles adored formerly in his person." [Catech. 4. My St.] St. Augustine : " No one eating this flesh, without first ador- ing it." [De Spirit. Sanct. L. 3.] &c. &c. St. Chrysostom: " The Magi formerly testified their respect " to this divine Body, when lying in the Crib. These Qei>* " tiles adored him with respectful fear and profound veneration. " You behold it, not in the Crib, but on the Altar : not in the "' arms of a Woman, but in the hands of the Priest ; and under ^^ the wings of the Holy Ghost, who descends with powerful " influence upon the Oblations. — Let us therefore excite our- " selves— and with reverential awe, let us surpass even the '^ Magi in the marks of our Veneration of the Body of Christ." [Horn, on 1. Cor.] And after all this, and a thousand times more which we could cite to the same purpose, down to the unhappy period of the protestant Reformation ; what must we think of the knowledge 46 or honesty of Dr. Strachan, when he repeatedly affirms in his Pamphlet that the Catholic Doctrine of the Real Presence, is a *' Doctrine unknown to the primitive Church ; and without *^ the slightest Countenance from Scripture." [See page 7. 45. 47. 48. 49. 63. 84.] Certainly he must be either extremely ignorant of Ecclesiastical History, all his knowledge of which he seems to have derived from the wide circulating religious Tract matter: or he must presume a great deal on the ign« ranee of his Hearers and the Canadian Public. And not, it appears, without reason ; as we find his drawling, dull, monotonous* unscholar-like Lucubration extolled to the skies as a learned elegant, Gentlemahlikey and irrefutable performance, by several of our Wisdom-Vending Journalists in these Provinces. ** And here, [in the Doctor's own modest words, page 87,] ** standing, as we do, on the Vantage Ground, and with such *^ accumulation of proofs in favour of the Sense which we give '* to our Saviour's Discourse, the Apostles, the Fathers, &c., " it is rather too much for Doctor ^rachariy to call upon us to **give up our dearest hopes, because we do not adopt his ** symbolical interpretation." In concluding our remark^ on the Doctor's Pamphlet, we would recommend him and his Hewers to consult, for their better information on so moment, ous a subject, the Second Volume of the Bishop of Strasbourg's Work, the Amicable Discussion; from which the Hon'ble John Elmsley's Pamphlet was extracted. 4t inns in his resence, is id without ee page 7. extremely ! of which religious i ign* ranee it appears, onotonous} a learned^ by several ces. page 87,] with such ch we give Uhers, &c., upon us to adopt his remark^ on im and his so moment. Itrasbourg's e Hon'ble f -., ON THE REAL PRESENCE, OR TRANSUBSTANTIATION^ The worship shewn by Roman Catholics to the sacrament of the altar, is blamed as idolatrous^ from a misconception of the genuine principles and real intentions of the worshippers ; for it is surely according to the intention of the worshipper that one is to judge of the nature of the worship itself; and when it is evident that there is no intention to worship the creature, but only the Creator ; the one true and living God ; how can such worship be construed into idolatry ? It is very well known by all who have chosen to make themselves acquainted ^ith the real belief of Catholics, that by all the honors they pay to the sacrament, they intend merely to worship Jesus Christ, whom they suppose really present in its stead, and under its form. Should they in this supposition be mistaken, their ho- mage is never directed to the elements of bread and wine, which they believe no longer there ; but to him, who, they think has assumed their form. In the Church of England one kneels to receive the bare elements : and why may not one do so as innocently in the Church of Rome, to receive what he considers as his Saviour really present ? Indeed, were this doctrine as idolatrous, absurd and unscriptural, as many suppose it ; could it be f bought that such a vast proportion of the most learned in the universe would glory in professing it as one of the articles of their faith ? Were a Catholic, who should be heard upon the subject, to assign his reasons for such a belief, he would simply state that he sees nothing absurd in supposing it possible for God to change one substance into another, or even destroy, what he has created out of nothing. We ourselves, all living creatures, and even the plants of the earth, have received from God the power of changing, though in a natural way, one substance into another. My meat and drink I transubstantiate, if I may use the expression ; changing it slowly by digestion into my flesh and blood; and rise gradually from a puny infant into the per- 46 . ! i\ feet nml rull-gi'own mnn. — ^ A shall God himself not iiavc the power, if he ])lcascs, in a supGrnatural way, to change in a mo- ment the elements of bread and wine into his flesh and blood as man ; or to substitute himself in person in their stead, and un- der their form ? Such '«n idea of the Omnipotent and all-dii« posing power of God it is not unbecoming the creature to have of the Creator. The more wonderful and incomprehensible it is, the more it is a proper object of our faith ; and (he greater homage is done to the divine veracity, by implicitly believing it on the word of God. The Trinity, the most fundamental article of the Christian's faith, is fully as inexplicable a mystery ; as well as the incarnation of the Son of God, and even the resurrection of the dead, which we all believe. Whatever is contrary to reason must be absurd ; but what is above reason may be believed, provided we have sufficient authority for be- lieving it. And this authority the Catholic thinks he has for believing in the Real Presence in the express declaration of Jesus Christ himself at his last supper to his disciples; and in that which he had made before while preaching in the syna- gogue at Caphernaum, when he suffered many of his followers to leave him, because they thought what he had spoken a hard Bayingj and would not believe it. John vi. 27. Indeed, as to scripture-authority for this doctrine, I am apt to think that there is no article whatever of the Christian's belief so clearly, so strongly, and so repeatedly inculcated in holy writ, as this one of the Real Presence. It would seem as if our Lord, forseeing the great opposition this doctrine would meet with in after ages, had judged it necessary to be the more clear and explicit on this head. — The words at the institution of this sacrament are the most plain and unequivocal possible. WhUe they were at supper ^ Jesus took bread and blessed it and brake ity and gave it to his disciples^ saying ; take and eat ; this is MY BODir. Andy taking the chalice^ he gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying ! drink ye all of this; for this is my blood OF THK MEW TESTAMSMT, whichshoU be slicdfor manyj/oT the remission of sins. Matt. xxvi. S6, 27, 28. 40 lot have (he nge in a ino- ■nd blood as ead, and un- and all-dis- ture to have rehensible it d the greater tly believing fundamental e a mystery ; id even the Whatever is tbove reason lority for bc- ;s he has for leclaration of pies; and in in the syna- his followers poken a hard ctrine, I am le Christian's inculcated in tuld seem as if le would meet le more clear tution of this lible. WhiU it and brake eat; this is kSy and gave IS MY BLOOO nanyj/or the I « Much 1 iitiuvv, \\iin l)C'i!U wiittcii iiiid saul hy VioieaUuis in nrdui (() force a inenning on tliusc words (liiVcrcnt from what llicy naturally imply. — Hut it is somewhat strange that they who pretend (o regulate their faith on atl occasions by the U'ttcr of the law, and not by any one's interpretation ; depart in tills instance so far from their professed rule of faith as to re- ceive a hundred diiferent whimsical interpretations, rather than abide by the simple, plain, and obvious meaning of the text. This /» «it/ body %vhich is given for you. Then it was his body, and no more bread ; unless wc say that he could not make it what he alHrined it to bo. This is my blocd of the i\i'W Tenlnnicnl^ which shall be shed for many for the rcmis' sion of sins, Tben, if ho spoke truth, it was his blood, and not wine, which was never shod for the remission of sins. — Wby Ibus seek to force a fanciful meaning on that which is so clearly, positively, and unfiguratively spoken ? If wc wish the meaning further explained, lot us hear how our Saviour himself explains it, John vi. 27. After giving a most strikingproof of his omnipotence by feeding five thousand persons in the desert with only five barley loaves and two fish- es ; allbrding thereby also a most sensible figure of the manner in whicb he reproduces in tbo hands of his pastors the bread of life, which he was going to describe : when the people after seeking him every where in order to make him their king, had at last found and saluted him ; he prepares them for the stupen- dous doctrine he was about to disclose, by exhorting them to seek not the bread that perisheth, but that which cndureth unto life everlasting ; and by shewing the necessity of believing in him. They ask him therefore ^vhat wonder he wrought to confirm their belief; mentioning, as a motive for their belief in Moses, the prodigy of the manna in the desert ; of which t heir forefathers had eaten. U})on this he tells them that Moses had not given them bread from heaven, (for the manna had only de- scended from the clouds, and was merely a figure of what he was about to reveal) but my Father, says he, gives you true bread from heaven ; for the bread of Cod is he, who descend- ii 50 ed from heaven, and giveth his life for the world. As yet they did not well comprehend him, and therefore they said : Lwd., give us always this bread. Then Jesus says to them : J am the bread of life : he, who comes to me shall not be hungry , and he, who believes in me, sJiall never thirst. Then he com- plains of their unbelief: tells them that they, whom the Father gives him, will come to him ; and that he will not cast them away, nor lose any of them ; but that he will raise them up at the last day. In fine, he assures them that it is the will of his Father, that all who see him and believe in him, should have eternal life, and be raised up at the last day. Why so much preliminary exhortation to belief; unless thd doctrines, he was going to broach, required a more than ordi- nary degree of faith ? In fact, the Jews already began to mur- mur at his having said that he was the living bread that came down from heaven: and considering only his earthly extraction, they said how can this man tell us that he came down from heaven'? Then Jesus answered and said: Murmur not among yourselves ; no man can come to me, except the Father, who has sent me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the last day. Once more he insists on their implicit faith, and again renews the promise of eternal life to those, who believe in him. At last, he reveals in the clearest, most explicit, and intelligible manner this important and wonderful doctrine, for the hearing of which he had previously taken such pains to prepare them. I am, says he, the bread of life. Your fathers did eat inan- na in the desert, and are dead. This is the bread that came down from heaven ; that, if any one cat of it, he may not die. I am the living bread, who came down from heaven. If any one eat of this bread he shall live for ever ; and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, how can this man give us his flesh to eat? Now, at length, they had caught his meaning : and Jesus, who could not be ignorant of the sense in which they under- stood him, and which was evidently the literal one ; confirms 51 is yet tiiey lid: Lordy em: I am be hungry, en he com- the Father them away, ) at the last his Father, ive eternal unless thd than ordi- gan to mur- I that came ■ extraction, down from not among father, who he last day. gain renews n him. At intelligible the hearing pare them. id eat iuan- d that came lay not die. ;n. If any 3 bread that The Jews n this man and Jesus, hey under- ! ; confirms I them in it by still more plain, emphatical and pointed declara- tions on the subject. For taking up his asseveration at the very difiiculty or objection they had started ; and adverting to their own very words, he says in the most solemn manner : Verily, verily I say unto you ; unless you eat the flesh of the son of Man, and drink his blood, yov shall not have life in you. He laho eats my flesh, and drinks my blood hath eternal life ; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed; and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me, and I in him. This is pretty clear, I should think, and more satisfactory on the subject in question, than all the expositions of all the re- formers of his doctrine ever since his time. Nor did the Jews indeed mistake him ; nor was he ignorant that they understood him in the literal sense. Yet so far is he from wishing them to conceive it, as Protestants do, in a merely figurative sense ; that he affirms his doctrine to be as necessarily true in the literal sense which had so offended them, as that the living Father had sent him, and that he lived by the Father. As the Father, says he, lias sent me ; and as I live by the Father ; so he who eateth me, the same also shall live by me. No declaration ever before or since made to man could be .nore awful, solemn and positive than this. Yet all this is not enough. He returns to what he had affirmed from the beginning : shews the excel- lence of this heavenly bread above that of its figure, the manna, which only prolonged a little the life of the body, while that which he had promised to give, was intended as the living and life-giving food of the soul ; and he concludes by resuming, and putting into one short sentence, his whole doctrine on this head. This is the bread of life which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead. He who eateth this bread, shall live for ever. This, adds the evaugelist, he spoke, teaching in the synagogue at Caphernaum: which circumstance proves that he wished this doctrine to be con- sidered by the Jews, as a most essentially important one, which he had so formally taught in their synagogue. 52 Many therefore of his disciples, continues the same evangc list, hearing this^ said,this is a hard saying, and who can hear it? But in what was this a hard saying, if he meant it only, as Protestants would have it to be understood? Was there any thing hard, especially to a Jew, who was so accustomed to figurative eating and drinking, to suppose that bread might be eaten in memory of his body, which was broken, and wine drunk, in memory of his blood which was shed for the remis- sion of sins ? And if he really meant it to be understood only in this sense, why did he not undeceive his hearers, who, he knew, murmured at his words, only because they took them in their plainest and most obvious meaning? He undoubtedly would have done so, had they implied any other sense, than the one they naturally conveyed. Yet instead of doing so, and in order to leave no doubt but that they were meant in the very sense, in which they were taken ; we read as follows : But Jesus knowing within himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them : doth thisi offend you 9 What if you shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before ? Putting them in mind that he was God who spoke, who had descended from heaven, and would ascend up thither again : and that therefore they ought to believe what seemed so hard to them, because it was he who affirmed it. It is ivritten, said he, in the Prophets, they shall all be taught of God, John 6. 46. Those taught of man, cannot soar beyond the narrow sphere of human conception : while those taught of God can take his infallible word for their security ; well knowing that he can do infinitely more than they can comprehend. He sets them right as to the mistaken notion they had concerning the eating of his body; which they very naturally, but erroneously sup- posed intended for their bodily food like the dead flesh of their victims : whereas it was meant as the spiritual and living food of the soul. It is the Spirit, said he, that quickens : the flesh profiteth nothing. The words, that I have spoken to you, are spirit and life. But there are some of you, added he, ivho believe not; for Jesus knew from the beginning who they were 53 rie evangc o can hear nt it only, Was tliere tistomed to d might be and wine the remis- stood only , who, he ok them in indoubtedly sense, than }ing so, and iant in the as follows : ( murmured ^hat if you ms before 7 ie, who had ither again : ined so hard vrittetij said , John 6. 45. w sphere of an take his hat he can ^e sets them g the eating eously sup- md flesh of 1 and living ickens : the )ken to yoUj led he, ivho o they were who did not believe^ and who he was, who would betray him ; and he said : therefore did I say unto you that no one can come to me, unless it be given him by my Father. That is evident- ly the grace to believe the doctrine which he had just taught ; and in that very sense, which bad so offended them. From that time, it is added, many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. Yet he allowed them to go away, without undeceiving them, if they were deceived ; and without softening a single expression, cr giving the least hint of a dif- ferent meaning, than the one they had conceived. Nay, he even asks his Apostles if they also choose rather to leave him than believe. But Simon Peter answers him in their name, and in the name of all who should believe after him ; Lord to whom shall we go ? Thou liast the words of eternal life ; and wc have believed and have known that thou art Christ the Son of the living God. I must own it seems to me evident, after considering atten- tively the whole context of this chapter, that our Saviour meant all he said in the strictest literal sense. Had he intended it to have been understood in a figurative one, can wc suppose that he who came to instruct the ignorant, and to seek and to save those who "'»«'e lost ; would have suffered his hearers and dis- ciples to abandoned him from a mistake into which his own very words had so naturally led them ; without vouchsafing to drop a single expression that might reclaim them ? He like- wise foresaw the many millions, who would afterwards take this same doctrine literally as he had spoken it ; and whose mistake also, if there were any in believing it so, he would have prevented by an explanation. It is remarkable that St. John, who is th » only one of the evangelists that relates this occurrence of ou.- Saviour with the Jews at Caphernaum ; and describes so minutely this doctrine, which the Lord taught in their synagogue ; is likewise the only one who omits mentioning in his gospel, when describing every other event that took place at the last supper, the most impor- tant circumstance of all ; namely, that of the institution of the 54 blessed Sacrament. This omission seems evidently intended as a hint to the reader to look back to our Saviour's dogma and promise of the bread of life, which he alone had already so amply detailed ; which dogma and promise were known by all the faithful to have been first verified and realized at the last supper. # Protestants consider their Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to be mere Bread and WinCf as only a Figure of Christ's Bo- dy and F' ;od. Is thiu then, will they say, the promised fufilment of all the ancient figures ; the Paschal Lamb ; the wondrous manna, and all the unbloody sacrifices ; particularly that of Melchise- dech ? Do all these mystical types and shadows point but at the baker's loaf, and wine merchant's cheapest beverage ? Is this the marriage banquet of the King^s son to which we are all so formally invited ! Matt. 23, 3. This ih^ sumptuous feast prepared for us by Wisdom herself? Prov. 9. Has she then no belter fare to treat us with, after all her preparations, than a mere earthy crust, and the simple juice of the grape ? un- sanctified, but as our ordinary meals are, with the sinner's sup- pliant benediction ; not consecrated and changed by the omni- potent word of God pronounced over them by his appointed organs, the lawful successors of those, whom he commanded to do just what he himself, the incarnate Deity had done ; that is, to make these elements what he then, with truth declared them to be, his very body, about to be bruised and broken for us ; and his very blood, about to be shed for the remission of our sins ? Is all, what Wisdom divine bids so pressingly her guests to eat, but a niggard morsel and scanty sip of those corruptible elements, intended only for the short support of our mortal bo- dies ? 0, no : her's is a food divine ; a sweet, a nourishing, an immortalizing repast for our better half, the soul. Her ta- ble is that spread for us against those ivho afflict us : Ps. 22. 5. on which is displayed Messiah's best and most beauteous 55 intended logina and already so wn by all t the last 's Supper irist's Bo- of all the MS manna, Melchise- oint but at ;rage ? Is ich we are tuous feast is she then tions, than ^rape? un- iner's sup- the oinni- appointed manded to e ; that is, lared them m for us; on of our her guests sorruptible mortal bo* lourishing. Her ta- : Ps. 32. beauteous gift ; the wheat of the chosen ones; and the wine germinating virgins. Zach. 9. 27. Still in her housCy the Saviour's Church, built, not o#i sand^ but on the rock ; Matth. 7. 24. ibid. 16. 18. and reared and resting on her seven pillars, the sacraments; she immolates her victims ; mixes her wine ; sets forth her table ; and sends her maids to invite to the toWer, and to the walls of her city ; not the worldly wise and great; but whosoever is a liltle one, says she, let him come to me : and to the unwise, that is, to those simple enough to believe on her word alone, all slu tells them concerning her wond- ious feast ; to those therefore accounted fools, by the incredu- lous, for not relying on their own erroneous judgments, rather than on her infallible declaration ; to these unwise she says : come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine, which 1 have mixed for you. Leave off childishness ; and live ; and walk in the ways of prudence. — ^Prov. 9. If we wish to be more particularly informed as to the. natur j of Wisdom's Banquet ; let us hear herself, in her visible shape assumed, explain it, as she does, in the clearest terms imagina- ble ; for her banquet is no other than the Saviour's feast ; which he describes to us, as follows > — " / am, says he, the living bread, that came down from heaven : if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever ; and the bread that I will give, is my flesh for the life of the world. Amen, amen, I say unto you ; unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood; you shall not have life in you. For my flesh is meat indeed ; and my blood is drink indeed. He who eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father fias sent me; and as I live by the Father ; so he that eateih me, the same also shall live by me. This is the bread that came down from heaven : not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth this bread, shall live forever. — These things he said, teaching in the synagogue at Caphernaum. John vi. 32, &c. The promise of this living and life-giving bread ; he veri- 66 licd at his last aiippei ; uhcn, alter eating with his ajiostles tlie ligurative pasclial lamb; he concluded the mystic feast by ful- lilling- the figure ; giving tu them himself, the true paschal lamb, the divine food and nourishment of their souls : and desiring them, the pastors of his church, to do the same ; even that, which he himself had just done ; that is to change the elements by the all efficient word of him, who created them, into his living body and blood, and distribute then), as such, ^o the rest of the faithful. For, takir'if tfi£ bread, he bles'ied it, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying : take and eat; this is my body ; — and taking the chalice, he gave thanks and gave it to them, si„i ' g : drink ye all of this ; for this is my blood of the New ' Jamcnt, which shall be shed /or many, for tlt£ remission of .iins> — Matt. xxvi. 26. Take and eat ; this is my body, says Jesus Christ. It is not your body, says the Protestant, but only common bread, taken and ealen as a figure of your body : — Drink ye all of this, says the Saviour ; for this is my blood of the New Testament, which shall be shed for many, for the remission of sins. — It is not your blood of the New Testament, says the Protestant, but meicly iviue, which was never shed for the remission of sins. — Can any two declarations be more opjjosite and contradictory than these ? God's affirmation is here again met, as in para- dise, by the devil's negation. Where in all scripture does the Protestant find this negative sense of the Saviour's plain affir- mative declaration ? In the concluding words of the institution, whispers the father of negatives, to all who give ear to him. You will ftud, says he, (the lying fiend) who durst quote Scripture to tempt even the Saviour, that in these words — Do this in memory of me, the negation is contained of the Saviour's affirmation : for, if what he gave was himself; how can he be a memorial of himself? — Why may not a prince, for instance, re- present, together with his chosen fellow actors in the drama, his former exploits and achievements for his people ! And wouUl this 1)0 less a memorial of himself, as he formerly was, lor the good of his people, because lie himself was there, the Si )oslles the ast by I'ul- le paschal souls : and une ; even cliange the ited thcni, as such, ^o blessed it, d eat ; this s and gave my blood It is not lead, taken all of this, Testament, sins. — It is testant, but I of sins. — (ntradictory as in para- rc does the 1 plain qffir- institutiou, 2nr to him. lurst quote words— /Jo le Saviour's can he be a nstance, rc- the drama, )ple ! And merly was, s there, the I 6hief character in the commemorative exhibition ? Now this is just what takes place in the Eucharistic mystery ; for in it ii re- presented, not what Jesus Christ now is, immortal, glorious and impassable ; but what he once condescended to become for our sake ; a suffering, bruised, and dying mortal ; our propitiatory, long prefigured victim slain ; by the eating of which, as the Apostle testifies, we shew forth the death of our Lord, till he tomes. — 1 Cor. xi. 26. / came not, says our Saviour, to abolish, but to fulfil the law. Amen, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or tittle of the law shall not pass, till all be fulfilled : — Matt v. 17, &c., that is, till all the typical and figurative allusions in the Old Law find their exact accomplishment and complete realization in the New. But if what he called his body, was hot his body, biit only bread, as a figure of his body ; and if what he called his blood, the very blood which at his Last Supper he was about to shed for the remission of sins, was not his blood, but only wine, which was never shed for the remis- sion of sins ; then the figure was not fulfilled, but continued : or rather a comparatively mean and insignificant figure was sub- stituted to an august, expressive and appropriate one. For who will compare with all thf^ pompous sacrifices of old ; with the Paschal Lamb, or the miraculous Manna, a little common bread and wine, handed round, to be just only tasted ? Can this, even as a figure, much less as the fulfilment of one and all, be considered in any sense equal to the Paschal Lamb alone ; which, for its innocence, meekness, dumb and uncom- plaining patience under the very hands of its slayers ; so fi ly represented the meek and innocent Lamb of God ; who, ac- cording to the prophecy of Isaias, was led like a sheep to the slaughter; and as a dumb lamb before his shearers, who opened not his mouth : — Is. 53, 7. To the lamb whose bloot, like the Saviour's, when shed, became the sign of salvation to the \ dople of God ; turning aside from their doors on which it was sprinkled, the death-dealing visitation of the destroying angel ! — to the lamb in the figure as really eaten as slain ; and H '■8 u therefore to be as really eaten as slain, in the exact fulfilment of the figure ; that of tvhich we are repeatedly assured by the Saviour's most plain and positive declarations on the subject ? // is a hard saying, said ilie Jews, and who can hear it '? It is a hard saying, say the Protestants, and ivho can believe it 7 It is indeed a hard saying : and none can hear and believe it, but they, who, according to Saint Paul, bring into Captivity their understanding, in obedience to Christ : — 2 Cor. x. 5. None but wisdom's little ones ; her reputed unwise for so readily be- lieving on her sole word, what surpasses so the understanding of man. It is written in the prophets, said the Saviour when inculcat- ing this stupendous doctrine, they shall all be taught of God : — John vi. 45. Potcstants, however, Oii this head prefer being taught of man, who can judge of nothing, but as he thinks he spies it, in the dim glinnner of his natural, and but conjectural knowledge ; and will credit nothing, but what his glow-worm light of reason enables him to perceive : who would sound with his atom-line and plummet the unfathomable depths of wisdom infinite ; and determine with his mite of intellect the possible extent of the operations of Omnipotence. How then can such, as are taught of man, ever hear and believe a decline so far exceeding all human understanding; and utterly incredible, were we not certain that he was God himself incarnate, the most holy one, and true, who taught it ? They on the contrary, who are taught of God, can take his word for their security ; well knowing that he can do infinitely more than they can comprehend : that he who created all things out of nothing, can change them, when he pleases, into whatever he pleases. They see him daily working wonders in the administration of the universe, which shew that nothing is impossible to him. And can they rationally doubt his power to fulfil his own most solemnly repeated promises ? If asked by him, therefore, as the Apostles were, if they too, like the rest, would leave him, rather than believe that he could give them his real flesh to eat ; what answer could we make, but that 59 t fulfilment jred by the e subject ? m hear it ? I believe it 7 lieve it, but itivity their , 5. None readily be- rstanding of en inculcat- of God :— refer being e thinks he conjectural glow-worm sound with of wisdom he possible ;n can such, ♦dne so far increcible, jarnato, the can take his do infinitely created all ^leases, into wonders in t nothing is lis power to If asked by ike the rest, I give them e, but that which Saint Peter made in their name, and in the name of all the true believers ; Lord^ said he, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal life : and ive have believed and have knmon that thou art Christy the Son of the living God. — John vi. 69. The unbelief of Protestants in a mystery so clearly revealed by him whom they acknowledge to be God, is the more unac- countable ; as they have in all nature, and even in themselves, the constant and most striking proof of his power to work the very change in question. For, do they not behold him, in the vegetable, as well as the animal species of every denomination, transubstantiating one substance into another? Do they not behold him, even in themselves, transubstantiating their meat and drink into their very flesh and blood ? Let them tell me else from what other sourss does the diminutive infant derive its in- creasing bulk ; till it has grown up into the full sized perfect man ? And can they then deem it absurd to believe, on his own formal and repeated asseveration that he can do for himself in a super' natural and instantaneous manner, what he does in a slow and natural manner for all ? The first and last of his public miracles was transubstantiation ; the first, a visible one, that of water into wine at the marriage feast of Cana in Galilee : — John 2 — the last, a still greater, but invisible one, to be credited on his word, that of bread and wine into his body and blood, at the mystical mar- riage feast of himself, the celestial bridegroom^ the king^s son^ to which all are invited, — Matth. 22. 2. But this, the last and greatest of all his wonders wrought, he intended as the chief trial, and object of our faith. Wherefore, resting it on the evidence of all his other miracles, he denies it that of all the senses, but the hearing. Faith then^ says the Apostle, cometh by the hearing; and hearing by the word of Christ. — Rom. 10, 1 7. — And can we distrust his word, so clearly, frequently and emphatically announ- <'ed ? Can we refuse our entire reliance on that word, to the truth of which all nature has borne such miraculous testimony ? The winds and the waves were seen subject at his call ; and the inha- bivants of the deep crowded instantly where he willed thein< 10 The watery element grows firm under his steps. The vegetating productions are blasted by his frown. Diseases, defects and de- bilities of every kind vanish at his word. The blind see ; the deaf hear ; the sick are restored to perfect health ; the lepers are cleansed ; the devils fly at his rebuke ; even death and the grave, at his summons, yield up instantly their dead : the very inmost thoughts of the human heart are known to him, as soon as formed. In a word, the whole of nature owns him, though disguised in human form, her Almighty Maker and sovereign Lord. If we see him not now performing such miracles, we behold him daily working in the administration of this universe other wonders as astonishingly great. For instance, to give life is a far greater act of Omnipotence, than to restore it : and this we see him do daily, by calling into existence millions of creatures, and giving them a life and a being, which they never had be- fore. He re-produces with increase the seed in the ground to feed his needful creatures ; as he reproduced the loaves and fishes in the desert to feed his fasting followers ; and can he not as easily reproduce in its very distribution, by the hands of his Pastors, the bread of life, which he promised to give us? It was from this very mi' acle, a most stupendous one certainly, that he took occasion to challenge the belief of the multitude, who had witnessed it, in his power to furnish them with a far more wonderful and exquisite repast ; not an earthly one, for the short support of the body ; but a heavenly and life-giving one, for the nourishment of the soul : a food, as he affirms, far excelling even the miraculous manna of the Israelites ; and in- finitely surpassing the Protestant's poor drop and crumb. It was our original distrust in the word of God, and our guilty wish for forbidden knowledge, that wrought all our wc** in Paradise ; by making us the willing dupes of the deceiving fiend. The reparation therefore of our fault is our entire reli- ance on the word of God, without coveting to know and under, stand more of his mysteries than he has been pleased for the present to reveal. As a trial therefore of our faith in bis word, 'I CI vegetating cts and de- d see ; the the lepers ith and the the very m, as soon im, though sovereign we hehold krerse other ive life is a tnd this we r creatures, rer had be* ; ground to loaves and ind can he he hands of give us? e certainly, ! multitude, 1 with a far ily one, for i life-giving affirms, far es ; and in- umb. d our guilty ►ur wc in '. deceiving entire reli- and under, ied for the n his word, lie has grounded his whole religion on mysteries incx|dicablc { several of which are odmittcd by Protestants as articles of their faith ; such as the unity and trinity of the Godhead ; the incarnation of the eternal son ; the resurrection of the dead, &c. And, while they admit these, as essential truths revealed to us by the deity ; can they reject, though more explicitly, rep'^'^tedly, and emphatically revealed and taught by the same authority, the Euchatistic mystery, on the sole pica of its in- comprehensibility? Yet in the whole of nature, which is that single object which man, in his present state, does fully comprehend ? Are we not every where suiroundcd with mysteries inexplicable ? Are we not, in every sense, a perfect mystery even to ourselves? And shall we doubt the clear declaration of God, because to us its verification is quite incomprehensible ? The Eucharistic mystery is, if you please, the hardest to be understood. It is, if I may call it so, the mystery of mysteries; and the one by which our trust in the divine word is put to the severest test. But then it is, on this account the clearest and most fully revealed of any ; not only by the Saviour's solemn, plain and positive declarations on the subject ; but by all the, else unmeaning, legal sacrifices, types and figures ; the whole of which but pointed at this mystery : aud found in it their full accomplishment. Our belief in this mystery, from our total reliance on the word of God, is the ample amends made to him for our original distrust in his word : and as we fell from him by disbelief; we are restored to him in this mystery, and united with him in the closest manner ; in reward of our perfect faith. Our bane is thus changed into our bliss : and the tree of deaths with its for- bidden fruit, converted into the tree of life ; the fruit of which, we are now commanded to eat as the sovereign antidote against the threatened death ; for on the tree of the cross that body hung, and that blood was shed, to the eating or drinking of which is promised eternal life. — ^John 6, as above. Still, to those not taught of God^ but of man, how incredible 02 And absurd must seem so deep a mystery ! And hence do we see all the sectaries, though they nficct to cling to the letter of the scripture ; racking their brains, and risking every conjecture, rather than take the Saviour's words in their plain, unfigurativo and literal meaning. They believe his declaration only in as far as they think they understand it. Where then is the merit of their faith, if they believe nothing of the word of God, but what they comprehend ? Strange presumption in such short- sighted and ignorant worms, to set themselves thus to judge how far the evident disclosures of Omniscience arc admissible ; rejecting of them, as nbsurd and impossible, whatever comes not within the narrow sphere of their intellect. — Faith^ says St. Paul, Cometh by the hearing : — Rom. x. 17. It stands not on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. 1 Cor. ii. 5. We speak, continues he, the wisdom of God in a mystery ; a wisdom which is hidden ; which God ordained before the world unto our glory ; which none of the princes of this world knew. — But to us God has revealed them by his spirit: for the spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God. For what man knotveth the things of a man, but the spirit of a man that is in him 9 so, the things also that are of God, no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of this worlds but the spirit that is of God ; that we may know the things that are given us from God : which things also we speak not in the learned words of human wis- dom ; but in the doctrine of the spirit, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the sensual man perceiveth not the things that are of the spirit of God ; for it is folly to him ; and he cannot understand, becattse it is spiritually examined. But the spiritual man judgeth all things, and he himself is judged by no man : for who has known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him 7 But we have the mind of Christ. — Ibid. Those therefore taught of God, and who thus have the mind of Christ; can see in this Eucharistic mystery a doctrine wor- thy of tiiat God, who with his word created all things out of (^ ncc do we e letter of onjccture, 1 figurative only in as the merit f God, but uch short- to judge []niisE>ibIe ; ver comes hy says St. ids not on Cor. ii. 6. ystery ; a the world Ihis world it : for the lod. For t of a man f, no man eivedy not i ; that we od : which iman wis- [■ spiritual eth not the \y to him ; examined, himself is the Lord^ ' Christ. — e the mind itrine wor- ings out of nothing : and in our belief in a mystery so inexplicable, an act of homage paid to his veracity proportionubly great ; while those taught of man^ who perceivcth not the things that are of the spirit J see nothing in i/, but Jolly y because they cannot un- derstand. Yet in all this prodigy of love to man, tbcfc Is nothing too much fur him to accomplish, who could stoop so from his sove- reign height to the extreme lowliness and utter abjection of our fallen and wretched condition : could even assume our suffering and mortal humanity ; and in it, as a worm and no man; the reproach of rnaw, and the outcast of the people. — Ps. xxi. 6. — bear the expiatory punishment of our guilt, in order to save xia from destruction. It is not too much for him, who eoold make himself our brother, to vouchsafe so to dwell in the midst of us i disguised, indeed, to try our faith ; and mu-lcd up in the sacra- mental veils ; but in that very same, though now glorified and impassible humanity, which he disdained not to trke upon himself for our sake. Here he stands betwc ^n us a> i the jn^t wrath of his heavenly Father; pleading, our high priest acci r- ding to the order of Melchisadechy a merciful respite fon s;n* ners; and preserving thus our sin-polluted world f- j -^ destruc- tion: as Moses, interposing himself between the angiy Deity and the guilty Israelites, prevented their threatened extermina- tion : and as Aaron, the High Priest, hastening forth With his censor and holy fire, stayed the havoc made in the camp by the destroying Angel. — Num. 14. — Ibid. 16, 48. Yes, he still deigns to dwell in the midst of his followers here on earth. His love for us, which knows bo bounds, will not suffer him to be absent from the darling objects ol his care and concern. My delight, says he, is to be with the ehildrert of men ; Prov. viii. 31 — and where tu) u" three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt« xviii. 20. No bars or doors can now exclude his presence. In the midst of his Disciples, though liosetted up for fear of the Jews^ he suddenly stood; and gave his wounds to be felt by hiV doubting Apostle ; chiding him at the same time in the gentlest manner for his incredulity. Because thou hast seen me, ThomaSy said he, thou hast believed; but blessed are they^ who have not seen, and yet have believed. John xx. 29. I will not leave you orphans, said he, to his dear afflicted followers, who thought they werfe going to lose him. / will come to you again. Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more, but you see me, because I live; and you shall live. In that day you shall know that I am in my Father; and you in me ; and I in you. He who hath my commandments, and keepeth them ; he it is who loveth me i and he who loveth me, shall be loved by my Father ; and I tvill love /lim, and manifest MYSELF TO HIM. Judas, not the Iscariot, saith to him : Lord ! how is it that THOU WILT MANIFEST THYSELF TO US, AND NOT TO THE WORLD? Jesus answered and said to him : if any one love me, he wili. ICFEP MY WORD ; and my Father will love him : and we will come to him, and make our abode with him.- — He, who loveth me not, keepeth not my words. — John xiv. 18. &c. What then is that word of his, the keeping of which he says will manifest him to his followers ? What, but that viord which he so plainly spoke to his apostles at his last supper with them : the transubstantiating word which made >Vhat he then gave them, as truly as he spoke it, his very body to eat ; and his very blood to drink ; that word which he had so fully explained, and so forcibly inculcated to the multitude, when teaching in the synagogue at CapUarnaum : John 6, 59 — that word, which then so shocked the Jews ; which now so shocks the Pro- testants, Freethinkers, Deists, and all unbelievers ; who refus- ing to be taught of God, prefer grounding their faith on mer6 human conjecture ; yet that very word which manifests him to all those who keep it ; and who recognize their Lord under the disguise, which he assured them he would henceforth assume. These still see him, while the world sees him no more. He lives in them, and they in him. On such he daily showers down ti the gentlest it seen me^ re they, who K Jear afflicted lim. / wUl orld sees me m shall live, er; and you dmentSy and loveth mey %d MANIFEST 9W is it that rHE WORLD? ne, HE WILL and we will , who loveth &c. hich he says tUord which • with them : ke then gave and his very :plained, and ',hing in the wordy which ks the Pro- i who refuS' aith on mere i/ests him to d under the >rth assume. more. He lowers down 65 his hidden manna : Apoc. 2, 17, — and bids them feast and grow immortal by feeding on the fruit of the tree of life. Such require not the aid of the senses to confirm their faith in his word and promises. They seek not, like Thomas, to see and feci the print of the nails in his hands and feet ; nor the mark of the spear in his wounded side, in order to prove his presence and identity. They rest their faith, as he enjoins, on thetestimony of his other disciples; on the unerring declaration of his Church, which he commands us all so peremptorily and un- reservedly to hear: — Matt. 18, 17. encouraged, as we are so to do, by his assuring us that blessed are they, who have not seen^ and yet have believed. But wisdom invites her guests to drink of her wine, as well as to eat of her bread : and the Saviour, at the institution of this sacrament, desired all present to drink, as well as to eat. How then in the Catholic Church, can the Laity, who are de» prived of the cup, be considered as receiving the sacrament entire; and as it was enjoined to be taken.'' If this Sacrament really is, what the Saviour declared it to be; and strange that so many calling themselves Christians should deny it to be so : then it is evident that by only eating, we receive as much as we do by both eating and drinking. For we receive Christ entire under either form. He cannot be received by halves, or divided. His body which we receive under the form of bread, is not a dead but a living body : for Christ once dead, dies now no more : Death has now no more power over him. Rom. 6. 9. Now a living body cannot be without its blood ; nor a living blood without its body ; nor both without their soul : all which constitute the humanity : and with the Saviour's humanity is ever inseparably joined his divinity. In receiving therefore under either form ; we receive him whole, as well as under both ; we receive him undivided, as indivisible, God and man, the second person of the adorable Trinity : and what more can any one desire ? Hence, to the sole eating, eternal life is as fully, and formally promised, as to both the eating and drinking. Nay it is more frequently promised to the sole eating ; John. 6. as the bread, or ntannd form, being the easiest procured and the fittest for preservation ; was intended for the general reception of the faithful. This form was therefore particularly prefigured in the old law, by the manna, the loaves of proposition and shew bread ; and more especially by the wafers of fine flour, kept with such re- verence in the Jewish Tabernacle : the emblem of the Chris- tian one. Lev. 9. 12. The Holy Ghost descended in two visible forms : in that of a dove on the Saviour, and in that of fiery tongues on the apostles and first Christians. Would any one say that he was not as much the Holy Ghost, under either form, as under both forms together? The Saviour then being equally present under either form as under both, the Church, in order to facilitate the approach of her children to a sacrament declared to be so necessary for the life of the soul ; dispenses with the cup ; and administers this sacrament under the sole form of bread, not only to the Laity? but also to those of the clergy, who being unavoidably pre- vented by sickness, or otherwise from celebrating mass, may wish to communicate. For, were it deemed necessary, as in the Protestant sects, that all should receive under both kinds ; the difficulty, and sometimes even the impossibility of procur- ing a sufficiency of wine for the occasion, would prevent what is so desirable, the frequent devout communion of the faithful : and often prove an insuparable bar to our compliance with the Saviour's mandatory injunction. Nay, in some far remote and uncultivated regions, into which may have penetrated that faith, which was ordered to be preached to every creature ; it might be found impossible at any time to furnish the wine spe- cies to all the believers. These then, if, as Protestants main- tain, that species were indispensably required for the integrity of the saciament, would remain deprived of their soul sustain- ing food ; the real Manna and true bread from Heaven ; without which they would faint and die in the wilderness ; nor ever reach the promised land. — No : what God declares to be 80 necessary for all, he has not placed beyond the reach of any : 67 I or ntannd !servation ; iful. This >ld law, by read ; and Ih such re- the Chris- in that of a be apostles lot as much s together? »er form as pproach of ary for the nisters this the Laity> iably pre- mass, may sary, as in 3th kinds ; of procur- vent what I faithful : e with the emote and rated that cature ; it wine spe- ants main- B integrity ul sustain- Heaven ; ness ; nor ares to be jh of any : nor would he have so strictly enjoined what so often might he found impracticable. Besides the general communion under (he liquid form might endanger the spilling of the holy of holies : or, when tasted, and breathed upon by the many ; or sipped by the ulcerous lips of the diseased ; it might become an object of natural disgust, and, in this, and in many other eases, be left unconsumed ; or, finally, while it is handed round to the expecting multitude, it might be wholly exhausted before reaching the last of them. To pre- vent therefore all such risks, improprieties and disappointments, which would necessarily be multiplied with the increase of her family, the Church, though in her infant state she occasionally allowed the cup to all ; and gave it at one time, to distinguish her children from certain heretics, who refused it, deeming wine the production of an evil principle ; has since her uni- versal propagation, thought proper to withhold it ; sanctioned as her conduct is in this particular by the Saviour's formal decla- ration, that he who eats this bread shall live for ever. John 6. 68. It remains now to be shewn why the Clergy celebrating Mass must receivs the communion under both kinds. The reason of this is that they, in the persons of their pre- decessors the Apostles, were commanded by Jesus Christ to do, just what he himself had done ; that is, to consecrate the elements under both kinds ; changing them by his omnipo- tent word into what he said they were, his very body given for us ; and his very bloody shed for the remission of our sins. But this is the act, not of the people, but of the Priest- hood, to whom alone the Saviour's mandate was given ; for none but his priests, the Apostles, were present at the time to receive it. This is the unbloody sacrifice of our High Priest^ Jesus Christ ; who was declared to be a priest, not for once in a bloody, but forever in an unbloody manner ; that is, ac- cording to the order of Melchisadech, who offered up bread and wine. His Priests therefore, like those of old, to whom in the realization of the ancient figures, they have succeeded, were thus empowered to consecrate by his omnipotent word ; to of- *m fer up ; to divide ; and, taking to themselves, the first appoint- ed share ; to distribute among the faithful, not now the figura- tive, but the long expected, and many ways prefigured propitia- tory victim. See, in particular, Malachy. 1, 11. Though the sacrament then, as we have shewn, is complete under either form ; the sacrifice requires both forms for its perfection : because it is a mystical exhibition of the death of Christ ; in which his blood is represented as poured out for us, i*r.m his apparently lifeless, bruised and wounded body ; a id, bc^ndes the many other pointed allusions to the great Mijoci/ sacrifice, which the mass commemorates; the veryablusive wine and water, which, at the end of the com- munion, are drained with the remains of the sacramental blood, remind us of the all purifying stream, which, at the conclusion of Christ's bloody sacrifice on the cross, wus seen mixed with blood flowing from his wounded side. Thus according to St. Paul, is shewn forlh the death of our Lord till he come. 1 . Cor. 11, 26. Such is the inestimable pledge of love, which the Saviour gave his followers, before leaving them. For, knowing says the beloved disciple, that his hour vms come that he should pass (wt of this world to the Father ; having loved his own, who were in the worlds he loved them to the end. John, 13, 1. He therefore bequeaths to them in this wonderful sacrifice and sa- crament, like a dying father, his all : that humanity, which he had assumed for their sake, inseparably united with his divinity : and, since its resurrection from the grave, immortal glorious, and impassable. Such is the rich and everlasting portion se- cured to them by his last will and testament ; so solemnly made on the eve of his passion. In this sense also does he verify his parting promise to them before his ascension into Hea- ven : Lo : I am with you at all times, even to the end of the world. Matt. 28,20. - «, (( ■-■w^^ ..:* irst appoint' the figura- ed propUia- is complete trniis for its the death poured out 1 wounded ons to the orates ; the jf the com- ental blood, 3 conclusion mixed with rding to St. e come. 1. the Saviour %owing says should pass Is own, who ,13, 1. He ifice and sa- y, which he lis divinity : tal glorious, portion se- ;mnly made s he verify 1 into Hea- e end of the 69 To the Testimonies of the early Fathers of the Church above cited in favour of the Catholic Doctrine of Transubstan- TiATioN ; we cannot help adding that of St. Eutyches, Patriarch of Constantinople ; explaining by a natural similitude the most inconceivable part of the EucharisM'c Mystery ; that is, the simultaneous presence of the Word Divine Incarnate, or tlie one whole Christ, God and Man, in so many places all over the world. — "As the Voice, says he, which proceeds from one "Man; and to which the air responds,- is whole and entire in "his mouth; and penetrates whole and entire into the Ears of " them who hear it ; so that one receives neither more nor less " than another ; because, thougn the voice is a Body, being " nothing else than agitated air ; it is, in such manner one and " indivisible, as that all equally hear it, although there should " be an audience of ten thousand persons : so, no one ought to ^' doubt that, a/2erif/te mysterious Consecration, and the holy " Fraction, the incorruptible, holy, immortal and life-giving " Blood of the Lord, being formed by Virtue of thi Sacrifice "tn the Consecrated Species, impresses all its Virtue in each of " those who receive it ; and Is found whole and entire in them " all; as in the Case f the Example which we have adduced." See Annals. B. III. page 333. Paris Edit.— This Father lived in the Sixth Century. We conclude, for the present, with the following Remarks on God's Immensity and Omnipotenfe ; calculated, we presume, to shew the possiblity of a Mystery so impenetrably deep, yet so clearly revealed. From the highest to the lowest ; from Infinitude to Infinitude, God ascends, or descends. — Need we wonder then that He, THE Greatest, should, in assuming our Nature, become as THE LEAST ? That THE Eternal, as God, should be born, as Man, A Child or Time f The Mightiest or all a help- ^%.J> 70 i^ 1 .1 LESS Babe ? — The Source Supreme of Bliss, the most SUFFERING OF MoRTALS ? ThE RICHEST GiVER OF ALL GOOD GlFTi^, la« POOREST AND MOST DESTITUTE OF BeINGS ? ThE MOST MA.nOSTIC AND BEAUTIFUL, THE MOST DISFIGURED AND DEBASED ?- -Nay, THE HOLIEST OF IIoLTES, THE MOST OPPRESS- ED WITH Guilt? Even Wisdom iv^^ixite disguised as a Fool ? and Life itself eternal even stooping unto Death ? Need those then wonder, who art Cb»i.=.lfans, sind liclieve all this ; tha( he, who fron) the immenst! love he bore uv, could ftoop so low to raise up, ant' exalt our u!ien and tic^jraded Race ; who made us all his Kindred b} taking upon himself our Humanity ; yhould stili oake himself in the Sacrament of the altar as the meanest atom; and, in appearance, all Hut nothing for our sake ? He, the Wisdom of the Most High, had s:»M before, at the Creation of this World, my d( light is to he with the Children of Men. Pjov. 8. 6. 31. He repeated the same Declaration in his human Nature assumed ; when he assured his Followers that where ttvo or three were gathered together in his name, there he would be in the midst of them. Matt. 18. 20. Not, merely, as God, for that would have been affirming nothing but what reason shews must ever be the case: but as Man; the Jesus of Nazareth who addressed St. Paul on the road to Da- mascus. Acts. 0. 5. Lo ! said he again to his Disciples, / am with you at all times, even to the end of the world. Matt. 28. 20. In his human Nature, therefore, and as Man, he is still with those, who are gathered together in his name ; not with those gathered together in the name of a Luther, Luther- ans ; in the name of a Calvin, Calvinists ; in the name of a Wesley, Wesleyans ; nor in the name of any sinful and erro- neous Mortal : but with the sole members of his own Catholic Church ; who are gathered together in no name under the Heavens, but the name of Him, her divine and only Founder. Yet, lest.this greatest trial of our reliance on his word, though 90 clearly, emphatically and repeatedly expressed, should prove THE AIOST F ALL GOOD NGs ? — The GURED AND JT Oppress- UISED AS A (PING UNTO 3 (leiicve all ! i^ , could i ttc.^raded himself our mcnt of the hnt nothing efore, at the he Children Declaration is Followers n his name, i. 20. Not, ; nothing but s Man; the road to Da- Disciples, / orld. Matt. Man, he is name; not ler, Luther- i name of a il and erro- vvn Catholic i under the Founder, ^ord, though hould prove n too much for our acquiescent Reason ; he shews us in Nature a proof of its possibility in those numberless diminutive but animated objects of every shape and hue ; which, but for the Microscope, were imperceptible : yet to which he has adapted an Instinct and Organs as various and perfect, as to the largest and most imposing forms. The truth is, Size and Space are nothing to facilitate or impede the Operations of the Deity ; nor indeed of any Spiritual Agent whatever. The intensity of being may exist, as Reason shews, in whatever way, space or form the Almighty chooses. As a further illustration of the possibility of the real, though simultaneous presence of Christ's Body and Blood in many places ; we submit to the Reader's consideration the following observation : The seed of a Tree will in due time produce a Tree : and that Tree will produce numberless seeds : and these again num- berless Trees, so as to cover at last with Forests the whole world. Now, though in the present order of Nature, time is required, and the succession of Seasons to effect all this : will any one deny to the Almighty, who with an act of his will, created all things out of nothing, the power of realizing all this in a moment? And was i* not just such a wonder as this that he wrought, when with five Barley Loaves and two Fishes, he {cdjive thousand of his Creatures, who had followed him into the wilderness, and were hungry : and after all had eaten, and were satisfied, twelve baskets remained full of the fragments left ? He did not on this occasion create new Loaves and Fishes ; otherwise it would not have been true that he fed the multitude with only Jive Loaves and two Fishes. But, as in a natural way, he reproduces with increase from the seed, that which is sown; so did he, in a supernatural way, reproduce in the hands of his Apostles the Loaves and Fishes which he had given them to distribute. In the same manner, and with equal ease, does he still reproduce in the hands of his Pastors, their lawful suc- cessors, the Bread of Life, the heavenly Manna, the Soul-sus- taining food of the earthly pilgrim on his journey through the 7% wilderness of this world towards the Land of promise : that living and life-giving repast which he said he would give us ; and our belief in which he took occasion to require and incul- cate from the evidence of the stupendous miracle which he had recently wrought. John. 6. )f promise : that would give U8 ; equire and incul- :le which he had