he performed his promise, on the eve of his passion. Call to mind the doctrine and the belief of the apostles, and the first christians; the discipline, coeval with christianity, respecting the secrecy that hid these mysterious dogmas in the breasts of the faithful: call to mind the liturgies of the fifth age, all of which express the same dogmas in glowing terms, and whose uniformity proclaims their apostolical descent: call to mind that the primitive Fathers developed the same belief with the greatest clearness when they spoke free and unrestrained in presence of the faithful alone, or when they were instructing the neophytes in what it was necessary for them to know before being admitted to partake of the holy communion: think, in fine, of the moral impossibility of our belief being ever established, such as it now exists, unless it be supposed to derive its origin from Jesus Christ himself.

All the proofs attesting this point of revelation are most certain: the metaphysical arguments brought forward against them are far from being so, they leave them totally untouched. The former are within the comprehension of our minds: the latter are far beyond the limits of human intelligence. We cannot therefore, without overthrowing the laws of good sense, throw aside plain and palpable proofs, to cling to conceptions that, to say the least of them, are founded on no certainty and are hazardous in the extreme. If, however, such metaphysical difficulties should rise up in our imagination, they must be driven away proofs built upon facts must be introduced into their place on such occasions, raise up your heart to heaven, whence all revelation is derived; take refuge under the Divine Majesty which veils its

own mystery, and forbids you to examine it with too curious an eye: place all your confidence in him who proposes it to you, and, at the moment of communion, cry out to him with St. Peter, with the apostles and the christians of all ages: Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Son of the living God, and that thou hast the words of eternal life. This is the clear and luminous side of the column: fix your eyes upon this together with the chosen people of God, and you cannot fail of being secure : whereas you will be infallibly lost like the Egyptians, if you place yourself with them on the side that diffuses nothing but darkness and uncertainty. This mixture of light and darkness, which is equally found in the order of nature as in religion, was no doubt intended for the trial of our faith during the days of our pilgrimage: with our earthly pilgrimage it will terminate: then shall the veil be withdrawn and the truth be clearly laid open to our eyes: then, to our astonishment shall we find the simplicity of all that, which at present confounds and defies the ingenuity and imagination of man.

In the mean time, thus let us argue the point: it would no doubt be a madness to believe, on the testimony of man, what we do believe respecting the Eucharist: but there would be a thousand times more madness in refusing to believe it on the positive testimony of our Saviour. You confess with us his divinity demonstrated by all his works: you acknowledge with us in Jesus Christ the God who created the universe, who rules nature, and who "hath done whatever he pleased in the heaven, in "earth, in the sea and in all the depths."" It would

Psalm CXXXIV. v. 6.

be highly unreasonable to oppose our weak understanding to his divine word and to place more reliance on our limited and ever erring reason than on his almighty power aud infinite wisdom.'

66

'Hear the same language from the mouth of one of your own divines: "We confess with the holy Fathers that the manner "of Christ's presence is as inaccessible to our thoughts as to our language; that is, we confess, that it is not to be fathomed by "human reason, but must be believed by faith. However in"credible it may appear to us that, at so immense a distance, the "flesh of Jesus Christ should come down to us and become our food, "it must never be forgotten how much the power of the Holy Spirit surpasses our comprehension, and how foolish it would be "to think of measuring his immensity by our weak understandings. "Let faith, then, admit what reason cannot conceive." (a)

66

"O God incarnate, how thou canst give us thy flesh to eat " and thy blood to drink! How thy flesh is meat indeed! How "thou, who art in Heaven, ART PRESENT ON THE ALTAR! "I can by no means explain. But I FIRMLY BELIEVE IT ALL,

66

BECAUSE THOU HAST SAID IT. I firmly rely on thy love, "and on thy omnipotence to make good thy word; though the 66 manner of doing it, I cannot comprehend."(b)

(a) Cosin. bishop of Durham, Hist. of Transubstantiation, p. 36, died in 1672, aged 77.-(b) Bishop Ken's Exposition, licenced anno 168. The above passage is quoted from Dr. Hawarden's True Church of Christ. Part III. p. 149.

APPENDIX.

Testimonies of the Fathers.

Saint Ignatius, (a) the disciple and successor of St. Peter in the see of Antioch, speaking of certain heretics, who denied the reality of the body of Christ, says: "They abstain from the "Eucharist and from prayer, because they do not acknowledge the "Eucharist to be the flesh of our Saviour Jesus Christ, which "suffered for our sins, and which the Father by his goodness resuscitated." Ep. ad Smyrn. p. 36. T. II. P. P. Apost. Amstelodami, 1724.

Justin, (b) in his apology to the Emperor Antoninus, expresses himself as follows: "Our prayers being finished, we embrace one "another with the kiss of peace. Then to him who presides over "the brethren is presented bread, and wine tempered with water; "having received which, he gives glory to the Father of all things "in the name of the Son and the Holy Ghost, and returns thanks, "in many prayers, that he has been deemed worthy of these gifts. "These offices being duly performed, the whole assembly, in "acclamation, answers, Amen; when the ministers, whom we "call deacons, distribute to each one present a portion of the "blessed bread, and the wine and water, Some is also taken to "the absent. This food we call the Eucharist, of which they alone 66 are allowed to partake, who believe the doctrines taught by us,

(a) Suffered Martyrdom in 108. (b) Martyred in 163.

66

" and have been regenerated by water for the remission of sin, and "who live as Christ ordained. For we do not take these gifts as common bread and common drink; but as Jesus Christ, our Saviour, made man by the word of God, took flesh and blood "for our salvation: in the same manner, we have been taught, that "the food which has been blessed by the prayer of the words which "he spoke, and by which our blood and flesh, in the change, are "nourished, is the flesh and blood of that Jesus incarnate. The apostles, in the commentaries written by them, which are called Gospels, have delivered that Jesus so commanded, when taking "bread, having given thanks, he said: Do this in remembrance of me. This is my body. In like manner, taking the cup, "and giving thanks, he said: This is my blood and that he "distributed both to them only. If you find this respect it if you think it impertinent, despise it

66

66

66

reasonable, but do not

on that account condemn to death people who have done no evil. "For we declare to you that you will not escape the judgment of "God, if you persevere in this injustice. For our parts, we say : "God's will be done." Apol. I. p. 95. 96. 97. Ed:t. Londini, an. 1772.

:

Irenæus, in his fourth book against heresies, ch. XV11. al. 32. speaks thus : "Jesus Christ, having taken what of its own * nature was bread, blessed and gave thanks saying: This is my "body and, in the same manner, having taken the chalice, he "confessed that it was his blood: he taught the new oblation of his "Testament: the Church has received it from the apostles and "and offers it to God throughout the world." You shall now read Doctor Grabe's commentary on these words. "It is certain that "Irenæus and all the Fathers whose writings we possess, whether contemporary with the apostles or their immediate successors, "have held the Eucharist to be the sacrifice of the new law. Now, "that this doctrine, and this practice, was not that of any par

66

66

ticular Church or of any private divine, but that it was the “doctrine, and the practice of the universal Church, which it "had received from the apostles, and the apostles from Jesus Christ, is what we are taught by Irenæus in express terms, "and before him by Justin the Martyr, whose testimonies, as "well as those of St. Ignatius, Tertullian, St. Cyril and others, "have been so often quoted, not only by the adherents of the pope, but also by the most learned protestants, that there is no "need of repeating them. There would scarcely have been the "least doubt that this doctrine respecting the sacrifice of the