infected with the odour of pagan sacrifices. Well nigh belching forth the deadly food of idols, with jaws even still exhaling their wickedness and redolent of the funeral contagion, they invade the body of the Lord-Whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, he shall be guilty of the Lord's body and blood. Yet, all such denunciations as these being despised and contemned, to his body and blood violence is offered: and thus they sin against the Lord with their hands and their mouth, even more than when they denied the Lord'.

Christ is the bread of life: and this is not the bread of all; but it is our bread. And, as we say Our Father; because he is the Father of those who understand and believe: so we call the bread our bread; because Christ is the bread of us, who touch his body. We daily pray, that this bread may be given to us: lest we, who are in Christ, and who daily receive the Eucharist for the food of salvation, should be separated from the body of Christ, through the intervention of some heavy offence, while being absent and not communicating we are prohibited

1 A diaboli aris revertentes, ad sanctum Domini sordidis et infectis nidore manibus accedunt. Mortiferos idolorum cibos adhuc pene ructantes, exhalantibus etiam nunc scelus suum faucibus et contagia funesta redolentibus, Domini corpus invadunt-Quicunque ederit panem aut biberit calicem Domini indigne, reus erit corporis et sanguinis Domini. Spretis his omnibus atque contemtis, vis infertur corpori ejus et sanguini: et plus modo in Dominum manibus atque ore delinquunt, quam cum Dominum negaverunt. Cyprian. de laps. Oper. vol. i. p. 128.

from the heavenly bread. He himself has admonished us: I am the bread of life, which came down from heaven. If any one shall eat of my bread, he shall live for ever. But the bread, which I shall give for the life of the world, is my flesh. Since, therefore, he says, that whosoever shall eat of his bread shall live for ever: as it is manifest, that those live who touch his body and who receive the Eucharist by the right of communion; so, on the contrary, we must fear and pray, lest, while any one is separated from the body of Christ, he should remain at a distance from salvation'.

When the Lord calls the bread his body, which bread is formed from the union of many grains; he indicates, that our people, whom he carried, is united: and, when he calls the wine his blood, which wine is

1 Panis vitæ Christus est: et panis hic omnium non est, sed noster est. Et, quomodo dicimus, Pater noster; quia intelligentium et credentium pater est: sic et panem nostrum vocamus; quia Christus noster (qui corpus ejus contingimus) panis

Hunc autem panem dari nobis quotidie postulamus: ne, qui in Christo sumus et Eucharistiam quotidie ad cibum salutis accipimus, intercedente aliquo graviore delicto, dum abstenti et non communicantes a cœlesti pane prohibemur, a Christi corpore separemur; ipso prædicante et monente: Ego sum panis vitæ qui de cœlo descendi. Si quis ederit de meo pane, vivet in æternum. Panis autem, quem ego dedero, caro mea est, pro seculi vita. Quando ergo dicit in æternum vivere, si quis ederit de ejus pane; ut manifestum est, eos vivere, qui corpus ejus attingunt et Eucharistiam jure communicationis accipiunt : ita contra timendum est et orandum, ne, dum quis abstentus separatur a Christi corpore, procul remaneat a salute. Cyprian. de orat. domin. Oper. vol. i. p. 146, 147.

expressed out of many grapes and collected into one; he signifies our flock joined together by the commixtion of an united multitude'.

(9.) Firmilian of Cesarea in Cappadocia was the contemporary and correspondent of Cyprian.

How great an offence is it, either of those who are admitted, or of those who admit, that, without washing away their filth through the laver of the Church and without confessing their sins, they should rashly, by an usurped communion, touch the body and blood of the Lord; when it is written : Whosoever shall eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the Lord's body and blood2.

any

(10.) Out of these nine writers, and indeed out of of the writers of the three first centuries, two only can be produced, Tertullian and Cyprian, who even seem to give any countenance to the

'Quando Dominus corpus suum panem vocat, de multorum granorum adunatione congestum; populum nostrum, quem portabat, indicat adunatum: et, quando sanguinem suum vinum appellat, de botris atque acinis plurimis expressum atque in unum coactum; gregem item nostrum significat, commixtione adunatæ multitudinis copulatum. Cyprian. Epist. lxix. Oper. vol. ii. p. 182.

Ceterum quale delictum est, vel illorum qui admittuntur, vel eorum qui admittunt; ut, non ablutis per Ecclesiæ lavacrum sordibus nec peccatis expositis, usurpata temere communicatione continguant corpus et sanguinem Domini; cum scriptum sit: Quicunque ederit panem aut biberit calicem Domini indigne, reus erit corporis et sanguinis Domini. Firmil. Epist. ad Cyprian. in Oper. Cyprian. epist. lxxv. vol. ii. p. 227.

doctrine, that the Eucharist is a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead.

We annually make oblations for the dead, for their nativities'.

Let her pray for his soul: and let her, meanwhile, beg for him refreshment and a participation in the first resurrection: and let her offer on the anniversaries of his dormition2.

And now repeat with God, for whose spirit you pray, for whom you make annual oblations3.

Since Victor, contrary to the form lately given in Council from the priest, dared to appoint the presbyter Faustinus guardian of his children: it is not fitting, that oblation should be made among you for his dormition, or that any prayer in his name should be repeated in the church.

any

We always, as you remember, offer up sacrifices for them, as often as we celebrate the passions

1 Oblationes pro defunctis, pro natalitiis, annua die facimus. Tertull. de coron. milit. § 3. Oper. p. 449.

Pro anima ejus oret; et refrigerium interim adpostulet ei et in prima resurrectione consortium; et offerat annuis diebus dormitionis ejus. Tertull. de monogam. § 10. Oper. p. 578.

Et jam repete apud Deum, pro cujus spiritu postules, pro qua oblationes annuas reddas. Tertull. exhort. ad castit. Oper. p. 564.

Ideo Victor cum, contra formam nuper in Concilio a sacerdotibus datam, Geminium Faustinum presbyterum ausus sit tutorem constituere: non est, quod pro dormitione ejus apud vos fiat oblatio, aut deprecatio aliqua nomine ejus in ecclesia frequentetur. Cyprian. Epist. i. Oper. vol. ii. p. 3.

and days of the martyrs by an anniversary commemoration 1.

II. This is the case, made out from Scripture and from the writers of the three first centuries by the Bishop of Strasbourg and Mr. Berington, in favour of the decision of the Council of Trent relative to the doctrine of the Eucharist: a decision, professedly built upon the authority of Christ and his Apostles, and professedly purporting to set forth the universally received doctrine of the primitive Church from the very beginning 2.

Hence, after duly perusing the case, the cautious inquirer must consider, how far it substantiates the alleged FACT: that The doctrine of the Eucharist, as inculcated by the Council of Trent, is the identical doctrine which was received by the primitive Church from Christ and his Apostles 3.

1

1 Sacrificia pro eis semper, ut meministis, offerimus, quoties martyrum passiones et dies anniversaria commemoratione celebramus. Cyprian. Epist. xxxix. Oper. vol. ii. p. 77.

The passages, here given, are adduced by Mr. Berington in The Faith of Cathol. p. 195-203, 254-260, 354, and by the Bishop of Strasbourg in Discuss. Amic. vol. ii. p. 76-83.

* It is a matter of deep and awful importance, that, if the doctrine of Transubstantiation be false, the practical result is : that the Roman Church, when she inculcates the duty of worshipping the consecrated elements with the same adoration as that which is paid to the Deity, most indisputably inculcates an act of gross idolatry.

This very plain matter has indeed been acknowledged, in the fullest terms, by Cardinal Fisher, Bishop of Rochester. Nulli dubium esse potest, si nihil in Eucharistia præter pa