BY M. D. TALBOT.
LETTER I. TO THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETER. cont.
Hear again Venerable Bede, who says, " —" He had said before, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath life everlasting, with the express design of shewing how great the distinction is between corporeal meats and the spiritual mystery of his body and blood; he added, my Flesh is meat indeed, and my Blood is drink indeed."
That this author considered this text as referring to the Sacrament, is as clear as day, where he says, "When Christ to shew the difference between corporeal meat and the spiritual mystery of his Body and Blood, added, my Flesh is meat indeed," &c. Will any Protestant presume to bring forward this passage, in order to maintain his errors, viz., where he calls the Sacrament, " The mystery of Christ's Body and Blood ? " For a mystery is that which contains a something which is concealed from the senses, and not to be perceived by the common knowledge of mankind. So this mystery (the Eucharist) contains the very Body of Christ; a thing' concealed from the senses, as Eusebius says, "— (Hom. 5 Pasch.) — "Not to be judged by outward light, but by faith; " therefore it is very properly called a mystery, because it contains the very Body of Christ, which the senses do not perceive.
Calvin himself justifies the Catholic doctrine on this great point, he says, " I say then, that in the last Supper, that Jesus Christ is given to us indeed under the signs of Bread and Wine, yea his Body and Blood."— (Inst. L. 4, c. 17, Sect. 11.) Your Lordship sees here the confession of our faith out of the very mouth of one of our adversaries; but as these are in no manner precise in their expressions, frequently saying the very contrary to what they believe, I shall return to St. Augustine, in order to convince you that this great Saint believed as firmly the real presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist, under the species of Bread and Wine, as did and does the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church of this day. He expresses himself as follows: " It is his proper flesh which we receive in the Sacrament veiled and concealed under the form and appearance of bread, and it is his proper blood that we drink under the species and taste of wine."— (L. Sentent. Prosper.} Can any thing be said more clear to express his firm belief of Christ's real presence in the holy Sacrament; but this is not yet all, the same Saint upon these words of the 98th Psalm, " Adorate scabellum pedum ejus," says, " That no one eateth the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist without first adoring it, and that we should sin if we did not adore it." He believed then that this flesh was really present in the Eucharist, otherwise it never could be lawful to adore it. He says again, " A man may be carried in the hands of another, but no one can be carried in his own hands; nor do we find it so in David, but we very well know that it was done in Jesus Christ, for our Lord was carried in his own hands, when giving his body he said, ' This is my Body,' for he carried his own body between his hands."— (In Explic. Psal. 33.) Now I ask your Lordship, in the name of heaven, how could St. Augustine say this, if he had not believed that what our Lord held between his hands was really his body ? for if it were only the figure of his body, any man, I say, might carry his picture in his hands as well as Jesus Christ; yet, notwithstanding, he said that no one was ever seen to do so but Jesus Christ, because there was no one but he that could do it.
LETTER I. TO THE LORD BISHOP OF EXETER. cont.
Hear again Venerable Bede, who says, " —" He had said before, he that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, hath life everlasting, with the express design of shewing how great the distinction is between corporeal meats and the spiritual mystery of his body and blood; he added, my Flesh is meat indeed, and my Blood is drink indeed."
That this author considered this text as referring to the Sacrament, is as clear as day, where he says, "When Christ to shew the difference between corporeal meat and the spiritual mystery of his Body and Blood, added, my Flesh is meat indeed," &c. Will any Protestant presume to bring forward this passage, in order to maintain his errors, viz., where he calls the Sacrament, " The mystery of Christ's Body and Blood ? " For a mystery is that which contains a something which is concealed from the senses, and not to be perceived by the common knowledge of mankind. So this mystery (the Eucharist) contains the very Body of Christ; a thing' concealed from the senses, as Eusebius says, "— (Hom. 5 Pasch.) — "Not to be judged by outward light, but by faith; " therefore it is very properly called a mystery, because it contains the very Body of Christ, which the senses do not perceive.
Calvin himself justifies the Catholic doctrine on this great point, he says, " I say then, that in the last Supper, that Jesus Christ is given to us indeed under the signs of Bread and Wine, yea his Body and Blood."— (Inst. L. 4, c. 17, Sect. 11.) Your Lordship sees here the confession of our faith out of the very mouth of one of our adversaries; but as these are in no manner precise in their expressions, frequently saying the very contrary to what they believe, I shall return to St. Augustine, in order to convince you that this great Saint believed as firmly the real presence of Christ's Body and Blood in the Eucharist, under the species of Bread and Wine, as did and does the Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church of this day. He expresses himself as follows: " It is his proper flesh which we receive in the Sacrament veiled and concealed under the form and appearance of bread, and it is his proper blood that we drink under the species and taste of wine."— (L. Sentent. Prosper.} Can any thing be said more clear to express his firm belief of Christ's real presence in the holy Sacrament; but this is not yet all, the same Saint upon these words of the 98th Psalm, " Adorate scabellum pedum ejus," says, " That no one eateth the flesh of Christ in the Eucharist without first adoring it, and that we should sin if we did not adore it." He believed then that this flesh was really present in the Eucharist, otherwise it never could be lawful to adore it. He says again, " A man may be carried in the hands of another, but no one can be carried in his own hands; nor do we find it so in David, but we very well know that it was done in Jesus Christ, for our Lord was carried in his own hands, when giving his body he said, ' This is my Body,' for he carried his own body between his hands."— (In Explic. Psal. 33.) Now I ask your Lordship, in the name of heaven, how could St. Augustine say this, if he had not believed that what our Lord held between his hands was really his body ? for if it were only the figure of his body, any man, I say, might carry his picture in his hands as well as Jesus Christ; yet, notwithstanding, he said that no one was ever seen to do so but Jesus Christ, because there was no one but he that could do it.
