and the abyss of thy love. Devise-createbequeath to us a legacy, worthy of thy omnipotence, worthy of thy affection-worthy of thy new covenant, worthy of thy eternal Father-worthy of thyself, worthy of thy dying hour, worthy of an expiring God.

Everlasting praises laud thy love through heaven and through earth, thou lover of our souls! My humble prayer thou hast anticipated. For lo! thy Apostle says: "I have received of the Lord, that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, the night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and giving thanks, broke, and said: Take ye, and eat: this is my body which shall be delivered for you: do this for the commemoration of me. In like manner also the chalice, after he had supped, saying this chalice is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye shall drink it for the commemoration of me. For as often as you shall eat this bread, and drink this chalice, you shall show the death of the Lord until he come." 1 Cor. c. 11.

A mystery! the bare announcement of which carries the stamp of the divinity; for none but God himself could have even devised it. And how shall I, then, my brethren, perform the awful task for which I stand before you? A mystery! so far above the reach of flesh and blood, yet, so constantly and universally professed by the whole Church of Christ, from the night

of its institution to its present anniversary ; so obstinately contradicted by Scripturereaders, yet, so clearly and solemnly laid down in scripture; so blindly rejected by the carnal man, in whom "the flesh profiteth nothing," yet, so steadfastly believed, so fervently loved, so beneficially received by him, to whom "the words of Jesus are spirit and life." A mystery, such as this, overpowers a preacher not by the difficulty, but by the multiplicity of its proofs. May its di, vine donor direct my tongue to announce with dignity, and inspire my audience to hear with faith, and receive with rapture this last legacy of redeeming love! And as "the weapons of my warfare are not carnal," do thou, O Jesus, render them, according to the saying of thy great preacher Paul, powerful, through thee, to the destruction of fortifications, subverting of councils, and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding to the obedience of Christ!"

To embrace so vast a subject within the compass of one discourse, is, my brethren, altogether impossible. I shall therefore distribute it throughout the Octave, in the following order. This evening, Thursday, I shall state the Catholic faith of Transubstantiation, and prove that it is not repugnant to reason.-On to-morrow, Friday, I shall prove this dogma from scripture, and confute the objections of its scriptural opponents.-On Saturday, there

will be no sermon; in order that no interruption may be given to the devotion of those pious and penitent souls, who, in great numbers, I trust, will, by humble confession, be then preparing for this divine communion.-On Sunday, I shall demonstrate from the Holy Fathers, Councils, and all ecclesiastical history, that Transubstantiation was believed in every age, and every clime of the Christian Church.On Monday, the holy sacrifice of the Mass shall engage your attention.-On Tuesday and Wednesday, I shall explain the ceremonies of the Mass; discussing, among other things, prayers to the saints and for the dead, the use of the Latin tongue, communion under one kind, &c. And on Thursday, (the octave,) I shall close with a summary of the whole subject, and an exhortation to holy communion. May these seven sermons, which I intend to publish in the course of the present summer, sanctify your souls, and increase the honor of our Jesus in his adorable sacrament!

The Catholic Church believes, that when the respective words of consecration, This is my body-This is my blood,' were, on this night, pronounced by Christ, he changed the substance of the bread into that of his body, and the substance of the wine into that of his blood; which change of substances she designates by the expressive term, Transubstantiation. She believes, that although the whole substance of the bread is changed into the body alone, and the whole

substance of the wine into the blood alone, yet, nevertheless, the body is always accompanied by the blood, soul, and divinity, and the blood by the body, soul, and divinity; not through the respective changes, which have been effected in the bread and wine, but through the necessary and inseparable connexion between the body, blood, and soul, united, all and each, in the one divine person; so that where any one of them is, all of them must be. This point was either ignorantly misunderstood, or wilfully misrepresented by the Rev. Mr. Griers, who, in his late pretended reply to the Right. Rev. Dr. Milner's justly celebrated work, intituled The End of controversy,' ridiculously charges with inconsistency the General Council of Trent, for saying, in one canon, that the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood; and in another, that under each species, and each particle of each species, are contained the body, blood, soul and divinity, and consequently Christ entire. There is an essential difference between the words 'contained' and changed;' the former denotes presence, no matter from what cause; the latter a presence caused by the change. The Jews nailed Christ's body on the cross; they did not nail his blood thereon, it was liquid; they did not nail his soul thereon, they could not touch it; much less his divinity; yet, where the body hung, there blood, and soul, and divinity were present. So, in the Eucharist, the bread is

changed into the body, not into the other three, although the other three accompany the body; and the wine is changed into the blood, not into the other three, although the other three accompany the blood.

The Catholic Church further believes, that this mystery is a real sacrifice, consisting in the separate transubstantiation of the bread into the body alone, and, of the wine into the blood alone; and, as far as these two separate acts of consecration operate, the body alone is produced under the species of bread, and the blood alone under the species of wine; although, by the union of the divine person with the humanity, where the one is, the other must be, together with the soul and the divinity. The Jews, by murdering our Divine Redeemer, separated the blood from the body, and the body from the soul; but, owing to the intimate union of the divine person with the humanity, they could not separate that person from either; and the divinity was as present with the body in the sepulchre, as it was with the soul when she descended into hell. Now, however, 'Christ dies no more,' and, therefore, though his body and his blood are produced by separate acts, and under separate species, yet, the presence of the one necessarily brings with it the presence of the other, together with both soul and divinity. Hence the Catholic Church teaches, that, to perform the sacrifice, it is necessary to consecrate separately, and consume under both spe