one can well say, which side he took. His disciples, however, have decidedly gone into the empty, figurative, sense. The Church of England would fain be, neither Lutheran, Calvinist, nor Catholic; and has, in consequence, made such a medley of the thing, that, in one line of her catechism, you find her saying, that it is verily and truly the body; in another, that it is verily and truly bread; sometimes, that the bread contains the body; at other times, that it only represents the body; some of her writers, speaking like Catholics, others like Calvinists; and the same writers speaking, now like those, then like these, at different times, in different works, and often, in the same page of the same work! Whence these perpetual contradictions? Whence, but from the evident words of Christ, and the voice of all Christian antiquity, on the one hand; and from the spirit of opposition and party, on the other. These contending motives gain the ascendancy by turns; but the misfortune is, that by thus shaking the foundations of faith to and fro', they have, at length, nearly demolished them altogether; and the Church-of-England-m.cn of the present day, have, without, I believe, one single exception, given wholly into the naked, useless, and unmeaning, figure.

Oh! my Protestant brethren! rise out of this sea of uncertainty; be no longer tossed about by every wind of doctrine; reflect on the discourses I have pronounced; read them attentively, when I shall have published them for your benefit; read them again and again; pray, sincerely, for the light of heaven, to di

rect you in this important, this eternal affair. Yes, pray; again I say, pray; pray, and repent of your misdeeds; for, without prayer, persuasion will be vain; and, without penance, prodigies will not convert you. Consult and examine for yourselves; read both sides of the question; learn from Catholics, what Catholics hold; nor pin your faith, and, consequently, your salvation, to the canting tales, and lying fooleries, of the petty tract-press. One of these puny pen-men, the other day, in a pamphlet which he published, challenged me to quote a single text from any of the ancient fathers in proof of Transubstantiation. I have accepted the challenge, this evening; and I leave to Protestants themselves to say, which side has come off victorious. Let my bold, my foolish antagonist, read this sermon; let him read it sincerely; and I do not hesitate to declare my confidence in that Jesus, who is the author and consummator of our faith, that, not only the pamphleteer, but all who think with him, shall, at length, be mercifully brought to know, and acknowledge the Catholic truth!

Oh! May we all, then, as we used in ancient times, meet, once more, at the same holy table, to feed on the flesh of the Lamb! may we all attend, in union and love, at the same sacrifice of that divine Lamb on the altar! which sacrifice I shall fully demonstrate to-morrow. And may we all, finally, rejoice together, in the mansions of that eternal bliss, which Jesus purchased for us by his redeeming blood!

A blessing, &c.

OF

THE REV. RICHARD HAYES.

MONDAY.

Within the Ootave of Corpus Christi.

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SACRIFICE OF THE MASS.

I have no pleasure in you, saith the Lord of Hosts, and I will not receive a gift of your hand. For, from the rising of the sun, even to the going down, my name is great among the Gentiles, and, in every place, there is sacrifice, and there is offered to my name a clean oblation: for my name is great among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts.

Malachy, c. i, vv. 10, 11.

GOD, my brethren, is above all things: we must, therefore, acknowledge his sovereign, universal, dominion. He made us what we are, and gave us all we have: we must, therefore, thank him for our being, and for all the blessings we possess. From him, alone, we can receive the continuance of that being, and of those blessings: we must, therefore, beseech him to continue them. We offend him by our sins: we must, therefore,

E

sue for pardon. Reason tells us, that these four obligations are comprised in the duty, which a rational creature owes her Creator; and these obligations we discharge internally, when, in our souls, we perform the four acts of adoration, thanksgiving, petition, and repentance. But, we are beings composed of soul and body: God is Lord of both: therefore, with both, we must acknowledge his dominion. God created and blessed both: therefore, with both, we must thank him. He alone can preserve both: therefore, with both, we must beg that preservation. We offend in both; therefore, in both, we must sue for his forgiveness, Our external and corporal homage is, therefore, as necessary, in our worship of God, as our internal and spiritual submission. Our body is, as it were, the expressive stamp of our soul; the acts of the former are but the signs, by which we give utterance to the sentiments of the latter.

Hence, from the beginning, man, not only directed by the command of God, but led by the light of his own reason, joined external, with internal, worship; and, as sacrifice is the most expressive act, by which we can exhibit our dependence on God's sovereignty, our gratitude for his benefits, our entreaty for their continuance, and our sorrow for our sins; so, we find, that God, from the beginning, required it; and that man, from the beginning, performed it.

The etymology of the word, sacrifice, is sacrum facere, to make a thing sacred. The thing is made sacred, when it is offered to God, by an external act performed on it. If the offering were an animal, it was, generally, killed, burnt whole, or part burnt and part eaten. Thus Abel, Abraham, and the Jewish priests sacrificed sheep and oxen. When the oblation was inanimate, if solid, it was burnt, or eaten; if liquid, it was poured out, or drunk, in the whole, or in part. Thus Cain sacrificed the first fruits of the earth; Melchisedee, bread and wine; and the sons of Aaron, the mincha, or oblation of fine flour. The animal, however, though offered in sacrifice, was not always killed. Such was the emissary, or scape-goat, which was brought before the tabernacle, on the solemn day of the year, when the high-priest en← tered the holy of holies; and, after confessing aloud his own iniquities, and those of all Israel, he laid his hands on the goat's head; praying the Lord, that punishment might not light on the nation, but be transferred to the substituted victim; which was then sent off to the wilderness, and allowed to go at large.

All these various modes of oblation, came, equally, under the name of sacrifice, and were an acknowledgement of God's sapreme dominion over life and death, over the existence and condition of all creatures, whether animate or inanimate; and, therefore, sacrifice could not be offered to any