prove this doctrine. It appertains to those who, believing in the common doctrine of Incarnation, have need of the subtlest logic to show why they should not believe in Transubstantiation. For if they can show, which it appears to us they can, that Scripture does not require, and reason does not allow, a belief in Transubstantiation, à fortiori must we, whose principles lead us to question the doctrine of the Incarnation, (as the rude and gross expression of a high spiritual truth,) be convinced by the arguments advanced by themselves against Transubstan

tiation.

That the Spirit of God animated the bosom of that young Mother of Palestine, and that "the holy thing" that was born of her, was, in the sanctity of his character, and devout wisdom of his soul, the Son of the Most High, we believe while we utterly reject the, to us, profane belief, at once materializing the Almighty Spirit, and degrading one of the holiest bonds in human life, which maintains that the material being Jesus Christ was born, not of human parents, but of a woman and the Holy Ghost. In the same manner we believe that the bread and wine on the Table of Communion are indeed holy, in the purpose to which they are set apart, in the memories. with which they are fraught, in the benignity and sanctity of that being whose broken body and outpoured blood they show forth in symbol, and are therefore to be approached, to be handled, and partaken of (owing to these associations), with reverence. But we reject with something like horror the idea of their conversion, by the words of the priest, into the actual flesh and blood of the Eternal God. This supposition seems to us as gratuitous, and founded as completely on an original ignorance of the meaning of words, as any superstition on record. "This is my body." What is the "body?" The action or the substance? We maintain, manifestly the action. "This is Jerusalem," says the Prophet Ezekiel, when he had shaven off the hair of his head and his beard, divided it into three parts, burnt one, cut up another, and scattered the third, reserving a small remnant in the skirts of his garment-not of course meaning that the hair was turned into Jerusalem, or Jerusalem into the hair-but "this that I do unto this symbol I will do unto Jerusalem." Here it

was the action, the description, the incident, not the substance, that was Jerusalem. So Jeremiah (we purposely choose the well-known illustrations, because they are well known from being the best) goes forth into the environs of Jerusalem, and after denouncing the inhabitants for their crimes, takes "a potter's earthen vessel," breaks it and says, "Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel," &c. Now when we substitute the form of our Lord for that of the Prophet; the upper-chamber for the valley of Hinnom; and the bread for the bottle-what do we need more than to repeat the words of the Prophet, to arrive at the precise meaning of our Lord, "Even so will they break this body, as one breaketh bread"? The hard Passover biscuit held up and broken was the body of Christ: it was not the biscuit that was the body, but the breaking of the biscuit: as it was not the wine that was the blood, but the outpoured wine. The bread and wine were mere corpora vilia, by means of which was represented and conveyed the spirit and meaning of the symbol which lay not in that which the symbol was, but in that which happened to the symbol.

Even however, with the Roman Catholic's view of the elements and the sacrificial import of the Lord's Supper, we can scarcely understand, and we bitterly bewail, the entire absorption of religion into this single service. It is not only the centre, round which all the other services of whatever kind revolve, but it is the centre into which they all seem to merge and coalesce. A perpetual renewal of a physical miracle, a perpetual iteration of a sacrifice, offered in reality once for all, is the staple of which Roman Catholic devotion consists. The voice of the Church to her servants, is, "Perform this miracle-perform it daily, hourly, incessantly-by night and by day, in private and in public, in parish church and cathedral. Heed not that no one is by to hear or join in the prayers, or even to eat of the body, when created; perform the miracle: offer the sacrifice." This is the feature we feel as practically so lamentable in the service of the Mass-it is so independent of direct spiritual effect. The offering of the sacrifice, it is said, has an influence from without upon the souls of men;-and the Priest therefore, consecrating his elements, while the rest of mankind are asleep, is taught

to believe that he is doing them a great deal of good of some kind. But the soul of the Popular Faith is ever in substitution: and the Anglo-Catholic Clergyman, reading the Daily Prayer to the Clerk and an old woman, thinks that he is offering up prayers, just as the Priest thinks he is offering sacrifice, for the weal of the many. The Priest does it for us, and Christ does it for the Priest: and it is the essence of the whole system that no man does anything for himself. God is merciful, and much true devotion, much practical good, much holiness and worth of character, many cheerful hopes, many consoling helps, are permitted to gather round these services, which neutralise to a large extent their central error, and connect with them a blessedness scarcely their own.

While many of the prayers, exhortations, and instructions, associated with the service of the Mass, are taken from the broad and lofty spirit of the Christian Revelation; the order, details, ritual and ceremonial of the service, originate in the sacrificial and transubstantiatory idea, and are the natural accretion of reverence and time. The whole in fact coheres with the central principle, and it is difficult to say, what of the whole could be consistently omitted. Each of the observances (to us so multitudinous and often unintelligible) is the product of a felt necessity of what the phrenologist would call the organ of veneration. We do not know where the detail of necessary reverences can properly cease. Reverence in thought must be commensurate with the thoughts, and reverence denoted outwardly must be commensurate with every possible action and attitude of the body. In secular life there is nothing analogous to it but the endless etiquette of the old Spanish or French court-where everything sprung in time naturally and almost necessarily from the central idea of the sanctity of the Royal Person and Presence. And as it was only in the modification of this idea that court etiquette could resolve itself into something more worthy of human nature both in prince and subject; so it appears to us, the Roman Catholic ceremonial can only be reduced within rational bounds by a change in its subject, from a material presence to be outwardly reverenced, to a spiritual presence to be inwardly worshipped.

We shall now endeavour to give some illustration of these general statements from the book before us. The form of a series of conversations between an educated Catechumen and the Priest is adopted, as the vehicle of the Author's Exposition of the Order and Ceremonial of the Mass.

Part I. treats on the Service from the beginning of the Mass to the Creed. In the "Preparation," and while robing himself for the office, the Priest is required to offer the following suitable, and for the most part impressive and beautiful, Prayers :

"On washing the hands.

"Grant, O Lord, such virtue to my hands that they may be cleansed from every stain, and that I may serve Thee without defilement of mind or body.

"On putting on the Amice.

"Place, O Lord, a helmet on my head, that so I may resist all the assaults of the devil.

"On putting on the Alb.

“Make me white, O Lord, and cleanse my heart, that, being made white in the blood of the Lamb, I may deserve eternal rewards.

"On girding himself with the Girdle.

"Gird me, O Lord, with the girdle of purity, &c.

"On taking the Stole.

"Restore me, O Lord, the Stole of immortality which I have lost in the transgression of our first parent; and although unworthy to approach thy sacred mysteries, may I inherit eternal joy.

"On putting on the Chasuble.

"O Lord, who hast said, My yoke is sweet, and my burthen is light, grant me so to bear Thy yoke, that I may obtain Thy grace." -Pp. 10, 11.

On the point already alluded to, solitary Masses, the Catechumen puts this sensible and natural question, to which the Priest returns an answer to our minds possessing neither of these qualities.

"C. Excuse me, reverend sir, for interrupting you; but if the

Mass be a common act, how is it so often said without the attendance of any one but the server?

"P. I am glad to answer this question. The Church desires that there should be always hearers, and, if possible, communicants; but she will not suffer the backwardness of the faithful in coming to Mass and Communion to hinder the offering of that precious sacrifice, the fruits of which extend to many who do not personally assist at it. All, then, which the Church makes essential is the presence of one, who, in default of others, represents the body of the faithful. Moreover, every Mass has the Angels to assist at it, besides the sick of the parish, and others who are present at least in spirit. It is the pious custom in Catholic countries to toll the church bell at the Elevation in the Mass, that those who are hindered from assisting, may adore in their hearts. The same practice is also gaining ground in England."-P. 26.

This Part also contains explanations of the Introit, Kyrie Eleison, Gloria in Excelsis, Dominus vobiscum, the Collect (so called, probably, from the "gathering together" of the various needs and desires of the people into certain forms of prayer), the Epistle, Gradual (the response to the Epistle, so called, because originally sung from the steps of the altar), the Tract (a portion of the Penitential Psalms so called because sung in a mournful, drawn-out strain), the Gospel and Creed.

Part II. treats on the Service "from the Offertory to the Communion." In the explanation of the ceremonies attending the oblation (or offering up of the immaculate host (hostia, or victim) occur the following question and

answer:

"C. Why is the priest required to be so careful in wiping off any drops of wine which may have adhered to the inside of the chalice ?

"P. For a theological reason. It is not certain among divines whether these drops, separated from the main body of the wine, might not partake of the effects of the consecration. According to the opinion in the affirmative, if care were not previously taken to remove them, portions of the sacred Blood of our Lord might remain in the chalice after the ablution, and thus be exposed to the danger of irreverence. To obviate this risk, and to ensure the Priest against all scruples on the point, the rubric directs that the interior of the chalice shall be cleared of all detached portions of the wine."P. 37.