The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-09-21

shed for you;" and again, "He that eateth
Me even he shall live by Me-"
The controversies OF the times compel
us to go further than this simple asser.
tion Of the presence Of Christ, God, and
man in one person, in the Holy Eucharist,
to declare that while We assert our belief
in the Presence, We refuse to define.
THE MODE OR MANNER
OF the Presence. We do not affirm with
the Roman Catholic that it is by substan.
tialion, or the annihilation Of the sub.
stance Of the bread and wine, and the
substitution for it OF the substance OF
Christs body and blood
We do not affirm iii there be any who
do) that it is by cOnsuhstantiatiOn or i'm.
panatiOn, namely that "Ihe substance Of
the souls body and blood cO-exists in
union with the substance with the bread
and wine, as iron and fire are united In
bar Of heated iron"
We do not affirm that it is by identity
Of substance, that is, that the substance Of
the eucharist il at one and the same time
the substance Of bread aud wine, and the
substance Of Christs body and blood.
We refuse to explain away the mystery
by saying that the holy elements are
mere figures, or images, or symbols Oi
Chrisrs absent body and blood, In short,
We accept no device or explanation Of
human reason, and where Christ and the
Church have refused to define, We refuse
to define also.
The only word which the Church has
used to express without defining the fact
Of the presence is the word
"sACRAMENTAL,"
and 80 hold that Christs human nature
il in saCramenlal union with the cOnse'
Grated elements. This Presence Is call
ell Real, to show that II il no mere fgur'
ative or symbOlical Presence, 1t Ia call.
ed Spiritual, to show that it il no visible,
carnal, material, or local Presence; "fOr
that which is seen is not real, that which
il material Is dissoluble, that which Is
local is but partial" This Presence is
also called Spiritual, because il Is the es'
peCial work Of Gods Holy Spirit to make
Christs human nature present, for the
Third Person Of the adorable Trinity has
come, mot to supply Chrisls absence, but
to accomplish Ills Presence" Thus,
whenever or whatever have asserted
that Christ is present "in the elements,
"nndcr the form or species Of bread and
winG," mean thereby that lie is there
present sacramentally and spiritually,
and thus really and truly.
When We read such writing as the
above we feel n good deal rs we did on
reading the definitions touching the "prO-
ccssion Of the Holy Ghost agreed upon
at the Old Catholic Conference at Bonn
the other day--vi1-as II il was the
writing Of man "who darkGned counsel
by words without knowledge" II the
ancient and sagaciOus man Of uh did not
refer to such people rs DOllinger and De
Kovcn when he uttered the remark just
quoted from him, we are at n loss to i'm.
agine to whom he referred, We presume
he had in his eye, the innumerablr com.
pany Of such theologians who have lived,
written, died and been forgotten, they and
their writings with them, since the Chris
tinn era, and who, Notwithstanding all
their ntGrminable, dreary and weary
writings, have never, as Buckle so well eG'
presses it, dit 30 much as taper to cast
"a ray Of light on the problems they have
"anected to understand and expound."
II seems strange in this age Of the
world to see men trending the old tread
mill and affecting now, IA in the centuries
past, to have knowledge to impart to peo'
pie on such subjects as De KOven discuss
es. II II had been possible to inform the
world on the mysteries whereof he writes,
there Is no subject upon which the world
would have been better informed, for GER
tainly no subject has been more literally
md utterly written threadbare than this
one OF the Sacrament. And yet man.
kind is just as much in the dark "a ever
on that subject, and there il as little
prospect today Of their being enlightened
upon il as there was when the Councils
Of the Church discussed il hundreds Of
years ago.
The historian Gibbon sNw that the
Jews in their ancient days would rather
believe the traditions Of their ancestors
than the evidence Of their own senses.
And this remark is just rs applicable to
Gentiles Of De Koven school as iteyer
was to the Jews. TheologianS Of his
school will write vast volumes a. to
whether the sacrament is really an EN-.
bem or whether II il really something
else than bread and wine. NotwiLhsIand.
ing they can taste and test both, notwith.
standing the cruciblc Of chemistry will
reduce them to their last analysis, not
standing the effects Of both onthe human
system il the same when taken sac
ramenlalIy as when taken upon other
occasions, still they doubt their senses, as
did the foolish and snbseryient cOurtiers
Of Reschid Fl. IEasdid when they debated
as to whether he was not clothed in a
garment Of exceeding Gnene's Of texture,
when they could all plainly see and feel
that his Royal Majesty was entirely
naked.
IA II any wonder that the advancing
intelligence Of the world refuses any
longer to pay serious attention to such
spcculntions?
OI'R MOINDSVILLE LETTER.
Education IN WrtIeI tOunty-A
- -