The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-04-15

blood. In proving this dogma, We pas
over the many, striking types furnished
by the old Testament, and conhne our ar.
guments to the proofs which are found In
the New Testament.
Fist-Christ promised TO leave Us His
living Aesh and blood for our spiritual
nourfshment, As we read in the 9th chap
ter Of St, John, 5lst to 69th verses.
Unbelieying men ask now as then:
allow can He give His flesh 70 eate" v.
50. The answer we leave to Him, who
change, by natures wondrous operation,
bread into our own flesh, content to &C.
cspt bis word as proof. His hearers
the best Judges Of the meaning Of Ills
words-understood him TO promise II;
and six several times He confirms their
opinion (verses $3.50. He fed thou>
sands with few loayes to excite their
faith in his power; then discoursed on the
necessity Of believing all He said; and
they announced this faith-requiring
mystery. But no Divine power Is needed
10 institute bare memorials, and no Divine
faith Is required to believe merely that
bread Is bread and wine 10 wine. But
Gods power alone can change bread into
ChristA sacred aesh, and only Divine
faith ean accept this wondrous fact.
The boasted solution in the Gath verse
did not remove the unbelief Of many even
OF His Disciples, siuee alter that verse
67) "lhey went back, and walked no more
with Him" With Peter and the faithful
Apostle, we meekly bow before the power
Of omnipotence, and say: "Thou hast
the words OF eternal lie. To whom shall
we go"
81 Mathew, St. Mark, and 81. Luke, in
their account OF the last supper. record
the fulflment OF this promise. Each de-
clares that, blessipg the bread the ga.
yior declared: "This is my body" Did
He mean what He said? Then we need
no further proof. Il rests with others TO
show that the words "this is my body"
means Just the reverse, "this ia NOT my
body.n Strange that not one Of the Sa'
cred Penman 80 stated, or even insimates
that Is here signifies Is aot. To conclude
that because To BIZ, soRstimsI is used in 4
fgurative sense therefore here II must be so
understood, is poor logic. Every cirum-
stance connected with the institution Of
the Holy Encharist, calls for plain and
not fgurative language. II Is the eve ot
the savior's death; dyiug men don't deal
in fanciful language. Christ makes His
last will or testament, in such documents,
figures are out Of place. He addresses,
no. the crowd, but His apostles; now to
these he was wont to speak plainly, and
to reveal the mysteries OF the kingdom OF
God luke viii, 10y. They are expecting
the fulflment Of His promise, and are
too simple and illiterate to fathom a
mere 6guratiye meaning-so abstruse
that It was never known for fifteen hun
dred years.
The early christians all believed in the
Real Presence. Such was the doctrine
Of ST Paul, See l Cor. XI, 23'29. BE
there repeats the words OF the Eyauge-
lists, and says nothing abou. mere
symbolic pretence. He tells US the
unworthy commitment Is guilty OF
q damnable crime, because be does
not discern the body Of the
Lord. But he cannot discern what
is no. present. "He Is guilty Of the body
and blood Of the Lord,"-unmeaning
words, II these are not really in the
sacrament. The earliest writer's of both
the East and West teach the same doc
trine as shown by their many, strong
declarations still e1tant.
In this mystery, our senses are not
deceived; for they report just what the
church holds; that the appearances Of
bread and wine are present; or that II
Christ's body and blood are present, they
are present under the appearances OF
bread and wine. Our reason dares not
here infer the presence Of the substances
Of which our senses testify the external
qualities. Because higher authority
than human reason assures us, that, in
place Of substances OF bread and wine, the
true Body and Blood OF Jesus Christ are
there.
One objection alone we do fear, viz
That taken from the lives Of negligent or
wicked Catholics. s,dly We acknowledge
that many Catholics are not what they
should be, with all the divine aids God
offers 10 them. But these abstain from
the Holy mysteries, or approach them
with dispositions far different from those
the church demands. Most earnestly
therefore do we exhort all to prepare
themselves to receive often and worthily
las far as human frailty permIts) this
divine sacrament. But more especially
at this Paschal time, Is this the bounden
duty Of the church's children. It Ia In
the Easter communion especially that
our Lords words End their realization
"He that sateth my fssh and drinketh
my blood, hath everlasting life; and ]
will rai.e him M In the last day."