The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-12-08
For the Central Presbyterian.
Rome and the Real Presence.

PETERSBURG VA, Nov. Gath, 80.
MeSSrS. Editors,-Having in my last
letter given your readers the Roman
Catholic doctrine OF Observation-Disclosures
as stated by one of its latest and most
Wanted expounders, L propose this week
to submit the evidence upon which he
seeks to commend it to our belief. He
has evidently felt the unsatisfactoriness
OF the old line of argument in his church,
which based itself simply upon the dec
laration " this is my body and has un-
dertaken to bolster it up with evidence
which he hopes will be more convincing.
Well he might seek some better evidence
than that contained in our Lords dec
laration quoted above; for if our Lord
meant when he said this is my body
that a transubstantiatio ion had taken
place, so that what he held in his hands
was no longer bread but his body, why
of course when he went on and said,
this cup Cor chalice, as the Douay has
lt) Is the new testament in my blood, :"
ne meant that the metallic substance of
the cup had been changed into Tesla
ment, and that is more transubstantia-
ton than Father Muller" bargained
for; and yet if there is not necessarily
implied change of the.cup into tes-
lament, neither is there of the bread into
the body of Christ. But that is not all :;
Father Muller must have his hands
full of transubstantiations For here
are numberless other instances exactly
parallel, such as 'the three branches are
three day." (Gen. xl: 12) The seven
kind are seven years., (Gen. xii 26), >"
the ten horns are ten kings" dan. vii /:
24). "The field is the world" Matt
xiii: 38). "Thatro was Christ" q Cor
Y: 4 the seven stars are the angels Of
the seven churches, and the seven candle
sticks are the seven churches, (Rev. i:
2O), the seven heads are seven noun
talns, (Rev. xvii: 81. Now unless
" Father Muller" is prepared to defend
Transubstantiation in all these cases, he
cannot defend it in the one first named.
If we translate in all these cases Signity,
or represent, we must also translate "this
signifies my body" or represents my
body" and the Transubstantiatio myth
IS at an end. Strange that sensible peo-
pie should be so blinded with the CON
slant usage of Scripture before their
eyes. Father Muller" evidently feels
all this, and so he proceeds to give us,
by way of further evidence, what he calls
some wonderful manifestations of the
real presence" Having utterly dis
carded and driven from the witness
stand, the senses Of sight, touch, ETC., and
those dicta of reason upon which all our
knowledge rests, he now proposes to in
troduce to us some witnesses to prove
the fact of the real presence. I cannot
go through the mass of visions, dreams,
portents, omens, etc, by which the faith
of credulous and superstitious devotees
has been supposed to receive confrma-
ton. L select for my readers three of
the witnesses as the ones upon whose
testimony most stress seems to be laid.
The first is a witness whose testimony is
found on page 81, Of the book we have
been examining (THE Holy MAss). The
Calvlnlsts having proven incorrigible in
their disbelief of the real presence, the
Lord says Father Muller, +" designs to
send them a witness, whose testimony
shall be overwhelming, and so sends
them-would you believe 1.-THE devil.
He enters into a girl, Nicola Aub1y.
Poor girl, his treatment of her is awful
Witness only one phase Of the long d.
abolical possession. " Her limbs cracked
as if they would break. The fifteen
strong men who held her could scarcely
keep her back They staggered from
side to side-they were covered with
perspiration The mouth of Nicola was
wide open. Her tongue hung down
below her chin. Her face was shocking
ly swollen and distorted Her color
changed from yellow to green, and be-
came even gray and blue, so that she no
longer looked like human being. It
was rather the face Of a hideous incarnate
Demon"
He is exercised by the Bishop in the
presence, Of course, as the story hath it,
Of a gaping crowd Of Calvinists, and in