The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1880-12-15

rage that animated the Jew led him to
throw it into pot of boiling water; the
water took the color Of blood" etc. A
woman hearing of this through the little
child of the Jew went in to see it, and
the host "came to repose in the little
vessel which the woman had In her hand
All amazed, she carried her treasure re-
ligiously to the church of st. Jean-en-
Greve. Information was given to the
magistrate. The Jew, no wise sorry for
his fault, was condemned to be burned
allUe but his wife, his children, and many
other Jews were converted"
Now there are many things at which |
marvel In connection with this story.
The first is that this Jew was so hard to
convince. If Father Muller" will bring
me one of those waters that contains only
the "species or appearance of bread,
and stick pen-knife into it and cause
blood to flow freely from it, after have
examined it by microscopic and chemical
tests to show that "the accidents are
those of bread only" will believe in
transubstantiation, and so would any sane
man in the world; and he must pardon
me for believing either that this nameless
Jew was stark mad, or that the history
of this event, which is supposed to have
taken place more than six hundred years
ago is not so authentic" as the learned
author declares it. Another thing at
which [ marvel is the GOODNESS and APP
parent satisfaction with which our author
records the fact that this poor deluded
wretch was burned alive" 1t seems to
me that this was poor way of convinc
ing him of the truth of the real presence.
[ don't so much wonder that his wife
and children, and many other Jews were
converted" if the alternative was, as
seems most likely, that they must either
be converted or share the fate of the
husband and father And one serious
objection have always had to the Ro-
man Catholic Church is that, not content
with matchmaking those who do not
believe in the real presence, where she
has had the power she has always been
very much given to burning them. But
what | marvel at most in these. reported
instances of the miraculous preservation
of the Sacred Host, is that they should
be any matter of marvel to Roman Cath
olics themselves Father Muller" in
PRODUCES them as if they were something
very wonderful; something altogether
out of the line of what we would ordin-
arily expect. 1 wonder at this; for, if
the Host is indeed the body of our Lord,
if it contains "the whole Christ, body,
and blood, soul and divinity" then how
can it be otherwise than indestructible.
If Christ in his whole personality, human
and divine, is in the wafer and in every
crumb of it, the wonder is that he should
allow himself to be thrown into the mire,
and not that he should be "luminuu
while lying in It, The marvel is that h,
should consent to lie buried in the ground
for month, and not that he should ere
tain his natural appearance.
Indeed it has always been matter o.
wonder to me that whilst Romanists pro
fess such implicit faith in the real pre-
sence of Christ in the Host, they should
act towards it as if they had no faith in
1t at all. Look for instance at the rules
in the Missal of the Mass" in reference
to the accidents which may occur in the
celebration of it, and you find such pro-
visions as the following, for the guidance
of the officiating priest: "I If the conse-
Grated host disappear either by an acct
dent, or by the wind, or by miracle, or
by having been eaten by any animal, and
cannot be found, then let another host be
consecrated." Now if the Catholic doc
trine be true there remains in that host
after conservation nothing but Christ
"our Lord body, soul, and divinity.
Can then our Lord be blown away, body,
SOUL and divinity, by wind? Can he
be eaten, body soul, and divinity, by an
animal? And so again. IF spider or
fly, or something else have fallen into
the chalice before conservation, let him
throw the wine into suitable place, and
place other wine in the chalice; let him
mix little water, offer it as above and
continue the Mass If fly or something
of this kind have fallen after consecra-
ton, and nausea arise in the priest, let
him take it out and wash it with wine
at the end Of the Mass, let him burn it,
and let the combustion and lotion of this
kind be thrown into the sacrarium. But
if he has no nausea, nor fear of any dan
ger, let him take it with the blood. >"
Now, not to dwell for moment on the
revolving features of this swallowing by
the priest of the unfortunate spider or
fly; or to appear in any way to subject
what others regard as sacred to ridcule
/ ask but this question If the Roman