Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-03-05
The Doctrine Of the Real Presence Of ChrIsts Body
ald Blood 10 the Sacrament Of the
Lords Supper.

fAul, Il COT. X, NOil. H. IleDI' x, that
the chief events and ordinances recorded
in the Old Testament were types or shad-
ows of Christian institutions. This prin-
ciple being admitted he argued that it was
only in the Catholic doctrine of Christ's
true flesh and blood being contained in the
Sacrament of the Eucharist, that some Of
the most striking OF these types or figures
found their realization. In proof OF this
assertion, he first cited the Staying and eat
ing Of the Paschal lamb. The history Of
this ordinance Is narrated in the 18th
chapter of Exodus. Year after year it was
sacredly kept by every devout Hebrew.
Not only was d lamb slain in sac
rifce to commemorate Israel's de
llyerauce from Egyptian bondage, but all
were required to partake OF its flesh.
When the Savior had, for the last time,
faithfully fulfilled this Jewish rite on the
eve of his death, lie instituted the Chris
tiau Passover, or Paschal Supper. lie, the
true Lamb OF GOd who taketh away the sin
of the world, had been typided by the Jew
ish Paschal lamb. The type must now
yield to the reality; the substance must
succeed TO the shadow. ENerting his d.
vine power, He blesses bread into His own
body, and wine into His blood; and these
tie distributes to His assembled apostles.
with the command that they should also
do what He had Just done, for n perpetual
commemoration Ct Him and of His death.
In this all the sacred writers agree. All
record the institution Of the Christian
pGschal feast in almost the same few but
plain and positive words: Take and eat;
this is my body. Drink we all of this;
this is my blood Thus does He subsu-
tute the precious reality Of his own sacred
humanity for the Jewish paSChal lamb by
which that sacred humanity had, for long
ayes, been ]pretiguIed among Gods chosen
people. Bat if the sacrament be only
bread and wine, rs emblems Of Christ's
body and blood, then must We acEnOwl.
edge that the Jews, in their
paschal lamb, had q much more noble and
appropriate figure than Christians have.
Then too must VT admit that the Saviour
merely replaced one figure byanOther, and
by one far less expressive than the figure
Of the old dispensation. This cannot be
true. The time Of iigur 3 and shadows
has past. We Christians must possess the
blessed reality. The Catholic Church
] lCdCut5 luhl We hO possess buAN ltallLli AAN
her teaching on this head is in perfect &C
cord with the whole spirit Of Christianity.
The Bishop next read from TX. XIV,
| :, and showed how the old law Just re-
ceived from God was sOlemnly prOmulga-
ted amid the spriukling Of the blood OF
slain victims. This blood of the old cove
nant but prefgured the blood Of the Lew
dispenaation. So Gays st. Paul HEIR. tx
When no the last supper, Christ published
his new commandment John xiii, 81 He
scatters HIS blood among His faithful dis
ciples, Ey giving it to them TO drink
fiom the chalice, the more en-
phatically to signify that the law
OF Moses was now supplanted by
the new dispensatiOn, and that the blood
OF the sucient victims hut pretigured His
own most precious blood, He says: This
is the chal!Ce. the new testament in my
blood" Luke xxi. 20 Now it is this
very blood the same that on the morrow
was 10 he shed on the cross-that he give
to his apostles, and empowers and COM
mauds them to give to Others.
A third figure is the mama which sup
ported the Israelites during their forty
years scIOuruing in the wilderness. This
il evidently the teaching of St. Paul
Il Cor. ~ II is also the teaching Of our
Blessed Lord Himself Inc. vi.
After dlsC0ursiUg at some length on the
points Of resemblance between the mama
aud the Holy Eucharist, the Bishop drew
the conclusion, that again the figure was
By far more excellent than the reality pre-
figured, if indeed Christ has left Us in that
sacrament nothing but bread and wine,
As this cannot be true,-as the food given
TO the Christian for his nOurIshment in the
desert OF this world, must possess qualities
far more more excellent than the manna;-
and "a Christ so expressly declares 1.-THE
bread that | will give is My flesh for the
life of the world. john vi. -, the
teaching of the Catholic church forces itself
upon our acceptance, viz. That the SaCra-
ment contains Christ Himself
Finally, the Bishop quoted from Genesis
xiv, l. 20, the passage relating to Mel
chisedech, "a also the lO9th protestant
Bible, llOth) Psalm, and Ep.stle to He
brews, fifth chapter. MelChlsedeCh was a
priest, and the popularity OF his priest
hood was that he offered up bread and
wine. 10 this he predgured Christ, our
great High Priest offering up his body and
blood under the appearances OF bread and
wine.
Il is only again by accepting the CathO
lie doctrine of the sacrifice of the Christian
dispeusation that our High Priest verifes
the prophecy implied in MelchisedCch's
oblation of bread and wine. This is the
explanation given of MelchisGdeCh as
a type Of Christ by all the
early Christian writers. One eN
ample will suffice. l quote, said
the Bishop, from a letter written by st.
Cyprian, Archbishop of Carthage, who
died for the faith in the year 25S. "Fcr
who is more apriest OF the Most High tod
than our Lord Jesus Christ, who offered
sacrifice to God the Father, and offered
that same which Melchisedech had offered,
that is, bread and wine-tO-wit, his own
body and blood" Works of st. Cypriau,
Antwerp, A. ID. l56S, p. 49,
Thus again il st. Paul's principle seen
to be strictly carried out-the types and
figures Of the Old Testament find their
perfect fuiilment in the sacred i%nstitu-
lions OF the New.
Next Sunday the Bishop will eSpound
the words in which the Saviour promises
to leave rs His body and blood John VII.