their belief in the doctrine of tran. substantiation; and is it reasonable to suppose that this mass of intellect is in the wrong, and those only in the right who dwell in a small speck on the globe, isolated from the rest of christendom in matters of religion, and differing among themselves in a thousand points on the important matter of eternal salvation? Is it consistent with reason or with prudence to suppose that English protestants, so' divided in religious opinions, should be the only people gifted with the knowledge of the will of God, as to authorize them to contradict and even swear in his holy presence, that the universally received opinion of the whole civilized world, for fifteen hundred years, of his omnipotent mercy and benevolence in feeding his faithful servants with the body and blood of his divine Son, was and is false and erroneous? Again; notwithstanding the many sanguinary and harassing laws which have been passed in this land of evangelical liberty and civil freedom, to prevent the growth of popery in Great Britain and Ireland, so futile has been their object, that nearly one-third of the popu lation of the two islands still profess the catholic religion, and believe in the doctrine of transubstantiation. Of these, we have a Coppinger and a Milner, who, for theological knowledge and classical research, cannot be surpassed by any of the mitred heads of the established church. We have an O'Con gion. It was framed by turbulent and disloyal men, whose minds were embittered towards the rightful heir to the throne, for the express purpose of excluding him and his friends from their birthright. It was proposed to the senate at a time when the nation laboured under a state of delirium and credulity, when the seat of justice was blinded with passion and prejudice, and innocent men became the victims of perjured and pensioned miscreants. Is it reasonable then to suppose that the decision of such men, under such circumstances, was likely to be more correct than that of the fathers of the Lateran council, who had no passion to thwart their judgment, no motive to sway their deliberations, save that of discovering TRUTH, in which inquiry they were assisted by the concurring testimony of preceding ages? How far different were the motives which engendered this disgraceful test! Here let us take a view of the present state of Christendom. We see the empire of Russia composed of more than 30,000,000 of greek and catholic christians, and governed by an Alexander, whose qualities as a sovereign and a man have been rarely equalled; we see the number of catholics in the Austrian empire estimated at 21,000,000, with a momarch and nobles, ecclesiastics and generals, as eminently gifted as any in England since the reformation. We see a race of princes of the house of Bourbon, in France and Spain, equal in abilities to those of the Brunswick family, with a peo.nell and a Wolfe, who, for eloquence ple possessing as acute faculties as and forensic abilities, may vie with the disciples of bibliasm in this any of the protestant bar. We have country. Now these states combin- men of military talents equal in ed amount to little less than 100 bravery and devotion to those who millions of souls, and embrace sovehave had the opportunity of displayreigns, ecclesiastics of every degree, ing their skill by swallowing the ob ministers of state and military offi- noxious oath. We have titled memcers, judges and advocates, men of bers of the highest rank and dignity, learning and abilities in every sci-possessed of property and of moral ence and profession, all declaring worth not exceeded or excelled by coinciding with them in all ages and all nations, are they not governed more by reason and sound judg ment, than the protestant who grounds his decision on the fallacious notions of private opinion and the evidence of his senses? Surely these considerations are of sufficient weight to induce the serious protestant to examine well what it is he swears to, before he again presumes to take an oath of such an import, which must involve him in the crime of perjury in the eye of God, should his solemn asserveration be erroneous and made without due inquiry. As Mr. Christianus sets but little store on the opinions of those pro testant divines who have maintained the real presence in the Lord's sup per, and denied that catholics are guilty of idolatry by adoring our Sa waste of time and space to notice those who shine in the senate or in the magisterial chair. Now, is it reasonable to suppose that the whole of this body of men, from the archbishop to the poor priest, and from the peer to the peasant, would suffer patiently and firmly the persecutions, the privations, the taunts, and the insults which they have to undergo,from their illiberal,selfish, and conceited protestant neighbours, were they not convinced that the doctrine of transubstantiation is founded on the word of God? They have no motive whatever, so far as worldly interest is concerned, to induce them to adhere to this doctrine. On the contrary, they have all the blandishments of the court, the privileges of parliament, the offices of the state, in a word, every door to power and emolument open to them, if they were to relin-viour in the Eucharist, it would be a quish it. What inducements then can they have to persist in believing a doctrine which prevents them from enjoying splendid privileges and increasing honours, like their fellowcitizens? What but a conscientious love of truth, and a dread of renouncing the word of God. They take the scripture in its literal sense, on this subject, and do not rely on the fanciful definitions of private interpretation. They rely on the testimony of the Cyrils, the Cyprians, the Gregorys, the Chrysostoms, the Ambroses, the Austins, the Jeroms, whose writings vouch for their belief being the same as catholic Ire land have maintained unsullied for fourteen hundred years, in periods of prosperity and adversity. They rely on the certain promises of Christ, that the Holy Ghost should protect his church in all truth to the end of the world, and they see this divine and invariable attribute of the Deity preserved through all ages in the Roman catholic church. And when they have on their side an in numerable multitude of believers "With respect to the other protestant authorities which Romanus cites, I can only say, that they are nothing to the purthe ludicrous gravity with which two of pose, though I could not help smiling at them are introduced; to wit, the opi nion of the Wittemberg divines, who as sert, that the power of God is so great that the bread and wine into the body and blood he can, (not does) change the substance of of Christ;" and, If Jesus Christ,' says Calvin, be present in the Eucharist, it is necessary to adore him.' I can assure Romanus that these profound and learned sen, timents meet with my unqualified approbation; and I am firmly of opinion, that there are very few persons who would labour to controvert them." ty Since the Antiochian has given his unqualified approbation to the above "profound and learned sentiments" of the Wittemberg divines and John Calvin, not one of whom appears to take upon himself therein to assert. that our Saviour is not present in the sacrament, it would have been as well for him to have informed his readers ple. In fact, the belief of a transub- | and proper, and life-giving FLESİİ of Jesus Christ our Lord; and after the consecration, to be the true body of Christ, which was born of the virgin, and which did hang on the cross for the salvation of the world, and that sits at the right hand of the Father; and the true blood of Christ, which flowed from his side; and not only by sign and virtue of the sacrament, but in propriety of Now let me here ask the reader if this is not as clear a definition ofthe doctrine of transubstantiation as in modern times; and consequently it must have been believed, before the council of Lateran, that the bread was converted, or transubstantiated, into the body of Christ, as well as since? What then are we to think of the assertion of Christianus?-If it was made with the stantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the real body and blood of Christ, the form of bread and wine still remaining to our senses, was never disputed until one thousand years after the death of Christ, when one Berenger or Berengarius, who was born at Tours at the close of the tenth century, became a teacher in the public schools of St. Martin, and was af-nature and verity of substance.' terwards made treasurer of the church of Tours and archdeacon of Angers, attacked it, and maintain ed, like our self-conceited protest-any ever given by catholic divines ants, that in the eucharist the bread and wine were not changed into the body and blood of Christ. This doctrine shocked the christian world; for, instead of its being congenial to what the man of Antioch is willing to believe was the then received opinion of the church of Rome, it was considered an inno-knowledge of these circumstances, vation, and as such was immediately condemned by several provincial synods, after due examination and deliberation. Berenger himself retracted his errors, and though he often repented of his recantations, in a synod at Rome, in 1709, he once for all abjured his novel opinions, and died in retirement about nine years after. Among those who wrote against Berenger was Lanfrancus, archbishop of Canterbury, an incontrovertible fact that the English church admitted the belief in transubstantiation in the tenth century, contrary to the assertion of Christianus; and the form of the second abjuration of Berenger directly contradicts him in his declaration that it was formally established in 1215. The words used by Berenger were, "I believe in heart, and profess in mouth, that the bread and wine which are put on the altar are converted substantially, by the mystery of holy prayer, and words of our Redeemer, into the true he must stand convicted of stating a wilful falsehood; and if he was unapprized of these facts, then he must be condemned of ignorance, and of vouching for truth that which he could not verify. The fourth general council of Lateran was composed of the two, patriarchs of Jerusalem and Constantinople, 70 metropolitans,,400 bishops, 12 abbots, 800 other conventual priors, 2 legates of the Grecian and Roman empires, beside ambassadors from the kings of England, France, Spain, Jerusalem, Cyprus, and other nations, and was presided by the pope or his legates, This council may very properly, from the number of its members, and the variety of the countries from which they were sent, be called the PARLIAMENT OF CHRISTENDOM. It was summoned by the head of the church to oppose the errors of innovators, and to declare the true doctrine of Christ, as taught by the apostles. For, it should be observed, a coun cil has no power whatever to form¡ St. Augustin to the reign of the young lay-pope, Edward the sixth. It was the belief of those nobles who obtained for us the great charter of our liberties; of those men whose valourous deeds ennobled the glory of old England's arms; who con quered the crown of France, and made nations tributary to their military prowess. It was the belief of those men whose legislative acts in defence of civil liberty are the theme of modern protestant reformers. →→ And is not this a strong reason to in duce protestants to reflect, and especially the bench of bishops and the clergy, on the nature and tendency of the declaration, which they so awfully make in the presence of their God? Are they aware of the responsibility which they take upon themselves, if this rejection of the real presence in the blessed sacrament should be erroneous? Will they not, in this case, presumptuously and impiously deny the efficacy of our Saviour's words to his. face? Protestants profess to be governed in the choice of religion by their own reason and judgment. Well, let reason calmly act her part, and sober judgment take its sway. Is it reasonable then to suppose a small association of christians, whose number, compared to the proportion of the catholic world during the last eighteen centuries, is no more than a drop of water to the boundless ocean, are the only favoured few ou whom the light of true religion shines? Is it reasonable to suppose that He who came to establish truth upon earth should leave the world in darkness and error until the year 1678, when this impious test was first enacted? The declaration against transubstantiation was imposed by a parliament composed of men, whose speeches betrayed the most rancourous malignity against, and the most profound ignorance of, the principles of the catholic reli a new article of faith; it can only ORTHOD. JOUR. Vol. VI. Z gion. It was framed by turbulent their belief in the doctrine of tran. and disloyal men, whose minds were substantiation; and is it reasonable embittered towards the rightful heir to suppose that this mass of intelto the throne, for the express pur- lect is in the wrong, and those only pose of excluding him and his friends in the right who dwell in a small from their birthright. It was pro- speck on the globe, isolated from the posed to the senate at a time when rest of christendom in matters of the nation laboured under a state religion, and differing among themof delirium and credulity, when the selves in a thousand points on the seat of justice was blinded with pas- important matter of eternal salvasion and prejudice, and innocent men tion? Is it consistent with reason became the victims of perjured and or with prudence to suppose that pensioned miscreants. Is It reason- English protestants, so divided in able then to suppose that the deci- religious opinions, should be the only sion of such men, under such circum- people gifted with the knowledge of stances, was likely to be more cor- the will of God, as to authorize rect than that of the fathers of the them to contradict and even swear Lateran council, who had no passion in his holy presence, that the univerto thwart their judgment, no motive sally received opinion of the whole to sway their deliberations, save that civilized world, for fifteen hundred of discovering TRUTH, in which in- years, of his omnipotent mercy and quiry they were assisted by the con- benevolence in feeding his faithful curring testimony of preceding ages? servants with the body and blood of How far different were the motives his divine Son, was and is false and which engendered this disgraceful erroneous? Again; notwithstandtest! Here let us take a view of the ing the many sanguinary and harasspresent state of Christendom. We ing laws which have been passed in see the empire of Russia composed this land of evangelical liberty and of more than 30,000,000 of greek civil freedom, to prevent the growth and catholic christians, and governed of popery in Great Britain and Ireby an Alexander, whose qualities as land, so futile has been their object, a sovereign and a man have been that nearly one-third of the popu rarely equalled; we see the number lation of the two islands still proof catholics in the Austrian empire fess the catholic religion, and believe estimated at 21,000,000, with a moin the doctrine of transubstantiamarch and nobles, ecclesiastics and tion. Of these, we have a Coppingenerals, as eminently gifted as any ger and a Milner, who, for theologiin England since the reformation. cal knowledge and classical reWe see a race of princes of the search, cannot be surpassed by any house of Bourbon, in France and of the mitred heads of the esta Spain, equal in abilities to those of blished church. We have an O'Conthe Brunswick family, with a peo. nell and a Wolfe, who, for eloquence ple possessing as acute faculties as and forensic abilities, may vie with the disciples of bibliasm in this any of the protestant bar. We have country. Now these states combin-men of military talents equal in ed amount to little less than 100 bravery and devotion to those who -millions of souls, and embrace sovehave had the opportunity of displayreigns, ecclesiastics of every degree,ing their skill by swallowing the obministers of state and military offi- noxious oath. We have titled memcers, judges and advocates, men of bers of the highest rank and dignity, learning and abilities in every sci- possessed of property and of moral ence and profession, all declaring worth not exceeded or excelled by |