to them a life of endless bliss; and that to be qualified for the enjoyment of that life, their earthly tabernacle would be again reared up from the dust incorruptible and immortal :-" He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day." This admirable effect he then ascribed, in the opening of this day's Gospel, to the nutricious efficacy of that very flesh and blood, the possibility of imparting which was, to the incredulous Jews, so utterly incomprehensible. "For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed." He, in the next place, informed them in what manner this wonderful operation, productive of everlasting life, would be effected; that it would be by the intimate union which would be produced between himself and those, who, in proper dispositions, should become partakers of his flesh and blood; an union resulting from that powerful influence of divine grace which he, on the one hand, by abiding in them, would not fail to infuse into their souls; and by which they, on the other hand, would be induced reciprocally to adhere to him with the closest attachment. "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, abideth in me, and I in him." Now this union between himself and the worthy receivers of his flesh and blood, he compared to that existing between himself and his Heavenly Father; and he observed, that as his union with his Heavenly Father was the source of his own immortal existence, so their union with himself would be productive to them of everlasting life.

"As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me the same also shall live by me." Such, he finally concluded, was the influence of that Celestial Food which he had actually provided for them in his own person for the nourishment of their souls. It was a food, he said, which would be found, in its efficacy, incomparably superior to that which nourished their forefathers in the desert; for that the manna with which they were fed during their wanderings in the wilderness, did not preserve them from the stroke of death; but that the food which he was prepared to bestow on them would be the means of securing to them a blissful immortality. "This is the bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead. He that eateth this bread, shall live for ever."

Having thus laid before you the exclamation of the Jews on the present occasion, and expounded to you the reply returned to it by our blessed Saviour, as recorded in the Gospel, I now confidently ask, if it be credible that the merciful Redeemer of mankind would have answered their exclamation in this manner, had it been founded on a total misconception of his meaning? Would he not, on the contrary, have informed them of their mistake, which he himself, by the language he had used, would have unintentionally occasioned? Would he not have rectified their erroneous ideas on a subject of such vast importance both to themselves, and to generations yet unborn? Such, unquestion

ably, would have been his conduct, had the Jews put a wrong construction upon his words. As such, however, was not his conduct, as he did not tell them that they had put a wrong construction upon his words, it must necessarily be concluded, that they did actually understand those words in the sense in which he had intended they should be understood; and that, consequently, his design was, -as they, from his expression, had truly conceived it to be to give them really his flesh to eat, and his blood to drink. This wonderful design he carried into effect at his last supper, the night before his passion, when, as we read in St. Matthew, "he took bread, and blessed, and broke, and gave it to his disciples, and said, Take ye and eat, this is my body. And taking the chalice he gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of this; for this is my blood of the new testament, which shall be shed for many for the remission of sins." (MATT., c. xxvi. v. 26,-28.) He added,

moreover, as we learn both from St. Luke and St. Paul, (LUKE. c. xxii. v. 19; 1 Cor. c. xi. v. 24.) the following most remarkable words, "Do this for a commemoration of me." From these passages of holy writ, two things are particularly deserving of our attention. The first is, that if Christ be to be believed, (and how can any Christian, consistently with his profession, refuse to believe him?) that if Christ, I say, be to be believed, he actually did cause bread and wine to become, in some way or other, his own body and blood. The second is

this, that he commissioned his Apostles, who were at table with him, to do the same, when he thus addressed them, "Do this for a commemoration of me." The commission, and consequently the power, (for the one would be an absurdity without the other) which the Apostles, in this manner, received from their divine Master to cause bread and wine to become his body and blood, they communicated to others, by the imposition of hands, in the sacrament of ordination. And, by this sacred and solemn rite of divine institution, have the same been transmitted to their successors in the ministry, in every succeeding age. And it is in virtue of this commission, and of this power, so transmitted, that the bishops and priests of the Catholic Church perform their part as the ministers of God, in the same supernatural operation at the present day.

Such, my friends, are the solid and substantial grounds with which the plain, obvious, and literal interpretation of the clearest passages of the Sacred Scripture furnishes us, in support of the Catholic doctrine, respecting the real presence of Jesus Christ in the adorable sacrament of the altar, which, till the era of the reformation, about 300 years ago, was the universal belief of the Christian Church in every country and in every age. It is not, however, my intention, this day, to enter largely on an elaborate defence of this important dogma. The edification of those who have the happiness to believe it is the main object of the instruction which you are about to hear. Thus much, however,

I think it but proper to offer to the consideration of those, should any such be here present, who can not prevail upon themselves to receive it. Christ has spoken. His words are as plain as language can possibly be to every understanding. This, he has said, is my body: this is my blood. Do you mean to assert, seriously, that to be false, which Christ has explicitly declared to be true? I am convinced you do not. God forbid, my dissenting friends, that I should suspect you for a moment of so blasphemous an intention. But this, you must give me leave to observe, you undesignedly do, when you deny the reality of his corporal presence in the holy sacrament. For that which Christ declared to be his body, you say, is not his body; and that which Christ declared to be his blood, you say is not his blood. Are not these direct contradictions to his most positive assertions? By what plea will you attempt to justify your incredulity in this respect? Will you reply, in the language of the unbelieving disciples, "this is a hard saying, and who can hear it"? They deserted their divine Master because on this very subject they were not able to comprehend his doctrine; and this principle, if acted upon by you, would lead you to a renunciation of Christianity altogether. For Christianity is replete with hard sayings of the same sort it abounds with doctrines which you are not able to comprehend. Is not the mystery of the Trinity, for instance, quite as incomprehensible as that of the real presence of Jesus Christ in the sacrament