AN ACTUAL SACRIFICE IN THE EUCHARIST. 173 is a true, real, spiritual presence of Christ at the Holy Supper, independent of our faith."* I agree with the declaration, that the doctrine or oblation of the early Church was this, that in the Eucharist an oblation or sacrifice was made by the Church to God, under the form of bread and wine. These are my opinions, and I beg my reader to remember that, as the Council of Trent had not yet commissioned the Pope to draw up the Creed, which the Protestants continue to reject, therefore it is, that the doctrine of the Eucharist maintained by Bonner, could not be the precise decision of the Council of Trent, and I ought not, therefore, as I have argued in the ninetieth Tract, to be considered as a Papist, because I am identified with the pre-Trentine Popery. See, then, how entirely Bishop Bonner agrees with us, and we with him. Did Bishop Bonner object to the ordination service of Edward the Sixth, because no authority is it, and he told his friends so. Dr. Pusey quotes our 81st Tract, p. 47, to prove he did hold the doctrine of the Eucharist to be the same when Transubstantiation is held and when it is not. He quotes also a passage in his letter to the Bishop of Oxford (p. 135), to prove that he disclaimed the adoration of the Holy Eucharist. But if our friend Froude is right, that the body and blood of Christ is made by the Apostolical successor, and is there present on the altar, why does my friend refuse to adore it; whether Transubstantiation be true or false? I will not refuse to do so, if, if, it be there.- See Dr. Pusey's letter to a friend, dated Christ Church, Oxford, Sept. 7, 1841. * Dr. Pusey's letter to the Bishop of Oxford, p. 120. + Tract 81, vol. iv., No. 84, p. 94. We also object to also, -e e reg [LV- i- who agree Flere has he Apostolical suc г We make the body and blood Ime to ye man be expressly menJessey are named in those · ris ad Bonner, in the exam ie lati socken manifest heresy CCS in Los crament the Altar, when he The real presence of the body and - ʼn the same: and wilt thou not say tons & real present in the Sacrament ?" Tea Jomer & exiting the dignity of the priest19. s renal argument is derived from the riend Froude that the priest by five # Les naka the body and blood of Christ. Tax cast expressiy said, was his address to others 4 the Tira-Protestant Martyrs, that in the Sacrament ve Atar here is not the very body and Lake Sariour Christ, really, substantially, and prove, if mere muli ro on and TRANSUBSTANTIATION THE TOUCHSTONE OF HERESY. 175 * with whom, as I have said, I have but little sympathy, that the doctrine of the presence of the body and blood of Christ made by the Apostolical succes. sors, was the touchstone by which to test the orthodoxy or heterodoxy of the votaries of the Catholic or of the Ultra-Protestant cause; and in all this, in principle, though not in the unessential detail, Bonner and ourselves are united. I Were Saints and the Virgin worshipped or invocated by Bonner? I think people were injudicious, says my friend Froude, who talk against the Roman Catholics for worshipping Saints and honoring the Virgin and Images-these things may, perhaps, be idolatrous—I cannot make up my mind about it.† agree with my friend, and, therefore, I speak cautiously, when I say that the invocation of Saints is only a dangerous practice, as tending to give, and often actually giving to creatures, the honour and reliance due to the Creator alone. It is true that I have republished the Breviary§ of the Church of Rome, in which are many prayers addressed to the Saints and to the Virgin, who is requested as the Holy Mother of God to pray for us; but we only publish these, as selecting matter for our private devotions, and we assure our readers, that these portions of the * British Critic, ut supra. Tract 38, p. 12. § Tract 75. Bemary carry wit de te uiment of the English Christian. Her er han mødemnation.* Tom die agreement between Butter and myself ʼn nur soumous za te ver of vas I will briefly TUTIONE vine refer to the soul of man and the means :ť The Utre-Protestan beleres the soul, after me feat of the body, is maffected by the prayers of the ring. We believe that or Che does not discourage pragers for the dead-we are anxious to restore them. "Thou hast though is an accusation of Bonner to his prisoners, that prayers to the Saints, or prayers to the dead, are not allowable by God's word, or profitable in any way, and that the souls departed do straitway go to Heaven or to The chief means of grace are the Sacraments and the Scriptures, the preaching of the Gospel, the institutions of the Church, the instructions of the Priests, and the observances of the Lord's day. With respect to the Sacraments, Bonner believed more than we do—we profess to believe only two. I have said, that “till Rome moves towards us, it is quite impossible that we should move towards Rome."§ Yet I do regret that some things in our administration Tract 75, p. 9. Tract 75, p. 23. THE SCRIPTURES MAY BE READ IN CHURCHES. 177 of the Sacraments are changed from the antient rituals, and I would desire, with Bonner, that in Baptism should be revived the exorcism of the Devilthe restoration of the Chrism, and the use of more decided language in the Holy Communion. I would restore the sentences I have already referred to from the first Prayer Book of King Edward, and make some appropriate changes on the subject of the sacrifice, the altar and the presence. The present Prayer Book, how deeply I grieve over the fact, enumerates the words "the Table" or the Lord's Table, eleven times in the rubric of the Communion Service, and does not once mention the word "Altar." Who can be surprised at Bonner's indignation at Ridley, the author of this intolerable outrage? Are the Scriptures another means of grace? The Anglican Church permits them to be read in our services, and the time has not come for expelling them; though so long as they are regularly read, the Old Testament once every year, the New Testament three times, and the Psalms twelve times; so long shall we find it to be impossible to re-establish our more favourite opinion, that the dignity of the priesthood is so great, that it ought to govern by authority, and make the people regard the Creeds as the deposits of the faith, to be accepted on authority antecedent to proof;* and so long also will they refuse to receive our pious opinions on prayers * Pusey's Letter, Preface p. 4. |