The-papacy-its-history-dogmas-genius-and-prospects-wylie

;SI 2THE EUCHARIST, TEANSUBSTANTIATION, THE MASS.same time. At each of these altars the body of our blessedLord is reproduced. The priest whispers the potent wordthe bread and wine are annihilated ;the flesh and blood ofChrist, the bones and nerves,—to use Ilome''s phrase,—togetherwith his divinity, take theirsacrifice, and then eaten by the worshippers.place, are immolated inThat body islocked up in sacraria, is carried about in mass-boxes, is putinto the pockets of priests, is produced at the beds of thesick, is liable to be lost, to be trodden upon, to be devouredby vermin, to—but we forbear; the enormity and blasphemyof the abomination sickens and revolts us.But on what ground does Rome rest this doctrine ? Sherests it simply on these words, spoken by Christ at the firstsupper,— " This is my body.'"' She holds that by thesewords Christ changed the bread and wine into his fleshand blood, and has transmitted the same power to everypriest, in the celebration of the Eucharist, grounding thisdelegation of power upon the words, " This do in remembranceof me." To assail such a position by grave argumentwere a waste of time. We have nowhere met with soclear and beautiful an exposition of the true meaning ofthese words, " This is my body," and of the absurdity ofthe sense which Rome puts upon them, as in the life ofZwino;le. The mass was about to be abolished in the cantonof Zurich, and the reformer had been engaged all dayin debating the question before the great council. Am-Grutt, the under Secretary of State, did battle in behalf ofthe impugned rite, and was opposed by Zwingle, the substanceof whose reasoning, as stated by D'Aubigne, was," that sffTi (is) is the proper word in the Greek language toexpress signijies, and he quoted several instances in whichthis word is employed in a figurative sense."" Zwingle," continues the historian, " was seriously engrossedby these thoughts, and, when he closed his eyes atnight, was still seeking for arguments with which to opposehis adversaries.The subjects that had so strongly occupiedhis mind during the day presented themselves before him in