"REAL PRESENCE."

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19145, 31 October 1927, Page 12

"REAL PRESENCE."

SACRAMENT OF THE ALTAR. ADDRESS AT ST. MICHAEL'S, j Preaching at St. Michael's yesterday morning on St. John vL 55: "My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed," the Rev. Charles Perry regretted the- frequent occurrence of religious controversy, -which, however, showed the extraordinary interest men took in religion. It arose chiefly on two very sacred and important subjects, the government of the Church and the Sacrament of the altar. "It is evident," he said, "that the Archbishop of Canterbury last week reminded churchpeople of the difference between the doctrine of the Heal Presence and that of Transubstantiation. This difference needs among us both elucidation and emphasis, for the negieet of it is the cause of much misunderstanding. To put it shortly, tho Real Presence is the doctrine that when a priest consecrates bread and wine it becomes a' Sacrament, and that Jesus Christ is really present in that Sacrament. This has always been taught by the formularies of the Catholic Church. "The English part of the Church follows the ordinary interpretation of tho Sixth Chapter of St. John, from which my text is taken. In its Prayer of Humble Access, its Catechism quite clearly teaches that the inner part of the-Sacrament which is invisible, is the Body and Blood of Christ, of course the Living Christ Who said 'I am the Living Bread.' At the Incarnation God the Son took a material Body and lived in it. The Sacrament is sometimes called an extension of the Incarnation because our Lord in it is veiled in material bread, and wine. To worship bread and wino would be idolatry for they are creatures; but to sing, l for example, 'Thee"we adore, 0 hidden Saviour Thee, Who in Thy SacrameDt dost ' deign to be' at the Holy Communion service is tho highest worship known to the Church on earth. God is present everywhere, that is His omnipresence; God is present in Heaven, that. is His heavenly presence; God is in His Holy Sacrament, that is His Sacramental presence, and in all of them there is fullness of joy in the devout Christian. "It is always safer to appeal to formularies than to individuals. The English Church, by her formularies, teaches the doetrine of the Eeal Presence, but has no use for any theory of the manner of it. As the Archbishop of Canterbury reminds us the doctrine of the Real Presence has no philosophical basis. The only authority for it we believe to be the Divine Teacher Himself, His words about it, His promise to the Church that the Holy Spirit would guide her into all truth. It is a mystery revealed, not discovered; given, not found out. "Eeligious psychology our thoughts, our opinions, all that is subjective is uncertain. We are thankful that the august truth of the Eeal Presence of our Lord on our altars is not assured to us by anything so evanescent and unreliable. It depends upon God and His Church. To accept this truth of the Eeal Presence with loving humility is, to be filled with the spirit of praise. As Robert Browning said to his friend at a Communion service, 'This is too good not to be true.' "