Original Correspondence.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 196, 15 April 1848, Page 2

Original Correspondence.

To ths Editor of the New Zealander. Sir, — 1 beg to point out and permission ta correct an error appearing in yourpnper of Wednesday last, stating thnt the Natives were the sole Quarrymen, Mmons and Laborers, and with frw (if nny rxcrpt ons) Carpenters' employed by the Engineer Department. There are several civilian Masons employed, nnd ns yet only four native Curpcnteri by the Department, all tit** Carpenters' work being otherwise performed by civilians. I am, Sir, yours, &c. Gcokgb Gkaham. April 10, 1848. [We are very sorry that any error of the sort should have crept into our Wednesday's paper, but arc obliged to say, in selr- defence, that Mr. Graham himself was paitly in error, for net having furnUhed a more lucid account to our reporter. — Ed N. Z.~\

To the Editor of the New Zealandcr, [Continued from the lnst number.] Sir— This Methodist gentleman, in hit usual flippant and irreverent style, again returns to the most holy Sacrament. I suppose, fancying that on the Horatian maxim, «• decie, repetituplacebit," and after having introduced passages from Genesis, &c, he waves belore our eyes a picture of Wellington in tbe form of a map. It is strange ihat he will not learn, that our biassed Lord in instituting the most holy Sacrament, was explaining neither dreams, nor visions, nor pictures, nor parables, nor types of the old law : but, on the contrary, He was substituting the reality instead of the figure, for he was instituting a Saci ament which, was to be continually rene^d, and the nature of which it was important to explain in the clearest terms so that no mistake might ensue. It would have been here quite out of place to giv« unto a sign the name of the thing signified. Had ouv Lord and the Apostles made u«e of such equivocal language, whose abuse they could not but have foreseen ; in that case, a snare were indeed Jnid for the Christian world. Besides, in all the examples that are objected by our brethren, there is a likeness and an analogy between the sign and the thing signified ; but what likeness is there between the bread and the body of Jubui Christ? None whatever. The most important in our Lord's words at the supper, is the demonstrative pronoun this ; this which I hold in my hand is my body. He has, indeed, said, "I am the door,— I am the vine/ &c. ; but when did he lay his hand on a door or a vine, and say, this door or this vine am Jt The Apostles, no doubt, would teach the real meaning of these words to their disciple*. Now we have for* tunately the means of ascertaining what was the belief of the Christians about half a century after the deathof St. John, from the Apology of Juitin Martyr. "We do not," says he, " receive these things as common bread and common drink ; but in the same manner as our Saviour Jesus Christ, becoming incarnate through the word of God, had flesh and blood for our salvation, to hate we been taught that tbe food, with which by transmutation our flesh and blood are nourished, », after it has been blessed by the prayer of the word that comes from him, the body and blood of him the same incarnate Jeius. For the Apostles in the commentaries written by them, and called Goipels, have delivered to us that they were 10 commanded to do by Jesus, when taking the bread and having blessed it, he said. Do this in remembrance of me ; this is my body; and in like manner taking the chalice* having blessed it, he said, This is my blood ; and distributed it among them only." (Juitin Martyr, 97). Assuredly, if the Catholic doctrine be false, the error must have introduced itself among Christians before that race of men who had been instructed by the Apostles, had become extinct. In the Acts (xvi, 2), we read, that the Apostles offered this divine seance, for in the Greek text we read, " They being offering sacrifice to our Lord." And it is thus that the great Hellenist, Erasmus, translates it. St, Paul casts a still further light on this great sacrifice, his whole tenth chapter to the Corinthians, Ist Epistle, is a learned treatise on this divine subject. " The chalice," says he, •' of benediction, which we bless, is it not the communisn of the blood of Christ ? And the bread which we break, is it not the partaking of the body of^ the Lord ? (16 v.). And agaia he says, (21 v), •• You cannot drink the chalice of the Lord, and the chalice of devils t" Now, a more decidedly clear reasoning than that was never spoken, considering tbe usages of language. See the Antithesis. He contrasts the Heathen with the Christian, a perfect contrast is kept up throughout ? Now, there must according to human language, be a common principle of similarity between things contrasted. The Gentiles had sacrifices, they bad tables, they bad alfars, but they, sacrificed to devils— their chalice contained a liquor sacrifice j and offered to a devil. If, then, the argument of contrast meau anything in the miud of St. f'aul, we must infer th.it he clearly urges the Christian, to avoid the heathen, because the Christian had an altar, h table, and a chnlice, which contained a sacrifice and an offering to God. Is it not clear, then, that two tacu are incontestibly to ht deduced from that text, namely, that St. Paul offered the sacrifice of theMass, and that it was a univprsal practice of tbe Church. From the words that he employs, we learn, this, viz., " The chalice of benediction which we bless : i« it not the communion of the blood of Christ ?" Many years, then, after our Saviour's death, St. Paul, the Apoitle, is actually doing what our Lord cow»manded him to do after the Supper. Tbe chalice oC benediction which we blesii &c Why, here is the Mass instituted by our Lord perfectly carried into practice by the Apostle. It is true, that our diviner Master might have prevented all difficulty »t the institution of this divine mystery) by saying that His body was under tbe appearance of bread ; but that would not have left man the splendid opportunity that he now has of evincing faith. Pride, intellectual pride, has been from the beginning the cause of men separating from the Catholic Church — every one exhibiting a contemptible desire for novelty by attempting to puli down the pillars of that Church— each individual trying to shiver a small portion of that edifice, and endeavouring to show forth a gigantic intellect by coming in contact with the infallible monuments of ages. Wretched, grovelling, human pride, or rather misery, would it not be a great matter to put down that pride ; but this is done in the greatest of all miracles, that of the Eucharist, as if our Redeemer had said, I am now concealed under the appearance of bread, as I formerly was under the appearance of organised dust ; of course, be can appear under the ap« pearance of any thing be pleases. All creation, and all matter, i» His indisputable property— surely he can, appear under any portion of his own creation. By believing in this Sacrament, we obtain one grand principle—Faith to the Master. If we believe it on his own testimony againat tbe testimony of our weak lenses, we then each day perform an Act of Faith, without which it is impossible to please God. Your ;orrespondent objects the opposition of reason to this mystery. I thought that the Apostle Jjad warned us

that every intellect vras to be brought into subjection to Chiiat and his mysteries. If we look at the mystery of the Incarnation, it is announced by a creature— the angel Gabriel, and effected by the Holy Ghost ; we Bee that Moies changed the rod into a serpent, and the serpent into a rod ; we see the miracle of Joshua arresting the operation of God's firmament— how are these wonders wrought ? By the power of the Holy Spirit. Well, then, looking at these and many other signs that could be adduced of the same nature as historical religious facts, who then can deny that creatures are capable of working great changes by the power of God within them ? Is not poor man every day employed by his great and glonoui Creator ! in performing the most mysterious operations, and infinitely transcending man's natural powers ? rt Do this for a commemoration of me," (St. Luke xxn. 19). Do is strong language. He has certainly commanded Ms Apostles to do it, and He says, "As the Father sent me, I also send you. Receive ye the Holy Ghost," that text is conclusive. For here we behold the Apostles, creatures like Gabriel, vested with power io heaven and in earth, (Matt, xxviii, 18). A power is given unto them of forgiving men's sins when they truly repent of them, ami of consecrating the body and blood of Christ, and making them present on our altars. The Jews said, speaking of our Saviour, " This the carpenter's *on." Yet he was not the enrpenter's son. St. Paul said, "He took the form of a Slave." Yet was he not a slave. So that even the Original (Christ himself) the very first work of our .Redemption, publuhed by Gabriel nnd effected by the power of the Holy Ghost, did not give to the eye the reality of the Master. The carnal eye of the public was deceived. Yet that deception did not make head against the divine reality, neither doth the carnal eye of society, at this day, make head against the reality of the Host. Objections but touch the accident, but not the reality. If, therefore, on the common principles of a civil juiy, you find the eye a perjurer as to the realities of matter, why depend on its teatimouy, particularly when it is opposed to the testimony of the great Teacher, who framed the eye and limited its functions to appearances only ? I find but two objections in somewhat logical foim in this heap of questions, strung together in your correspondent's letter. The first may be thus shapen. If Christ offered up a true Saciifice of infinite worth at his last supper, therefore the sacrifice of the Cross was useless. To tbis objection, I answer, that all the actions of our Lord being of a divine Penon, were consequently of infinite worth, yet was the world not to be redeemed independantly o the sacrifice of the Cross ; for it was decreed by God that Christ was to die, and thus superabundantly satisfy for the fallen creature; therefore, by parity of reason, the Eacrifice of the last supper, although a true sacrifice and of infinite worth, yet was it not to annul the sacrifice of the Cross. Moreover, the sacrifice of he last supper derived its worth from the futu c satrifice of the Cross, of which it was a real and lively cepre«entation, The idea of pretending to quote the great champion of Catholicity, Card. Bellarmine, agai7ist the dogmas of the Church, is too ludicrous. The affecting solicitude bestowed by the Catholic Church on the religious education of her children, may be traced from the fa e \, that this very objection stripped of its school dress, is to be s«en in a most touching Ascetical work of Saint Alphonsus Liguori, entitled, " Reflections on the Passion," p 33. (Dublin, Duffy'i, 1845). The Saint there quotes the Apostle's words to the Phillipinns, 2nd chapter and Bth verse, " He humbleth Himself unto death: even to the death of the Cross." And lie tells us that the Apostle has written, that in receiving the holy Eucharist, we should always call to mind the death of the Lord. For, says the Apostle, " as often as you shall eat this bread and drink this chalice, you shall shew the death of the Lord till he come,' flit Cor. xi. 26). And the Saint continues, " Why doth the Apostle say the death nnd not the incarnation, the birth, or the resurrection ? Because his death was the severest and most ignoraimouu of all the'sufferings by which Jesus Christ accomplished the work of Redemption." Ihe same thought percales the beautiful prayers of the Church, one of which speaking of our Saviour's sufferings, says, " One drop of whose blood could save the world's sin." Again, he objects that the sacrifice of the Mass is wivhout shedding of blood ; therefore, not a real sacrifice ? I answer, by denying the second member of hi* proposition, (or the minor, were we to speak scholastically), there is not, indeed, in the sacrifice of the mabS a ehedding of blood as in the ancient sacrifices of the Jews and Pagans, or even as in the Divine Sacrifice consummated on Calvary; but when Christ by the power of the words of consecration m placed on the altar in a state of mystic death, we then have a real representation of our blessed Saviour, and a commemoration of bi« bloody sacrifice on the Cross ; therefore, there is offered to" God a true and sublime, though unbloody, sacrifice. Hence, the Mass may be called a spiritual saenfict, although yet real and falling under the senses, thus differing from the ancient sacrifices (which were types of it), and from the sacrifice of the Cross, of which it is the mystical renewal ; and so are verified the words of our Redeemer in St. John, (iv eh. 23 v.)t " The hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth." Therefore, these sublime words are vainly objected to us by our Calvinian brethren, as though they could not stand together with the holy sacrifice of the Mass. His other objections have been more than answered in the exposition given in a former letter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews. The sincere need only to refer to it. The Sciiptural proofs adduced for relics, ceremonies, &c, remain good. Unless, peiadventure, we are content to take assertion for proof. And now that, with the help of God, I have followed the erratic course of my beloved Methodist preacher, for in such light I view him, because, however shocking to tbe sensitive Christian, be many of his coarse expressions, regarding our heavenly mysteries, yet, withal have I no feeling towards him, save that of love. But truth will not permit me to depart without asking him frankly, and in the earnestness of his own conscience, whence has he derived his authority of teacher in the house of God, that building of consummate order and peace ? What answer can he conscientiously give to tbe indignant interrogatory put to false teachers by the inspired Apostle. " How shall they preach unless they be sent," (Rom. x. 15). Christ our Lord did not take the office upon him until sent by his heavenly Father, (St. John xx, 21). The es. tablished order then runs thus, Christ is sent as a Teacher by God, in turn he sends his Apostles, for be said to them, " As the Father hath sent me, I also send you," (John xx, 21). And the Apostles also send their successors— Timothy receives a strict charge from St. Paul to transmit faithfully the doctrines of Christ to 'posterity, and to commend the same to faithful men, who shall be fit to teach this also. (Tim. ii. 1, 2). Any Society dating its existence after Christ and his Apostles, is none of his ; but, alas ! bis So. ciety dates its existence withm a short period of our own days, (1729). Therefore, it is none of Christ's. But how Joyfully may we descry throughout t e long night of ages the immortal spouse of Christ. Hence the aublime Bossuet, suspended in ecstacy on this chain of agcßi cries gut, •• There is ever this unhappy

fact standing against separatists, that they have departed from the great body of the Church- But what a comfort for us to he able, from our present Sovereign Pontiff (Pius 9th), to ascend to St. Peter appointed bj Jesus Christ, retrograding from whom even to the Pontiffs of the Law, we reach to Aaron and Moses, n»d thence to the Patriarchs, and the beginning of the world. What a series — what a tradition— what a succeiiion ! And before I conclude, let me remark, that St. Hilary, one of the fathers of the fourth ci'ntury, shows us as appositely as though he wrote yesterday, the ungracious service which the true Church derives from the contentions of her hapless children. '* All the heretics," says he, " advance against the Church, but while they all prevail against each other, they prevail not at all ; for their victory is but the triumph of the Church over all, since each heresy contends against some ether in that point which the Church'b doctrine coudemns, (for they believe nothing in common) ; and meanwhile, by their contradictions, they confirm our faith. (St. Hilary, vii book on the Trinity Ed. Bened.) The Church's perpetuity Rmid all persecutions, point her out as thut Rock against which the proud gates of hell shall not prevail ; assailed perpetually, she has been victorious perpetually; and her triumphs pabt assure us of her triumphs eternal. Everything conspires to prove that of a truth, the arm of the Lord is with Her, and that his blessing abides upon Her, and at we firmly believe that there is a Church of God upon earth, having stamped upon Her characters from her emanation from Him, and for which our Saviour delivered himself, was put to death, and rose again, eveu as he had fotetold. '» I have power to lay down my lite, nnd to take it up again." So do we believe that this Church can be no other than that society of believers, whose teaching is One, Uoly, Catholic, and Apostolic. She that is fairly entitled, and can prove to demonstration that she possesies these characteristics by which God hai marked his Church, that she may be known of all. Such an one is in truth the Church of Chrut. Hail then to thee! Thou glorious Church, called by the whole world Catholic, for thou possessest most cleaily these marki, and thou retnainest erect amongst us in the midht of the prostration ot every thing human. Thee ! we hehold like those Pyramids of Egypt that dtfy the inroads of time, and marked the immortality of tlie minds that planted them, even so, thou rearest thy venerable front as a beacon of light utito all those who would out for thee, Bleep for ever in the shades o death 1 With finger chastp, thou pointest back to th long and oft unflowery path over which thy virgina und graceful steps have waded, and askest with confidence thy charmed votariei, whether it bd not of thee that it is written, "Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all ages ; aud thy dominion endureth throughout all generations," (Ps. 144). f> Ihe Lord shall reign for ever ; thy God, 0 Sion, unto generation and generation." (Pa. 145). Believe me, dear air, (With many thanks for your impartiality in allowing my humble defence of the Spouse of Chtist to appear in your respected pages), to be faithlull) your obedient bumble servant, Joseph J. P. O'Reily, Catholic Pastor of Port Nicholson. (E. I.) Auckland, April Bth, 1848.