society, of which they were the guides, respected and obeyed,-was kept in a state of backwardness, or unfitted to bear comparison, in anything worth comparison, with our own times. But, perhaps, the Church of those ages would have shown more wisdom, and more spirituality, had she left these sons and daughters of hers all to themselves, to take their own meditations in silence and solitude? The thought would be a very untrue, not to say, a most impertinent one. Certainly, such an idea had not yet made way in the 13th, 14th, or 15th Centuries, when faith and genius built those glorious Cathedrals, which are still the pride of our Europe; and they were built, that the ceremonies of religious worship might have a more worthy development, and attract more abundant witnesses, and produce holiness in the children of the Church, who then preferred her ways to any others.

But, may not these times of ours be happier ones for piety? May not the time have come, when, being made independent of the senses by improved systems of asceticism scarcely dreamt of in those earlier ages, the human soul, when it would go to God, has no further need of those exterior helps which were all very well for centuries when Augustine, or Leo the Great, or Hildegarde, or Bernard, lived, but are quite unnecessary for a generation so highly spiritual as our own? The fruits of a tree must decide whether it be a good or a poor one.1 One should examine if there have been satisfactory results from the abandoning the paths marked out by the Church, and so zealously kept to by our Fathers in the Faith.

The 16th Century was made to witness hell triumphing over the ruins of Altars in all the northern countries of Europe, especially in our own England. The long interruption of liturgical solemnity brought with it, amongst many of the Faithful of these later times, a lowering, and, with some, a total ignorance, of what

1 St. Luke, vi. 44.

the Mass, as a Sacrifice, is. The great mystery of the Eucharist seemed, to certain pious souls, to be nothing else than our Lord's presence, who abides among us for the purpose of receiving our private Visits, and of himself occasionally coming to be our Guest in Holy Communion. That was all that was meant by the Eucharist, as far as the practical knowledge of these people went! As to that part of the Eucharistic mystery, which consists in our Lord's being mystically immolated by the wonderful words of the Consecration,—and, thereby, expiating for the sins of men, paying to his eternal Father, in our name, the great debts of adoration and thanksgiving;-as to his, thereby, daily receiving the fervent supplications of our Mother, the Church, and, because of her suppliant worship in union with his own Sacrifice, his warding off from this poor world the chastisements it deserves; in other words, as to the Mass, it says much less to the heart of these good people, than does Exposition, or Benediction, or Forty-Hours, or even a mere Visit to the Blessed Sacrament made very privately and very quietly. For them, Mass is but a preliminary condition for having something else which they look forward to; Mass, in their minds, is but a means for producing the Real Presence. On this account, though the Church has formally discountenanced the practice of having the Blessed Sacrament exposed during a low Mass, the Christians, of whom we are speaking, would far prefer being present at such a Mass, than at one where the Church's wishes are respected; and their reason is, that the Exposition gives them all they want, and all they expect from the Mass. As for High Mass, (unless it happened to be one with Exposition,) they would rather not go toit, for it is a distraction to them! Sometimes, however, they will go to a solemn Mass; but, as to the powerful influence for good, which the heavenly agency of the Liturgy would exercise upon them, if they would but allow it, they have evidently no notion of such a

fact, for you will see them giving all their attention to some book they have brought with them, and out of which they are taking reflections, which though quite correct in themselves, have no relation to the great Sacrifice at which they are assisting. The ElevationBell tells them nothing but this, that our Lord has descended upon the Altar; they, of course, adore; but they never think of uniting themselves with the divine Victim, or of offering themselves, together with the Church, for the sublime intentions which she expresses in her Liturgy of each Feast or Season. If they intend to go to Communion on that day, they will perhaps lay aside, for some moments previous to approaching the rails, the prayer-book which they had been using, that they may sweetly occupy themselves with the sentiments excited by its reading. And thus are they occupied up to the moment when, having been admitted to the Sacrament of Unity, our Lord must seek in the distant grace of their Baptism, rather than in their sentiments and thoughts of the moment, that indispensable quality of Member of the Church, which Communion demands of us above every other, and which it is intended to confirm within us.

Is it, then, to be wondered at, that, with very many souls, Religion, whose true basis is Sacrifice, rests on little besides a vague sentimentality? This gradually effaces the fundamental notions of God's dominion, and sovereign justice; of worship, reparation, service and homage, which are our first duties towards our Maker. Whence comes there, in so many Christians who are in the habit of going to the Sacraments, that weakness of faith, that total absence of the practical notion of the Church, which made itself so painfully felt to our Bishops at the time of the Council? It is, because, together with the grandeur of the Liturgy, to which they are total strangers, public Worship has lost its social character; Communion, consequently, has lost its full meaning; and leaves such of its receivers in their state of contented isolation, for it is not, as

far as they are concerned, the bond of unity, through Christ the Head, with the whole Body, whereof they were made members by Baptism. To say nothing of those nominal Catholics, with whom the word Church seems to be a term one meets with in history, but which has no present objective existence,-are there many even among those who are frequent, or daily, communicants, who understand this axiom of St. Augustine: "The Eucharist is our daily Bread, for "the virtue it implies is UNITY; and UNITY of the "members in a body, is the health of that body, and "the health of each member? 1

Twice before, had two sons of St. Benedict taken up the defence of the adorable Sacrament against its adversaries; 2 and, in the 13th Century, there came forward, in the same cause, a monk of Cluny, by name Algerus: he composed a volume worthy of its two predecessors; and though its dogmatic character excludes everything approaching to hyperbole, yet we find this same truth expressed thus forcibly: "The Mystery of "Christ's true Flesh in the Sacrament of the Altar, is a "profit to them only who, in the same Sacrament, re"ceive also the mystery of his members, that is, union "with the entire body, which is the Church; because, "just as the head has no vital influence, when sepa"rated from the body, so Christ confers life upon no man, without there be unity of the body of the "Church: for, as Christ is inseparable from his mystical body, so he is never received, in his Sacra"ment, save in his entirety, that is, as incorporated "with us, by the mystery of his and our union." 3

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The doctrine here expressed is very profound. It enables us to appreciate the magnificence of such a sight as was to be seen, in former times, of the whole

1 St. Aug. Serm. 57, 137.

2 Paschasius Radbert and our Lanfranc, against Scotus Erigenes, and Berengarius.

3 De Sacram. Corp. et Sang. Dom., lib. i. c. 3.

assembly of the Faithful concluding the solemnity of the Sacrifice by all communicating on the divine Victim. This unanimous meeting at the holy table of all them that had been made members of the Church by Baptism, is a sight which we cannot expect to behold in an age like our own, which is so full of immorality, infidelity, and cowardly human respect. And those of the Church's children, whose fervent assiduity at the divine banquet is a consolation to her amidst the general neglect,—even they cannot always wait for the late hour of High Mass, though it would bring them closer into the spirit of the mystery of Communion, and would be more in accordance with the desires of the Church. They are generally prevented from such a practice by their delicate health, or by other obstacles, which are, no doubt, very difficult to be removed; and our loving Mother, the Church, is quite aware of the moral impossibility of anything like a general return to the ancient practice. Still, we cannot forbear regretting the difficulty, and envying those happy times, when each of the Faithful partook sacramentally of the Sacrifice, which was celebrated in the presence of the whole congregation.' Yet, she does not press her wishes in this regard, except for the sacred Ministers, who are assistants at the Sacrifice; and, even for them, she does not prescribe it as an express command: "Let them know," she says, in her Council of Trent, "that it is "extremely becoming, that, at least, on Sundays and "solemn Feasts, they should receive holy Communion "at the Altar where they give their ministry."2 The Fathers of the same Council thus admirably express the traditional teaching, which we have been putting before our readers.

"The holy Council, with fatherly affection, admo"nishes, exhorts, begs and implores, by the bowels of

1 Conc. Trid., Sessio. xxii. de Sacrif. Miss. c. 6.

2 Sess. xxiii. de Reform. c. 13.