THE REAL PRESENCE. By the real presence, the Church of England does not mean the corporeal presence of Christ in the Eucharist. The real presence is the doctrine of the Church of England and of the churches in communion with her; but the corporeal presence is the Popish doctrine of transubstantiation. The following extract from Johnson's Unbloody Sacrifice conveys the true meaning of the words of the Lord's Supper, as they were pronounced by Our Lord Himself: - "The Eucharistical bread and wine are made the body and blood of Christ, not only by virtue of the institution and command of Christ, who did, once for all, order it; not only by the ministry of a man who is invested with authority to this purpose; but by a Divine act of the Holy Spirit, repeated as often as the Eucharist is duly celebrated. And it ought freely to be owned, that so Divine an agent may render the bread and wine the body and blood in such a manner, and in so superlative a sense, as cannot be expressed by the tongue or pen of man. Nay, I believe it must, in truth and justice, be said that the bread and wine are so [in such wise] the body and blood of Christ as no one thing in nature, besides these, can be said to be another. This was the belief of the ancient church, and this they thought to be such a mystery as could never be fathomed by human understanding. And though I am not sensible that they asserted anything that contradicted the reason and sense of mankind; yet they always spoke of it as a thing above our conceptions and capacities. I conclude, therefore, that though the Eucharistic elements are not the substantial body and blood,-nay, they are the figurative and representative symbols of them, yet they are somewhat more, too: they are the mysterious body and blood of our blessed Redeemer. By the mysterious body and blood, the reader will easily perceive [that] I mean neither substantially nor yet merely figuratively; but the middle between these extremes, viz.: the bread and wine made the body and blood of Christ by the secret power of the Spirit; and apprehended to be so, not by our senses, but by our faith, directed and influenced by the same Holy Spirit; and made the body and blood in such manner as human reason cannot perfectly comprehend. "We may from hence learn for what reason the ancients called the Eucharistic bread the spiritual body of Christ, viz., because it was what it was by the peculiar energy of the Holy Ghost; and what they meant by spiritual eating and drinking, viz., doing those outward actions in the Eucharist with a sincere faith in the passion of Christ-a receiving the symbols not as bread and wine; but as Divine powerful representations of the original body and blood. And until I am better informed, I shall look upon all other spiritual receiving of Christ's body and blood to be a mere human invention of the middle and dark ages of the church, built upon no other bottom than some passages in the ancient fathers, misunderstood or wrested by new glosses and unnatural constructions." POPERY IN ALDERSHOT CAMP. IT is reported that priest Hathaway, a zealous and enthusiastic pervert, has been holding "special services" in the building used as a place of worship in the camp alike by protestants and papists. The writer complains, that while these liberties are allowed to the popish minister, obstructions are placed in the way of churchmen's efforts; and he gives the following example :-Some months ago, a committee was formed, which consisted of some of the best and bravest officers and staff in the camp, with chaplains and clergy. Two Scripture readers were set apart to read and visit among the men quartered there. A deputation waited on the General in command for his sanction and approval of these Scripture readers. Time was taken to consider; but in the interim the popish priest was summoned to head quarters, and asked if he had any objections to such agents working in the camp! Of course, he declared that he had; and he very speedily spread abroad the interview and its object. A long time elapsed before the readers had license to go into camp; and now they dare not enter a hut, a barrack-room, or an hospital-not even to read the Bible-because they have no official commission, and lest they should offend the popish priests. The protestant readers must skulk up and down the lines, looking out for some hopeful batch of soldiers to speak and read to; if it pours with rain, or is ever so inclement, they are in peril of the provost-martial if they enter a hut! ORIGIN OF BANKS. Banks, now so useful, were of Venetian invention; and the first was contrived about 1150, to assist in the transactions of a loan, and called the Chamber of Loans. It soon became the celebrated Bank of Venice, and conducted all money transactions. The plan was carried into foreign countries; and the projectors being called Lombards, the great banking street in London is to this day called Lombard-street. Its celebrity led to the establishment of similar public banks at Barcelona, in 1401; at Genoa, 1407; at Amsterdam in 1609; in London, 1694; at Edinburgh, 1695; and at Paris in 1716. The Bank of England is managed by a governor, deputy, and twenty-four directors, with about 1,000 clerks. THE VALUE OF CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION Founded upon Fact, by the Rev. E. Pyne. The miner's work is dark and drear, No fresh pure air, no sun to cheer- "Grieve not too much, Oh, mother dear, My loss; our Heavenly King His praise in death we sing.” Then still with faltering hand he traced Words to his brother left, "Be faithful to your God, and haste Mother to help bereft." How sweet, then, is instruction given How blest the knowledge of a heaven, This child heart-taught in Gospel truth, And taught to write, the dying youth Oh ye, then, fraught with gifts and grace, But spread God's knowledge through our race, The soul's hope, peace, and health. Notices of Books. A SHORT TRACT FOR REVIVALISTS AND OTHERS, &c. (Rivington's) is a reprint of one of the late bishop Mants' two tracts, a new edition of which was printed in 1817; being extracted from his Bampton Lecture of 1812; "and published in a form adapted for circulation among the community at large." Of these two Mr. Heilbronn has selected the second, entitled "A special and instantaneous conversion not necessary for Christians;" to which he has prefixed a sensible but brief preface, shewing the reason why he has republished bishop, Mants' well-known tract "which simply and faithfully sets before the reader, the vital distinction between mere emotion and true repentance; and warns him against the fearful consequences of mistaking the one for the other." |