William McAuliffe THE REAL PRESENCE OF THE Body & Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ IN THE BLESSED EUCHARIST, PROVED FROM SCRIPTURE. IN EIGHT LECTURES. DELIVERED IN THE ENGLISH COLLEGE, ROME. BY CARDINAL WISEMAN. LONDON: C. DOLMAN, 61, NEW BOND STREET; AND 22, PATERNOSTER ROW. 1855. 776431 BX 2220. W82 PRINTED BY COX (BROS.) AND WYMAN, GREAT QUEEN STREET, INDIANA LIBRARY 3-11-59 PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. THE Lectures here presented to the public, are simply what the title-page describes them, a portion of the theological course several times delivered in the English College at Rome. When the Author came over to this country, he had not the remotest idea that he should feel called upon to publish them; and he brought the manuscript with him, solely for the purpose of submitting it to the judgment of a few friends, better versed, perhaps, than he could be, in the controversial literature of this country, so to satisfy himself of the propriety of publishing it at some distant period. But when he found it necessary to give a more popular and compendious exposition of the Catholic argument's for the Real Presence, in his "Lectures on the Principal Doctrines and Practices of the Catholic Church," he felt that ample justice could not be done to the line of argument which he had pursued, without the publication of these Lectures, in which it is more fully developed, and justified by proofs. Under this impression, he has not hesitated to send his manuscript to press. The method pursued in these Lectures, and the principles on which they are conducted, are so amply detailed in the introductory Lecture, that any remarks upon them in this Preface would be superfluous. Many will, perhaps, be startled at the sight of an octavo devoted to the Scriptural Proofs of our doctrine, which, in general, occupy but a few pages of our controversial works; and a prejudice will be naturally excited, that the theme has been swelled to so unusual a bulk by digressive disquisition, or by matter of very secondary importance. If such an impression be produced, the writer has no resource, but to throw himself on the justice and candour of his readers, and entreat them to peruse, before they thus condemn. He flatters himself, that he will not be found, on perusal, to have gone out of the question, or overloaded it with extraneous matter. His studies have, perhaps, led him into a different view of the arguments from what is popularly taken, and he may be found to have sought illustrations from sources not commonly consulted; but he will leave it to his reader to determine, whether he has thereby weakened the cause which he has undertaken. To him, this judgment cannot be a matter of indifference. He has, within a few months, been unexpectedly led to submit to the public eye, two of the courses of Lectures prepared and delivered by him, for the improvement of those whose theological education has been confided to his care; and he feels that he has thus, however unintentionally, appealed to the public, whether he have discharged his duty int heir regard. The "Lectures on the Connection between Science and Revealed Religion" will explain the views which he has endeavoured to inculcate, on the proper extent of ecclesiastical education; the present course will exhibit the system followed in every branch of controversial theology. What is done in these Lectures for the doctrine of the Eucharist, has been done no less for the Christian Evidences, the authority of the Church, Penance, the Mass, and every other part of modern controversy. On the study of Scripture, and the science of its introduction, more care has been bestowed; and from the reception with which the present treatise may meet, the Author will form an estimate of how far he may be justified in troubling the public, further, with his academical instructions. He will be perfectly satisfied, however, if he shall appear not to have used less diligence and application than beseems his office, in the promoting of sound theological learning, among those whom it has been his duty to instruct. The fate of this work becomes to him a matter of deeper interest, from its connection with any opinion which may thence be formed of the value of an establishment, which many considerations should render dear to the English Catholics. As the lineal representative of the Anglo-Saxon school founded by King Ina, as the substitute for the English Hospital, which once received the wearied pilgrim that went to kiss the threshold of the Apostles, as the only remnant of Catholic Church property which has been left in our hands, from its wreck at the Reformation, as a seminary which has sent forth many martyrs into the vineyard of this country,* the College of Rome has a strong claim upon the sympathies of all who bless Providence for its watchfulness over God's holy religion amongst us. If Bellarmine, as he assures us in his preface, wrote his magnificent "Controversies" chiefly for the instruction of the students in that establishment, they who actually preside over it must surely feel it their duty to contribute their small abilities, to nourish in its members a spirit of application, and a taste for solid learning. For this purpose, it indeed enjoyed, when restored under the auspices of Pius VII. of sacred memory, an advantage which it may never again possess, in him whom the wisdom of the *St. Philip Neri, who lived nearly opposite the house, used to salute the students as they passed his door, in the words of the hymn for the Holy Innocents: "Salvete flores martyrum." |