up to where he was before; that is, that his doctrine will then appear to them more incredible than before his ascension. Now the figurative manducation becomes still more easy to believe after his ascension, and the real manducation appears more incredible in consequence. Therefore it is not the former, but the latter which had been announced.

7° Jesus Christ who never reproached his disciples with not having understood the sense of his discourse, reproaches them here for not believing. Now the reproach for not believing can only fall on the reality. Therefore he had announced the reality in his discourse.

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8° Jesus reproaches them with not believing in this reality. Therefore they did wrong, and you still more so, in pronouncing it to be indefensible. The Jews and disciples judged soundly according to you, by deeming this manducation impossible. Therefore your judgment, like that of the Jews and the disciples, is in direct opposition to that of Jesus Christ, and you are all equally condemned together.

9° Jesus declares that no one can believe in him concerning this manducation, if he have not received grace from his Father. Now, to believe a figurative manducation, there is no need of any grace, since there is no need of any exertion: therefore he speaks not of that kind of manducation.

10° The doctrine of our Saviour on the manducation is such that it hindered many of the Jews from believing in him, and induced many disciples to abandon him. Now the doctrine of the Catholic Church on this point is also such, that it prevents many Christians from joining its creed, and has induced many of its children to quit it: whereas the doctrine of the reformed, whatever be the strength

of the expressions they make use of in the Lord's Supper, has never engaged any one to quit them, nor prevented any one from joining them. Therefore the doctrine of the reformed upon this manducation has not the characters of the doctrine of our Saviour, whereas that of the Catholic Church has them all; therefore the catholic faith is the doctrine of our Saviour.

11° The disciples leave their master rather than believe; the apostles adhere to him, grounding their belief on his divinity and his sovereign power. Now the former would never have abandoned such a master for not believing so simple a thing as a figurative manducation, and the latter would have had no need, in order to believe it, to recall to mind his infinite power and his divinity. Therefore neither the one nor the other understood this manducation in a figurative sense: therefore that of the reality is the only sense, which can explain at once the oppositę conduct of these disciples and the apostles.

In concluding this article, permit me, Sir, to address to you one final observation. I know not what impression will have been made upon you by this contrast between the apostles on one side, and the Jews and many disciples on the other. Change the times and the names, and you there read the history of the opposition that exists between those of your communion and us. I feel with regret every thing they will find odious in this comparison: I entreat them to pardon me for it: it is even more painful for me to have to tell them hard truths, than for them to hear them nothing would ever have induced me to do it, but the hope of being serviceable to them, even at the purchase of their displeasure. We must therefore here again open for a moment before you

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and them the scene at Capharnaum, in order that you may see how strikingly it applies to the supporters of your reformation. They have renewed it, and they copy it daily with so much fidelity that you will see them performing the same characters and the same parts as the Jews and disciples; you will see them borrow their language, imitate their actions, their conduct and carry on the resemblance even to the catastrophe. In fact, when we tell them that Jesus Christ is the living bread that came down from heaven: that the bread which he gives us to eat is his own flesh, the same that he has given for the life of the world, they rise up against this proposition, which is precisely that which, in the mouth of Jesus Christ, produced the departure of the Jews. Like them they shew a thousand signs of impatience, of disdain, of contempt: they hold us as foolish and absurd, they treat our doctrine as impossible and extravagant, and thus produce again under a thousand insulting forms the rude exclamation of the Jews: "How can this man give us his flesh to "eat?" In vain do we represent, unless we eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, we shall not have life in us: that his flesh is meat indeed and his blood is drink indeed: that we learn it from him, who was sent by his Father, and who came down from heaven to instruct and save us: that his order is that we all believe in his word, &c.: they still remain as immovable as ever in their past incredulity: they pass over to the disciples and repeat with them and with much more bitterness: This saying is hard, and who can hear it? We persevere in our endeavours to soften their inflexibility: we suggest that this mystery is proposed to us by him who is gone up to where he was before: that it is unreasonable

to believe in his divinity and not to believe in his doctrine: these proud men listen no more to us: they treat us either with contempt or pity, and the same reason that induced the disciples to leave Christ, induces them also to leave us. Let them boast now of the high antiquity of their principles: they may date them, if they please, from the Christian era: incontestibly they have a right to do so; on this point I recognise them as partisans and associates of the Jews in this gospel, as successors and heirs of the disciples, I mean of those ungrateful and unfortunate disciples, whom the Holy Spirit has marked out to us in scripture as the first apostates from Jesus Christ. Can a man be a Christian, and not blush at such a descent? Can he be a Christian and not tremble at the idea of sharing in the opinions, obstinacy, desertion, and lot of these ancient renegades.

For your part at least, Sir, reflect, I conjure you, on the danger to which you are exposed by the prejudices of your education. Have the courage to emancipate yourself from them; it certainly must cost you less to quit an opinion which is not of your own choice. Imagine yourself for a moment in the midst of the synagogue where this important affair was discussed, and that you witness all that passes. You distinguish our divine Saviour surrounded by his apostles and disciples: You attentively listen with them to the words that come from his mouth, and at that part of his discourse where he comes to the mystery, you hear the confused murmurs, and afterwards the declared opposition of the multitude. In vain does our Saviour exert himself to persuade them, by repeatedly affirming what he had just announced; the multitude remain deaf: and soon you remark the repugnance even of many of his

disciples, you notice their words of contradiction, and then their entire desertion from him. On the other side you admire the firmness, the liveliness of the faith of the apostles, and what is more striking through the whole of this scene, the calm countenance and unalterable sweetness of the Man-God. All this passes before your eyes; I suppose you to be present at it. Now what are you yourself going to do? you must declare yourself. On what side will you range yourself? will you adhere with them to your divine master? or will you turn your back upon him with the crowd of the murmurers? You are indignant at my question: is there any room for hesitation? You say to me. Well then! Sir, take now the part that you would then decidedly have taken with the apostles. The dispute unfortunately still continues. It has been renewed for nearly three centuries with more violence than at its birth, and with still more deplorable consequences. It is no longer between the Jews and in the synagogue, but in the Church and among Christians: Jesus Christ is still in the midst of them: he continues to speak the same language to them. You have just heard him: surrender yourself therefore to him.