the first ecclesiastical authorities of the different schismatical churches in the East.

"The Eutychian Patriarch of the Armenians published the doctrine and practice of the Eutychian churches, in a solemn act, dated Aleppo, May 1, 1668: 'We adore,' says he, with supreme worship, Jesus Christ, who is hidden in the Holy Eucharist, and, we offer, in the Holy Sacrifice, for the remission of the sins of the living and the dead, the same body which was crucified, and the same blood which was shed for us on Mount Calvary.'

"The Nestorian patriarch, Joseph, and his clergy, in a public attestation, given at Diarbec, in the year 1669, thus express their condemnation of the doctrines falsely imputed to the Nestorian Churches by the Calvinists, and also their profession of the doctrine held by those churches concerning the Real Presence, Transubstantiation, and the Sacrifice of the Mass: We have learnt with extreme astonishment that a certain son of Satan, of the French nation, (they speak of the minister Claude,) has dared to offer an atrocious injury to the Oriental Church, by falsely charging it with not believing, and not receiving, the great mystery of the sacred oblation. We firmly believe, that after the words of Jesus Christ, which the priest pronounces by the authority which he has received from heaven, the substance of bread is changed

into the substance of the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that the substance of wine is changed into the substance of his precious blood, so that nothing remains of the bread and wine, but their accidents. We offer this holy body, which was crucified for us, and this blood, which was shed for many and for us; i. e. for the living and the dead, for the remission of their sins.'

"Seven schismatical Greek archbishops, who were assembled at Constantinople, on the 18th July, 1671, attested the doctrine of their churches, by this solemn declaration: That the Eucharist is a sacrifice for the living and the dead, instituted by Jesus Christ, and delivered to us by the Apostles.'

"It is therefore an historical fact, that at the time of the Protestant reformation, by Luther and Calvin, not only the Greek schismatical Church, but the heretical Churches in Asia and Africa, of which the Nestorians and Eutychians are the leading sects, admitted and offered the sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus Christ, really present under the appearances of bread and wine. From whom did they receive this doctrine and this sacred rite? Not from the Church of Rome, from which they had received no rite of religion, no tradition, no doctrine, since the distant period of their separation from its communion. The Mass was, therefore, admitted as the common Christian sacrifice, by the

Greek schismatical Church before the year 890; by the Eutychians, before the year 451; and by the Nestorians before 431: the periods of their separation from the communion of the Church of Rome. Indeed, we see that the seven Greek Archbishops cited above, declared; That the Eucharist is a sacrifice for the living and the dead, instituted by Jesus Christ, and delivered to us by the Apostles. The doctrine of the Nestorians and Eutychians concerning the sacrifice of the Mass, which is the same on this point as the doctrine of all other ancient Christian Churches, was not invented by Nestorius, nor by Eutyches, when they began to teach their heretical doctrines against other articles of the Christian creed; but this doctrine of the sacrifice of the Mass was the ancient doctrine of the Churches in which Nestorius and Eutyches were originally instructed in the Christian Faith.

"The above testimonies, which shew what was the doctrine and practice in the sixteenth century of the Greek, and of all the Christian Churches of Asia and Africa, which are separated from the communion of the Apostolic see, and which shew the high antiquity, even the divine origin, of that universal doctrine and practice of offering the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, really present under the appearances of bread and wine, cannot be suspected of partiality to the Church of

Rome, but must be received as evidences of historical truth.

"But when we consider the universality and primitive antiquity of the uniform doctrine and practice of all Christian Churches in communion with the See of Rome, concerning the sacrifice of the Mass, as the sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ, really present under the appearances of bread and wine, what a collection of historical evidence is presented to us, demonstrating that this doctrine and practice were established by the Apostles, as the doctrine and institution of Christ, in all nations where they established Christianity! The most incontestable and irresistible proofs of this universal and primitive doctrine and practice, are found in the ancient Liturgies, or Missals, or books containing the form and order of divine worship, used in all Christian Churches, from the beginning of Christianity.

"The holy fathers of the Church agree that the substance of these Liturgies, which is the same in all, was derived from the Apostles, and communicated by them to the Churches where they preached and established the religion of Christ. The first Liturgy was that which was formed and used by the Apostles, in the Church of Jerusalem, and which is sometimes called the Liturgy of St. James, the first bishop of that see; then the Liturgies of the Patriarchate Churches of Alexandria, called that

of St. Mark, of Antioch, and of Constantinople. These Liturgies were communicated to the Churches under those Patriarchates. The most sacred part of these Liturgies, the Canon, was not originally written, but was carefully committed to memory by the bishops and priests, as the Apostles' Creed was by the faithful. The Canon was not committed to writing till the fifth age, when the danger of exposing all that was most sacred in the mysteries of religion to the derision and blasphemy of infidels, was not so great as in the first three or four centuries. But when the Canon was generally committed to writing, it was found to be the same in substance in all Christian countries, which shewed the unity of its origin, in the unity of that faith which was every where taught by the Apostles. In all these ancient and primitive Liturgies, we find the clearest expressions and professions, made by priests and people, that the same body and blood of Christ, which were immolated on the cross, are offered to God in the Christian sacrifice, under the appearances of bread and wine, for the living and the dead; and that this same body and blood are really received in the Communion. In all these Liturgies, we read the most sublime hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God and Christ really present; acts of spiritual communication between the faithful on earth and the Saints in heaven; and prayers offered for the repose of the souls of those