verse of Psalm 118, I have hidden thy words in my soul, that I might not sin against thee: "He sins against God, who divulges to the unworthy, the mysteries confided to him. The danger is not only of telling falsehoods, but also of truths, if persons allow themselves to give hints of them to those, from whom they ought to be concealed." And he opposes such indiscretion by the words of our Saviour: "Beware of casting pearls before unclean animals." IV. Third century.-Zeno, Bishop of Verona, in a discourse on continence, exhorts the Christian woman not to marry an infidel, for fear she might betray to him the law of secrecy, ne sis proditrix legis. And he adds, "Know you not that the sacrifice of the unbeliever is public, but yours secret? That any one may freely ap. proach to his, while even for Christians, if they are not consecrated, it would be a sacrilege to contemplate yours?" In a discourse on the 126th Psalm, we read these words." Custom has given the name of the house of God, or temple, to the place of our assemblies, which are surrounded with walls, in order to secure the secret celebration of our sacraments."

St. Cyprian thus begins his book against the proconsul of Africa: "Till now I had despised the impieties and sacrileges which thy mouth discharged incessantly against the only true God;" he adds, that if he had been silent, it was not without the command of his Divine Master, "who forbids us to give that which is holy to dogs, and to cast pearls before swine." He contents himself with establishing the unity of God, without saying a word on the Trinity, or the sacraments of the Church.

Origen, in his 13th homily on Exodus, preparing to treat of the mystery of the Eucharist, says: "I am afraid and doubt much if I shall find suitable hearers, and that

I shall be demanded an account of the pearls of the Lord; where, how, and before whom I have produced them." And in a homily on Leviticus, "Do not stop at flesh and blood, [the lambs and goats spoken of by Moses] but learn rather to discern the blood of the Word; hear what he himself says: This is my blood which shall be shed for you. Whoever is instructed in the mysteries knows the flesh and the blood of the Word of God. Let us not dwell on the subject, which is known to the initiated, and which the uninitiated ought not to know."

The very ancient author of the Apostolic Constitutions, book 3, ch. 5, admonishes, "that in speaking of mystic things, care must be taken not to be indiscreet, and to express oneself prudently, bearing in mind the words of our Saviour, do not cast pearls before swine, lest they trample them under foot.""

St. Clement of Alexandria, in the 1st book of his Stromata, says:—“ I pass over intentionally several things, fearing to commit to writing what I took great care not to say, lest those who read these writings should take my words in an improper sense, and we should be accused, as the proverb says, of putting a sword into the hands of a child. There are certain things which the scripture will shew me, though they are not there openly expressed-there are some which it will only touch upon; but it will endeavour to say them under a veil, to disclose them while it conceals them, and to shew them while it is silent."

Tertullian seeking to deter his wife from marrying an infidel if she should survive him, says to her among other reasons: "You would thereby fall into this fault, that the pagans would come to the knowledge of our mysteries... Will not your husband know what you taste in secret, before any other food; and if he perceives bread, will he

not imagine that it is that so much spoken of?" Therefore secrecy covered the mysteries of the Eucharist.

In the liturgy called that of the Apostles, and later of St. John Chrysostom, the priest and deacon bowing down, and each holding a part of the sacred host, make together an admirable confession, which begins thus: "I believe, O Lord, and confess that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, who didst come into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the chief; let me partake of thy mystical supper. I will not reveal the mystery to thine enemies."-Therefore the Eucharistic mysteries were covered by secrecy.*

The author of the Recognitions, which are very ancient, since they were translated by Rufinus in the fourth century, proves as follows, the difficulty of preaching before a multitude: "For what is, cannot be said to all as it is,† on account of those who give a captious and malignant ear. What then will he do who imparts the word to a crowd of people unknown? Will he conceal the truth? But how then can he instruct those who are deserving? If, however, he exhibits the clear truth before those who are indifferent about salvation, he is wanting to him by whom he is sent, and from whom he has received orders not to cast the pearls of doctrine before swine and dogs who would be furious against it by arguments and sophisms,

* This liturgy is still followed by all the Greeks who are in the West, at Rome, in Calabria and Apulia, by the Georgians, the Bulgarians, the Russians, and Muscovites; by all the Christians, the modern Melchites, under the patriarch of Alexander, resident at Cairo, under the patriarchs of Jerusalem and of Antioch, resident at Damascus.-See P. Le Brun's Ceremonies of the Mass, T. 4, in 8vo.

+ Book 30.

envelop it in the mire of their sordid and carnal understanding, and by their barking and disgusting replies would tear and fatigue the preachers of God."

V. Second and first centuries.-The secrecy of the first Christians on the Eucharistic dogmas is demonstrated from the unworthy calumnies spread and believed in the pagan world against their assemblies; by the punishments employed to extort from the Christians an avowal of what they practised, and by the origin of these calumnies and cruelties, which dates from the first century.

Tertullian, in his Apology, exclaims, when repelling the accusations of infanticide and impurities: "Who are those who have made known to the world these pretended crimes? Are they those who are accused? But how could it be so, since it is the common law of all mysteries to keep them secret? If they themselves made no discovery, it must have been made by strangers. But how could they have had any knowledge of them, since the profane are excluded from the sight of the most holy mysteries, and those are carefully selected who are permitted to be spectators?" The Pagans then were ignorant of what passed in the assemblies of the Christians; and this ignorance evidently pre-supposes the secrecy preserved by the faithful. The object of this secrecy was the Eucharistic bread; the mysteries of the altar. For these alone could have given rise to the calumnies, while at the same time the sight of them was forbidden to the profane, and permitted solely to chosen spectators. These reports indicate manifestly the sacrament of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. Let us hear the pagan Cæcilius, in the curious and interesting dialogue of Minutius Felix, which I recommend you to read: "Shall we allow men of an infamous and desperate faction to attack the Gods with impunity; and gathering together an ignorant rabble and credulous

women, instruct them for a profane society, not to say a conspiracy, which is not done by any holy ceremony, but by sacrileges, nocturnal assemblies, solemn fasts, and horrible meats: people who love darkness and fly from the light; who say nothing in public, and talk incessantly when assembled together, this evil sect increases every day; wherefore we must endeavour to extirpate this execrable society. They know one another by certain secret signs, and love one another almost before they are acquainted....Certainly, if there were not such crimes among them, there would not be so loud a cry against them. The ceremony which they observe, when they admit any one to their mysteries, is not less horrible because it is public They place before the new comer an infant covered with paste, in order to conceal the murder which they will have him commit. At their bidding he gives it several stabs with a knife. The blood runs on all sides; they eagerly suck it up; and the common crime is the common pledge of silence and secrecy. Their banquets are also known; and our Cirtensis makes mention of them in his harangue ....I pass over many things designedly; and indeed, here are already too many. And, truly, the darkness which they seek for their mysteries, are sufficiently evident proof of all we say, or at least the greater part of it. For why conceal all that they adore? We are not afraid to publish what is proper: crimes only demand secrecy and silence."

Mr. Faber could have no motive to make him afraid of communicating openly to Cæcilius his opinion of a figurative manducation, of a moral change in the substance of the bread, of the real absence of Jesus Christ. The Christian Octavius has no such replies to make. He does not disclose what is believed, nor what is done: he contents himself with repelling the infamous calumnies. "I would now," he replies, "address myself to those who