with such a statement concerning the illustrious Cyprian; but as have brought a little pocket volume of mine, which constitutes one of my delights in this earthly pilgrim Catholic, still every tone of his voice, every gesture, every look, would have alienated that Catholic from that sect which he professes to belong to. "Keep me from the house of gall," would have been the ex-age, the letters of that glorious clamation of the Catholic; keep me saint and martyr, St. Cyprian, I from that deadly, unmitigably viru- shall therefrom read, for the benefit lent sect; keep me from those mon- of my learned opponent, a few short sters of hypocrisy, who, whilst they extracts, to see whether St. Cyprian, pretend to be solicitous for my con- who flourished A.D. 248, acknowversion and salvation, are mocking | ledged the supremacy of the Church and galling me by every oppro- or not. But, my friends, is it posbrious epithet which their malig-sible, let me ask you, that in the nant imaginations can suggest to year 248, when Cyprian lived, and them. when so many other saints and marAnd now, to answer another ob-tyrs lived, and left such glorious servation of my reverend opponent, testimony of their adherence to let me say a few words concerning the supremacy of St. Peter, and his lawful successors-a column of Christian faith in every age, which the arm of my antagonist has so feebly endeavoured to shake. Tertullian, I find, in the year of our Lord 199, exclaims, "If thou thinkest heaven is closed, recollect that the Lord left the keys thereof to Peter, and through him to the Church."-Scorpuici, c. x. p. 830. Rotodami, 1662. Again, I hear, a little before the blessed Reformation-namely, in the year of our Lord 203-Origen exclaiming, in reference to the words, "I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven," and "Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth," &c., exclaiming in the following words-" And truly, if the words of the Gospel be attentively considered, we shall there find that the last words were common to Peter and the others; but that the former, spoken to Peter, imported a great distinction and superiority."-Orig. tom. xiii., Com. in Mat., p. 613. Edit. Bened. Paris, 1643. My friend has told you that St. Cyprian denied the supremacy of St. Peter. I did not expect to meet the Pope, that he should have arisen in rebellion against him, and have denied his supremacy? Even from this passage I think we shall be able to collect enough to overturn the position of my friend. Deus unus est, Christus unus, una ecclesia, et cathedra una, supra petram Domini voce fundata. Aliud altare constitui aut sacerdotium novum fieri præter unum altare et unum sacerdotium non potest." "There is one God, one Christ, one Church, one chair, founded by the voice of the Lord upon a rock. No other altar can be erected, no other priesthood can be instituted, but the one altar and the one priesthood." Again-"Adulterum, impium, sacrilegium est quodcunque humano furore instituitur, dispositio humana violetur." chair founded by the voice of the Lord upon a rock;' he does not say founded on Peter." In reply to this frivolous surmise, let Cyprian speak himself:— "Christ addresses Peter (Matt. xvi. 18)-'I say to thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.' He that doth not hold this unity of the Church, can he think that he holds the faith? He that opposes and withstands the Church, can he think that he is in the Church?"-St. Cyp. de Unit. Ecc. pp. 194, 195. Ed. Bened. Paris, 1726. But really, now that I am upon this topic, it is worth while to consult the learned Mr. Kirk, in order to see whether these fathers, whom my friend describes as perpetually knocking their heads against one another, but who, as I contend, are in one Catholic indivisible body, for ever knocking their heads against him (Mr. Cumming) and all the advocates of many-headed Protestantism; it is worth while, I say, to ask, What say they on the primacy of Peter ? St. Basil, A.D. 369, writes thus te Pope Damasus, on the distressed state of his Church : "We ask nothing new; wherefore, if you are not at this time induced to aid us soon, all being subjected to the heretics, none wil be found to whom you may stretcà out your hand.” —Ep. Damasum.tom. iii. p. 164. Ed. Bened. Paris, 1721, 22, 30. Again-and most remarkable is the passage-I wish my Calvinistic opponent could show something of his Church half so old as the year 369-I should look at him with an eye of reverence. [A laugh.] "Eustachius of Sebaste, being deposed at Melita, devised himsel the means whereby to procure his restoration. What was proposed to him by the Roman bishop, and to what he agreed, we know not. We know only that he brought a letter, which when he had shown to the synod of Thyana, he was reinstated in his see!"-Ep. 293, at 74, tom. iii. p. 406. But if St. Basil be not sufficiently clear upon the primacy of Peter, listen to the great St. Chrysostom, in the year 397. He writes to Innocent, the Roman bishop, after many proceedings against himself: "I beseech you to direct, that what has wickedly been done against me while I was absent, and did not decline a trial, should have no effect, and that they who have thus proceeded may be subjected to ecclesiastical punishment, and allow me, who have been convicted of no offence, to enjoy the consolation of your letters, and the society of my former friends."-Ep. 1 ad. Innoc. tom. iii. p. 520, Ed. Monfauçon, Paris, 1718-34. Really, my reverend friend, Mr. Kirk, is a splendid benefactor to the Catholics of this country, in furnishing such valuable documents to crush "IT IS HE (CHRIST) HIMSELF WHO SAYS, 'MY FLESH IS MEAT INDEED, AND MY BLOOD IS DRINK INDEED. HE THAT EATS MY FLESH, AND DRINKS MY BLOOD, REMAINS IN ME, AND I IN HIM.' THERE IS NO ROOM LEFT FOR DOUBTING OF THE FLESH AND THE BLOOD; FORASMUCH AS BY THE DECLARATION OF OUR LORD HIMSELF, AND BY WHAT OUR FAITH PROFESSES, IT and confound our adversaries! But Now, mark the words! I must lay the book down, merely running my eye over it, and stating, that I find as I go on most copious extracts from St. Hilary, St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Gregory of Nazianzum, St. James of Nisibis, St. Ephrem of Edessa, St. Gregory of Nyssa, St. Optatus of Milevis, St. Epiphanius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, St. Acterius, St. Augustine of Alexandria, St. Leo the Great, St. Proclus, St. Isidore of Pelusium, IS TRULY FLESH AND TRULY and from the council of Ephesus, in BLOOD. IS NOT THIS THE TRUTH? the year 431, and the council of LET IT BE CALLED IN QUESTION Chalcedon in the year 451; all ac- BY THOSE ALONE WHO DENY THAT knowledging in the clearest, most CHRIST JESUS IS TRUE GOD!" explicit, and incontrovertible language, the uncontested primacy of Peter and his successors! There, my friends! there is glorious testimony to lower the towering crest of my learned opponent. I shall conclude this discussion, What! shall I be told exultingly my friends-as my opponent made by my antagonist in the recapione more attempt, and a feeble tulation of the exploits he has one it was, to overturn that eternal achieved since the commencement dogma of Transubstantiation-not of this discussion, that, amongst by selecting, but by taking at others, he has, to use his own random, the first extract from the rather inelegant words, smashed fathers on the subject that shall for ever the doctrine of Transubstanpresent itself to my view on open- tiation? ing this immortal production of the Rev. Mr. Kirk, "The Faith of Catholics!" Here it is the great St. Hilary, in the year of our Lord 353! Listen most attentively : : Ipse enim ait, Caro mea vere est esca, et sanguis meus vere est potus. Qui edit carnem meam et bibit sanguinem meum, in me manet, et ego in eo. De veritate carnis et sanguinis, non relictus est ambigendi locus; nunc enim et ipsius Domini professione et fide nostra vere caro est, et vere sanguis est. Et hæc accepta atque hausta id efficiunt, ut et nos in Christo, et Christus in nobis sit. Anne hoc veritas non est? contingat planè his verum non esse, qui Christum Jesum verum esse Deum negent."-St. Hilary, Edit. Erasmi, vol. i. p. 136. But what says St. Hilary? Why" Let the doctrine be doubted by those alone who deny that Christ Jesus is true God." Talk after this of smashingthere's a smasher for you, my learned, my reverend antagonist. [Sensation.] St. Hilary, you see, by this denunciation, sends men like you to join the ranks of the Unitarians. I adjure you then, my Protestant friends, who seek for truth, not conquest, most solemnly to weigh the meaning of those words which I have just read to you from the magnum ævi sui lumen, the great light of his age, as Erasmus designates him, from whose edition I have quoted it. Answer me within yourselves. Is it not too bad-is it not intolerable-is it not disgustingly repulsive, after such an illus for all the many galling, taunting A gentleman then rose and said, "I have a resolution to submit, which I am perfectly sure you will all trious testimony of such an early century as that which I have just laid before you, to hear a frothy declaimer in the nineteenth century bellowing out, over and over again, that Paschasius Radbert, forsooth, a poor obscure monk in the ninth century, invented the glorious dogma? I really think that, if the learned gentleman has not blushed for these ten years past, it is high time for a little distinguishable tinge to suffuse his cheek this evening; Rev. J. CUMMING and many others it is high time for his admirers to exclaimed, "No! no!" which was nang down their heads and blush followed by applause and hisses around him. For tell me, my Pro-Order being with difficulty restored. testant friends, when ye read this votes of thanks were unanimously doctrine of Transubstantiation thus passed to the respective chairmen, heralded forth by St. Hilary in who briefly returned thanks. the year of our Lord 353, can you upon any future occasion listen with patience, I should rather say with endurance, to the loud blast of the Calvinistic trumpet in the mouth of my reverend opponent, solemnly, gravely, pompously proclaiming that the doctrine taught by St. Hilary in the year 353, was invented by Paschasius Radbert, who was not 'born before the ninth century!!! The happy collocation, my friends, of this glorious extract, for which I am indebted to the blundering of my friend, will shine, I confidently trust, in the last part of this discussion, as a glittering jewel to the enlightenment of innumerable eyes; or, to speak less figuratively, to the conversion of innumerable souls to the Catholic religion. And as to you, my Catholic friends, by way of consolation for all the copious abuse which you have experienced so often during the course of this discussion, approve of. It is, That the thanks of this assembly be presented to the Committee of the British and Foreign School Society for the hear," and applause.] use of the present room. ["Hear, 23 GEORGE FINCH., Esq., then rose to state that the meeting was now concluded. The audience, which entirely filled the spacious room, then retired in the greatest possible order, apparently highly gratified. We certify that this Report is faithfully and correctly given: J. CUMMING, M.A. D. FRENCH, Barrister-at-Law. CHAS. MAYBURY ARCHER. Reporte INDEX TO THE SPEECHES DELIVERED BY THE REV. JOHN CUMMING, A.M. A. Abel, the first Protestant, 152. Access to God, Protestant doctrine of, 217. Angel of the Lord, is the Lord Jehovah, 231. Apocrypha not inspired, 319; not sanc- Aquinas, Thomas, the seraphic doctor, de- B. Babylon, exhortation to flee out of, and take Bible, the, an appeal to it alone is not Bolger, Mr., his bequest for masses, 183. C. Cain, the first Romish sacrificer, 152; his Christ, his human flesh did not come down Church cleansed by the Reformation; pri- Church of Rome, denies salvation out of her Chrysostom shows the utility of reading Cyprian against Papal supremacy, 640. D. Decretals of Gratian, their provision for the E. Eagle, the, a type of the believer, 261. |