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 Church? " This,"  He  says,  "  is  My  blood  of  the  New Testament  which  shall  be  shed  for  many  unto  the  remission of  their  sins." Did He  mock  her  with metaphors, and  leave  her  the  shadow  for  the  reality? Did He  purposely  sow  in  her  the  seeds  of  dissension for all  time — He  who  said:  "  My  peace  I  leave  you; My  peace  I  give  you  "? Certainly, if  some  wealthy man were  to  promise  to  leave  you  a  splendid  palace or a  vast  heap  of  golden  coin,  and  afterwards  you discovered that  his  promise  was  but  a  figure  of speech,  and  your  legacy  but  a  photograph  of  the hoped-for riches,  you  might  well  feel  that  you  had been deceived  and  derided. And if  Christ,  when  He said:  "  The  bread  that  I  will  give  is  My  flesh  for  the life  of  the  world,"  meant  not  His  real  body,  but  bread which figuratively  might  be  called  His  flesh,  He would  have  been  guilty  of  having  deliberately  deceived mankind — He  who  can  neither  deceive  nor  be deceived — He  who  is  truth  and  justice  and  goodness itself. "This," He  says  in  unmistakable  terms, " this  is  My  body;  this  is  My  blood,"  and  "  My  flesh is  meat  indeed,  and  My  blood  is  drink  indeed."

Brethren, a  favorite  argument  of  unbelievers against the  real  presence  is,  that  the  primitive  Christian Church  knew  nothing  of  such  a  doctrine,  for,  say they, it  is  not  found  in  the  writings  of  the  Fathers of the  early  centuries. That this  assertion  is  in  a measure  true  is  owing  partly  to  the  excessive  veneration of  the  early  Christians  for  the  Blessed  Eucharist, and partly  to  the  uniformity  and  universality  of  their belief in  the  real  presence. Mindful of  the  double