either burnt or otherwise destroyed upon the altar. To these we may add, (3.) The famous sacrifice of bread and wine offered by Melchisedech, Priestof the Most High God: these two last kinds were unbloody sacrifices.

Q. 14. Was the thing offered always destroyed entirely?

A. In the holocaust, or whole burnt offering, the victim was entirely consumed by fire; because this kind being principally intended as an act of supreme homage to God, the total destruction of the victim was necessary to represent, in the most perfect manner, the supreme dominion of God over all creatures, by which he can totally change or destroy them whenever he pleases, and with the same ease with which he created them. But, in the other three kinds of sacrifice, the victim was only consumed in part, and of the rest was made a spiritual banquet, or communion for the priest and people. See the book of Leviticus, especially the first seven chapters.

Q. 15. Were these sacrifices agreeable to Almighty God, for any virtue they possessed in themselves?

A. No, they were not; for as God himself says, "Shall I eat the flesh of bullocks? or shall ĺ drink the blood of goats?" Ps. xlix. 13.; and the royal Prophet, addressing himself to God, says, "If thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would, indeed, have given it; with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted," Ps. 1. 18.

Q. 16. On what account, then, were they agreeable to God?

A. On a two-fold account: (1.) As being all types and figures of Jesus Christ, and of his sacrifice in the new law; and, (2.) In as much as they were accompanied with the proper dispositions of heart in the offerers.

Q. 17. What were these dispositions?

A. Humility, repentance, confidence in God, and the like holy virtues, and especially faith in the Redeemer, who was then to come, and of whom these sacrifices were figures. Hence David says, "A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit; a contrite and humble heart, O God, thou wilt not de-. spise," Ps. 1. 19.

Q. 18. In what manner were these ancient sacrifices figures of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?

A. In two respects, (1.) With regard to the thing offered; for, when living creatures were sacrificed and slain upon the altar, this was a type and figure of the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the cross; and when things without life were used in these sacrifices, they were figures of the unbloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Mass. (2.) With regard to the manner of offering; for, when the sacrifice was a holocaust, and the victim entirely consumed, this represented the perfect and complete oblation which Jesus Christ made of himself upon the cross, on which he was entirely, as it were, consumed by death, for the glory of his eternal Father. And in the other sacrifices, where the victims were not wholly consumed, but part of them reserved as a spiritual banquet for the priests and people, was represented the holy sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the Mass, in which both priest and people feed their souls on the adorable victim there offered, to wit, the body and blood of their Redeemer.

Q. 19. Were these sacrifices intended by Almighty God to last always?

A. No: all these sacrifices of the old law, together with the priesthood of Aaron, which was ordained by God for offering them, being only types and figures of the sacrifice and priesthood of the Redeemer, were to last only till his coming, and

then to cease, and give way to the perfect sacrifice and priesthood of Jesus Christ, both which being according to the order of Melchisedech, were to last for ever; according to that, "the Lord hath sworn, and will not repent: thou art a priest for ever, according to the order of Melchisedech," Ps. cix. 4.

Q. 20. How does this appear from Scripture?" A. It is expressly taught by St. Paul, from the testimony of David, from whom he cites these words, spoken in the person of Christ at his first entrance into the world: "Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and oblation thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast fitted to me; holocaust for sin did not please thee, then said I, Behold I come, in the head of the book it is written of me, that I should do thy will, O God," Heb. x. 5.; then the apostle goes on to explain these words of Christ thus: "In saying before, Sacrifice and oblation, and holocaust for sin thou wouldst not, neither are they pleasing to thee which are offered according to the law: then said I, Behold I come to do thy will, O God; he taketh away the first, that he may establish that which followeth by the which will we are sanctified by the oblation of the body of Christ once," vers. 8.

Q. 21. What do you mean by saying, that the priesthood of Christ is according to the order of Melchisedech?

A. Melchisedech was "priest of the most high God, the king of Salem," which was afterwards called Jerusalem, and his sacrifice was "bread and wine," Gen. xiv. He also was a great figure of Jesus Christ, "being, by interpretation of his name, king of justice, and then also king of Salem," that is, king of peace," Heb. vii. 2.; and his order of priesthood was to offer up bread and wine; accord

ing to which order, Christ is declared in Scripture to be "made a high priest for ever," Heb. vi. 20. Q. 22. Was Christ also a priest according to the order of Aaron?

A. He was, and he exercised that order when he offered up himself in a bloody manner upon the cross, by which he fulfilled and abolished that order of priesthood, which then gave place to the order of Melchisedech; according to which, Christ continues a priest for ever, offering up himself in the holy sacrifice of the Mass, under the forms of bread and wine.

SECTION II.

OF THE SACRIFICE OF THE NEW LAW.

Q.23. WHAT is the great sacrifice of the New Law? A. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who is both our High Priest and victim, who, in order to per fect the work of our redemption, and reconcile man with his offended Creator, offered himself once in a bloody manner upon the cross; and, in order to communicate and apply the fruits of his death to our souls, continues to offer himself daily upon the altar in an unbloody manner, by the ministry of his priest, in the Mass.

Q. 24. Is then the sacrifice of the Cross, and that of the Mass, the same sacrifice, or two distinct sacrifices ?

A. They are both one and the same sacrifice ; because the victim is the same, to wit, Jesus Christ; and the High Priest, or principal offerer, is the same in both, to wit, Jesus Christ. It was he that offered himself upon the cross; it is he that offers himself upon the altar. The only difference is in the manner of offering; because on the cross he offered himself in a bloody manner, and actually died; in the Mass he offers himself in an unbloody

manner, and only dies mystically, that is, his death is here represented by the separate consecration of the bread and wine which denotes the separation, or shedding of his sacred blood from his body. Q. 25. How does the separate consecration of the bread and wine represent the death of Christ? A. Although our holy faith teaches us that, in the blessed Eucharist, the body and blood of Christ are truly and really present under each kind, which are perfectly the same as to what is contained under them, and differ only in the outward appearances, yet as the outward appearance of bread more naturally represents his body, and the outward appearance of wine more naturally represents his blood, these being separately consecrated, and lying separate upon the altar, represent the real separation of his blood from his body, when he actually died upon the cross. By this means our holy victim is offered up to God, not actually dead, but under the appearance of death, according to what was shewn to St. John, when he says, "I saw, and behold, in the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the ancients, a lamb standing, as it were slain,” Revel. v. 6.; not actually slain, but, as it were slain, under the appearance of being slain. And hence we see the necessity of instituting the blessed Eucharist in both kinds, in order to be a sacrifice, though one kind alone constitutes a perfect sacrament.

Q. 26. What need was there for the sacrifice of the altar, since we were fully redeemed by the sacrifice of the cross?

A. (1). That we might have, in the sacrifice of the altar, a standing memorial of the death of Christ. (2.) That the memory of our Saviour's passion being thus daily renewed, and presented to Almighty God, might be a continual means to