nce.

We learn from Genesis of the fall of man. Universal tradition, as well
as Scripture, informs us that the creature formerly became guilty in the
eyes of the Creator. All nations, all peoples, endeavored to appease the
anger of Heaven and believed that a victim was necessary for this
purpose. Hence sacrifices have been offered from the beginning of the
human race.

Cain and Abel offered victims; the one the first fruits of the earth,
the other the firstlings of the flock. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Melchisedech worshiped this way, and their worship was acceptable to
God. Everywhere, even among the heathen, you find the altar, the priest,
and the sacrifice. As we learn from Leviticus and other portions of the
Old Testament, God Himself carefully prescribed the quality, manner,
number, and place of the various sacrifices which He was pleased to
accept from the hands of His chosen people. From this fact that
sacrifice has ever formed a prominent feature in the worship of all
people, we conclude that it belongs to the essentials of religion, and
that Christians to-day should have an altar of which, as St. Paul says,
"they can not eat who serve the tabernacle."

The sacrifices of the Old Law were provisional and prefigured the great
sacrifice of the New Law foretold by the prophet Malachy. This glorious
prophecy of Malachy, "From the rising of the sun even to the going down
My name is great among the Gentiles; in every place there is sacrifice,
and there is offered to My name a clean offering; for My name is great
among the Gentiles, saith the Lord of Hosts"--this glorious prophecy is
fulfilled only by the great sacrifice of the Catholic Church. We alone
can say with St. Paul, "_Habemus altare_" "We have an altar" and a true
sacrifice. Of all the blessings bequeathed by Jesus Christ to His
Church, there is none better, none greater, none holier than the holy
sacrifice of the Mass. It is the sacrifice of His own body and blood
offered to the heavenly Father under the appearances of bread and wine.
It was instituted by Our Lord at the Last Supper, when He took bread and
wine in His sacred hands and blessed them, saying, "This is My body. . .
. This is My blood. . . . Do this for a remembrance of Me."

He instituted the holy Mass in order to represent and continue the
sacrifice of Calvary. St Paul says, in his first epistle to the
Corinthians, xi. 26, that it was instituted to show the death of the
Lord until His second