he first, Matt. 26:26, 27, 28, by the second, Mark, 14:22, 23, 24,
and by the third, Luke, 22:19, 20, reported with slight variations by
the three Evangelists, and which I took great pains to collate
and compare, conveyed no other idea than that of a _commemorative
ceremony_, designed to preserve and call to remembrance the
sufferings, the passion, and the death of Christ. In my then wretched
condition of unbelief, the magnitude, the sanctity, and the power of
the sacrament did not strike my mind; but, excepting that, I imbibed
from the consideration of these passages the views which I still hold.
So far, then, I had not discovered the doctrine of the real presence;
but I thought I _had_ indeed found it specifically established when I
read these words: "I am the living bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever; and the bread
that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the
world. The Jews, therefore, strove among themselves, saying, How can
this man give his flesh to eat? Then Jesus said unto them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and
drink his blood, we have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I
in him." John, 6:51-56. These words appeared to me to be undoubtedly
the foundation of the Romish faith on this head. I even thought that
the writer of them had the establishment of this doctrine especially
in view. At that moment I was tempted to stop, and to carry no further
my researches on a doctrine which I thought I had found clearly
set forth, but the absurdity of which had never appeared to me
so palpable. I then felt an utter disgust towards the Gospel;
nevertheless, internally spurred on by an invisible power, which was
then unknown to me, but which I now recognize to have been the Holy
Spirit, the author of all divine revelation; and attracted, as it
were, in spite of myself, by the Spirit of God, who graciously
purposed to teach me to appreciate, and in time to receive, the truth
of his word, I resumed my New Testament, which I had for a moment
thrown aside, and recommencing the perusal of the sixth chapter of St.
John, I read it to the end, which I had not done before.

When I reached the sixty-third v