y, and gave
the same reasons for his opposition that all Protestant writers have
alleged against it, viz., that the New Testament abolished the sacrifice,
or rather, that ancient rites and ceremonies were superseded by the great
sacrifice of the Saviour of the world himself on the cross, and that the
idea itself involves the profanation that mortal and sinful man can
sacrifice on his altars at his will the immaculate Lamb of God. These
powerful objections were only met with excuses of convenience and
utility. The Council wrestled with the reformed doctrines, and contended
that its own system must necessarily be entirely different from that
taught by the Reformers, not only in substance but even in its accidents.
Reform denied Transubstantiation, and therefore the Roman church thought
it convenient to fortify that dogma by bringing it daily before the eyes
of the people, and constituting it an essential part of their worship.

If, in a Protestant point of view, the mass is considered as an attack on
the true spirit of Christianity, as upholding not only
transubstantiation, but also the doctrine of intercession of saints, yet
still, in the eyes of a good Roman Catholic, it is a rite full of
elevated thoughts, devout prayers, and highly proper and religious ideas.

The first part of the mass, from the _Introite_ to the _Offertory_, is
composed almost entirely of fragments of Scripture: such are, first, the
_Introite_, generally taken from the Psalms; secondly, the _Collect_,
which is the same as that in the Protestant Book of Common Prayer for
Sundays; thirdly, the _Epistle_, which is part of a chapter out of the
prophecies, or out of one of the epistles in the New Testament; fourthly,
the _Gradual_, also taken from the Psalms; and fifthly, the _Gospel_,
which, as its name indicates, is a portion of a chapter taken from some
one of the four evangelists. The parts added by the popes are, first,
the _Kyrie Eleyson_, taken from the rites of the Greek church; secondly,
the _Gloria_, which is a magnificent outburst of the most elevated
religious sentiments; and lastly, the _Symbol_ of the faith.

The _Offertory_, which is the second part of the mass, is one series of
prayers, in which the _Canon_ is prepared, by offering up the host (which
has to be consecrated in order to obtain upon it the blessing of the Most
High), and by invoking the intercession of the saints, and enumerating
all the graces and favours implored throug