sacrifice which terminated in this way, was regarded as a solemn feast of man with God; hence it occurs that we find very frequently, in the old pagan poets, the banquet of Jupiter, and the viands of Neptune, used to signify the victims which were eaten after they had been immolated in honor of these false divinities; and though the Jews had holocausts, that is sacrifices in which the victim was entirely consumed in honor of the Deity, they were accompanied by the offering of a cake, so that in these sacrifices there might be something of which man could partake." *

The theology of India has associated this traditional rite to its vast conceptions. "All nourishment is deemed to be a sacrifice. The nourishment of the body is emblematic of that of the soul, viz. the holy truth,-the celestial manna. Wherefore food was to be taken with devotion, in a state of sweet recollection, the soul free from terrestrial cares and absorbed in the delights of an innocent joy. Thus religion gave laws even to festivals. We communicate with the divinity through the

* Treatise on the Eucharist, page 182-Paris 1694,

medium of the oblation presented to it. It is only on consecrated food that the Hindoo lives. He has a horror of all animal food, that has not been offered to the Divinity. Such are, in substance, the fundamental principles of the doctrine regarding sacrifices in India." * To cite but an example, one of the most celebrated sacrifices, which consisted in the immolation of a lamb, was accompanied by a prayer, in which these words were repeated aloud: When shall the Saviour be born? This symbolical ceremony terminated by partaking of the flesh of the victim, and so sacred was the character of this participation, that the law which bound the Bramins to perpetual abstinence, yielded to that superior law which prescribed communion. ↑ We find a similar custom among the Egyptians, who eat, in their principal sacrifices, the flesh of animals which on other occasions they held in abhorrence. Herodotus, who remarks this apparent contradiction, says that he had learned the reason of it; but, in

*The Catholic by Baron D'Eckstein.

Letters of the Abbé. P. Bouchet to Huet, Tom. xi of elifying, Letters p. 21.

order that he might not profane the secrets which had been confided to him, he veils it in a religious silence. *

In the ancient mysteries of Mithras, which finally prevailed through a considerable portion of the Roman Empire, St. Justin † and Tertullian ‡ inform us, that bread and a vessel full of water, over which a mysterious form of prayer was recited, were placed before the initiated; and this species of consecration was also followed by communion. § We learn from the Zends books, that a similar ceremony was deemed an essential part of the Persian worship. The offerings of bread, meat, and fruit, in which the priest and people participated at the end of the sacred ceremony, were designated by the name of Miezd. It would be difficult to imagine any thing more solemn than the prayers and benedictions which preceded and followed this rite. The holy spirits supposed to preside over the different parts of the universe and the conduct of men, as well as the souls of the just, † Apology.

* Hist of Herodotus, Lib. 11. Prescriptions, c. 40. § Vide note 11.

Vide note 111.

from the Father of the human race down to Sosioch, a name which the Zends books give to the expected Redeemer, were all invoked for that oblation. And, as the reversibility of merit was universally believed, a special prayer is contained in the same books, by which the priest, according to his private intention, applied the benefit of that holy action to other men. Purity was deemed a necessary disposition for participating in the oblation. The liturgy proclaimed: "The pure ordain the oblation, the pure ministers have performed it, and the pure partake of it." Then the Celebrant said to his attendant: "Man of the law, eat this Miezd, and perform this action with purity." The Zends books extol its efficacy in pompous terms. Ormusd, who from the beginning dwelleth in increated light, had instituted and celebrated the Miezd with the celestial spirits in his splendid mansion. To this ceremony the religion of the Persians adds another, emblematic of the same idea, and to which it attaches the same importance. The great Ormusd, in the beginning, created the tree of life. That symbolical tree, called Hom, grows in

waters of a pure and vivifying source which flows from the throne of Ormusd himself. It banishes death, it will effect the resurrection, and impart life to the blessed. They consecrate it by a form of prayer similar to that of the Miezd; and elevating they invoke it, because it exalts piety and science. After having extracted the juice, which is received in a sacred cup, they drink it, for it is said, that whosoever shall drink this juice shall not die. Thus the two principal ceremonies of worship, so closely united, are also linked with the mystical idea of a communion which consists in being nourished by sacred bread, and in drinking what the Zend Avesta terms the liquor of life.*

Among the Chinese the same rite presents itself in the sacrifices of an inferior order offered to the souls of the just, as may be seen in that which is celebrated in honor of Confucius. The priest after having buried in the earth the blood of the victim, offers to Confucius a vessel full of wine which he

* Zend-Avesta, Vendidad Sadé, Tom. 1, part II, passim.