THE CORONATION OATH AND THE REAL PRESENCE. [To THE EDITOR
OF THE "spzczaroa.-i Sin,—My original assertion respecting the oath which our Kings or Queens must take is no longer "startling" to "An East-End Rector," but is confirmed by him. Both the passages which you allowed me to print, the one the Declaration—and a very solemn " oath " that seems to me to be—of not believing in the dogma of the transubstantiation of the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ ; and the other, the promise or oath, technically so called, to maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law, are accepted as undeniable by my unknown correspondent. I am sorry, however, consider- ing the heavy calls on his time which the claims of an East- End parish must entail op a resident rector, that I was not more
explicit in my last letter, and that I did not spare him the trouble of ascertaining for himself that the usage of our Constitutional procedure for some considerable time has been of such a character as to make the Protestantism of the occupant of the British Throne doubly sure. But all is well that ends well, and "An East-End Rector" must be congratulated on the fact that, while he bolds "the Old-Catholic doctrine of the Real Presence," he has learned, as the result of his own inquiries, that the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland has sworn to maintain, among other elements of the Protestant faith, this capital article :—." The sacramental bread and wine remain still in their very natural sub- stances, and therefore they may not be adored (for that were idolatry, to be abhorred of all faithful Christians); and the natural body and blood of our Saviour Christ are in heaven, and not here, it being against the truth of Christ's natural body to be at one time in more places than one." Whether these words of the Prayer-book, and which, as part of the Protestant Reformed Religion established by law, are constituent elements of the Corona- tion Oath, are such as to necessitate the "giving-up of Sacraments altogether" by her Majesty, is a question which I leave for solu- tion, not to the "Old Catholics," whoever they may be, or even to "An East-End Rector," but to the British Parliament, including the Bench of Bishops.—I am, Sir, 8:o., AN EAST-END VicAn. rl'his discussion must end here.--En. Spectator.
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