It is a very easy thing to make a confident assertion, and such assertions produce a greater effect on many minds than the most careful and best-established proof. Thus it is not at all an uncommon thing to hear it asserted with the utmost confidence that what is termed ‘The Doctrine of the Real Presence,’ is taught by the Church of England; and the result is that a considerable number of persons believe in the assertion, and place reliance on those who make it, as if they, and they only, were the true expositors of the Church’s doctrine. In many cases a blind consent is blindly given. The Scriptures are not investigated because the point is supposed to have been settled by the Church, and the documents of the Church are not studied because the doctrine is regarded as beyond the reach of doubt; whereas, if the real groundwork of that opinion were examined, it would be found to consist in nothing more than confident assertion. But those who are loyal to the Church of England ought not to be satisfied with any such representation of its teaching. The issues at stake are far too serious, and, now that after three hundred years of faithful service the Church of England is entering on such a sifting time as she has never yet experienced, it is only fair to her that her own language should be patiently heard, and her own teaching honestly examined. This, then, is the object of this address. I am not about to discuss the teaching of Scripture, but of the Church of England; and my desire is to ascertain by the careful and candid examination of her own documents whether there is, or is not, any authority for the assertion that she teaches what is commonly called ‘The Doctrine of the Real Presence.’ In doing this, our first business is to ascertain what is the real point at issue, and this is not so easy a task as it may appear, as amongst those who maintain that doctrine there are no authoritative documents on the subject to which we can refer. But, I believe, I am perfectly safe in arranging the three principal points at issue under the three heads of the Real Presence, Adoration, and Sacrifice; and these three I propose to investigate in that order.