the Lord,' but by the Holy Ghost:" and all our prayers are by the aids and communications of the Spirit of Christ, who helpeth our infirmities,' and 'by unutterable groans,' and inexpressible representment of most passionate desires, 'maketh intercession for us.' In fine, all the principles and parts, all the actions and progressions of our spiritual life, are derivations from the Son of God, by whom we are born and nourished up to life eternal.

2. Christ being the food of our souls, he is pleased to signify this food to us by such symbols and similitudes as his present state could furnish us withal. He had nothing about him but flesh and blood, which are like to meat and drink; and, therefore, what he calls himself, saying, " I am the bread of life," he afterwards calls "his flesh and his blood," saying, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;" that is, that you may perceive me to be indeed the food of your souls, see, here is meat and drink for you, my flesh and my blood; so to represent himself in a way that was nearest to our capacity, and in a more intelligible manner, not further from a mystery, but nearer to our manner of understanding; and yet so involved in figure', that it is never to be drawn nearer than a mystery, till it comes to éxperience, and spiritual relish and perception. But because we are not in darkness, but within the fringes and circles of a bright cloud, let us search as far into it, as we are guided by the light of God, and where we are forbidden by the thicker part of the cloud, step back and worship.

3. For we have yet one further degree of charity and manifestation of this mystery. The flesh of Christ is his word; the blood of Christ is his Spirit; and by believing in his word, and being assisted and conducted by his Spirit, we are nourished up to life; and so Christ is our food, so he becomes life unto our souls.

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Thus St. Clemens of Alexandria and Tertullian affirm the church, in their days, to have understood this mystery,

Ρ ̔́Απαντα τρέφεται τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐξ ὧν πάρεστιν. – Arist. לחם apud Arabes et Hebræos significat panem et corpus.

η Καθάπερ οἱ ζωγράφοι ἐν αὐτῷ πίνακι τὴν σκιὰν γράφουσιν καὶ τότε ἀλήθειαν τῶν χρωμάτων. S. Chrysost.

Pedag. i. lib. de resur. car. αὐτὰ εἶναι τὰ ρήματα καὶ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν σάρκα, καὶ τὸ αἷμα.- Euseb. lib. iii. Eccles. Theol. M. S. Pro. 9. 5.

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ne apostle; or the purifiout this offer, therefore, he , he who does 10 accounts the for by this Spirit his Spirit,' and by 'Jesus Christ does at these are the same the same economy of the 'precious blood ⚫ vain conversation, and e' purified and cleansed se are the express effects e mortify the deeds of the sanctified in the name of

of our God.' By which exinguish the natural blood of : blood that he gave for us, es to us: that was indeed by same thing, but this is the Spirit wisdom. And, therefore, 'as our in one spirit, when they drank of we also partake of the Spirit when od, which came from the spiritual 1: for thus according to the doctrine duty, and to be established in our title to the possession of the eternal promises. For so "Christ disposed the way of salvation, not by flesh, but by the Spirit," saith Tertullian; that is, according to his own exposition, Christ is to be desired for life, and to be devoured by hearing, to be chewed by the understanding, and to be digested by faith; and all this is the method and economy of heaven, which whosoever uses and abides in it, hath life abiding in him. He that in this world does any other way look for Christ, shall never find him; and, therefore, " if men say, Lo, here is Christ, or lo, there he is in the desert, or he is ἐν ταμείοις, in the cupboards [or pantries where bread or flesh is laid,] believe it not:" Christ's body is in heaven, and it is not upon earth: "The heavens must contain him till the time of restitution of all things;" and " so long as we are present in the body, we are absent from the Lord "."

In the mean time, we can taste and see that the Lord is gracious, that he is sweet: but Christ is so to be tasted as he is to be seen, and no otherwise; but here we walk by faith, and not by sight; and here also we live by faith, and not by mere or only bread, but from that word which proceedeth out from God; that as meat is to the body, so is Christ to the soul, the food of the soul, by which the souls of the just do live. He is the bread which came down from heaven; the bread which was born at Bethlehem; the house of bread was given to us to be the food of our souls for ever.

The meaning of which mysterious and sacramental expressions, when they are reduced to easy and intelligible significations, is plainly this: By Christ we live and move, and have our spiritual being in the life of grace, and in the hopes of glory. He took our life, that we might partake of his; he gave his life for us, that he might give life to us: he is the author and finisher of our faith, the beginning and perfection of our spiritual life. Every good thought we think, we have it from him; every good word we speak, we speak it by his Spirit; " for no man can say that 'Jesus is

η Annon ἀνθρωποφαγίαν. Hoc mysterium pronunciat [Nestorius] et irreligiose fideliom mentes in sensus adulterinos detrudit, ac humanis cogitatiombus aggreditur, quæ sola purâ et in exquisitâ fide accipiuntur.S. Cyril, lib. ad Euophium Anathem. 11.

• Quod esca est carni, hoc animæ fides. S. Cypr. id. de cœna Dom,

the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost:" and all our prayers are by the aids and communications of the Spirit of Christ, ' who helpeth our infirmities,' and 'by unutterable groans,' and inexpressible representment of most passionate desires, 'maketh intercession for us.' In fine, all the principles and parts, all the actions and progressions of our spiritual life, are derivations from the Son of God, by whom we are born and nourished up to life eternal.

2. Christ being the food of our souls, he is pleased to signify this food to us by such symbols and similitudes as his present state could furnish us withal. He had nothing about him but flesh and blood, which are like to meat and drink; and, therefore, what he calls himself, saying, " I am the bread of life," he afterwards calls "his flesh and his blood," saying, "My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed;" that is, that you may perceive me to be indeed the food of your souls, see, here is meat and drink for you, my flesh and my blood; so to represent himself in a way that was nearest to our capacity, and in a more intelligible manner, not further from a mystery, but nearer to our manner of understanding; and yet so involved in figure', that it is never to be drawn nearer than a mystery, till it comes to éxperience, and spiritual relish and perception. But because we are not in darkness, but within the fringes and circles of a bright cloud, let us search as far into it, as we are guided by the light of God, and where we are forbidden by the thicker part of the cloud, step back and worship.

3. For we have yet one further degree of charity and manifestation of this mystery. The flesh of Christ is his word; the blood of Christ is his Spirit; and by believing in his word, and being assisted and conducted by his Spirit, we are nourished up to life; and so Christ is our food, so he becomes life unto our souls.

Thus St. Clemens of Alexandria and Tertullian affirm the church, in their days, to have understood this mystery,

P ̓Απαντα τρέφεται τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐξ ὧν πάρεστιν. - Arist. לחם apud Arabes et Hebræos significat panem et corpus.