not the communion of the Body of Christ?" and again, "I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the Vine;" she holds that the nature of the Bread and Wine continues after consecration, and therefore rejects transubstantiation, or "the change of the substance" which supposes the nature of bread entirely to cease by consecration. "As a necessary consequence of the preceding truths, and admonished by Christ Himself," It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are life;" she holds that the Presence (and therefore the eating) of Christ's Body and Blood, though true, is altogether "heavenly and spiritual," of a kind which is inexplicable by any carnal or earthly experience or imagination: even as the Sonship of the Eternal Word of God, and His Incarnation, and the Procession of the Holy Spirit, are immeasurable by human understandings. "Believing according to the Scriptures, that Christ ascended in His natural Body into Heaven, and shall only come from thence at the end of the world; she rejects, for this reason, as well as the last, any such real Presence of Christ's Body and Blood as is "corporal" or organical, that is, according to the known and earthly mode of existence of a body. "Resting on the Divine promise, "Whoso eateth My Flesh and drinketh My Blood, hath eternal life," she regards it as the more pious and probable opinion, that the wicked, those who are totally devoid of true and living faith, do not partake of the Holy Flesh of Christ in the Eucharist, God withdrawing from them so "divine" a gift, and not permitting His enemies to partake of it. And hence she holds, that such a faith is "the means by which the Body of Christ is received and eaten,” “a necessary instrument in all these holy ceremonies;" because it is the essential qualification on our parts, without which that Body is not received; and because "without faith it is impossible to please God." "Following the example of our Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Apostles, and supported by their authority, she believes that "the blessing," or "consecration" of the Bread and Wine is not without effect, but that it operates a real change: for when the Sacrament is thus perfected, she regards it as so "divine a thing," so "heavenly a food," that we must not "presume" to approach it with unprepared minds, and that sinners, although they only partake of the Bread and Wine, partake of them to their own condemnation, because they impiously disregard the Lord's Body, which is truly present in that Sacrament. Hence it is that the Church believing firmly in the real Presence of the "precious and blessed Body and Blood of our Saviour Jesus Christ," speaks of the Eucharist as "high and holy mysteries," exhorts us to consider the "dignity of that holy mystery," that "heavenly feast," that "holy table," "the banquet of that most heavenly food," even "the King of kings' table." "Such is the simple, the sublime, and, what is more, the true and scriptural doctrine of our Catholic and Apostolic Church— a doctrine which cannot be accused of heresy except from ignorance or uncharitableness. Even our adversaries are compelled sometimes by the force of truth to clear the Church of England from the imputation of disbelieving the sublime mysteries of this Holy Sacrament, and reducing it to a common spiritual exercise, in which the mind of the individual derives edification, and perhaps grace, from the contemplation and remembrance of an absent Redeemer's sufferings. "Our doctrine leaves this subject in the sacred mystery with which God has enveloped it. It is not to be denied that the Roman doctrine of transubstantiation facilitates the mental conception of that mystery: but it has the fatal defect of being opposed to the plain language of Scripture; and if those statements are to be explained away, and reduced to merely figurative expressions, according to the doctrine of Paschasius Radbertus and his school; the Berengarians, Zuinglians, and Socinians, may with reason claim a similar privilege of arbitrarily explaining away into figures the very passages in which the doctrine of the true Presence itself is conveyed. "The Roman doctrine of transubstantiation is entirely founded on human reasoning from the nature of bodies, and the supposed incompatibility of the scriptural statement that the Eucharist is Bread and Wine, literally understood, with the other expressions of Scripture. But what Bossuet has observed of the philosophical reasonings of the School of Zurich and Geneva against the real Presence, "que les reçevoir en matière de religion, c'est détruire non seulement le mystère de l'eucharistie, mais tout d'un coup tous les mystères du Christianisme," is perfectly applicable to those of Romanists for their transubstantiation." Palmer's Treatise on the Church, vol. ii. p. 526–533. INDEX TO THE ENGLISH WRITERS QUOTED. HOLY Eucharist-Benefits of the use of the high language of the Sayings of the Fathers acknowledged specifically, Bp. Ridley, p. 35, Churches of England and Rome differ therein, not as to the Real Our Lord's words "This is My Body" to be believed; the mode The very, true, natural Body and Blood of Christ which was born, The Body and Blood of Christ are really and substantially present in 58, 9. truly, really, and substantially, Bp. Forbes, p. 59. actually, By the word Amen, the Communicant professes his belief in the Present to all that worthily receive, Abp. Sharp, p. 81. To the un- Under the forms or species of bread and wine, Sutton, p. 57. Grabe, p. 86. Unworthy receiving defiles the Body and Blood of Christ, Real Presence confessed generally, Bps. Ridley, &c. (See above head That Presence caused by the Consecration, not by our Faith, Bp. Not in receiving only, Bp. Overall, p. 42. Herbert, p. 62. world, and that Blood which was poured out to redeem souls, Id. ib. Christ hath imparted power to it over that mystical body, which is the society of souls, and over that natural, which is Himself, Id. ib. The Bread, though not transubstantiated, to be called His Body. Dr. Donne, p. 49. The elements receive a new form, a new essence, a new nature. Id. p. 50. After Consecration, not called Bread and Wine, but the Body and Blood of Christ. Bp. Overall, p. 41. The Christian Ministry handle (attrectation) the Body and Blood of Christ. Bp. Taylor, p. 72. We handle the mystical Body of Christ as Joseph, Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene, (His Holy Body on earth,) Mede, p. 62. Christ broken in the Holy Eucharist. Bp. Taylor, p.71. (comp. Herbert, p. 62. Bp. Hackett, p.73.) We there dip our tongues in the wounds of our Redeemer, are dyed red within and without, Hooker, p. 39. that Bread, with touching sanctifieth. Id. p. 40. Our Lord teaches, that He is to be touched truly now, though not carnally, Bp. Andrewes, p. 48, 9. The old serpent, seeing the Blood of the true Paschal Lamb upon the lips of communicants, trembles to approach them.-ap. Bp. Wilson, p. 85. We have the price of our redemption in our hands. Johnson, p. 79. Greatness of the Gift in the Holy Eucharist, chiefly in reference to the Incarnation. The Holy Communion, the salve of immortality and sovereign preservative against death;—a deifical communion;-the sweet dainties of our Saviour, the pledge of eternal health, the defence of faith, the hope of the resurrection;—the food of immortality, the healthful grace, and the conservatory to everlasting life, (sayings of "Ancient Catholic Fathers," in Homilies, Sermon title page reverse.) A Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ in a marvellous incorporation, which, by the operation of the Holy Ghost, is through faith wrought in the souls of the faithful. Homilies, p. 33. The Holy Eucharist applies to individuals the benefit of the Incarnation. Hooker. p. 3. p. 14. n. p. and p. 37. Bp. Andrewes, p. 44, 5. Mede, p. 61. (The Holy Spirit doth not unite us immediately to Himself, but to Christ's Human Nature, Jackson, p. 50.) We participate of that Flesh which Christ took of us. Bp. Andrewes, p. 44, 5. Of the Word made Flesh. Id. p. 44. We take His Flesh as He ours. Id. ib. receive that Body and that Blood which for our sakes was dissolved, suffered for our sins, was raised again. Id. p. 47. The Bread which we break, the partaking of that Body and Flesh which Christ took. Id. p. 44. Of His true Body. Id. p. 49. There is the Blood which shall purge our consciences from dead works. Id. p. 45. life in it, by eating the Flesh of Christ. Id. p. 46. participate with the Flesh and Blood of Christ, as by nature we do by participating the flesh and blood, the substance of Adam. Id. p. 46. Christ united with us as being our nourishment, closer than any other union. Id. p. 44, 5. receive Christ Himself to be in us. Id. p. 47. Never so truly in Christ and He in us, as when new from it. Ib. p. 46. By the Holy Eucharist we become partakers of the Divine nature. Id. p. 44. (Comber, p. 77.) Have the price of our redemption within us. p. 46. lay up our hope literally within our bosoms, ibid. By receiving His Blessed Body and Blood in the Holy Eucharist, we become the temples of His Body; the temple of His Body is in the temples of ours. Id p. 47. Christ dwelleth in us, by His Flesh in us. Id. ib. imparteth His whole entire Person as a mystical head. Hooker, |