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Taylor. Ken Hackett.

not this, is not a Christian. He that believes so much, needs not to inquire further, nor to entangle his faith by disbelieving his sense." Holy Living, vol. iv. p. 172.

"And therefore the Christian ministry having greater privileges, and being honoured with attrectation of the Body and Blood of Christ, and offices serving to a better covenant, may with greater argument be accounted excellent, honourable, and royal." Divine Institution of Office Ministerial, t. 5. §. 9. vol. xiv. 457.

Bishop Ken.

"I believe, O crucified Lord, that the Bread which we break in the celebration of the Holy Mysteries is the communication of Thy Body, and the Cup of blessing which we bless is the communication of Thy Blood, and that Thou dost as effectually and really convey Thy Body and Blood to our souls by the Bread and Wine, as Thou didst Thy Holy Spirit by Thy breath to Thy disciples, for which all love, all glory be to Thee.

"Lord, what need I labour in vain to search out the manner of Thy mysterious Presence in the Sacrament, when my love assures me Thou art there? All the faithful who approach Thee, with prepared hearts, they well know Thou art there, they feel the virtue of divine love going out of Thee to heal their infirmities and to inflame their affections; for which all love, all glory be to Thee.

"O God Incarnate, how Thou canst give us Thy Flesh to eat and Thy Blood to drink; how Thy Flesh is meat indeed; how Thou who art in heaven, art present on the Altar, I can by no means explain; but I firmly believe it all, because Thou hast said it, and firmly rely on Thy love and on Thy Omnipotence to make good Thy word, though the manner of doing it I cannot comprehend." Exposition of the Church Catechism.

Bishop Hackett.

"That which astonisheth the communicant and ravisheth his heart is, that this Feast afford no worse meat than the Body and Blood of our Saviour. These He gave for the life of the world, these are the repast of this Supper, and these we truly partake. For there is not only the visible reception of the outward signs, but an invisible reception of the thing signified.

There is far more than a shadow, than a type, than a figure. Christ did not propose a sign at that hour, but also he gave us a Gift, and that Gift really and effectually is Himself, which is all one as you would say, spiritually Himself; for spiritual union is the most true and real union that can be. That which is promised, and faith takes it, and hath it, is not fiction, fancy, opinion, falsity, but substance and verity. Therefore it cannot choose but that a real union must follow between Christ and us, as there is a union of all parts of the body by the animation of one soul. ... But faith is the mouth wherewith we eat His Body and drink His Blood, not the mouth of a man, but of a faithful man, for we hunger after Him not with a corporeal appetite but a spiritual, therefore our eating must be spiritual, and not corporeal. Yet this is a real substantial partaking of Christ crucified, broken, His Flesh bleeding, His wounds gaping: so He is exhibited, so we are sure to receive Him, which doth not only touch our outward senses in the elements, but pass through into the depth of the soul. For in true divinity real and spiritual are æquipollent: ... A mystery neither to be set out in words, nor to be comprehended sufficiently in the mind, but to be adored by faith,' says Calvin." Christian Consolations, Bp. Taylor's Works, ed. Heber, vol. i. p. 162.

Bishop Beveridge.

"When we hear the words of Consecration repeated as they came from our Lord's own mouth, "This is My Body which is given for you," and "This is My Blood which was shed for you and for many for the remission of sins;" we are then stedfastly to believe, that although the substance of the Bread and Wine still remain, yet now it is not common bread and wine, as to its use; but the Body and Blood of Christ in that Sacramental sense wherein He spake the words. ... When it comes to our turn to receive it, then we are to lay aside all thoughts of bread and wine, and the Minister and every thing else that is or can be seen, and fix our faith, as it is "the evidence of things not seen," wholly and solely upon our blessed Saviour, as offering us His own Body and Blood to preserve our bodies and souls to everlasting life, which we are therefore to receive by faith, as it is "the substance of things hoped for," stedfastly believing it to be,

as our Saviour said, "His Body and Blood," which our Church teacheth us are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper." Necessity and Advantage of Frequent Communion, p. 204, 5. ed. 1721.

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Whereby He plainly signified, that what He now gave them to eat and drink, He would have them look upon it, and receive it, not as common bread and wine, but as His Body and Blood; the one as broken, the other as shed, for their sins." Catechism, p. 125.

"Hence also it is, that our Church requires us to receive the Holy Sacrament kneeling, not out of any respect to the creatures of Bread and Wine, but to put us in mind that Almighty God our Creator and Redeemer, the only object of all religious worship, is there specially present, offering His own. Body and Blood to us, that so we may act our faith in Him, and express our sense of His goodness to us, and our unworthiness of it, in the most humble posture that we can. And indeed, could the Church be sure that all her members would receive as they ought with faith, she need not to command them to receive it kneeling: for they could not do it any other way for how can I pray in faith to Almighty God, to preserve both my body and soul to everlasting life, and not make my body, as well as soul, bow down before Him? How can I by faith behold my Saviour coming to me, and offering me His own Body and Blood, and not fall down and worship Him? How can I by faith lay hold upon the pardon of my sins, as there sealed and delivered to me, and receive it any otherwise than upon my knees? I dare not, I cannot do it. And they who can, have too much cause to suspect, that they do not discern the Lord's Body, and therefore cannot receive it worthily. Be sure, our receiving the blessed Body and Blood of Christ, as the Catholic Church always did, in an humble and adoring posture, is both an argument and excitement of our faith in Him. By it we demonstrate, that we discern the Lord's Body, and believe Him to be present with us in a particular sacramental sense, and by it we excite and stir up both ourselves and others to act our faith more stedfastly upon Him, in that by our adoring Him, we actually acknowledge Him to be God, as well as man; and therefore on whom we have all the reason in the world to believe and trust for our salvation." On Frequent Communion, p. 208.

Bp. Bull.

"We are not ignorant, that the ancient Fathers generally teach, that the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist, by or upon the consecration of them, do become, and are made the Body and Blood of Christ. But we know also, that though they do not all explain themselves in the same way, yet they do all declare their sense to be very dissonant from the doctrine of transubstantiation. Some of the most ancient doctors of the Church, as Justin Martyr and Irenæus, seem to have had this notion, that by or upon the sacerdotal Benediction, the Spirit of Christ or a divine virtue from Christ descends upon the elements, and accompanies them to all worthy communicants, and that therefore they are said to be and are the Body and Blood of Christ; the same Divinity which is hypostatically united to the Body of Christ in Heaven, being virtually united to the elements of Bread and Wine on earth. Which also seemsto be the meaning of all the ancient Liturgies, in which it is prayed that God would send down his Spirit upon the Bread and Wine in the Eucharist." Answer to Bossuet. Hickes's Controversial Discourses, vol.

i.

p. 249

Hickes.

"Nay I maintain, that no other interpretation of these words (St. Luke xxii. 18. the words of institution) can be invented, which shall either be more probable than this of ours, or more suitable to the purpose of our Saviour. And indeed that this is the true and only meaning of the text, I conclude from hence, that the Primitive Church always taught and understood it in this sense. And this I will now make good by a cloud of most unquestionable witnesses.

"And first let us hear St. Irenæus, St. Polycarp's contemporary, a most egregious assertor of Apostolic Tradition. In his fourth Book, being to prove against the Marcionites that Jesus Christ was the Son of the One true God, who made the world, and instituted the law of Moses for the Jews, he draws his argument from the oblation of the Eucharist: and our opinion, says he, "is agreeable to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist does reciprocally confirm our opinion: for we offer unto the Lord those things which are His, congruously declaring the commu

nication and the unity both of the Flesh and Spirit." And then follow these words: "For as the Bread which is from the earth, partaking of the invocation of God, is no longer common bread, but the Eucharist, consisting of two things, an earthly and an heavenly so also our bodies, partaking of the Eucharist, are no longer mere corruptible bodies, but have hope of a resurrection." In this passage the holy father does most expressly assert, that the Bread is made the Eucharist, that is, the Body of Jesus Christ by invocation of God, to wit by consecration, as will appear more fully in the sequel. In his fifth book the same holy father disputes against Valentinus; and maintains, that Jesus Christ assumed the human nature truly and really, and not only in appearance, as some heretics dreamt. And to prove this also, he applies the Sacrament of the Eucharist. "And thus," says he, "to wit, according to these things, neither has the Lord redeemed us with His Blood; nor is the Cup of the Eucharist the communication of His Blood; nor the Bread which we break the communication of His Body:" and a little after he has these words: "when therefore both the Bread broken, and the Cup mixed, have partaken of the Word of God, they become the Eucharist of the Body and Blood of Christ." Christian Priesthood, App. p. cccclxxxii.

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Dean Comber.

Only we must note, that this Amen in the end of this [Consecration] prayer was anciently spoken by the people with a loud voice; not only to shew their joining in the desire that the elements may become truly consecrated, but also to declare their firm belief that they are now to be esteemed as the very Body and Blood of Christ; let us therefore here most devoutly seal all that the priest hath done, and unfeignedly testify our faith by a hearty Amen. "Lord, it is done as Thou hast commanded, and I doubt not but the mystery is rightly accomplished; I am persuaded that here is that which my soul longeth after, a crucified Saviour communicating Himself to poor penitent sinners. O let me be reckoned among that number, and then I shall assuredly receive Thee, Holy Jesus. Amen." Companion to the Temple, vol. i. fol. p. 543.

"Still we do believe that every duly disposed communicant doth receive really the Body and Blood of Christ, in

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