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when we are externally and symbolically in the sacrament, and by faith and the Spirit of God internally united to Christ, and made partakers of his body and blood, we are joined and made one with him, who did rise again; and when the head is risen, the members shall not see corruption for ever, but rise again after the pattern of our Lord. If, by the sacrament, we are really united and made one with Christ, then it shall be to us in our proportion, as it was to him: we shall rise again, and we shall enter into glory. But it is certain we are united to Christ by it; we eat his body and drink his blood sacramentally by our mouths, and, therefore, really and spiritually by our spirits and by spiritual actions co-operating. For what good will it do us to partake of his 'body, if we do not also partake of his spirit? but certain it is, if we do one, we do both'; "cum naturalis per sacramentum proprietas perfectæ sacramentum sit unitatis," as St. Hilary's expression is; "the natural propriety," viz. the outward elements, " by the sacrament," that is, by the institution and blessing of God, "becomes the sacrament of a perfect unity:"-which, beside all the premises, is distinctly affirmed in the words of the apostle; "we which are sanctified, and he which sanctifies, are all of one;" and again: "the bread which we break, is it not the communication of the body of Christ? and the cup which we drink, is it not the communication of the blood of Christ ?" plainly saying, that, by this holy ministry, we are joined and partake of Christ's body and blood, and then we become spiritually one body, and, therefore, shall receive in our bodies all the effects of that spiritual union; the chief of which, in relation to our bodies, is resurrection from the grave. And this is expressly taught by the ancient church. So St. Irenæus" teaches us:

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Humana enim caro, quæ erat peccato mortna, carni mundæ unità, incorporata, unum cum illâ affecta, vivit de spiritu ejus, sicut unum corpus de suo spiritu. St. Aug. Epist. ad Iren.

Condescendens Deus nostris fragilitatibus influit, oblatis vim vitæ convertens ea în véritatem propriæ carnis, ut corpus vitæ quasi quòddam semen vivificativum inveniatur in nobis. —S. Cyril. ad Cælosyrium.

Christus suo corpore per communionem mysticam benedicens credentibus et secum et inter nos unum corpus efficit.-St. Cyril, in Johan. lib. xì. c. 26. De Trinit. lib. viii.

Lib. iv. c. 34. S. Clem. Alex. lib. ii. pædag. c. 2. Bibere Jesu sanguinem est participem esse incorruptionis Domini. lib, v.

4(4). The effect of this I represent in the words of Lyras: “That which does purge and cleanse our sins, must be celestial and spiritual; and that which is such, hath a perpetual efficacy, and needs not to be done again: but that which is daily offered in the church, is a daily commemoration of that one sacrifice, which was offered on the cross, according to the command of Christ, "Do this in commemoration of me.".

4 (5). Now this holy ministry and sacrament of this death, being according to Christ's commandment, and, in our manner, a representation of that eternal sacrifice,-an imitation of Christ's intercession in heaven in virtue of that sacrifice, must be after the pattern in the Mount; it must be as that is, 'purâ prece,' as Tertullian's phrase is, by pure prayer;' it is an intercession for the whole church, present and absent, in the virtue of that sacrifice. I need add no more, but leave it to the meditation, to the joy and admiration of all Christian people to think and to enumerate the blessings of this sacrament, which is so excellent a representation of Christ's death, by Christ's commandment; and so glorious an imitation of that intercession, which Christ' makes in heaven for us all; it is all but the representation of his death, in the way of prayer and interpellation; Christ as head, and we as members; he as High Priest, and we as servants, his ministers. And, therefore, I shall stop here, and leave the rest for wonder and eucharist: we may pray here with all the solemnity and advantages imaginable; we may, with hope and comfort, use the words of David', “I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord." We are here very likely to prevail for all blessings', for this is, by way of eminency, glory, and singularity, calix benedictionis,' the cup of blessing,' which we bless, and by which God will bless us; and for which he is to be blessed for evermore.

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5. By the means of this sacrament our bodies are made capable of the resurrection to life and eternal glory. For

L

4 In Epist. 10. ad Hebr.

r Psalm cxvi.

• Hinc ergo pensemus quale sit hoc sacramentum, quod pro absolutione nostra passionem unigeniti filii imitetur. Quis enim fidelium habere dubium posset, in ipsâ immolationis horà ad sacerdotis voceni cœlos aperiri, in illo Jesu Christi mysterio angelorum choros adesse. — S. Gregor, in homil, Paschali.

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gout, in the time of ministration, gave him the holy symbols, and told him it was good for his sickness also, and that he presently found his cure. I myself knew a person of great sanctity, who was afflicted to death's door with a vomiting, and preparing herself to death by her viaticum,' the holy sacrament, to which she always bore a great reverence; she was infinitely desirous, and yet equally fearful, to receive it, lest by her infirmity she should reject that, which, in her spirit, she passionately longed for: but her desire was the greater passion, and prevailed; she received it, and swallowed it; and, after great aud earnest reluctancy, being forced to cast it up,- in zeal, and with a new passion, took it in again, and then retained it, and from that instant speedily recovered, against the hope of her physician, and the expectation of all her friends.-God does miracles every day; and he who, with spittle and clay, cured the blind man's eyes, may well be supposed to glorify himself by the extraordinary contingencies and sacramental contacts of his own body. But that which is most famous and remarked, is, that the Austrian family do attribute the rise of their house to the present grandeur, to William, earl of Hapsburgh, and do acknowledge it to be a reward of his piety in the venerable treatment and usage of these divine mysteries. It were easier to heap together many rare contingencies, and miraculous effects of the holy sacrament, than to find faith to believe them now-a-days; and, therefore, for this whole affair I rely upon the words of St. Paul', affirming that God sent sicknesses, and sundry kinds of death, to punish the Corinthian irreverent treatment of the blessed sacrament;' and, therefore, it is not to be deemed, but that life and health will be the consequent of our holy usages of it: for if by our fault it is a savour of death, it is certain, by the blessing and intention of God, a savour of life. But of these things in particular we have no promise; and, therefore, such events as these cannot, upon this account of faith and certain expectations, be designed by us in our communions. If God please to send any of them, as sometimes he hath done, it is to promote his own glory, and our value of the blessed sacrament, the great ministry of salvation.

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b 1 Cor. xi. 26.

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7. The sum of all I represent in these few words of St. Hilary. "These holy mysteries, being taken, cause that Christ shall be in us, and we in Christ." And if this be more than words, we need no further inquiry into the particulars of blessing consequent to a worthy communion; for "if God hath given his Son unto us, how shall not he, with him, give us all things else?" Nay, all things that we need, are effected by this," said St. Clement of Alexandria, one of the most ancient fathers of the church of Christ: "Eucharistiæ qui per fidem sunt participes, sanctificantur et corpore et animad:" "They, who by faith are partakers of the eucharist, are sanctified both in body and in soul."

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Foute renascentes, membris et sanguine Christi

Vescimur, atque ideo templum Deitatis habemur.-Sedul.

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"How great, therefore, and how illustrious benefits" (it is the meditation of St. Eusebius Emissėnus) "does the power of the divine blessing produce! you ought not to esteem it strange and impossible; for how earthly and mortal things are converted into the substance of Christ, ask thyself, who art regenerated in Christ. Not long since, thou wast a stranger from life, a pilgrim and a wanderer from mercy, and, being inwardly dead, thou wert banished from the way of life. On a sudden, being initiated into the laws of Christ, and renewed by the ministries of salvation, thou didst pass suddenly into the body of the church, not by seeing, but by believing; and, from a son of perdition, thou hast obtained to be adopted a son of God, by a secret purity; remaining in a visible measure, thou art invisibly mnade greater than thyself, without any increase of quantity; thou art the same thou wert, and yet very much another person in the progression of faith; to the outward nothing is added, but the inward is wholly changed; and so a man is made the son of Christ, and Christ is formed in the mind of a man. As therefore suddenly, without any bodily perception, the former vileness being laid down, on the sudden thou hast put on a new dignity, and this that God hath done, that he hath cured thy wounds, washed off thy stains, wiped

c Hæc, sumpta et hausta, faciunt ut nos in Christo et Christus in nobis sit. Lib. viii. de Trinit. habetur de consecrat. dist.

Lib. ii. pæd. cap. 2.

gout, in the time of ministration, gave him the holy symbols, and told him it was good for his sickness also, and that he presently found his cure. I myself knew a person of great sanctity, who was afflicted to death's door with a vomiting, and preparing herself to death by her viaticum,' the holy sacrament, to which she always bore a great reverence; she was infinitely desirous, and yet equally fearful, to receive it, lest by her infirmity she should reject that, which, in her spirit, she passionately longed for: but her desire was the greater passion, and prevailed; she received it, and swallowed it; and, after great aud earnest reluctancy, being forced to cast it up,- in zeal, and with a new passion, took it in again, and then retained it, and from that instant speedily recovered, against the hope of her physician, and the expectation of all her friends.-God does miracles every day; and he who, with spittle and clay, cured the blind man's eyes, may well be supposed to glorify himself by the extraordinary contingencies and sacramental contacts of his own body. But that which is most famous and remarked, is, that the Austrian family do attribute the rise of their house to the present grandeur, to William, earl of Hapsburgh, and do acknowledge it to be a reward of his piety in the venerable treatment and usage of these divine mysteries. It were easier to heap together many rare contingencies, and miraculous effects of the holy sacrament, than to find faith to believe them now-a-days; and, therefore, for this whole affair I rely upon the words of St. Paul', affirming that God sent sicknesses, and sundry kinds of death, to punish the Corinthian irreverent treatment of the blessed sacrament;' and, therefore, it is not to be deemed, but that life and health will be the consequent of our holy usages of it: for if by our fault it is a savour of death, it is certain, by the blessing and intention of God, a savour of life. But of these things in particular we have no promise; and, therefore, such events as these cannot, upon this account of faith and certain expectations, be designed by us in our communions. If God please to send any of them, as sometimes he hath done, it is to promote his own glory, and our value of the blessed sacrament, the great ministry of salvation.

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b 1 Cor. xi. 26.

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