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blessed seed, in whom all nations should be blessed. Thus they believed, thus they received, and did eat his body.

But, say some, the Fathers of the old law were in darkness, in a shadow, and a figure; it was meet they should receive the Sacrament spiritually, or the body of the Lord spiritually; but all otherwise with us, unto whose benefit the Sacraments of the New Testament work the thing itself that they signify, so that we receive Christ really, bodily, and with the mouth of our bodies.

St. Paul telleth us, the fathers of the old law did eat the same spiritual meat, that is to say, the same Christ that we eat. So saith Augustine, These things were sacraments, in the outward tokens divers, but in the things signified all one with ours.' Likewise saith Leo, The sacraments are altered according to the diversity of times; but the faith whereby we live was ever in all ages one.'

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If they did eat the same meat, if the things, that is if the matter of their sacraments, were all one with ours, if their faith was all one with our faith, what difference is there between their and our eating? As they did eat Christ by faith, and not by the mouth of the body, so we eat Christ by faith, and not by the mouth of our body.

To make this somewhat more evident, let us take the judgment of the fathers. They teach us plainly that the spiritual eating of Christ's body by faith, is the true eating; and that we do not grossly, fleshly, really, or naturally eat him in the sacrament.

St. Cyprian saith the body of Christ is meat for the mind, not for the belly; not for the teeth to chew,

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but for the soul to believe.' Cyrillus saith, 'Our sacrament avoucheth not the eating of a man, leading the minds of the faithful in ungodly manner to gross (or fleshly) cogitations.' Athanasius saith, Unto how many men could Christ's body have sufficed, that he should be the food of all the world?' Therefore he made mention of his ascension into heaven, that he might withdraw them from corporal and fleshly understanding.

What thing may be spoken more plainly? It were impossible his natural body, naturally received, might suffice all the world. To let them see he had no such meaning, he speaketh of his going up into heaven. Spiritually then he is received of every one, and is digested, and becometh the nourishment of all the world.

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St. Augustine, expounding these words of Christ, "Whoso eateth of this bread shall not die," saith thus, That pertaineth to the virtue and effect of the sacrament not that pertaineth to the visible saHe that eateth inwardly, and not he that eateth outwardly; that eateth with his heart, not that braiseth (the sacrament) with his tooth."

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Thus is Christ's body received, as these holy fathers say, not to the filling or contention of the body, not with mouth or tooth, but with spirit and faith, unto the holiness and sanctification of the mind. After this sort we eat his flesh, and drink his blood.

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Therefore wicked men, and such as believe not, receive not the body of Christ, they have no portion in it. So saith Origen, The body of Christ is the true food which no evil man can eat; for if the evil man could eat the body of our Lord it should not

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be written, He that eateth this bread shall live for ever.' Ambrose saith, He that eateth this bread shall not hunger; it is the food of those that are holy; he shall not die the death of a sinner, because it is the remission of sins.'

St. Augustine saith, Whoso disagreeth from Christ neither eateth his bread, nor drinketh his blood, although he may daily receive the sacrament of so great a thing without difference to the judgment of his presumption.' And again, He that abideth not in me, and in whom I do not abide, let him not say or think that he either eateth my body or drinketh my blood.' And again, 'He that is blind in his heart within seeth not Christ that is our bread. And is he blessed? No man will say so, unless he be one as blind as he.'

Chrysostom saith, Where the carcass is, there are eagles.' The carcass is the body of Christ in rerespect of his death; but he meaneth eagles to shew, that whoso will approach to this body must mount aloft, and have no dealing with the earth, nor be drawn and creep downward, but must evermore flee up and behold the sun of justice, and have the eye of his mind quick and sharp. For this is a table of eagles (that flee on high,) not of jays (that creep beneath.)

So saith St. Jerome, Let us go up with the Lord into heaven, into that great parlour, spread and clean, and let us receive of him above the cup of the New Testament. He saith, They that rise not up by faith, receive not the cup of Christ.' So saith Hilary, 'The bread that came down from heaven is not received, but of him that hath our Lord, and is the member of Christ."

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This is the undoubted meaning of the old fathers, that the wicked are not partakers of the passion of Christ, because they lack faith, whereby only Christ is received of us. St. Augustine saith, How shall I hold Christ, being absent? how shall I thrust my hand up into heaven, that I may hold him sitting there? Send up thy faith, and thou holdest him.' By this means we draw nigh to Christ, we hide ourselves in his wounds, we suck at his breast, we feed of his body, and comfortably lay up in our mind that his flesh was crucified and wounded for our sakes.

To be continued.

RAIN.

'As rain on meadows newly sown
So shall he send his influence down;
His grace on fainting souls distils
Like heavenly dew on thirsty hills.'

NATURAL objects, properly improved and applied, present a fine subject to a spiritual and contemplative mind. The Christian may walk abroad and survey heaven's starry concave, the ocean's world of waters, the earth's variegated productions, flowers with their different hues, fields with their yellow harvests, lightning with its vivid glare, thunder with its terrific peal, and say,

The God that rules on high,

And thunders when he please;
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas,'-

"This God is my God for ever and for ever; he will be my guide even unto death." "O Lord our Governor, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!"

Amongst the vast variety of interesting objects which Creation presents to our view, rain is conspicuous. The Prophet Isaiah adapts it most strikingly as an emblem of the word of God, Isaiah lv. 10, 11, "As the rain cometh down and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth; it shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I have sent it."

1. Rain and snow are here represented as having their origin from heaven. Although produced by second causes, they have no Former but God. Naturalists say that vapours rising from the earth, exhaled by the sun, being intermixed with air form clouds, which being increased by the addition of other vapours, and driven together by the force of winds, run into drops, and fall upon the earth as rain.

The word of God is of celestial origin. The exact fulfilment of its prophecies, its connected harmony, its wonderful preservation, the nature of its revelations, its astonishing effect on the heart, its holy tendency upon the life and character, all prove it to be divine, that its Author is God. The messengers by whom it is communicated are qualified, appointed, and commissioned by him, renewed in the spirit of their mind, furnished with suitable talents, and fired with love and zeal for the Saviour and his cause, they labour in season and out of season, to persuade sinners to be reconciled to God.

2. In sending rain God acts graciously and sove

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