16). I simply believe 'It is so of a truth, because Christ hath said it.' I simply take our dear Lord at His Word, 'for nothing can be truer than the Truth's own word;' and when He saith, Take, eat, This is My Body (S. Matt. xxvi. 26; S. Mark xiv. 22; S. Luke xxii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 24)-Drink ye all of It, for This is My Blood (S. Matt. xxvi. 271, 28f; S. Mark xiv. 24; S. Luke xxii. 20; 1 Cor. xi. 25, 27)—I believe with my whole heart that It is verily and indeed His Holy Body and His Precious Blood, and I say, 'Lord, I believe,' etc. (S. Mark ix. 24), Behold the servant of the Lord be it unto me according unto Thy Word' (S. Luke i. 38f). But how it happens I know not, save that when the Priest utters the words of Consecration, 'it is the Spirit that quickeneth' (S. John vi. 637), it is God the Holy Ghost that maketh the Bread to be the Body, and the Wine to be the Blood, of Christ.

How can these things be? I am not careful to answer thee in this matter, save in those lines attributed to Queen Elizabeth :

'Christ was the Word that spake It,
He took the Bread and brake It,
He spake the word and made It,
And what His word did make It
That I believe and take It.'

3. Let us inquire with all reverence, What is the use of Holy Communion?

In the other Sacraments God gives to us His Grace; here He gives us Himself, saying, 'Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it' (Ps. lxxxi. 11, and cf. ciii. 5). He knows us altogether (S. John ii. 25), and what we really want better than we do ourselves. Therefore, having no greater gift to bestow, He gives to us Himself to be our spiritual Food and sustenance in that Holy Sacrament' (1st Exh. in Com. Office), for the strengthening and refreshing of our souls' (Catech.); that so we may go in the strength of that Meat (1 Kings xix. 8; 1 Sam. xxviii. 22) the forty days and forty nights of our appointed pilgrimage here on earth until we reach the Mount of God.

It is thy Life (Deut. xxx. 20m; Prov. iv. 137), for we are dry and dead without it (S. John vi. 53, 54). In the Holy Communion, JESUS our Lord becomes all things to all men (cf. I Cor. ix. 22 with Wisd. xvi. 20, 21, and see S.P.C.K. Comment. in loco)-for if Prov. xvii. 8, how much more with the Gift of gifts-giving the kiss of Pardon to the 'penitent (S. Luke xv. 20/; Cant. i. 2); imparting Strength (Isa. xl. 29; 2 Cor. xii. 9f; Job xxiii. 6; and if the Mighty God of Jacob be in us, surely Job xii. 217; Judg. v. 217), Grace (Ps. lxxxiv. 11; Ephes. iv. 7), Light, Guidance, Comfort, Peace (Ps. xxix. 10), or whatsoever Heavenly Gift our soul desireth at any one time.

Here He meets His servants (Isa. lxiv. 5ƒ), and although He be a God that hideth Himself (Isa. xlv. 15) under the veils of Bread and Wine, yet here He makes Himself known to His faithful ones in the

Breaking of the Bread, and causes their hearts to burn within them as they discern the Lord's Body (cf. 1 Cor. xì. 29).

4. Who may partake of the Holy Communion?

It is the children's Bread,' the 'portion' of every member of the Household of Faith (Gal. vi. 10; Ephes. ii. 19) who is come to years of discretion.

And every soul that desires to have his part and lot with Christ at the last, and (Dan. xii. 13) not only may, but must, partake of It, for 'except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood,' etc. (S. John vi. 53), seeing that (S. John vi. 55, 56).

It is for every soul that feels its weakness, and cries, 'Lord, help me, increase my faith, increase my strength'!—that bewails its sinfulness, and cries, Wash me throughly from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin' (Ps. li. 2, 7)—

'O wash me in Thy Precious Blood,
And take my sins away!'

--that realizes its ignorance, and prays, "That which I see not, teach Thou me' (Job xxxiv. 32; cf. Ps. xxxii. 8)—that feels its blindness, poverty, and nakedness (Rev. iii. 17, 18)—that is really hungering and thirsting after righteousness (S. Matt. v. 6)--and that considers itself unworthy (S. Matt. viii. 8ƒ) of receiving and entertaining so great a Guest.

'I am not good enough!' No, you are not; and therefore He 'Who came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance,' calls you, that He may heal you, and help you, and make you better. The world may say, with bitter scoffing and contempt, 'He is gone to be Guest with a man that is a sinner' (S. Luke xix. 7); but cheer up! for "This Man'-JESUS our Lord—' receiveth sinners and eateth with them' (S. Luke xv. 2) in the Holy Communion.

And the more sick and ill we feel, the more do we need the healing touch of the Great Physician, to touch

Our eyes, and give us sight (S. Matt. ix. 29);

Our lips, and cause us to speak His praise (Isa. vi. 7);

Our ears, and make us hear His voice (S. Mark vii. 33; S.
John x. 3m);

Our hands, and strengthen us to work the thing which is good
(Ephes. iv. 28);

Our body, and cleanse it wholly from the leprosy of sin (S. Matt. viii. 2, 3).

If we are weak and sinful, let us examine ourselves, and 'spit out the poison of sin by true Repentance;' and 'so let us eat of that Bread and drink of that Cup' (1 Cor. xi. 28). Remember it is not respect for the Holy Eucharist that holds thee back from the Altar of God; but it is ingratitude to JESUS our Lord, who invites thee so lovingly, who calls thee so earnestly, and who here offers Himself to thee so constantly; it

is lukewarmness and carelessness that will not take the trouble to prepare!

Determine, then, I will wash my hands in innocency, O Lord; and so will I go to Thine Altar' (Ps. xxvi. 6); for there it is that JESUS, our Saviour, King, and Friend, saith, Come near to Me, I pray you' (Gen. xlv. 4); 'It is I, be not afraid' (S. Matt. xiv. 277); 'Come unto Me' (S. Matt. xi. 28), and I will do thee good.

It is I, Who am the Lamb of God, slain on Calvary to blot out thy sins; I, whose Heart has sighed for thee and yearned over thee; I, whose feet have wearied themselves for thee; I, whose eyes have wept for thee; I, whose Hands have been stretched out upon the Cross for thee; I, whose Blood has been shed for thee,-'Come near unto Me,' and unite thyself to Me in this Blessed Sacrament: 'It is I; be not afraid!'

III. What the Eucharist is.

Ex. xvI. 15, A. V. and marg.

And when the children of Israel

saw it, they said one to another, What is This?'

It may help us to gain a clearer knowledge and insight into what the Holy Communion really is, and enable us to take a firmer grasp of Sacramental truth, if I ask and also answer one or two plain questions respecting the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar.

I. What is the Holy Eucharist?

It is the greatest Gift that God can bestow, the most blessed man can receive. For as 6 'when God made promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater He sware by Himself' (Heb. vi. 13), so when He desired to bestow on man the greatest, most precious, and most blessed Gift, He gives to us Himself to be our Food. The Holy Eucharist is the fulfilling to the faithful of that promise, Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it' (Ps. lxxxi. 11); for in the Holy Communion God our Father feeds His children with the Body and Blood of Christ our Lord, then and there supernaturally present, under the forms of Bread and Wine. Not that the Bread and Wine are changed Into the Flesh and Blood of Christ, for that would be to contradict and 'overthrow the very nature of a Sacrament' (Art. xxviii.). But, that after the words of Institution have been recited by the Priest in the Prayer of Consecration, the Body and Blood of the Lord are there present, truly and really, after a heavenly and spiritual manner, 'for there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body' (1 Cor. xv. 44′). And like as the spiritual Body of our Blessed Lord after His Resurrection was independent of the laws of time and space, being at one moment present with the disciples at Emmaus, and at the next vanishing

out of their sight (S. Luke xxiv.): as the Body of the Lord and the door, through the substance of which He passed without opening it (S. John xx. 26m), must at some one moment have occupied the same space at the same time-a thing impossible in the natural world and to the natural body-but not impossible to God (S. Matt. xix. 26) nor to the spiritual body; as the door remained a door, but was powerless to resist the entrance of our dear Lord's sacred spiritual Body: so also in the Holy Eucharist the Bread and Wine are there upon the Altar in their own proper substances, but at the moment of Consecration that Blessed Spirit Who filleth the world (Wisd. i. 7), and Who bloweth where He listeth, and thou canst not tell whence He cometh or whither He goeth (Eccles. xi. 5f; S. John iii. 8), quickeneth (S. John vi. 63ƒ) them, and causeth the Body and Blood of the Lord to be there present also; and though we see them not with our bodily eyes, yet are they to be seen spiritually, because the Apostle blamed those who discerned not the Lord's Body (1 Cor. xi. 297).

Hence the Church of England rightly teaches that the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed' given by the Priest, and taken, eaten, and received by the faithful in this Blessed Sacrament, which is the very foretaste of the eternal Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. xix. 7, 8, 9; S. Mark xiv. 25; Isa. xxv. 6).

In the words of the Homily Concerning the Sacrament, Take then this lesson... that, when thou goest up to the reverend Communion to be satisfied with spiritual meats, thou look up with faith upon the Holy Body and Blood of thy God, thou marvel with reverence, thou touch It with the mind, thou receive It with the hand of thy heart, and thou take It fully with thy inward man' (Hom. S.P.C.K. ed. 1852, p. 478). 2. By whom was this Sacrament appointed?

By none other than our Blessed Lord and Saviour JESUS Christ Himself-according to Thy Son our Saviour JESUS Christ's holy institution.

...

as

Who in the same night that He was betrayed,' etc., Pr. of Cons.we read in S. Matt. xxvi., S. Mark xiv., S. Luke xxii., and in 1 Cor. xi.-where S. Paul tells us how the original Institution of the Holy Eucharist and the way of celebrating It had been specially revealed to him. All these passages tell us that our Blessed Lord said of the Bread and Wine in the Holy Communion, This is My BodyThis is My Blood. S. John omits the Institution of the Holy Eucharist as a thing well known and described by the other Evangelists, but in his vi. chapter he gives us a Sermon of our Blessed Lord's thereon, wherein the Lord speaks of Himself as

'The True Bread from Heaven' (S. John vi. 32);

'The Bread of God' (S. John vi. 33);

'The Bread of Life' (S. John vi. 35);

"The Living Bread of which whosoever eats shall live for ever' (S. John vi. 51).

Then he goes on to say, 'the Bread that I will give is My Flesh,

which I will give for the Life of the world' (S. John vi. 517); and next, He plainly declares the absolute importance and necessity of This Food for our salvation-- Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, ye have no life in you' (S. John vi. 53); and to all His disciples in every place throughout all time, even to the end of the world, He saith, 'Do This for a Memorial of Me' (1 Cor. xi. 24). Here, then, we have the Lord's own command, bidding us to celebrate, and also to receive, the Holy Communion in His Name and for His sake-a command as plain, as positive, as precise, as 'Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy' (Ex. xx. 8);

or 'Honour thy father and thy mother,' etc. (Ex. xx. 12);

or Thou shalt not steal' (Ex. xx. 15).

As our Friend and our Brother, our dear Lord advises us;

As our Saviour and Redeemer, the maker of the Banquet, our Blessed Lord invites us;

As our Creator and our King, our dear Lord commands us to offer this Eucharistic Sacrifice, and to receive these Holy Mysteries.

3. Why are the Body and Blood of the Lord present in the Holy Eucharist?

The Body and Blood of the Lord are 'verily and indeed' present in the Holy Eucharist after the Prayer of Consecration (I Cor. x. 16), for a two-fold purpose:

i. That they may be offered and presented unto the Father

'We here present, we here spread forth to Thee

That only Offering perfect in Thine eyes,

The One true, pure, immortal Sacrifice'

to put Him in remembrance (Isa. xliii. 26); and to plead for us the Atonement once made by Christ upon the Cross (Heb. ix. 14, x. 12), and continually pleaded by Him in Heaven (Heb. ix. 12, vii. 25).

ii. That we may be made partakers of Christ (1 Cor. x. 21), partakers of His holiness (Heb. xii. 10), partakers of His Divine Nature (2 S. Pet. i. 4; 1 Cor. vi. 17), and may be wholly united unto Him, that we may be one with Christ and Christ with us (31 d Exhort. in Com. Office).

When we take common food it is digested, and becomes like unto our own bodies, a very part and parcel of ourselves; but when we rightly receive This Holy and Heavenly Food of our dear Lord's Body and Blood, He is not made like unto us-for that He once was when He took our flesh and was made Man (S. John i. 14)—but we are made like unto Him, are quickened by His Sacred Flesh and Blood (S. John vi. 54), are raised and elevated, are changed into His image (cf. 2 Cor. iii. 18), and our whole nature is so affected that henceforth dwell in Him and He in us' (S. John vi. 56), according to the mighty working whereby He is able to subdue and transform all things unto Himself (Philipp. iii. 217).

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