Heb. 7,

is set before us, is to discern the Lord's Body and Blood. Of which whoso partaketh, let him consider that he ought to prepare like things, that he may imitate Him by fellowship in His death, the memory whereof he confesseth, not by believing only, but also by tasting.

"For

XXXIX. So St. Paul to the Hebrews: 26. 27. «such an High Priest became us, who is holy, "harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and "made higher than the heavens; who needeth not

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daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, "first for His own sins, and then for the people's; "for this the Lord Jesus Christ did once, when He "offered up Himself." What He did once, He daily repeateth; He once offered Himself for the sins of the people, yet the same oblation is every day celebrated by the faithful, but in a mystery; so that what the Lord Jesus Christ by once offering Himself fully accomplished, this in remembrance of His passion is every day performed by the celebration of the mysteries.

XL. Yet it is not false to say that in those mysteries the Lord is sacrificed, or suffers, since they have a likeness to that death and passion, the representations of which they are. Whence they are styled the Lord's Body and the Lord's Blood, for they take the name of those things, of which they are the Sacraments. Hence St. Isidore, in his

book of Etymologies, speaketh thus: "Sacrificium "sacrifice is so called from sacrum factum, a thing "made sacred, because it is consecrated by mystical

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prayer, in remembrance of the Lord's passion on

our behalf. Whence by His command, we call that "the Body and Blood of Christ, which, though "made of the fruits of the earth, is sanctified, and "becomes a Sacrament by the invisible operation "of the Spirit of God. The Sacrament of this "bread and cup the Greeks call Eucharist, which "the Latins interpret Bona Gratia, Good grace. "And what can be better than the Body and "Blood of Christ? [Now the bread and wine are "for this cause compared to the Lord's Body and

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Blood, because as the visible substance of this "bread and wine doth nourish and cheer the out"ward man, so the Word of God, which is the living Bread, doth refresh the souls of the faith"ful by the participation of Himself "."]

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XLI. This Catholic doctor also teacheth, that this holy mystery of our Lord's passion is to be celebrated in memory of the Lord's passion on our behalf. By so saying, he shews that the Lord's passion was once accomplished, but that the memory of it is represented in sacred and solemn rites.

St. Isidore, Orig. book vi. ch. 19. brackets are not in the present copies of Isidore.

h The words in

XLII. So that the bread which is offered, though taken from the fruits of the earth, is by consecration changed into Christ's Body, and the wine, though it hath flowed from the Vine, yet by the consecration in this divine mystery is made the Blood of Christ, not indeed visibly, but, as this doctor saith, by the invisible operation of the Spirit of God.

XLIII. Whence they are called the Body and Blood of Christ, because they are received not as what they outwardly appear, but as they are made inwardly by the operation of the Spirit of God. And as through this invisible power they have a nature far different from that which outwardly appeareth, he maketh a distinction, saying, that bread and wine are for this cause compared to the Lord's Body and Blood; because as the visible substance of bread and wine doth nourish and make cheerful the outward man, so the Word of God, which is the living Bread, doth refresh the souls of the faithful by the participation of Himself.

XLIV. Now in saying this, he most plainly confesseth, that in the Sacrament of the Lord's Body and Blood, whatever is outwardly received, is fitted for the refreshing of the body. But the Word of God, which is the invisible Bread, and existeth invisibly in that Sacrament, doth, by the participation of Himself, invisibly feed the souls of the faithful with a quickening virtue.

XLV. Hence too, the same doctor saith, "There " is a Sacrament in the celebration of any thing, "when it is so performed, that it be understood to

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signify somewhat, which must be spiritually taken." By these words he sheweth that every Sacrament in divine matters containeth within itself some secret thing, and that it is one thing, which appeareth to the outward eye, whilst it is another, which must be taken on faith and not on sight.

XLVI. Immediately after he sheweth what Sacraments the faithful ought to celebrate. "The Sacra"ments are Baptism and Chrism', the Body and "the Blood. These are called Sacraments, because "under the covering of bodily things the power of "God secretly worketh the salvation, which lieth in "them. Whence from their hidden and sacred "virtues they are called Sacraments." He afterward saith, « It is called in Greek μυστήριον, a mystery, because it hath a secret and hidden dispens"ation."

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"It is usual with the ancients to divide the proper Sacra"ments, Baptism and the Eucharist, each of them into two or more, meaning the several parts or rites belonging to them. "Thus Isidore speaks of four Sacraments in the Church, which

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are, Baptism, Chrism, the Body of Christ, and the Blood of "Christ. As therefore the Bread and Wine are called two Sa"craments, though they be but two parts of the same Eucharist, so the washing and the unction are called two Sacraments, though they be but two rites of the same Sacrament of Bap"tism." Bingham, Antiq. b. xii. ch. 1. §. 4.

D

Sum

mary of the fore

XLVII. What are we hence taught, save that the Body and Blood of the Lord are styled mysteries, because they have a secret and hidden dispensation; or, in other words, that it is one thing, which they outwardly shew, and another, which they inwardly and invisibly do work.

XLVIII. For this reason too they are called Sacraments, because under the covering of bodily things, the power of God doth secretly dispense salvation to the faithful recipient.

XLIX. From all that we have heretofore said, it hath been proved, that the Body and Blood of going ar- Christ, which in the Church are received by the gument. mouths of the faithful, are figures in respect of their

Second ques. tion.

visible nature. But in respect of their invisible substance, that is, the power of the Word of God, they are truly the Body and Blood of Christ. Wherefore as far as they are visible creatures, they feed the body, but in virtue of a more powerful substance, they both feed and sanctify the souls of the faithful.

L. Now we must examine the second question proposed, and see, whether the self-same Body, which was born of Mary, which suffered, died, and was buried, and which sitteth at the right hand of the Father, be that, which daily in the Church is received by the mouths of the faithful in the mystery of the Sacrament.