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peated by Multitudes, and yet we fear understood
but by very few of them. Give us this Day our
daily Bread. What, fays the Archbishop of Cam-
bray, is this Bread, O my God? Tis not
only the Food which thy Providence gives us
for the fuftaining our Lives, 'tis also that Nour-
• rishment of Truth thou Daily giveft the Soul.
'Tis that Bread which nourisheth to Life Eter-
nal; which caufes us to grow, and makes us
ftrong in the Time of Tryal of our Faith. Thou
reneweft it Daily: Thou giveft internally and
ontwardly, just fo much as is neceffary for the
Soul to grow in the Life of Faith, and in the
• Denial of Self. I must then eat this Bread, and
with a refign'd and willing Mind, receive all
the bitter Things which thou fhalt fend me,
both in my outward Affairs and in my own
Soul; for every Thing that happens to me in
• the Course of the Day, is my Daily Bread, if
I refuse not to accept it at thy Hand, and to
• nourish my self by it.

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* Donnez-nous aujourd'hui notre pain quotidien. Quel eft-il Luc. 11.3 ce pain, ô mon Dieu ? Ce n'eft pas feulement le foûtien que votre Providence nous donne pour les néceffités de la vie: • c'eft encore cette nourriture de verité que vous donnez chaque jour à l'ame. C'eft un pain qui nourrit pour la vie éternelle; qui fait croître, & qui rend l'ame robufte dans les épreuves de la foi. Vous le renouvellez chaque jour. Vous donnez au dedans & au dehors précisément · ce qu'il faut à l'ame pour s'avancer dans la vie de la foi, & ⚫ dans le renoncement à elle-même. Je n'ai donc qu' a manger ce pain, & qu' à recevoir en efprit de Sacrifice tout ce que vous me donnerez d'amér dans les afaires extérieurs, & dans le fonds de mon coeur; car tout ce qui • m'arivera dans le cours de la journée eft mon pain quotidien, pourvû que je ne refufe pas de le prendre de votre main, & de m'en nourrir.

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THE fame Author in his Meditations on Lent, fays, * Here am I, O my God in a Time of Privation and Abftinence: But 'tis nothing to faft <from the Food which nourisheth the Body, if we faft not alfo from every Thing that nourishes Self-Love. Give me therefore, O thou Spouse of Souls, that inward Virginity, that pure Heart, that Sequeftration from every Creature, that Sobriety which the Apostle speaks of, by which we use no Creature but for Neceffity, as ⚫ temperate Perfons take Victuals only for their Suftenance. O happy Faft, in which the Soul ⚫ holds all its Senfes in a Privation of what is fuperfluous! O holy Abftinence, in which the Soul, being obedient to the Will of God, gra⚫tifies not its own Will! It has, as Christ had, • other Meat by which 'tis nourished. Give me,

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O Lord! that Bread which is above all Subftance that Bread which will for ever fatisfie • the

*

*Me voici, mon Dieu, en un tems de privation & d'ab'ftinence; mais ce n'eft rien que de jeûner des viandes groffieres; qui nourriffent le corps, fi on ne jeûne auff de tout ce qui fert d'aliment à l'amour propre. Donnez moi · donc, ô Epoux des ames, cette virginité intérieur, cette 6 pureté de coeur, cette féparation de toute créature, cette fobrieté dont parle votre Apôtre, par laquelle on n'use 'd'aucune créature que pour le feul befoin, comme les perfonnes fobres ufent des viandes pour la néceffité. O bien 'heureux jeûne, où l'ame tient tous les fens dans la priva tion du fuperflu! O fainte abftinence, où l'ame raffafiée de la volonté de Dieu, ne fe nourrit jamais de fa volonté propre! Elle a, comme Fefus Chrift, une autre viande dont elle fe nourrit. Donnez le moi, Seigneur, ce pain qui eft au-deffus de toute fubftance, ce pain que apaifera á jamais ⚫ la Faim de mon coeur, ce pain qui éteint tous les défirs, ce pain qui eft la vraie manne, & qui tien lieu de tout. *The Author bere alludes to the Original Greek Word &orov above all Subftance, and fo the old Latin Tranflation bas

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the Hunger of my Soul, that Bread which extinguishes all my Defires, that Bread which is the TRUE MANNA, and ferves instead of every Thing else.

Now a Partaking of the Bread here defcrib'd, is we think, a true and real Participation of the Lord's Supper; and Material Bread even after Confecration, as 'tis call'd,not being, in the Judgment of all Proteftants, the Body of Chrift, 'tis the Belief and Opinion of the Quakers, that when any come to know and witness in themselves a Participation of this Bread, and of that Flesh and Blood which Chrift fpake of, when he faid, be that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood, dwelleth in me and I in him, they have no Occafion for Material Bread and Wine to commemorate Christ's Death and Sufferings, or to keep him in Remembrance. For * 'tis a great Mistake, fays Dr.

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it, Panem noftrum fuperfubftantialem. Mit. vi.11. Heinfii • verba, & Hieronymus dicit, Quod nos fuperfubftantialem expreffimus, in Græco éπiso 10v habetur. Eadem Interpretatio, eundem Patrem eo impulit, ut Panem qui fuper omnes fubftantias fit, & univerfas fuperet creaturas, intelligi vellet. • Unde Anagoge veterum, de pane alio, cælefti magis quam quotidiano. De quo piffim. Inter quos nonnulli, isσion, † • naтaßávja áπ3 spava, interpretati funt. Procopius, ut cateros omittam, ad Leviticum, Te nai Tò delov nμiv ¿Swρń• σάλο βάπτισμα. ὅτε καὶ τῇ ἀρτε κα]αβάνε ἐξ έρανε, μετ TEIλngaμer. Heinfii Exercitationes Sacræ in Matt. As he has bestowed on us the Divine Baptifm, lo likewife we have partaken of the Bread which cometh down from Heaven.

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*These are the Words of the Devout and Pious Thomas à Kempis, Book 4. Ch. x.* according to Dr. Stanhope's Tranf lation,

Poteft enim quilibet Devotus, omni die & omni hora, ad Spiritualem Chrifti communionem, falubriter & fine Prohibitione accedere.--Nam toti smyftice communicat, & invifibiliter reficitur, quoties incarnationis Chrifti myfterium paffionemque devotè recolit, & in Amore ejus accenditur. De Imitatione Chrifti Lib. 4. Cap. x.

I. c. 6.

Stanhope, to imagine that good, Men receive not the Advantages of Chrift's Body and Blood,

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lation, which varies a little from the Original Latin, tho' in Subftance the fame. We fuppofe the Tranflator endea. vour'd to accomodate his Vertion to the Doctrine of the Church of England, For in the Communion of the Sick 'tis faid, If a Man, either by Reason of Extremity of Sickness, or for Want of Warning in due Time to the Curate, or for lack of Company to receive with him, or by any other juft Impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood, the Curate fhall inftru&t him, that if he do truly repent him of his Sins, and ftedfaftly believe that Jefus Chrift hath fuffer'd Death upon the Cross for him, and fhed his Blood for his Redemption, earneftly remem bring the Benefits he hath thereby, and giving him hearty Thanks therefore, he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Chrift profitably to his Soul's Health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his • Mouth.

This Doctrine of the Church of England is agreeable Pædag. Lib. to the Sentiments of divers of the ancient Fathers as they are call'd. Clemens Alexandrinus takes thele Expreffions, to Eat the Flesh of Chrift and to drink his blood, to be as figurative as that of St. Paul, to feed with Milk, and tells us upon this Occation, that the WORD is varioully allegoriz'd, being call'd Meat and Flesh, and Nourishment, and Bread, and Blood, and Milk: and that our Lord is all these Things for our Enjoyment who believe in him.

De Refur.

Carnis c. 36.

37.

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Tertullian fays, upon thefe Words of Chrift, He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood &c. Because they thought his Saying hard and intolerable, as if he intended his Flefh fhould be truly eaten by them, he to fhew that the Caufe of Life and Salvation was fpiritual, premis'd this, That the Spirit quickneth; and then added, The Flesh profi teth nothing, that is, in refpect of quickning; And then he fhews what he means by the SPIRIT, The Words that. I Speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life. As he had faid alfo before, He that heareth my Words, and believeth • in him that sent me, bath Eternal Life, and shall not come into Condemnation, bu hath pid from Death to Life. Therefore making his Word to be the quickning Principle; fince his Word is Spirit and Life, he called his Word alfo hi

' own

except juft then when they receive the Outward and vifible Signs of them. Every Day, every

• Hour

own Flesh; for the WORD was also made Flesh: and there⚫fore in Order to Life, it is to be hungred after, and devoured by Hearing, and to be chewed again by the Understanding, and to be digefted by Faith.

Origen alfo interprets Flesh and Blood in like Manner: For, fays he, by the Flesh and the Blood of his WORD, as with pure Meat and Drink, he refresheth all Mankind.

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In Levit.

Hom. 7

Athanafius fpeaking of the literal Senfe in which the Jews understood our Saviour, hath thefe Words, For how could In illudEven his Body fuffice for fo many to eat of, that it fhould be- gel. Quicunq; dixerit, . come Nourishment for the whole World? It is, fays he, for this Reason that he mentioned the Son of Man's alcending into Heaven, that he might draw them off from the Corporeal Notion.

Macarius upon thefe Words, The Children of Ifrael having kept the Paffover depart, fays, The Soul advances forwards

having once received the Life of the Holy Spirit, and tafted Homil. 47. • of the Lamb, and been anointed with his Blood, and fed

· upon the true Bread, the Living WORD.

Contra Mo

ral. de Ecclef.

Eufebius in his Explication of thele Words, It is the Spirit that quickneth, the Flefb profiteth nothing, the Words that I Speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are Life. Do not Theolog. Lib. think that I speak of that Flesh which I carry about me, 3. c. 12, as if you ought to eat that, or that I command you to • drink my fentible and corporeal Body. You well under• ftand that the Words which I fpeak to you, are spirit and Life. So that his Words and Doctrines are Flesh and Blood, of which whoever conftantly partakes, he being nourished with Heavenly Bread, as it were, fhall partake of the Heavenly Life.

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Auguftin in his Book of the City of God, has these remarkable Words, Laftly, Jefus Chrift himself faying, He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood, dwelleth in me

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* De Civit. Dei Lib. 21. Cap. 25. Denique ipfe dicens, qui manducat Carnem me m & bibit Sanguinem meum, in me manet & ego in eo, ftendit quid fit non Sacramento terus, fed reverâ Corpus Chrifti manducare & eju Sanguinem bibere; hoc eft in Chrifto manere, ut in illo maneat & Chriftus. Sic enim hoc dicit tanquam diceret, Qui non in me m.net, & in quo ego non meneo, non fe dicat aut exiftimet manducare Corpus meum aut bibere Sanguinem meum.

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