what was not, shall it not be able to change the things that are, into that which they were not? For it is not a less effect of power, to give new existence to things, than to change the natures that were. We will now establish the truth of the mystery, from the example itself of the Incarnation. Was the order of nature followed, when Jesus was born of a Virgin ? Plainly, not.—Then why is that order to be looked for here? It was the true flesh of Christ, which was crucified, which was buried; and this is truly the sacrament of his flesh.--Our Lord himself proclaims : This is my body. Before the benediction of the celestial words, the bread (species) is named; after the consecration the body of Christ is signified. He himself calls it his blood. Before consecration it has another name ; afterwards it is denominated blood. And you answer Amen, that is, it is true. What the mouth speaks, let the internal sense confess; what the words intimate, let the affection feel. By the sacraments Christ feeds his Church, and by them is the soul strengthened.”[1] De Mysteriis, c. viii. T. 11. p. 337-8-9.- In the same chapter he afterwards adds: “ Taste and see how sweet the Lord is : blessed is the man who hopeth in him. (Ps. xxxiii. 9) Christ is in that Sacrament, because it is the body of
- ↑ The expressions of this passage are repeated, and more emphatically stated, in a succeeding treatise on the Sacraments, often quoted under the name of St. Ambrose; but as its authenticity is doubted by the most able critics; though it is admitted by them, if not to be coeval with him, to be very ancient; I shall make no use of an uncertain authority. Still the authority proves what was the faith of the times in which the work was written.
