external conditions they are
generated. They are the same whether experienced in consequence of
taking {33} bread and wine, or in consequence of understanding and
accepting the covenant of life made sure by the body and blood of
Christ. Although physical science is wholly incapable of informing us
_how_ the _corporeal_ elements bread and wine produce in those who
partake of them _feelings_ of strength and gladness (the antecedents
and consequents not being in the same category), we can yet understand
that the Creator of all things might by His immediate will attach to
those substances such effects, not alone for the sake of man's body,
but for the higher purpose of thereby informing his spirit that there
is cause for confidence and joy in the broken body of the Lord, and his
poured-out blood. This view is justified by the language of St. Paul,
where he says, speaking of the Son of God, that "all things were
created through him and _unto_ him" (_eis auton_, Col. i. 16); from
which doctrine it may be inferred that our Lord, having regard to the
cognizable effects of bread and wine spoken of by the Psalmist, said of
bread, "This is my body," and of wine, "This is my blood," because his
body and blood, when "spiritually discerned," have _the very same
effects_.

But why did Christ say, "This _is_ my body," "This _is_ my blood"? The
answer to this question may be given at once by pointing to a rule in
Scriptural teaching, according to which the symbol and the thing
symbolized are expressed in _identical_ terms. {34} The Bible must
have been read to little purpose by those who have not discovered that
this characteristic pervades all parts both of the Old and the New
Testament. On this principle, when speaking to the Jews, our Lord made
no distinction between his own body and the visible temple at
Jerusalem, just because his body was the proper habitation of the Holy
Spirit antecedently to, and comprehensively of, the dwelling of the
Spirit in any temple made with hands. St. Paul also employs like
teaching where he says, "They are not all Israel that are of Israel"
(Rom. ix. 6), the first "Israel" meaning God's elect of all nations and
times, and the other the Jewish people, by whom the elect are typified.
The rationale of this mode of teaching appears to be, that we could not
speak, or even think, of abstract verities, such as that Jesus Christ
is to us the author of life, and strength, and joy, without perceptions
a