Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/94

90 the Lord, which hung upon the cross, or else with the Protestants, that they were enjoined merely as memorials of the Lord's crucifixion, whereby divine justice was satisfied, the wrath of the Father appeased, and the redemption of man accomplished. It is from a knowledge of the internal or spiritual sense of the Word only, that the real uses of the holy supper can be discerned; and this teaches what is truly signified by the Lord's body and blood, what by the bread and wine, and what by eating and drinking thereof.

According to this sense, by the Lord's body or flesh is meant his divine love and goodness towards the whole race of mankind; which love is embodied in, and proceeds from, his Divine Humanity, through the medium of his Holy Word: this is represented and signified by the bread. By the Lord's blood is meant his divine wisdom and truth, likewise embodied in, and proceeding from, his Divine Humanity, through the medium of his Word: this is represented and signified by the wine. Eating and drinking denote the reception and appropriation, on man's part, of the heavenly influences of love, charity, and true faith, represented by the bread and wine, and at the same time conjunction with the Lord, which constitutes heaven and eternal life.

That this interpretation of the Lord's flesh and blood is in agreement with his own doctrine concerning himself, his divine love, and his divine wisdom, is plain from these his words in the Gospel by John, "I am the living bread, which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread, that I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Verily verily I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and