Page:Meditations For Every Day In The Year.djvu/315

 same manner  the  Eucharist  produces  different  effects, according to  the  capacity  of  those  who  receive  it,  and  the dispositions of  those  who  approach  it.

X. When  the  manna  was  kept  even  until  the  next  day, from a  spirit  of  covetousness,  it  became  corrupted;  but when laid  up  by  the  command  of  God  in  a  vessel  of gold,  it  remained  uncorrupted  for  many  generations. In the same  manner  the  Eucharist,  when  it  is  received  unworthily, tends  to  increase  the  corruption  of  the  criminal soul, for  "  they  eat  and  drink  judgment  to  themselves, not  discerning  the  body  of  the  Lord." (1 Cor.  xi.  29.) But when  it  is  received  in  the  golden  vessel  of  a  pure and innocent  heart  it  becomes  the  seed  of  eternal  life.

XI. For forty  years,  whilst  the  children  of  Israel  were journeying to  the  land  of  promise,  the  manna  never failed; so  is  the  Eucharist  the  constant  and  never-failing food of  Christians  during  their  pilgrimage  through  this vale of  tears. " Behold  I  am  with  you,"  says  Jesus Christ, "even  to  the  end  of  the  world." (Matt, xxviii.  20.)

XII. The manna  fell  daily  without  intermission,  except on the  Sabbath  day,  on  which  day  the  Israelites  lived  on what  they  had  collected  the  day  before;  so  is  the  Eucharist our  daily  food,  and  will  not  cease  to  be  so  until  the Sabbath of  eternal  repose  arrive,  when  we  shall  live  forever on  the  fruits  which  we  have  collected  during  this life.

I. "A  certain  man  made  a  great  supper." (Luke xiv.