322 ,A Preparation for th~ and wine that we receive, are not bare ancf · empty figns, to put us in 111ind of the de~th and fuffcrings of Chrift. , Our Saviour calls then1 his bac[y and blood: and f~ch, without \ queHi9n, theyare toaH fpiritual purpofesand advantages. We are nol obliged to believe,. that, after confecration, the bread and wine do vanifh, 'and the body aqd blood .of Chrif1: fucceed in their ·roo1n: our · fenf~ and rca[on do affure us of the contrary, the fcripture cloth no where affirm it, nor did' ever the ancient church believe it: nor is it poiliblc to conceive the ufe or benefit of · Jr this ftrange and uninteHigiple change. It is the Jpirit that quickneth, the jlefo profit- , · eth nothing *. Thefe words of our Saviour, areJpir:ft' ~a1td life, arc to. be underHood in a vital · ahd fpiritual fenfe. But thopgl1 thefe elemer1ts be not changed in tbeirnature and ft1bftance, yet they undergo a · 1nighty change as to their efficacy and u_fe; and that food which before could but yield ' a lfttlc refreihtnent to the body, is now bccon1e a mean to nourith and fhengthen the foul, an inflrument ~o convey unto us · all ~boC~ bleffi~1gs that the body and l?lood of -'our Saviour can afford us. . As under the law a part of fome !a.crifices wq.s * John. vi. 6~.
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