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Ру in the contemplation of goodness and of happiness diffused, increased, sublimed, prolonged.

If we consider man without goodness, how detestable and wretched an animal do we behold him! All his superior sagacity tends only to increase his wickedness and misery. He becomes an evil spirit, and we may be tempted to exclaim in the words of Scripture, "why died he not from the womb?" Pride! Malice! Envy! Revenge! what tormentors are ye of the human bosom in its natural, in its depraved, in its unregenerate state! What havoc do ye make in a world which God originally pronounced good! and among creatures whom God, both in the Creation and Redemption, designed to be happy! The Christian religion aims at meliorating the wild stock of human nature. It teaches the thorn to bear grapes and the thistle figs. It purifies the fountain of human actions, the heart itself; and the fountain once clear, all the streams, in all their meanders, flow through the mazes of human life, comparatively with little pollution; and even that little may, from time to time, be removed by those merciful ordinances which are designed to cleanse and purify by the operation of divine grace.

The Eucharist is one of those ordinances. It is an ordinance peculiarly adapted to the infirmity of

human nature; for it is adapted to repair, while life remains, the decays of grace. The nature and efficacy of it, I have here attempted to explain, guided by the Scriptures, and supported in my interpretation of them, by human authority; the authority of the best, the ablest, the most learned men, in all ages and all countries professing Christianity.

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APPENDIX.

No. I.

The Passages in the Sixth Chapter of the Gospel of St. John, referred to in the "Considerations."

JOHN iv. 26.

JESUS answered them, and said, Verily, verily, I

say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled.

27. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.

28. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

29. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

30. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?

31. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to

eat.

32. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

33. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. 34. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread.

35. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. ***** 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me shall have everlasting life.

48. I am that bread of life.

49. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

50. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.

51. 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.

52. The Jews therefore strove amongst themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?

53. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.

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