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The Conservative Reformation and Its Theology - Saint Mary ...

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symbol of God." "God is a Spirit" would mean "God is the symbol of a<br />

Spirit." When it is said of Jesus Christ: "This is the true God," it would<br />

mean that He is the symbol or image of the true God. By it Christ would<br />

cease to be the way, the truth, <strong>and</strong> the life, <strong>and</strong> would be a mere symbol of<br />

them; would no longer be the door, the vine, the Good Shepherd, the<br />

Bishop of Souls, but would be the symbol of a door, the sign of a vine, the<br />

figure of a shepherd, the representation of a Bishop. This characteristic of<br />

the use of "is" is essential to the very morality of language, <strong>and</strong> language<br />

itself would commit suicide if it could tolerate the idea that the substantive<br />

verb shall express not substance but symbol. Creation, Redemption, <strong>and</strong><br />

Sanctification would all fuse <strong>and</strong> be dissipated in the crucible of this<br />

species of interpretation. It would take the Bible from us, <strong>and</strong> lay upon our<br />

breasts, cold <strong>and</strong> heavy, a Swedenborgian night mare of correspondences.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Socinian, <strong>and</strong> the Pelagian, <strong>and</strong> all errorists of all schools, would<br />

triumph in the throwing of everything into hopeless confusion, <strong>and</strong> the<br />

Infidel would feel that the Book he has so long feared <strong>and</strong> hated, deprived,<br />

as it now would be, of its vitality by the trick of interpreters, could,<br />

henceforth, be safely regarded with contempt.<br />

Well might Luther write upon the table at Marburg: "This is My<br />

body;" simple words, framed by infinite wisdom so as to resist the violence<br />

<strong>and</strong> all the ingenuity of men. Rationalism in vain essays to remove them<br />

with its cunning, its learning, <strong>and</strong> its philosophy. Fanaticism gnashes its<br />

teeth at them in vain. <strong>The</strong>y are an immovable foundation for faith in the<br />

Sacramental mystery, <strong>and</strong> the gates of hell cannot shake the faith of the<br />

Church, that our Lord Jesus with the true body <strong>and</strong> true blood which He<br />

gave for our redemption on the Cross, is truly present in the Holy Supper,<br />

to apply the redemption through the very organs by which it was wrought<br />

out. <strong>The</strong> sacrifice was made once for all--its application goes on to the end<br />

of time. <strong>The</strong> offence of the Master's Cross now rests upon His table, <strong>and</strong><br />

thither the triumph of the Cross shall follow it. On the Cross <strong>and</strong> at the<br />

table the saints discern the body of the Lord, <strong>and</strong> in simple faith are<br />

determined to know in both nothing but Jesus Christ <strong>and</strong> Him crucified.

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