Popery condemned by scripture and the fathers - End Time Deception

898 POPERY CONDEMNED BY
*'
noured the visible symbols with the appella-
•'
tion of his body and blood, not changing na-
" ture, but to nature adding grace * ;" And
again, " After consecration, the mystical sym-
•
*'
bols do not depart from their own nature ;
*'
for they remain still in their former sub-
" stance, figure, and form, and may be viewed
" and touched the same as before f."
" The symbols of the body and blood of
i
*'
Christ, which we take," says Pope Gelasius,
*'
are surely a divine thing ; for w'hich reason v
*'
we become, by them, partakers of the divine
*'
nature ; and yet the substance or nature of .
*'
bread and wine does not cease to exist ; and
I
*'
indeed, the image and likeness of the body
" and blood of Christ are celebrated in the ac-
*'
I
tion of the mysteries. Therefore, it appears
" sufficiently evident to us, that we ought to
*'
think of our Lord what we profess, and cele-
" brate, and receive in his inwe ; That as they
*'
(the elements) pass into the' diving substance
*'
by the operation of the Holy Spirit, their na-
*'
ture still remaining in its own property *,'' &c.
*'
Thus," says Ephrem Antiochenus, '" the
*
body of Christ, which is received by the
*'
faithful, does not depart from its sensible sub->J
*'
stance, and yet it remains unseparated from
*'
the intellectual grace : So baptism, becoming^
" wholly spiritual and one, preserves its own'
" sensible
* Dial. I.
f Dial. 2. J De Duab. Nat. in Christ.