Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

THE SECOND MAN VERIFIED IN HISTORY.161human nature so elevated, when under pressure ofsickness and in fear of death, in a fifth; the blessingand consecrating the union of the spth; and, finally, the conferring that distinctivepower which transmitted through all ages herLord's gift to the Church in a seventh. This isthat great and marvellous sacramental system bywhich the Church, " dowered, V*-\_/ ?T V->-L V^VA* as UB+J we TT \-J have AAC/U T \^ said, KJ1AJLXA* inher quality of Bride with her Lord's blood, appliesthat blood to His members, / according O to theirneeds. This is the perpetual consecration of matterto a supernatural end, of which the highestexample is found in the Body of the Head Himself,and so it is an enfolding of human naturewith the Incarnation, and a transforming it intothe image of its Head. But such, likewise, is thesummary of the whole written and unwrittenteaching of the Church ; such also, in few andbrief words, the perpetual work of the successionof men whom we have described.Thus the three successions, of men, of doctrines,and of institutions, are woven by the HolySpirit together as three strands of a rope whichcannot be broken : in the union of these threeHis eretual resence dwells and this is tpinal cord whereby He joins the Body with thHeadLet us take instances wherein the force of thisunons seen.The first gift He bestowed upon men when theii.M