land, because we are in a state of
enjoyment. That we are in the state of enjoyment is surely certain,
unless all the prophecies have failed; and that we are in a state in
which faith alone has that enjoyment, is plain from the fact that God's
great blessings are not seen, and in that the Apostle says, "We walk by
faith, not by sight." In a word, we are in a super-natural state,--a
word which implies both its greatness and its secretness: for what is
above nature, is at once not seen, and is more precious than what is
seen; "the things which are seen are temporal, the things which are not
seen are eternal."

And if our state altogether is parallel to that of the Israelites, as
an antitype to its type, it is natural to think that so great a gift as
Holy Communion would not be without its appropriate figures and symbols
in the Old Testament. All that our Saviour has done is again and again
shadowed out in the Old Testament; and this, therefore, it is natural
to think, as well as other things: His miraculous birth, His life, His
teaching, His death, His priesthood, His sacrifice, His resurrection,
His glorification, His kingdom, are again and again prefigured: it is
not reasonable to suppose that if this so great gift is really given
us, it should be omitted. He who died for us, is He who feeds us; and
as His death is mentioned, so we may beforehand expect will be
mentioned the feast He gives us. Not openly indeed, for neither is His
death nor His priesthood taught openly, but covertly, under the types
of David or Aaron, or other favoured servants of God; and in like
manner we might expect, and we shall find, the like reverent allusions
to His most gracious Feast,--allusions which we should not know to _be_
allusions but for the event; just as we should not know that Solomon,
Aaron, or Samuel, stood for Christ at all, except that the event
explains the figure. When Abraham said to Isaac, "God will provide
Himself a lamb for a burnt offering," who can doubt this is a prophecy
concerning Christ?--yet we are nowhere told it in Scripture. The case
is the same as regards the Sacrament of Baptism. Now that it is given,
we cannot doubt that the purifications of the Jews, Naaman's bathing,
and the prophecy of a fountain being opened for sin and all
uncleanness, have reference to it, as being the visible fulfilment of
the great spiritual cleansing: and St. Peter expressly affirms this of
the Deluge, and St. Paul of the pas