and to be deprived of life, He introduced, as we might say, another bread and leaven—His own Flesh—in nature, indeed the same, but free from sin and full of life; and He gave to all men to eat of it, that, nourished by it and putting off the old dead nature, we may at this table be blended with the living and immortal nature. · · · · · · · This Body He gave to us to take and eat, which was an act of exceeding love.[24] For it often happens that we bite those whom we love. Thus, when Job pointed out the affection of his household for himself, he quoted those who loved him specially as often saying, _Who will give us to be filled with his flesh?_ So it is that Christ has given us to be filled with His Flesh, drawing us to greater love. Let us, therefore, approach Him with fervour and burning love, that we may not encounter the harder chastisement. For the more we are benefitted, the greater will be our punishment whenever we show ourselves unworthy of His generosity. This Body, even lying in the manger, the Magi reverenced: untutored and uncivilised men, leaving their country and their home, undertook a long journey, they came and adored, full of awe and fear. Let us, citizens of heaven, emulate even uncivilised men, if necessary. _They_, seeing Him in a manger, and in a hut, and not seeing Him as you see Him, approached Him with deep reverence: you see Him not in the crib, but on the altar: you see Him not held by a woman, but the priest standing there, and the Spirit hovering with abundant blessings over what is lying there. Nor do you merely see this Body as they did: _you_ know His power and all the economy of His providence, nor are you ignorant of anything accomplished through Him, initiated as you are into all His mysteries. Let us therefore rouse ourselves, and tremble, and show forth so much the greater reverence than those men from afar, in order that we may not approach Him heedlessly or casually, and so heap coals of fire upon our heads. This I say, not that we may not approach Him, but that we may not approach Him carelessly. For just as going to Him in a chance way is a danger, so the non-participation in that mystical Banquet is hunger and death. This Feast is the sinew of our soul, the bond of intellect, the basis of fortitude; it is hope, salvation, light, life. With this sacrifice, at our departure from this world to the next, we shall pass through those sacred portals in great fearlessness, as if encompassed with an armour of gold. And why do I speak of the future? Even here this mystery makes the earth a heaven for you. At least unfold the gates of heaven and look through them, or rather not only the gates of heaven, but of the heaven of heavens, and then you will see what I say. For that which is the most precious of all things there, is what I will show you lying on earth. Just as in royal palaces it is not the walls which strike men with the most awe, nor the