(2.) It is _a means of spiritual food and sustenance_. The soul requires to be fed as well as the body, and without food the one will die quite as quickly as the other, for neither soul nor body has life in itself. And as the body lives by outward food, so the believing soul feeds on Christ. He is the living bread which came down from heaven, the heavenly manna provided for his people throughout the wilderness. “I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever.” Now, the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is a divinely appointed means whereby believers feed on Christ. We do not mean that there is anything particular in the bread or in the wine, anything remarkable or mysterious in the elements received which conveys a blessing, for they are nothing more than plain simple bread and wine, which nourish the body and that only. But when with the lips we receive those elements in faith, the Holy Ghost within the heart is graciously pleased to pour life into the soul. According to the language of the 28th Article, “The body of Christ is given, taken, and eaten, in the supper, only after an heavenly and spiritual manner. And the mean whereby the body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper, is faith.” That there is no actual change in the bread and wine is perfectly plain from the single fact, that they are always called “bread” and “wine” in Scripture _after_ their consecration in the sacrament. In this and the preceding chapter there are no less than four passages in which the food which communicants receive, is called by the simple name of “bread.” x. 17. “We are all partakers of that _bread_.” xi. 26. “As often as ye eat this _bread_.” 27. “Whosoever shall eat this _bread_.” 28. “So let him eat of that _bread_.” And so also with the wine. Our Lord said of it, _after_ the consecration, (Matt. xxvi. 29,) “I will not drink any more of this _fruit of the vine_ until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” The bread, therefore, is still bread, and the wine still wine—unchanged in all respects; the same in substance, and the same in property, as before their consecration to the Lord’s service in the sacrament. They are set apart for a holy use, and therefore should be treated reverently, like the house of God itself. But they are no more changed in nature than were the stones and woodwork of the building, when it was solemnly consecrated to be a church for the Lord.