Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/27

"This is My Body" has no equal, except "Let the light be." These words created the light. The other words do not create; but they constitute, or bring upon the altar, the presence of the Incarnate Word. They elevate the bread and the wine from the natural to the supernatural order. This is a power, not creative, but of omnipotence. The bread and the wine are no longer subject to the conditions or laws of nature as to their substance, but only as to their sensible phenomena. A divine change passes upon them: and yet not a natural change; for they pass away as to their substance, and yet abide as to their sensible effects. There is no such change in the order of nature; for there the whole natural substance and accidents either abide, or go together. Here the phenomena or sensible species and effects abide, as if they were in the natural order. The substance passes away in the supernatural order of the new creation. The words, "Let the light be," had their effect in the first creation of nature. The words, "This is My Body," have their effect on the first creation and in the second; in both the old creation and the new. They stand next in order to the words, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore that Holy (One) which shall be born of thee shall be called the