58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: s ver. 49, 50, not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: 51. he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

58. "Your fathers;" perhaps, "the fathers" (N, B., C., L.); but Vulgate and Syriac, and most other authorities, as in A.V. Manna" omitted by N, B., C., D., L., and some versions; retained by later Uncials; all Cursives except 33, Old Latin Vulg. and Syriac.

the Life of God Himself, the fountain of all life.

For the Son lives by the Life communicated to Him by the Father, and he who effectually partakes of Christ, lives by the same life communicated to him through the Flesh and Blood of the Son.

58. "This is that bread which came down from heaven... live for ever." The Lord ends with an assertion which binds the whole discourse together as having one meaning, and referring to one thing. "The bread which cometh down from heaven (v. 33), which is infinitely above that which your fathers did eat (v. 32), which will endue the eater with such life that he will live for ever, is that which I have in Myself, in My Flesh and Blood, set before you."

Such is this discourse, dealing with the greatest mystery next to that of the Godhead itself, even the communication of the human nature of Christ to all in Him. We of the Church of England have by God's mercy and grace an authoritative guide in this matter, for we have an Eucharistic service which very plainly identifies the mysterious Blessing of this discourse with that which God intends us to receive in the Eucharist. The Church of England teaches that God the Father hath given His Son our Saviour Jesus Christ, "not only to die for us, but also to be our spiritual food and sustenance in that Holy Sacrament:" she teaches us that "the benefit is great if with a true penitent heart and lively faith we receive that Holy Sacrament, for then we spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink His Blood-we dwell in Christ and Christ in us." (John vi. 56.) "We are one with Christ, and Christ with us." (1 Cor. x. 16, 17.) In the prayer of humble access just before the consecration, we pray that we may "so eat the flesh [the special term of John vi.] of the Son of Man and drink his blood... that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us." Each element is separately given, on the faith of our Lord's promise, that those who eat His Flesh and drink His Blood have "eternal life, and he will raise them up at the last day," for they are given to us with the

59 These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum.

words, "the Body of our Lord Jesus Christ... the Blood of our Lord... preserve thy body and soul unto everlasting life." Again, we thank God, after receiving, that He doth feed us with "the spiritual food of the most precious Body and Blood," and "doth assure us thereby that we are very members incorporate in the mystical Body of His Son," thereby claiming the words of our Lord in verse 56, and the doctrine of St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 16, 17, as referring to the Eucharistic participation. And what is very striking indeed as to the mind of the Church of England, the wise and merciful words of the rubric at the end of the Sick Communion Office, respecting spiritual feeding being accepted by God where actual Eucharistic partaking is impossible, prove the rule whilst laying down the exception: “But if a man, by reason of extremity of sickness, ... or by any other just impediment, do not receive the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood . . . if he do truly and earnestly repent him of his sins, and steadfastly believe that Jesus Christ hath suffered death upon the cross for him . . . he doth eat and drink the Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ profitably to his soul's health, although he do not receive the Sacrament with his mouth." So that there cannot be the smallest doubt as to the mind of the Church of England with respect to the direct reference of this discourse to the Eucharist.

If the thought occurs to us, as it seems to occur to many, that it is unworthy of God to give us some great spiritual gift under so lowly a guise as an outward rite, let us remember that the Holy Eucharist is not an outward rite but a Sacrament, and so the outward part or sign of an Inward Part, which Christ Himself has joined to it; that it was given to us by Christ when He gave Himself as the true Passover Lamb for us; and, above all, that it is the Sacrament of the Unity of the Mystical Body. It is undoubtedly the design of God that we should receive the blessings of Redemption, not as separate units only, but as members of a Mystical Body or Fellowship, and it seems consonant to this that we should receive these blessings in the devout and faithful reception of that Sacrament which assures us that we are in that unity.

59. "These things said he in the synagogue, as he taught in Capernaum." "These things" must mean this whole discourse, for

N

t ver. 66. Matt. xi. 6.

60 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you?

u Mark xvi.

19. ch. iii. 13.

62" What and if ye shall see the Son of man

Acts i. 9. Eph. ascend up where he was before?

iv. 8.

60. "Hard saying;" i.e. the saying respecting eating His Flesh. It refers to the culminating words of the discourse, at which alone they stumbled.

"Hear it ; " perhaps, " hear him ;" quis potest eum audire? (Vulg.)

62. "What and if," &c. This may be paraphrased, "If then ye see the Son of Man ascend up where He was before, what will ye think? how much more will ye be offended?" See below.

there is not the slightest hint of any break in it. The Jews, who in verse 25, found Him, would have very probably found Him in the Synagogue, where it was His constant habit to preach and teach, and where the teaching was often interrupted by questions.

60. "Many therefore of his disciples. . . . hard saying; who can hear it?" Here we have the unbelief extending to the circle of the disciples-not, of course, to the twelve. They felt it to be a hard saying, and they stumbled at it. This was natural, but not the less foolish and sinful; for if they had been His disciples in very deed, they must have accepted Him as the Messiah. But it was folly to accept a man as specially sent from God as the Messiah was to be, as the fulfilment of a long series of promises, and to question His words. If they believed Him to have "come from God," the only faith worthy of Him was implicit, unquestioning faith. They might have known that an ambassador coming direct from the Eternal and Infinite God, was likely to declare things far above them, and they might have waited His time for the solution.

61. "When Jesus knew in himself.... Doth this offend you?" From this we gather that these half-believing disciples murmured in, or among, themselves, instead of coming to Him to remove any difficulty then capable of explanation, and so help them to believe. On another occasion, the true disciples who believed implicitly had come to Him with the prayer, "Lord, increase our faith." And these should have done the same.

62. "What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?" This could be taken, and was possibly intended to be

63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh 2 Cor. iii. 6.

taken, in one of two ways-first, as showing those who took the gross and carnal view (viz., that the Lord meant that His Flesh was to be eaten as any other flesh is eaten), that the belief in any such view would be rendered impossible by His Ascension. If He ascended into heaven, His Body could not be given and eaten naturally; and so they must either take a better and higher view, or cease to be His disciples at all.

But to those who had any belief that He spake of heavenly and spiritual realities, it would be a help, for it would exalt the whole matter into a higher sphere, and render that possible to be received by faith which never could be apprehended by sight. As long as Christ continued on earth men never would be able to realize Him as able, as the last Adam, to enter into the closest union with every man. He must first ascend into heaven in a spiritualized and glorified Body, if men are, in any spiritual way, to partake of His Nature as the Second Man.

63. “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." It is impossible that the Lord can here intend to undo all that He had said before. Why should He have said, "the bread that I will give is my Flesh," if His Flesh in no sense profits? There is a noble passage in St. Augustine, which seems to leave nothing to be desired in the way of explanation: "Let us say to Him, O Lord, good Master, how is it that the Flesh profiteth nothing, when Thou hast said, Except a man shall eat my Flesh, and drink my Blood, he shall not have life in him? Doth life profit nothing? And for what are we what we are, but that we may have life eternal, which Thou, by Thy Flesh, dost promise? Then what is 'the Flesh profiteth nothing?' Profiteth nothing; yea, but as they understood it for they understood the Flesh, so as it is divided piecemeal in a dead body, or as sold in the shambles, not so as it is quickened by the Spirit. Therefore, the flesh profiteth nothing,' is said in like manner as it is said, knowledge puffeth up. Ought we then straightway to hate knowledge? God forbid. And what is knowledge puffeth up? Of itself, without charity. Add, then, to knowledge charity, and knowledge shall be profitable, not through itself, but through charity. So, likewise, now, 'the flesh profiteth nothing,' yea, but the Flesh by itself; let the Spirit be added to the Flesh, as charity is added to knowledge, and it profiteth very

profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

63. "I speak; " rather, "have spoken." So N, B., C., D., Vulg., and Syriac (Cureton and Peshito), and most editors.

much. For if the Flesh profiteth nothing, the Word had not been made Flesh, that It might dwell in us. If by means of the Flesh Christ hath much profited us, how profiteth the Flesh nothing? But the Flesh was the means whereby the Spirit acted for our salvation. The Flesh was a vessel: mark what it had, not what it was . . . . and he concludes " so as those Jews understood the flesh, not so give I my Flesh to be eaten."

66

"The Flesh," Augustine says, was the means." Christ offers to us the elements of His lower Nature of flesh, that through them we might partake of His higher Nature, His spiritual and eternal life. Godet, who takes by no means a sacramental view of the whole discourse, has here a valuable remark: "The Event of Pentecost was the reality which Jesus, throughout this discourse, was promising: it was by means of the Spirit that the promises (53-58) would be realized. This explains the singular analogy between the terms of verse 56 and those of chapters xiv.-xviii. Only that we may not attribute to the explanation given by Jesus the character of a retractation, we must remember that our Lord, by communicating Himself to us by the agency of His Spirit, INCORPORATES US INTO HIS WHOLE NATURE. St. Paul develops in the same sense the idea of the Second Adam as a quickening Spirit.' (1 Cor. xv. 45.) But it is not merely the identical expression 'quickening' (or life-giving) Spirit' which connects these passages (John vi. and 1 Cor. xv.), but especially that corporeal resurrection to which Jesus so frequently recurs in this address, and which is the principal subject of this chapter of St. Paul."

"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." The Lord does not mean any words of His, though all His words tend to Life and Salvation, but He means the particular words which He had spoken in the discourse now brought to a close: according to what is the best reading, "I have spoken," not "I speak."

But the words which He means, are not words striking on the outward ear, but words received, believed, and devoutly pondered. The meaning seems to be this: The Flesh of Christ, whether given