of God.' 1Cor. 1: 18-24. He set forth the dying scene, as an exhibition of the power of God's righteousness; and he expected that men, in receiving "Christ crucified,' would appropriate the victorious life of his spirit, as well as the death of his flesh.

The effect which Paul intended to produce in others by preaching the cross, was undoubtedly the same that was produced in himself. He indicates distinctly in the two following passages, the power of the cross as exhibited in his own experience. 1. God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.' Gal. 6: 14. Here is the death of the flesh. 2. 'I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Gal. 2: 19. Here is the life of the spirit. In the apostle's mind the idea of Christ crucified,' evidently infolded the idea of Christ living and triumphant over sin and death.

§ 20. THE BREAD OF LIFE.

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Then said Jesus unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven; not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." John 6: 47–58.

THIS is one of the most interesting passages in the whole Bible, and ought to be well understood by every disciple of the gospel.

Roman Catholics, Puseyites, and in general all the grosser formalists refer it to the Lord's Supper, thinking that they eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ, and secure to themselves the promised life, by partaking of bread and wine duly consecrated by a legitimate priest. But this theory is rendered altogether incredible by the fact that the Lord's. Supper was not instituted at the time when this discourse was uttered. In the natural order of Christ's instruction, the 6th of John, instead of being a commentary on the institution of the eucharist, is the substantial independent text, of which that institution is an emblematical illustration.

Another class of commentators, who have the credit of more spiritual

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views, (such as Scott, Clarke, &c.,) make Christ's death on the cross the main subject of reference in this passage. Their doctrine is that the flesh and blood' of Christ here spoken of, so far as these words refer to any actual substance, mean the physical flesh and blood which suffered on Calvary; and that the thing to be received by believers is not really this flesh and blood, but the atonement made by it, which is to be eaten and drunk by appropriating faith. But this theory is nearly as incongruous and barren as that of the formalists. Both make a material object and a physical transaction the medium of eternal life; for the literal flesh and blood of Christ's material body and the visible transaction of the cross, as really belonged to the physical world, as does the bread and wine of the eucharist and the act of eating and drinking it. The Catholic theory makes the eating and drinking literal, and mystifies the flesh and blood by a pretended transubstantiation of the elements; and the Protestant theory makes the flesh and blood literal, and mystifies the eating and drinking, by converting it into an act of meditation. Both make Christ's discourse in the 6th of John an appendage to transactions that were future and unknown when it was uttered, aud therefore unintelligible by itself. We believe, and propose to show that it carries its own explication, and relates to a spiritual transaction, of which both the eucharist and crucifixion are but exponents.

First we will endeavor to determine what is meant by the 'flesh and blood' of Christ, which gives eternal life.

Christ says I am the bread of life;' (ver. 35, 48;) I am the living bread; ... the bread that I will give is my flesh,' &c. (Ver. 51.) It is himself therefore that he refers to, when he speaks of giving his flesh and blood for food to them that believe on him. But his nature while in the world was twofold. As to the interior of his being he was the Son of God that existed from eternity with the Father; and at the same time he had a material body which was born of a woman. Which of these parts of himself does he refer to in calling himself the bread of life? Most clearly the for

mer.

He says expressly-The bread of God is HE WHICH COMETH DOWN FROM HEAVEN;' (ver. 33;) and this declaration is repeated subsequently. not less than four times. See ver. 38, 50, 51, 58. Now as Christ's material body certainly did not come down from heaven; and as the bread' or flesh and blood' which he offers men as the medium of eternal life, certainly did come down from heaven, it is manifest that these latter terms relate to his interior pre-existent nature. The idea that he was speaking of himself as a man, and of his visible flesh and blood, was utterly excluded by the repeated definition which he gave of the terms he used. Yet some of his hearers could not or would not understand him. The Jews murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I.came down from heaven.' Ver. 41, 42. They recognized only that part of his nature which originated in this world, and were therefore obliged to understand him as speaking of his literal flesh and blood. Of course they wondered at what he said about coming down from heaven, and strove among themselves, saying, How can this man

give us his flesh to eat?' Ver. 52. But it was not his fault that they did not perceive that he had an internal divine nature, and that this was the subject of his discourse.

The carnal theories of the Catholics and Protestants above noticed, are founded on this very mistake of the Jews. Having no clear conceptions of the existence and communicability of the spiritual flesh and blood of the Son of God, they strive among themselves in their secret thoughts, saying, 'How can this man give us his flesh to eat?' and the only answer which they can find, is, that he gives us his flesh and blood (as one party says) by a sort of mystical proxy in the bread and wine of the eucharist; or (as the other party says) by presenting his once crucified flesh and blood to our meditations.

In addition to the evidence concerning the nature of the life-giving flesh and blood of Christ implied in his repeated declaration that it came down from heaven, we have at the conclusion of his discourse a very explicit announcement that it was not his material body, but his spiritual nature. "Many of his disciples, when they heard [what he said about eating his flesh and drinking his blood,] said, this is an hard saying; who can hear it? When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? WHAT IF YE SHALL SEE THE SON OF MAN ASCEND UP WHERE HE WAS BEFORE?' Ver. 60, 62. Their eye was on his humanity; but he reminded them of his pre-existence. It is as if he had said-I am not speaking of that part of my nature which originated in this world; but of that in which I descended from heaven, and in which I shall ascend there again.' Then he adds- IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT QUICKENETH; THE FLESH PROFITETII NOTHING.' Ver. 63. He had been proposing to them his flesh and blood as the bread of heaven-that by which they were to be quickened to eternal life. They thought of nothing but his material flesh. and blood, and could not see how that should quicken them. Therefore, that he might leave them no excuse for converting what he had said into an offending absurdity, he said to them plainly- The quickening flesh and blood of which I speak is spiritual: the [literal] flesh profiteth nothing; that is not the bread, which, if a man eat, he shall live forever.' Yet the difficulty of apprehending his pre-existence, and of conceiving how he could give men his spiritual flesh and blood for food, blinded the eyes of those who murmured; and from that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.' Ver. 66.

The proper life-giving body of Christ, then, is a spiritual substance of which his material body was but the envelope. In order to ascertain the distinctive characteristics of the two elements of that substance, we must consider the distinction between flesh and blood in the natural body. Blood, in the ordinary sense, is a fluid, and flesh is the solid which contains it.Blood, says the scripture, is the life.' Flesh is the form in which life subsists. Now the question is-are celestial beings composed of two elements corresponding to flesh and blood, as thus defined? We answer,-man cer

tainly has within his visible body a soul and a spirit; and in a disembodied state his soul is properly called a spiritual body; it is a concrete substance;

it has in all respects the form of the natural body; it corresponds therefore to flesh. And the spirit is a fluid substance, contained in the soul; it is the life of the soul; it corresponds therefore to blood. So far as human beings are concerned then it is proper to apply the terms flesh and blood to the two constituents of their spiritual nature. If then the spiritual constitution of man is an index of the constitution of superior spiritual beings-which there is no reason to doubt, since God made man in his own image,-we may safely conclude that the Son of God, in his pre-existent state, had a soul and a spirit, or a spiritual body and a life within it, which are properly called flesh and blood. These are the elements of which the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper are the emblems. It was the breaking of this body and the outpouring of this blood that took away the sin of the world. The soul and spirit of the Son of God came out from the glory of the Father into the s here of fallen humanity, put on the likeness of sinful flesh, submitted to the infilmities, temptations and sufferings of a carnal state, encountered the full torrent of the wrath of the eternal murderer, tasted through its mortal envelope the bitterness of death, and sounded the dark abyss of Hades. Thus the Lamb of God gave his flesh and blood for the life of the world. The transaction on Calvary was one scene in this great crucifixion, and a miniature exponent of the whole.

We next inquire, by that process we are to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ.

As it is not the material flesh and blood that is to be received, so it cannot be the material body that is to eat and drink. The food and that which feeds upon it must be homogeneous. It is evident therefore that it is our soul and spirit, i. e. the flesh and blood of our inner man, that is to partake of the flesh and blood of Christ. Accordingly the terms eat' and 'drink' are repeatedly explained in the 6th of John by equivalent terms which denote acts of the inner man. When Christ exhorted those who followed him, to labor for the meat that endureth to eternal life,' they said to him, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.' Ver. 27-29. Thus it appears that believing is the act which appro priates the food of eternal life, and the equivalent of the eating and drinking spoken of afterwards. This is further evinced in the following passages. I am the bread of life; he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.' Ver. 35. This is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him, may have everlasting life.' Ver. 40. Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life; I am the bread of life.' Ver. 47, 48. When our inner man comes to the Son, sees him and believes on him, we do the thing meant by the terms eating his flesh' and drinking his blood.'

In exact accordance with this exposition, Christ, in the conclusion of his discourse, specifies the form in which his flesh and blood is conveyed to those who feed upon it. If believing is eating and drinking, then since the thing received in the act of believing is a proposition or word, it follows that Christ's word is the vehicle of his flesh and blood. And so he explains himself. He

says- It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing; the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life; i. e. the words that I speak unto you, are the food that quickens to eternal life, whieh I have been proposing to you, under the terms flesh' and 'blood.'

It is a fact well known to spiritualists, that the word of every spiritual being is an actual substance, sent forth from his inward center, carrying with it the properties of his life. It is also a known fact that the act of believing actually receives into the soul and spirit, the substance conveyed in the word believed. So that communication by word from one person to another, effects an actual junction of spirits, and conveys to the receiver a portion of the life and character of the communicator. It was with a view to this philosophy and for the purpose of enforcing it, that Christ chose his language in the 6th of John. He wished to apprise his hearers thoroughly that the intercourse with him which he called believing on him, was not a mere solitary movement of the believer's own mind, caused by hearing physical sounds, but a reception of the effluence of his soul and spirit into the believer's soul and spirit. He would have them understand that in spiritually receiving his spiritual word, they became identified with him as really as a man becomes identified with his food in eating and digesting it.

We protest against the idea that Christ's language in the 6th of John is merely figurative. Though it is not true in a physical sense that believers eat and drink the elements of Christ's body, it is true in a spiritual sense, and that sense is as real as the physical. The thing done in eating and drinking, viz., the reception of a nutritious substance into the laboratory of life, is done in imbibing the spiritual elements of Christ's nature; and the sensations which attend the two processes are not so entirely unlike as unspiritual persons may suppose. Every one who has had intercourse with the Word of life, knows that its entrance is felt not merely in the mind by its information, but in the center of life by its power; and that it causes a sensation of strength, growth, and refreshment. Even the place where it takes effect is coincident with the digestive organs of the body. Christ, speaking of this very intercourse, said on a certain occasion, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water;' and it is added, This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive.' John 7: 37-39. The idea here is not that rivers of living water shall flow from the believer abroad, but from God into him, as Christ said in another place- Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water, springing up into everlasting life.' John 4: 14. The expression-'out of his belly-indicates that the fountain of the water of life rises in the middle region of the spiritual body; and that coincides with the place where food is elaborated in the natural body.

Finally, we will notice the results of eating Christ's flesh and drinking his blood.

As food gives its nature to the body that receives it, so the spiritual flesh and blood of Christ, received through his word, communicates its nature to