The flesh of Christ is to be eat as living bread. and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me. hath seen the Father, save he which is of Father. 431 lxxxi. John fore that hath heard, fluences on their minds;" and there are many SECT. much to the same purpose: (see other passages Isa. ii. 2-5. Mic. iv. 1-4. &c.) Therefore every one, who has not only been instructed VI. 45. in the true nature of God, but has both heard and learned from the Father himself, by virtue. of these internal and efficacious teachings of his grace, comes unto me, and cordially receives me 46 Not that any man under the character I profess. I speak this of 46 an inward Divine teaching, and not to insinuGod; he hath seen the ate, that any one on earth has seen the Father, and been taught by him, as one man is by the converse of another: no one has enjoyed such an honour, except it be he, who is come to men as the great Ambassador from God; He indeed being statedly resident with him and inseparably united to him, has seen the Father, and conversed with him to a degree of intimacy and endearment, which no creature can pretend to have known. In virtue then of those ample in- 47 structions I have received from him, verily, verily, I say unto you, and testify it as a most sure and important truth, that this is the only method of salvation; and that it is he, and he alone, who believes in me, and reposes himself on 48 I am that bread me, that hath everlasting life. Remember there 47 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, hath everlasting life. of life. 49 Your fathers did derness, and are dead: fore, that it is in this respect I tell you, I am 48 And those who thus regard me will receive 49 eat manua in the wil- far more important blessings than Moses, of whom you have now been boasting, could possibly give. For though indeed your fathers, under the conduct of that illustrious propet, did eat manna in the wilderness, vet it was not sufficient to maintain their life, and they are iong 50 This is the bread since dead: [But] this, of which I now soeak, 50 which cometh down from heaven, that a is the true bread, which cometh down from heaman may eat thereof, ven, and is of such a nature, that any one may eat of it, and have his life so nourished and supported by it, that he shall not die, but be assuredly and not die. word properly signifies, they shall be the disciples or scholars of God, who shall humbly sit down, as it were, at his feet, and reCeive instructions from him, This, in the latter text referred to in the paraphrase, is 4 F 2 432 SECT. Ixxxi. John VI. 51. 52 53 His flesh is meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed. 51 I am the living down from heaven: bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give, is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. Thus then I plainly tell you, how incredible soever you may think it, That I, who came down bread, which came from heaven for this gracious purpose, am the if any man eat of this living bread, or a principle of Divine life and eternal happiness to all, who shall faithfully receive me: so that if any one eat of this bread, in spite of death and the grave, he shall live for ever. And, that you may more distinctly conceive this important truth, and see the propriety of this language, I add, That the bread which I will give to such a one, is my own flesh, which I will give as an atoning sacrifice for the forfeited life of the whole world of Jews and Gentiles", of which every true believer shall partake. fore saying, But the Jews, whose stupidity often occa- 52 The Jews theresioned them to mistake, and whose perverseness strove amongst led them to wrest his words, did not, or would How can this man give not, understand him; and therefore contended us his flesh to cat with each other, the generality of them saying, as if what he had said was to be taken in a literal sense, How can this man possibly give us [his] flesh to eat? What a monstrous and unintelligible doctrine is this? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh Then Jesus replied in the same figurative language he had used before, and, without condescending to any farther explication, said to them, However you may censure it as unintelligible of the Son of man, and absurd, yet, verily, verily, I say unto you, ye have no life in you. and drink his blood, There is no truth more certain in itself, and more important to you; for unless, by a cordial dependance on the atonement I shall make, and by the powerful influences of Divine grace upon your hearts, you eat, as it were, the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, you have no principle d Which I will give for the life of the whole world, &c.] There seems to be a beautiful gradation in this verse, compared with ver. 31. They had insinuated that feeding a few thousands with the five loaves was an inconsiderable thing, when compared with what Moses did, when he fed the whole camp of Israel; but our Lord declares the purposes of his grace and bounty to be far more extensive, as reaching the whole world, and giving life, immortal life, to all that should believe in him. e The generality of them saying.] Had this been the language of all, there could have been no contention between them, which yet is expressly asserted. f Eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood.] This phrase naturally expresses a lively and habitual regard to Christ as the great support of the spiritual life. The mention of his blood naturally leads to the thought of his atonement, as we are else. where told, We have redemption through his blood, (Eph. i. 7.) and boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, (Heb. x. 19.) The sacrament of the eucharist is plainly intended to affect our minds with a sense of these important truths, and our Lord might probably think of that intended institution, while he spoke: but as this was a future thing, and utterly unknown to his hearers, it seems to me unwarrantable to interpret The bread from heaven is more excellent than manna. my flesh, and drinketh blood is driuk indeed, 56 He that eateth 433 lxxxi. John principle of spiritual life in you, and can have no SECT. 54 Whoso eateth claim to eternal happiness. For this is so imthat, to declare the my blood, hath eternal portant a part of faith in me, life, and I will raise necessity of it, I may say (with such an altera- VI. 54. him up at the last day. tion of my former words, ver. 40), He alone, that eats my flesh, and drinks my blood, hath eternal life; and I will most assuredly raise him up at the last day, and shew by his complete deliverance, how just a confidence he has reposed in me amidst all the contempt, with which you 35 For my flesh is treat me. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my 55 meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed; and nothing deserves the name so well, as nothing is worthy of being called life, in comparison of that which is hereby supported. For this feeding upon me is such, 56 that he who thus eats my flesh and drinks my blood, abides in me by an intimate and inseparable union, and I abide in him by the unalienable tokens of my favour and love to nourish the 57 As the living Divine life in his soul: I say by the unalien- 57 and I live by the Fa- able tokens of it; for as the living Father, the ther; so he that eateth great source of life, has sent me into the world, me, even he shall live and I live by the protection and care of the Father who is continually dwelling in men, and communicating of his Spirit in the richest abundance to me so he that thus eateth me, even he shall live by me, through the Spirit, which I will 58 This is that bread also communicate to him. And if you attend 58 to these important hints that I have given, you your fathers did eat may in general know what I meant, by saying manna as I have done, This is the bread that came down my flesh, and drink eth my blood, dwell eth in me, and I in him. Father hath sent me, by me. which came down from heaven: not as from heaven and by adding (ver. 49, 50,) that interpret this text as chiefly referring to that ordinance; and nothing can be more precarious than many consequences, which have been drawn from it in that view, though some of them be authorised by very great names. g My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed.] It might more literally be rendered, Is truly meat, and is truly drink ; but the sense in which the word indeed] is often used, gives a kind of paraphrase on the words. Just in this sense, the true light is the most excellent light, (John i. 9.) the true vine is the most noble vine (John xv. 1.) and the true bread is the most excellent and nourishing bread. See above, ver. 32. h Abides in me, and I in him.] After these words, the Cambridge manuscript, and one of Stephens's, add, As the Father is in me, and I in the Father, verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye receive the body who of the Son of man as the bread of life, ye i I live by the protection and care of the k Nol 434 Reflections on the necessity of feeding on Christ by faith. be that eateth of this SECT. who did eat manna in the wilderness, and yet manna, and are dead; lxxxi. are dead, without having found any efficacy bread, shall live for in it to communicate a spiritual or secure an ever. vi. 58. eternal life; [but] he that eats this bread, shall live for ever. John 41, 52 IMPROVEMENT. THE hearers of Christ murmured, and perversely objected against his doctrine. Let not ministers now wonder, if the like capricious humour sometimes prompts their hearers to seek occasion of offence, where there is none: let them learn of their great Master in meekness, to instruct those that oppose themselves, if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the 44, 45 truth; (2 Tim. ii. 25.) Our Lord expressly asserts the necessity of being taught and drawn by the Father, in order to our knowing him, and coming to him. Let us therefore humbly seek these influences ourselves, and fix our dependance upon them in all our attempts upon others, for their conversion and edification. 48, 51 Christ here gives us line upon line, and precept upon precept, to 53, 54 illustrate and enforce this important doctrine of the necessity of re garding him as the bread of life, and of feeding by faith on his flesh and blood, which he has given for the life of the world. Let us, as we desire any part in his saving blessings, most thankfully 55 receive his flesh as meat indeed, and his blood as drink indeed. May God be merciful to those that call themselves Christians, and yet are strangers to such a believing intercourse with Christ, and to the 56, 57 derivation of spiritual life from him! If this be enthusiam, it is the enthusiasm of scripture; and the denial of forgetfulness of these important doctrines, is like a fatal palsy to the soul, which chills, as it were, all its nerves, and destroys at once its sensibility and vigour, its pleasure and usefulness. To represent and inculcate these great truths, our Lord afterwards instituted the sacrament of his supper, in which we not only commemorate his sufferings, but our own concern in them. It is the language of every intelligent approach to it, that we acknowledge the life of our souls to depend on the merit of his atonement, and the communications of his grace. This is eating his flesh, and 58 drinking his blood: may we be nourished by it to eternal life! Many of his disciples murmur at what Jesus had said. lxxxi. 435 Then though this mortal part of our nature drop into the dust, SECT. our souls will live and triumph; nor shall our bodies finally perish but be raised up by Christ in the great day, to take their part in the full joy of our Lord. There these intermediate ordinances shall cease, and copious uninterrupted streams of Divine teachings, and Divine influences, shall sweetly flow in upon our ever improving, active, rejoicing minds! SECT. LXXXII. Christ having declared that the foregoing discourse was to be taken in a spiritual sense, is forsaken by many of his disciples; and while the apostles assure him of their continued fidelity, he intimates the treachery of Judas. John VI. 59, to the end. JONN VI. 59. THESE things said he in the syna. gogue, as he taught in Capernaum. 60 Many therefore JOHN VI. 59. THESE things, which had been now deliver- SECT. a Many therefore of those who followed him as of his disciples, when his disciples, having heard [it,] said, This is they had heard this, said, This is an hard difficult and strange discourse; and who can hear saying, who can hear or understand it? In its literal sense it is plainly absurd, and we know not, what other interpretation to give it. it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself, that his disciples murmur ed at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 60 But Jesus knowing in himself, that his disciples 61 murmured about it, though they did not speak out their objections and scruples, said unto them Does this, which you have just now heard, so much offend you? and do you stumble at it as incredible? What then, if ye shall see the Son of 62 man ascending up into heaven, where he was before? would you then understand what was meant by the bread of life coming down from a As he was teaching at Capernaum.] Probably (as was hinted above, ver. 25, p. 424.) the foregoing discourses were introduced after the reading of the law, and We are not to wonder at the prayer. dialogue which passed here: there are many other instances of disputes which either Christ or his apostles had with the Jews in their synagogues. See Mat. xii. 9. & seq. sect. 1. Luke xiii. 10. & seq. sect. cxvii. Acts xiii. 44. & seq. and xvii. 17. thence, b Ascending up into heaven, where he was before.] A very celebrated writer thinks this refers to the Son of man appearing to Daniel in the clouds of heaven: but his appearing to him thus in vision was no more an argument of his being there at the time of that app carance, than the appearance of the symbols of the Greek and Roman empires was an argument of their existence at that time. c Would |
