This food is the spirit of God; or, in the language of
the Quakers, it is Christ. It is that celestial principle, which gives
life and light to as many as receive it and believe in it. It is that
spiritual principle, which was in the beginning of the world, and which
afterwards took flesh. And those who receive it, are spiritually
nourished by it, and may be said to sup with Christ; for he himself
says, [184] "Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me."
[Footnote 184: Rev. 3. 20.]
This supper which Jesus Christ enjoins, is that heavenly manna on which
the Patriarchs feasted, before his appearance in the flesh, and by which
their inward man became nourished; so that some of them were said to
have walked with God; for those, according to St. Paul, [185] "did all
eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink;
for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock
was Christ."
[Footnote 185: 1 Cor. 10.3.4.]
This supper is also that "daily bread," since his appearance in the
flesh; or, as the old Latin translation has it, it is that
supersubstantial bread, which Christians are desired to pray for in the
Lord's prayer; that bread, which, according to good commentators, is
above all substance, and above all created things.
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