(1.) The Scripture has named wine A MYSTIC SYMBOL of the holy blood. [14a]
(2.) Know well, that the Lord himself also partook of WINE: for he himself also was a man. And he blessed the wine, saying: Take, drink; this is my blood, the blood of the vine. The holy stream of exhilaration ALLEGORICALLY REPRESENTS the Word, who poured himself out on behalf of many, for the remission of sins. [14b]
2. Tertullian flourished at the end of the second and at the beginning of the third century.
(1.) We must not call our senses in question, lest we should doubt respecting their fidelity even in the case of Christ himself. For, if we question their fidelity, we might be led to say: that Christ—TASTED A DIFFERENT FLAVOUR OF THE WINE WHICH HE CONSECRATED IN MEMORY OF HIS OWN BLOOD. [15a]
(2.) If Christ declares, that The FLESH profiteth nothing; the sense must be decided from the matter of the saying. For, because the Jews deemed his discourse hard and intolerable, as if he had truly determined that his FLESH was to be eaten by them: in order that he might dispose the state of salvation TOWARD THE SPIRIT, he promised; It is the SPIRIT that quickeneth. And thus he subjoined: The FLESH profiteth nothing, namely, to quicken. There follows also, WHAT HE WOULD HAVE US UNDERSTAND BY SPIRIT. The words, which I have spoken unto you, are spirit and life. [15b]
(3.) Christ reprobated, neither the water of the Creator with which he washes his people, nor the oil with which he anoints them, nor the fellowship of honey and milk with which he feeds them as infants, nor the BREAD by which he REPRESENTS his own body: for, even in his sacraments, he needs the beggarly elements of the Creator. [15c]
3. Athanasius flourished in the fourth century.
When our Lord conversed on the eating of his body, and when he thence beheld many scandalised, he forthwith added: Doth this offend you? What if ye shall behold the Son of man ascending where he was before? It is the spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing. The words, which I speak unto you, are spirit and life. Both these matters, THE FLESH and THE SPIRIT, he said respecting himself. And he distinguished the spirit from the flesh: IN ORDER THAT, BELIEVING BOTH THE VISIBLE AND THE INVISIBLE, THEY MIGHT UNDERSTAND HIS SAYINGS TO BE NOT CARNAL BUT SPIRITUAL. For TO HOW MANY PERSONS COULD HIS BODY HAVE SUFFICED FOR FOOD: SO THAT IT MIGHT BECOME THE ALIMENT OF THE WHOLE WORLD? But, that he might divert their minds from carnal cogitations, and that they might learn the flesh which he would give them to be supercelestial and spiritual food: he, on this account, mentioned the ascent of the Son of man to heaven. The words, said he, which I speak unto you, are spirit and life. As if he had intimated: My body shall be exhibited and given as food for the world; so THAT THAT FOOD SHALL BE GIVEN TO EACH ONE SPIRITUALLY, and shall to all be a preservative to the resurrection unto life eternal. [16a]
4. Eusebius of Cesarea lived in the fourth century.
(1.) Christ himself gave the SYMBOLS of the divine economy to his own disciples; commanding, that the IMAGE of his own body should be made. [16b]