the true vine : where the metaphor however remains, and that too in the predicate. In that sentence, My flesh is truly meat, the word truly does not affect the predicate, but the copula is ; so that the fact may be established (asserted) in opposition to the contradiction. From the beginning and at the end of the conversation, the eating of Christ's flesh and the drinking of His blood (as John iii. the new birth) are resolved into Faith. By such representations the precaution is used, that no one may understand faith in too weak and shallow (slight) a sense ; and we are taught by the phrases concerning faith, that the harsh ness of these representations (the difficulty in the images used to represent it) does not exceed what is just and proper.
10. In the midst of all these things, it is clear and certain that by the eating of Christ's flesh and the drinking of His blood, or by faith, 1. Christians are intimately united with Christ ; 2. that they are indebted for that union to His flesh and blood, because they eat the one and drink the other ; 3. that the flesh and blood of Christ have in them a close and efficacious opera tion, and impart to them eternal life.
11. Wherever in any other passage cleansing from sin is as cribed to the blood of Christ, it should be taken, according to the exigency (the bearing or relation) of the context, either morally QIC physically, or in both ways ; for example, Heb. i. 3 ; 1 John i. 7. And the same remark applies to the victory, Rev. xii. 11.
12. All these things transcend nature, and it is absolutely necessary to guard ourselves against the sweet fallacy of the senses. Comp. Closterbergische Sammlung, P. ii., p. 138, and the following pages, where the homily of Lavius, on the virtue of the blood of Christ, is commended, and admonitions are given against deviations from it. If at any time, for example, the joy of the Spirit be diffused in the soul, or even in the body, it ought not to be repressed. We do not arrive at faith by sense (Ge- fiihl), although faith may draw after itself something that may be felt ; which however we are far from calling either heat or any other physical quality. Let us receive with humble thanksgiv ing, and keep without vain boasting, whatever sensations present themselves without affectation. Let no man, however, obtrude himself upon others as a model or example, nor let him propose others to himself as objects of imitation in the same way.