The Quakers therefore believe, that this address of Jesus Christ to his followers near Capernaum, relates wholly to the necessity of the souls of men being fed and nourished by that food, which it is alone capable of receiving, namely, that which is of a spiritual nature, and which comes from above.  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.  For this bread fills and satisfies.  By extinguishing all carnal desires, it leaves neither hunger nor thirst after worldly things.  It redeems from the pollutions of sin.  It so quickens as to raise from death to life, and it gives therefore to man a sort of new and divine nature, so that he can dwell in Christ and Christ in him.

This supper, which consists of this manna, or bread, or of this flesh and blood, may be enjoyed by Christians in various ways.  It may be enjoyed by them in pious meditations on the Divine Being, in which the soul of man may have communion with the spirit of God, so that every meditation may afford it a salutary supper, or a celestial feast.  It may be enjoyed by them when they wait upon God in silence, or retire into the light of the Lord, and receive those divine impressions which quicken and spiritualize the internal man.  It may be enjoyed by them in all their several acts of obedience to the words and doctrines of our Saviour.  Thus may men everyday, nay, every hour, keep a communion at the Lord’s table, or communicate, or sup, with Christ.

SECT.  III.

The question then is, whether Jesus Christ instituted any new supper, distinct from that of the passover, (and which was to render null and void that enjoined at Capernaum) to be observed as a ceremonial by Christians—­Quakers say, that no such institution can be collected from the accounts of Matthew, or of Mark, or of John—­The silence of the latter peculiarly impressive in the present case.