=52. How can this= (fellow) =give us his flesh to eat=? The Judeans here interpret Christ’s words with precisely the literalism with which the church of Rome has interpreted them since. The rest of the discourse Christ devotes to guarding his hearers against this misapprehension of literal and prosaic natures, and to emphasizing the mystical doctrine to the elucidation of which the whole discourse is devoted. Verses 53-55 reiterate and re-emphasize the truth that the soul must feed on Christ, receive him, his life, his death, his character, as the supply of its own spiritual life; verses 57-59 and verses 61-63 interpret what he means by the metaphor. In the interpretation of Christ’s symbolic language here we are to guard ourselves against simplifying it, either by a literal rendering on the one hand, or, on the other, by that process of rationalism which, under pretence of interpreting a metaphor, does away with it altogether. If there were nothing mystical in the doctrine, we may be sure that Christ would not have clothed it in language seemingly so full of mysticism. 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except[245] ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. [245] Matt. 26:26, 28. 54 Whoso[246] eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. [246] verse 40. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed,[247] and my blood is drink indeed. [247] Ps. 4:7.