Chapter I. On Manna and Wheat.

7. But in grains it was prefigured in two, namely in manna, which fell in the manner of coriander seed, and in wheat.

8. But in manna it was prefigured for five causes, namely with respect to origin, because the manna was heavenly; in taste, because it had diverse tastes; and in place, because it was given only to those passing through the desert; and in miracle, because it came miraculously; and in defect, because, when the fruits of the fatherland had been tasted, it failed.

And concerning the first of these there is fittingness because Christ also came from heaven. And the multitude of graces in Christ was an indication in the manna of manifold taste. But the desert in which it was offered signifies the desert of the world, which is deserted and uncultivated from the perfect reception of divine sweetness. But the miraculous nativity of Christ answers to the miracle of the manna. And its failing in the fatherland signifies that after the exile of this life we do not need such forms and likenesses of divine food, when God through himself will instill himself into us in open species.

Therefore for these causes he is prefigured in manna, and for a memorial of grace of this sort the manna was reserved before the Lord. Hebrews 9:4: In which was the golden urn having manna.

9. Therefore the first of these is that by origin our food is from heaven, that is, from the height of human nature, in which Christ received our nature immune from fault. John 3:31 and 32: He who comes from above is above all... And what he has seen and heard, this he testifies. Psalm 77:24 and 25: He gave them the bread of heaven... He sent them foods in abundance. And better, our bread is from heaven, because he was taken from the heaven of human nature. But he was the one assuming from the heaven of the holy Trinity, and the assumption was made from the highest point of heavenly virtue. Isaiah 58:14: I shall lift you above the heights of the earth, and I shall feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father. But the height of the earth is the summit of human nature insofar as, with respect to innocence from fault, it was in the first state of man; from that state Christ assumed our nature, which is united to deity; through that union it received the fullness of every grace, and therefore it could be Eucharist, that is, good grace, which nourishes the faithful. But this, through corpulent substance, was the inheritance of our fathers, from whom Christ descended. Hence concerning himself and all such persons thus incorporated into him, Christ says in John 3:13: No one ascends into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven; through the divine nature he descended from the heaven of the holy Trinity and remained in it. But through the human nature he descended from the heaven in which man was created, by assuming passibility, and remained in it with respect to immunity from sin, and with all the elect incorporated into himself he reascended into each heaven.

Thus therefore manna and this food agree with respect to origin.

They also agree in diversity of tastes, because just as manna had diverse tastes bodily, so this food has diverse tastes of grace spiritually. For Philo says in his Exodus which he made by weaving together the history of the Pentateuch, that manna when chewed was always converted to the taste desired by the one eating, in such a way however that a sweet and fat taste prevailed in it, so that from sweetness it refreshed nature, and from fatness it seasoned the food, and from the affection for the taste into which it was converted it satisfied the appetite of the one eating. And this is what, as Philo says, the Psalmist intends in Psalm 77:29 and 30: And they ate, and were greatly filled; and he brought them their desire, namely the Lord did. They were not defrauded of their desire, because from sweetness he brought fullness, from fatness he soothed the taste, and from the desired taste he brought desire. Wisdom 16:20: You furnished them prepared bread from heaven without labor, having every delight in itself and the sweetness of every taste. And a little after, verse 21: And serving the will of each one, it was turned to what each one wished. So also spiritually our bread which we devote at the altar is the vessel of all graces, offering every taste of grace, and besides these things it offers to us, by spiritual taste, the sweetness of the divine nature and the fatness of devotion. And just as the ears of different persons hearing the words of God find in the word different illuminations according to the capacity of each, so the mouths of different persons tasting this food find different refreshments of graces. Job 12:11: Does not the ear judge words, and the mouth of the one eating judge taste? As if he were saying: Provided that the mouths are not infected by alien bitterness. For all things seem bitter to the sick, as the Philosopher says, because choleric and bilious bitterness infects the palate of those fevering. And thus those sick from the bitterness of sin do not judge the true taste of this food. Acts 8:23: I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and the bond of iniquity. This was signified in Exodus 29:41 and 42, where concerning the lamb to be offered to the Lord in the evening the Lord says thus, that according to those things which we have said, it is a sacrifice for an odor of sweetness, a perpetual oblation to the Lord. But those who are learned in natural things say that odor is the consequence of taste, nor can there be a most sweet odor except from a most sweet taste; nor would this be in a perpetual oblation for all generations unless each one found in that lamb the taste of the spirit which he seeks. Hence Canticles 4:10 says: The odor of your ointments is above all spices. Because the grace of every anointing and fatness is in the Eucharist against every infirmity, and the taste that overcomes all spices is for every refreshment.

Thus therefore there is a fittingness of the eucharistic food and of manna in diversity of taste.

10. They also agree in the place of the offering of each grace. For manna was not given except in the desert, where there was no other delightful and refreshing thing for eating; and so the sweetness of grace and the taste of the Eucharist is not felt except by those who transfer themselves in heart into the desert, so that they do not feel worldly delights. Hence Blessed Bernard says: Divine consolation is delicate; it is not given to those admitting an alien one. And this is what the Psalmist says in Psalm 64:13: The beautiful places of the desert will grow fat, namely those which make themselves deserted, lest the world cultivate anything in them from tumultuous and falling delights, and the hills of such high hearts will frequently be girded with the exultation of divine consolation. The Lord invites to this desert in Mark 6:31: Come apart into a desert place and rest a little. In this desert the Lord twice fed the crowds, and he is not read to have fed them elsewhere¹. John 6:49: Your fathers ate manna in the desert. This is the desert concerning which Isaiah 32:15 says: The desert will be in Carmel, and Carmel will be reputed as a forest. For Carmel is interpreted tender lamb, because that desert is experienced as having the delights of our and God's lamb, most tender with every grace. And Carmel will be reputed as a forest, because since there all thickets leap up, it is called a forest, because in such delights the greenness of every virtue leaps.

11. They also agree in the mode of handing over and offering. For each was offered through the miracle of God, with natural powers existing weak and invalid for this. Hence Exodus 16:4: Behold, I shall rain breads from heaven for you; let the people go out and gather what suffices for each day. Psalm 77:23 and 24: He opened the gates of heaven, namely the Lord did, and rained manna upon them to eat. So also the Son of God by his will and word ministered eucharistic food to us. John 6:52: The bread which I shall give is my flesh. As if he were saying: I shall give, and no other, because no one except God will be able to give this food, having in itself the glorious taste of the deity contained in the manna. Hence Christ, preferring this food to the manna and showing that neither that one nor this one could be given except by God alone, says in John 6:32 and 33: Amen, amen I say to you, Moses did not give you bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who descends from heaven and gives life to the world. For that bread which Moses obtained from God by prayer and did not give from his own treasures, but the Lord, did not enliven those taking it unto eternal life, although it descended from heaven; but this bread, which descended like that one, which the heavenly Father brought forth, like that one, not from human treasures but from his divine storerooms, is true in this, because it enlivens those refreshed unto himself for eternal life. And thus each was offered by the miracle of the goodness of God. And in this what the Psalmist says is true, conforming the new miracle to the old, Psalm 110:4 and 5: The merciful and compassionate Lord has made a memorial of his wonderful works. He has given food to those who fear him. Because, lest we be considered lower than the ancient fathers who were nourished by the food of angels, indeed rather so that we might be considered infinitely higher, he prepared the Lord of angels for us as food. John 6:27: Work not for the food which perishes, but for that which remains unto eternal life, which the Son of man will give you. Concerning this bread a little later, verse 34, certain men ignorant of the truth said: Lord, always give us this bread. Concerning this also the Lord, explaining, adds, verse 35: I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not hunger. Therefore it is clear that each was administered by the very sweetness of God through a miracle. For John Chrysostom says that that is done through a miracle which is done by the will of God alone, with no power of nature cooperating.

12. But there is fittingness in the failing. For the manna failed for the sons of Israel as they entered the land of promise and tasted the fruits of the land of promise. Hence Joshua 5:12: And the manna failed after they ate of the fruits of the land; nor did the sons of Israel use that food any longer, but they ate of the fruits of the present year of the land of Canaan. So also in this passage of the world we use the food of the Eucharist under the veiled species of bread and wine; but when we come to the fatherland, we shall taste the very truth of things in the true species of God, who is the fruit of the land of Canaan, that is, of the transmuted land, because there grace is transmuted into glory. And this is what the Lord says in John 16:25: These things I have spoken to you in proverbs. The hour comes when I shall no longer speak to you in proverbs, but I shall announce openly to you concerning the Father. For we shall use sacramental likenesses only until the manifestation and perception of open truth. This is what the Apostle says in 1 Corinthians 13:10: When that which is perfect has come, that which is in part will be emptied out. For this is perfect, that we participate in God as he is. But now we are led by the hand by sensible likenesses of bread and wine because of our imperfection.

Therefore in all the five things said, manna agrees with the Eucharist, and such fittingness in divine things is called concord.

Thus therefore the Eucharist is prefigured through manna.

13. But the matter of this sacrament, as in the noblest food of its genus, is taken in bread from wheat; for Christ compared himself to this wheat, saying in John 12:24: Unless the grain of wheat falling into the earth has died, it remains alone.

For in grains four things are considered, namely color, figure, quantity, and purity of substance, if they ought to be noble. But all these things are found in the grain of wheat.

For it is snowy in color within and red in color without. And these are said by the natural philosophers to be the better grains. And these two things belong to the sacrament, so that the blood-red color may be referred to the passion, and the snowy color may be referred to the whiteness of innocent life. Canticles 5:10: My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen from thousands. White in innocence, and ruddy in the patience of passion.

But the figure of a grain of wheat is columnar. Its genus, Euclid says, is that a circle equally distant around a center is equally raised; for a figure equally distant from the center presses and is pressed equally everywhere, and it is a support of faith, as this sacrament is understood to be. Apocalypse 3:12: He who conquers, I shall make him a pillar in the temple of God. And in this way Ecclesiasticus 24:7 says: My throne is in a pillar of cloud. For this is one immovable pillar of the seven sacramental graces, concerning which Proverbs 9:1 says: Wisdom has built herself a house; she has cut out seven pillars.

But quantity is considered because it is greater among the grains which are taken for bread that is the bread of man. For barley is the food of beasts of burden; oats are the food of fattened birds; rye is weakness in relation to wheat, because rye sown in good earth is ennobled into wheat, and wheat sown into bad earth degenerates into rye. And therefore there is no perfect grain except the grain of wheat. Zechariah 9:17: For what is his good, and what is his beautiful thing, except the wheat of the elect and wine germinating virgins, that is, virginal minds?

But the purity of substance is that this is also said to be the fat of the other grains. Hence Psalm 147:14: He satisfies you with the fat of wheat. For this is pure and the fat of every nourishing grain. In whatever grains those four things are found, those are more noble and therefore fit for the matter of the body of the Lord. But they are not found thus in any grain as in the grain of wheat, and therefore the body of the Lord can be consecrated from no grain except from the grain of wheat.

Therefore it is clear that in the genus of food bread containing these grains is compared to the noblest food. Hence Genesis 27:37 says: I have established him with wheat and wine. Because the whole house of Jacob, that is, the Church, is founded upon this sacrament of wheat and wine, because in it the matter is the matter of wheat and wine. Hence it is said concerning the fathers desiring this sacrament, Deuteronomy 33:28: The eye of Jacob is in a land of wheat and wine and oil, because wheat signifies the firmness of heart of this sacrament which it gives in the sacrament. But wine signifies spiritual joy, and oil the fatness of piety; and these are the things upon which the whole Church stands.

Thus therefore it is clear that this food in its genus, with respect to signification and causation, is outstanding, for this is the fattest and sweetest grain among all grains. Hence also he who tasted it cried out this and said in Psalm 62:6: Let my soul be filled as with fat and fatness, and my mouth will praise with lips of exultation. Because the fat of the grace of deity and the fatness of devotion had so filled his soul that the whole of it broke forth into the exultation of praise. This is the wheat which, most pure, agrees with the most pure, and is incorporated with the grain which is God; and therefore all of it belongs to be gathered into the barn of the Lord. Matthew 13:30: Gather first the darnel, and bind it in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn. For all these belong to the barn of the Lord of heaven and to the table of God. And because he himself to whom