Spirit  that  quickeneth  ;  the  flesh  profiteth  nothing  (7).  The  words
that  I  have  spoken  to  you  are  spirit  and  life  (8).  But  there  are
some  of  you  that  believe  not.  For  from  the  beginning" — that  is  to
say,  from  all  eternity,  as  God  and  as  man,  from  the  moment  of  his
conception,  "  Jesus  knew  who  they  were  that  did  not  believe,  and
who  he  was  that  would  betray  him  ;  and  he  said  :  Therefore  did  I
say  to  you,  that  no  man  can  come  to  me,  unless  it  be  given  him  by
my  Father," — a  purely  gratuitous  gift,  which  cannot  be  merited  by
those  to  whom  it  is  made,  but  which,  being  oiiei'ed  to  all,  makes
those  resjîonsible  who  are  deprived  of  it  only  because  they  have  not
wished  to  receive  it  ;  for  it  is  offered  in  vain  if  it  be  not  received.
A  great  many  of  those  whom  Jesus  addressed  were  just  in  this  pre-
dicament, which  was  the  reason  why,  "  after  this,  many  of  his  disci-
ples went  back  (9),  and  walked  no  more  with  him."

Jesus  did  not  aj^pear  surprised  at  this  desertion,  which  he  had,
of  course,  foreseen  ;    he  even  wished  to  profit  by  the  occasion,  to


sense  facilitates  faith  in  the  incarnation  ;  the  second  renders  more  difficult  that  of  the
real  eating.  The  second  is  the  ru»st  probable,  because  it  is  much  more  probable  that
Jesus  Christ  should  here  reply  to  the  second  of  the  two  objections  ;  and,  by  indicating
his  presence  in  different  places  by  means  of  the  Eucharist,  we  may  say  he  consummates
the  revelation  of  this  great  mystery.
