P R E O F A C E.

Bread, I say, is that most ancient of human nourishments, of which mention was made immediately upon Adam's departure from Paradise. In this vegetable, therefore, that spirit which gives life to all things and fills the whole world abounds in great plenty. From this it follows that it is so necessary to human life that no bodily food is found in the world that is more common among men, or more ready and useful for repelling their hunger, than is bread. It is fashioned from the grain of wheat, whose nutritional power undoubtedly proceeds immediately from the very act of the divine spirit, which from the sun—its tabernacle—longs to rain down and flow abundantly with rays of life into this composition daily. For all the power and goodness of life is sent by God into his creatures, according to that saying of the royal Psalmist: By the word of the Lord the heavens were made firm, and by the breath of his mouth all their power. Psalm 33:6. The author uses "spirit" and "breath" interchangeably here to link the Holy Spirit to the "vital spark" in plants. But truly, no faculty is granted to creatures by the Creator that is more desired or more clear than that of life; and consequently it follows that the act, and therefore the essence, of the uncreated spirit is within the nourishment of the creature, without which it is least able to reach its good effect. Hence it was said by Saint John: By the word all things were made, and without it nothing was made; in it was life, and that life is the light of men. John 1:3-4. By which he seems to conclude that the essential footprints of the divine word are in every creature, but more eminently in man in the animal kingdom, and thereafter in wheat in the vegetable kingdom. For the gifts of the spirit shine forth more in one place than in another, but I shall gird myself a little more closely to the grain of wheat, so that I may then approach more nearly to the description and dignity of bread.

Odo, that most learned Abbot, Likely Odo of Cluny or Odo of Morimond, medieval theologians. in his Harmony of the Trinity, relates that Wheat is taken analogically for the second person in the Trinity The Son/Jesus Christ. in many places of Holy Scripture, and he brings forth this first passage from the Prophet Joel: The floors shall be filled with wheat, and the presses shall overflow with wine and oil. Joel 2:24. Upon this passage he treats allegorically thus: The Spirit fills the presses with wine, the Son fills the floors with wheat, and the Father fills the presses with oil. And indeed, by examining the matter a little more accurately, we shall discover that these three vegetable creatures may not unsuitably be referred by metonymy A figure of speech where a thing is called by the name of something closely associated with it (e.g., "the crown" for a king). in their condition to the three persons in the Holy Trinity, if it be lawful to compare created things with the uncreated. For oil is referred to mercy, as it is accustomed to soothe pains; Wheat fills with abundance; and wine is accustomed to refresh and recreate. In this same sense we shall find many other places in the sacred writings; for in Deuteronomy 18:12: All the best of the oil, and all the wine and the Wheat, as firstfruits, they shall offer to the Lord. And elsewhere: Thou mayest not eat within thy gates the tithe of thy wheat, and of thy oil, and of thy wine. (Deut. 12:17, 18:4, and 2 Chron. 18:5). And elsewhere: He will give the rain of your land in its due season, the early and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy wheat and thy oil. (Deut. 11:14). From these and many other places, therefore, it appears in how much honor and excellence wheat was esteemed among the Prophets. Moreover, that the internal balsam of wheat is held to be the greatest blessing of earthly things is testified by the royal prophet in these words: Jehovah fed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey out of the rock he satisfied them. Psalm 81:16. And elsewhere he says: He fills thee with the fat of wheat. By which he seems to intimate that the greatest blessing resides in wheat. So also we read in Leviticus 23:6. But concerning the further dignity and excellence of this grain, we shall speak more richly below in its proper place.

As for what pertains to the dignity of bread, the Holy Bibles are filled everywhere with mention of it. Just as two species of bread are reckoned, so indeed it is necessary that the internal and heavenly bread be found in the external and elementary bread no differently than the internal man is found in the external, or the soul in the body. The benefit of the external is stirred up by the internal for nourishment, and the external is accustomed to be nourished by the internal; for it is heaven that refreshes the failing spirits, and not the earth. Hence, wherever mention of bread is made in the sacred texts, there indeed the internal bread is signified through the external, which is difficult for the coarse common folk to understand, as they are chiefly occupied with the external senses. And hence it is that bread was to be preferred to riches and wealth, as is held in Numbers 15:19, where we find: Of the riches of that land thou shalt partake, but of the bread thereof ye shall eat. Concerning the virtue of bread, the Prophet thus writes in Psalm 103:15: Bread strengthens and supports the heart of man, as that wine makes it glad. Psalm 104:15 in modern numbering. Furthermore, we read elsewhere that bread is brought forth from the earth by the favor of God. (Psalm 104). Yea, truly, we have in Saint Matthew with how much divinity this food was to be honored, where we read (26:26): He blessed the bread and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said, Take and eat, this is my body. And in Luke 24:30 this is found: And it came to pass as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to them, and their eyes were opened and they knew him. From which it is declared clearly enough how great a [connection] there is between bread, or this earthly creature...