A PARAPHRASE WITH NOTES Upon the Sixth Chapter of St. JOHN With a Discourse on Humanity and Charity By W. CLAGET D. D. The Second Edition Imprimatur Jo. Battely RRmo Patri ac D no D no Wilhelmo Archiepisc Cantuar. à Sacris Domesticis Ex Edibus Lambeth Maii 31. 1686. LONDON Printed for J. Robinson at the Golden Lion and T. Newborough at the Golden Ball in St. Paul's Church-yard 1693. THE PREFACE SIR 'T IS not for nothing that we are desired to read the Sixth Chapter of St. John every day I have engaged my Thoughts with what attention I can upon those Passages between the 51 and 61 Verses and the more I consider them the more favourably they seem to me to look upon that Opinion that the very Flesh of Christ is eaten in the Sacrament I know not what to say to this that though the Jews understood Christ's Words of eating his very Flesh and he saw plainly enough that they did so yet he went on in the same strain of Expressions Verily verily I say unto you Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you I know you told me that these Passages are not to be interpreted of the Sacrament and that there is no mention in them of any outward and visible Signs which are necessary to a Sacrament But I have heard that the Church always thought these words to be spoken of the Sacrament And besides though there be no mention of a Sacrament yet if Christ's Words enforce this that the natural Substance of his Flesh must be properly eaten by us it will follow that it must be thus eaten in the Sacrament of his Body and Blood unless we could tell how or where else it is to be done I would be glad to see such a Paraphrase upon this Chapter as you speak of which would help to make all appear plain And it were well if others might see it too and thereby see this at least that you are so well satisfy'd with your own Reasons that you are not afraid to let those judge of them that are otherwise perswaded I am c. The PREFACE SIR YOU are desired to read the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel every day and this I doubt not for the sake of that part of it between V. 51 and V. 61 which seems to require eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood of Christ in the proper sense And here I make no question your Thoughts were closely engaged But perhaps you have not applied that attention to the rest of the Chapter which you gave to that part where the difficulty lies and then no wonder that the difficulty still remains For I beg leave to put you in mind once more that the true Sense of those difficult Passages as you count them is to be gained by observing their connexion with all the rest And therefore to that Request that you would often read the 6th Chapter of St. John which I acknowledge to be a reasonable Request I must add another as reasonable as that which is that you would not only often read but likewise often consider the whole Chapter and mind our Saviour's Design in it That you would therefore observe what sort of People he had to do with and what was the occasion of this Conversation between him and them What was the Fundamental Cause of their Prejudices against him and with what Arguments and Applications he laboured to remove those Prejudices For you will then find that they were Men whose Belly was their God and who minded earthly things that they followed Christ for the Loaves that he disappointed their Hopes that they were angry at it and altered their Opinion of him upon it that their earthly-mindedness was the Reason why they now liked him not but set themselves to cavil at all his Sayings that to take them off from the Cares and Pleasures of this present Life he laid before them better and greater Things the Means and Hopes of everlasting Life Finally that he calls the Means and Causes of bettering our Minds and bringing us to everlasting Life Meat and Drink and our believing and obeying his Doctrine eating and drinking And then if I am not deceived you will easily acknowledge that in particular he calls the Belief of his Death and Passion for the Sins of the World and the saving Fruits of that Faith eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood And that there is no more reason to imagine that his Flesh should be eaten and his Blood drank in the proper and corporeal sense than that he should make himself Bread to be eaten by us as we use to eat Bread But that there is good reason to understand throughout by that eating and drinking which he required spiritual Actions only which the whole strain of his Discourse shews that he opposed to that corporeal feeding which they were so inordinately sollicitous for I must for the same Reason desire you to mind those plain Intimations scattered here and there in our Lord's Discourse by which it is evident what he meant by eating and drinking He saith V. 29. This is the (a) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Work of God that ye BELIEVE on him whom he hath sent which is an Interpretation of V. 27. (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Labour not for the meat that perisheth but c. Again V. 35. He that BELIEVETH on me shall never thirst And again V. 47. He that BELIEVETH on me hath everlasting Life So likewise V. 36. and V. 40. This I say is fit to be minded For when not only the occasion he had to use these Terms of eating and drinking which was their following him for their Bellies shews these Terms to be allusive but as if that were not enough he likewise added now and then the plain and proper meaning of those Allusions it must I think be a wilful Mistake in him that attends to this to interpret those Expressions as if they were not allusive Nor is this all for you may please to consider also that when our Saviour found some of his Disciples to understand him as the Carnal Jews did he thought fit for more abundant satisfaction to explain his meaning once for all V. 62 63. as you will find by the ensuing Paraphrase and Notes As for our Saviour's repeating those Expressions at which the Jews had already taken offence you may consider that V. 51. he added that Expression of drinking his Blood to that of eating his Flesh which was a more plain Intimation of that violent Death which he was to suffer for us than that former Saying of giving his Flesh for the Life of the World And so tho' he kept still to the Allusion yet he represented what kind of Death he was to suffer more fully than he had done before But perhaps you are at a loss why he continued to speak allusively at all when he found that he was so grosly
if it had not established and improved them we had wanted one considerable Inducement to receive it For there is so much natural Evidence that Men are bound to do good to one another that I doubt no Evidence can be great enough that a Religion comes from God which lets Men loose from all the Obligations of Humanity And if there be any other Character of Doctrine which would induce a Man to receive it as coming from God more than another it is this That it doth effectually promote Benignity and Charity a kind and generous Temper and all sorts of good Works And this I am sure is the Character of true and uncorrupted Christianity For 1. As it is a Rule of Manners it is wholly framed to destroy all Dispositions to Rage Malice Cruelty and Uncharitableness and to plain Goodness Compassion and Benignity in our Minds To this end it hath provided against all the Causes of Uncharitableness that is against Covetousness Lust Ambition Impatience Revengefulness and the like And therefore the Apostle doubted not to say that the end of the Commandment is Charity And that which is most remarkable in this kind is That whereas nothing can with greater colour of Reason obstruct the Disposition of a Christian to be good to All Men than to be himself abused and wronged by others therefore our Lord to guard the Duty of Universal Beneficence has made it our Duty to forgive nay and to love our very Enemies which seems to be a Law peculiar to Christianity 2. If we consider our Lord Jesus himself the Author of our Religion he was the most glorious Pattern of Charity and doing good that ever appeared in the World For he was contented to come down into this wretched World and to lead an afflicted Life and to endure an ignominious and painful Death for the Salvation of Mankind And when he conversed publickly amongst his Country-men he went about doing good And though his Doctrine and his Works were still cavilled at and perverted to a wrong Intention by a froward and unthankful Generation of Men yet he ceased not to do good to all that came to him for Relief and to many others that never sought it from him So that we are to treat every Man as one whom Christ so loved as to die for him And if our Religion stands at all in the imitation of Christ we are to do good to the Vnthankful and Vnjust as need requires nay and to do Good against Evil and if possible to overcome Evil with Good But 3. The way which he chose for the propagation of his Religion was above all things a Demonstration that he intended his Disciples should be inoffensive and beneficent to all Men. If indeed under a pretence of saving the Souls of Men he had armed his Followers to kill his Enemies his Doctrine had not carried so much as a face of Sincerity but had rather looked like a Design of Interest and Ambition than of Charity and doing good But with what Weapons did he send abroad his Ministers to subdue Men to himself Go says he cleanse the Leper heal the Sick Matth. 10.7 8. raise the Dead c. Freely ye have received freely give If this would not make their preaching effectual the worst they were to do was Vers 14. to shake the Dust off their Feet against that place which rejected them Vers 14. If they were persecute in one City they were to flee to another If Sufferings followed them from one place to another they were to possess their Souls in patience and in all this to love and pray for their Enemies The Doctrine of our Lord JESUS and his own Example and the Means he used to spread his Faith in the World were all of a piece that Charity being eminently preached in the way of converting the World to his Religion which was so powerfully recommended by his Example and so strongly urged by his Doctrine And if it had not been so the Doctrine of Christianity had not done so much good as the way of propagating it had done Mischief The Doctrine it self of doing good to All had been but a dead Letter if it had been carried into the World with Rage and Cruelty It had served only to condemn Christians of Hypocrisie for pretending the good of Mens Souls in destroying their Lives and for pretending Charity while they carried Confusion and Desolation where-ever they went Had they behaved themselves in this manner they had given just cause of suspicion that they were gathering a Party in an hostile opposition to all the World besides and that the Brotherly-kindness of Christians consisted in excluding the rest of Mankind from common Charity and required that Unbelievers should be treated as Enemies and prosecuted with the utmost Hatred And therefore altho in this very place St. Paul's design was to move the Christians to contribute towards the common Concerns of the Church yet lest he should seem to exempt them from the obligation of doing good to All by calling for their Benificence towards one another he prevents the scandal by requiring Beneficence to All almost out of its place I say though his business was now to perswade them to do good to the Houshold of Faith Yet that this might be no pretence for Inhumanity he guards his meaning by an Exhortation in the first place to do good to all Men. And upon all these Accounts I had much rather at the last Day bear the Judgment of an Heathen that is endued with Humanity and Mercy than of a Christian that has nothing of it let him have what he will else And thus much for the general Object of Charit and the Duty of doing Good to All Men. The Second is more particular viz. The Houshold of Faith and upon this the Exhortation runs thus let us do good especially to the Houshold of Faith that is to Christians who are one Body or Society of Men united one to another under one Head our Lord Jesus Christ by one Faith to the Profession of which they are admitted by one Baptism according to that Saying of the Apostle One Lord one Faith one Baptism Eph. 4.5 which are the Bonds that make the Church one Family or Houshold Now to all that are of this Houshold we are to do good especially and more than to others though we are to do good to all Men. And under this Particular there are these two things observable 1. That the Obligation we are under to do good to all Men does not hinder preferring some before others whether in respect of the Time or the degree of doing good I observed before that we have so limited a Power that we cannot be actually beneficent to All and therefore must choose our Objects with Discretion There are several good Works which many do not need from us and we cannot perform them for All that do And therefore Charity must be guided by Judgment in determining upon whom to
your Policy found it expedient to imitate you as far as Truth and Christian Charity would permit them And this may suffice also to apologize for my using it in my Preface It now remains Sir that I speak to another thing which seem'd to disturb you which is Whether I am a Lay-man or a Clergy-man For I find you wavering about it and therefore I 'll endeavour to fix you tho' in a doubtful case Why should not Charity have inclin'd you that brag of so much to believe me when I profess my self a Lay-man Well but I speak so like a Clergy-man so almost in the very Words and Phrases of a Doctor of my Church and another Doctor mention'd in your Last Reâ—ly that you cannot but take what I say for Church-sence dropping through a Lay-Pen Sir I must needs thank you for the Honour you do me in taking me to speak like such great Men but I have not Vanity enough to believe that I do Yet thus much I 'll confess that I desire to live no longer than I can if not speak yet love and admire the Church of England-Sence But is it impossible for a Lay-man to speak like a Clergy-man Does Holy Orders make such a difference Or do you imagine I have never read any of our Churches Writers Why may not then my Mind be tinctured by them And so what I speak or write bear some resemblance to them Is there not many a Son like his Father And how do you know but I am the Son of a Clergy-man and so by Blood derive something of their way of Writing But to make an end I fancy Sir that you or whoever was the Author of the First Part of the Papist Misrepresented c. and some others of your Church have found to your Grief and Shame that either of these Doctors you speak of could if they had pleas'd to have undertaken so mean a Work have writ another sort of a Preface than I have done to the disadvantage of the French Popery now imitated in England Let the meanness of the Performance prevail over you to believe that neither of them made it But indeed you are injurious to them to fancy they would be guilty of such indirect dealing No no Sir the Divines of the Church of England have a better Cause they need use no Arts or Tricks no feign'd Miracles no bold Untruths no malicious Whispers and Slanders to support and defend it nor put Shams upon the World This Practice is none of theirs and if you please that may be added as a Mark to prove ours a True Church And indeed I could easily perswade my self to believe that your own Practice and that of your Party was in your Thoughts when this Fancy entred into your Brain But in a word and to put you out of pain about these two Doctors for I cannot blame you for dreading them I do assure you that neither of them made that Preface and once more that I who now write this Letter am a Lay-man and writ that Preface such as ' t is And if I could but be infallibly certain that the old Popery was alter'd in the point of Malice Revenge and seeking occasion against those who never so little oppose or hinder the Designs of Rome I would give you entire satisfaction in this Particular and not only tell you my Name but where I live But because I cannot get out of my Thoughts some late Actions and that hard Usage of the brave Author of Wholsom Advices c. I fear lest Old Popery may be practic'd upon me too and therefore think it but common Prudence to conceal my self For to tell you true I am not yet weary of that little Happiness I enjoy But Sir you make your Misrepresenter tell the World that I am dabling out of my Element by which one would think that after all you believ'd I am a Lay-man Well but how out of my Element May not a Lay-man tell Truth and do good to his Neighbour's Soul Is God's Spirit is all Knowledge limitted to Holy Orders Because there are some Functions appropriated to Clergy-men such as Administring the Sacraments c. does it therefore follow that a Lay-man may neither write nor discourse of any Matters of Religion Pray Sir does that Command Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self oblige Lay-men as well as Clergy-men If it does and since I may edifie my self why I beseech you not another And can a Man express his Charity to his Neighbour in a higher manner than in Spiritual Things But the Arguments are infinite which might be us'd in this Case And therefore I shall only ask you whether Tertullian and Origen and many other of the Ancient Fathers writ not about Religion when they were Lay-men Nay more did not Pope Adrian and Pope Nicholas admit Laymen into Councils And pray what was Picus Mirandula but an Earl and meer Lay-man and Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor of England But above all what was that Prince who wrote against Luther for which the Pope thought fit to bestow the Title of Defender of the Faith upon him But indeed why should it seem strange that you and your Church should find fault with Lay-men's medling in Controversies of Religion especially against you when you dare totally bar Lay-mens reading the Holy Scriptures for which they have a Command from God Search the Scriptures and perswade them to put out their Eyes and throw away their Reason which God and Nature has given them to be their Guide through this deceitful World And yet I dare say that if a Lay-man would undertake so knotty a piece of Work as to write in Defence of your Church that you would not tell him that he was dabling out of his Element tho' he were no better than a Profligate Poet. I pass over your unhandsom Language and 't is below me to return it But I cannot but stand amaz'd to find a Member of the Church of Rome and a Maintainer of the Doctrine of Transubstantiation make his Misrepresenter say That the Protestant Teachers know the People they have to deal with That their discerning Faculties are stupify'd That they 'll pass over fifty Contradictions without once stumbling and that there 's no fear of enquiring How can this be No Sir the Teachers of the Church of England are not guilty of this Tyranny We are Members of a Church that invites all her Children to the highest Attainment of Knowledge and teaches them that a reasonable Service is the most acceptable to God and imposes nothing upon them that either destroys or contradicts their Reason and Senses that not only allows her Children to read the Holy Scriptures but beseeches them to do it provided they do it with a modest Dependence on their lawful Teachers for the sence of some Texts which may not be so clear to Persons who are unacquainted with the Proprieties of the Languages in which the Holy Scriptures were writ and the Customs