necessarily to have been united in soul as well as in body otherwise he could be but an Half-Redeemer and we but Semiredempti i. e. redeemed but in one part or half-redeemed for it would prove but a Redemption of our Bodies only and not of our Souls Gregory Nazianzen in an Epistle to Cledonius Naz. Orat 51. a Priest which goes under the title of the 51 Oration thus writeth The Son of God took upon him the Nature of Man and all that of Man which needed help and recovery therefore he must needs have taken the Soul as well as the flesh from Man for otherwise he would be like to a Man who having a sore eye and a sore foot and should apply a Medicine to the foot only and quite neglect the eye Thus he so that although our bodies were well provided for by having a Redeemer yet the souls would want a Redemption for themselves and so the sentence of God would be executed on them The Soul that sinneth it shall die Eze. 18. 4 But the Mercifull Godhead took care both of our bodies and of our Souls and therefore sent God the Son as the Apostle saith in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and Rom. 8. 3. for sin condemned sin in the flesh So likewise did he send the same Son of God in the likeness of a sinfull Soul thereby to condemn sin in the Soul the Lord Jesus is a Saviour not only of bodies but of souls also and is therefore called by the Apostle the Sheepherd and Bishop of Souls 1 Pet. 2. 25. as Moses and Aaron had formerly stiled him The God of the Spirits or Souls of all Num. 16. 22. Flesh The Son of God was the Creator not only of bodies but also of souls and the Son of Man was and is the Redeemer of both For this gracious purpose only God did unite himself with Mankind not only in Flesh but in Soul also and thereby he became a Compleat Emanuel And this union or conjunction of God with Man was effected by the Propagation or Traduction of the Flesh and Soul of Christ from the flesh and soul of the first Man as all our Bodies and Souls have been and now are and will be to the end of the World Of the Traduction of our bodies no Man boubteth but of the Original and Traduction of Souls great disputes have been and yet are of which we are next in order to consider CHAP. XX. THE Doctrine of the Original of the Soul of Christ and of all human Souls and consequently the Doctrine of the Redemption of our souls by the Soul of Christ hath been much obscured by the vain and trifling Arguments of some natural Philosophers and as much by the frivolous Queries of some late Theologues whereas some learned Physicians to whom Jacobus Horstius Geor. Horstius Animas propagari ab animabus parentum putat Keckerman Phys p. 630. Truth is more beholding in this point have with great judgment and by their Experiences shewed and proved that our Souls are derived by Traduction from the Souls of our Mothers in the Womb as the Soul of Christ certainly was and as one of them saith Instar surculi ex trunco as a young grift sucketh life from the stock And the Souls of all Mothers as is beforesaid are derived from the Soul of the first Man unto which Doctrine all men who do rightly apprehend and understand the order and method of Redemption to consist in the Vnion of Christ with Mankind will be driven at last to consent Those Men that oppose the Traduction of Souls from the Soul of Adam demand how it is possible that such an innumerable company of Souls can be derived from one single Soul seeing the Soul is a Spirit and indivisible and therefore not to be parted by Decisions and mincings into such several parcels for so in time it would have nothing left to it self but would be utterly annihilated But these Men may as reasonably doubt how so many thousands of Bodies could proceed from that one single Body of the first Man during the 930 years of his life without any diminution of the quantity or dimensions of his Body seeing they were all Originally in his Loyns Or how the Sun communicates his light to every star in Heaven without any diminution or lessening his Light nothing is more like the Soul than light The Philosophers called the Soul of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter cognationem cum lumine as Plutarch saith because it is Plut. con Colot so like to light and Christ is said to Enlighten every Man because he hath given a John 1. 9. reasonable Soul to all Men as Expositors agree St. Austin resembles the traduction of the Soul to the Light of a lamp Ignis Aug. cont Pelag. T. 7. n. 63 lucernae integer manet licet altera de illa accendatur Millions of Tapers may receive light from one single Taper without diminishing the light of that one Taper and so our Souls are propagated from that one Original Soul without any division or diminution thereof Let it be considered that the Soul of the first Man was created immediately by God of which it is said God breathed into his Gen. 2. 7. Bucan p. 86. 88. nostrils the breath of Life or of Lives this Breath of God was Spiraculum Omnipotens of which the Psalmist saith By the Breath Psal 33. 6 of the Lord the Heavens were made and all the Host of them by the Breath of his mouth The human Soul hath a prerogative of its Original above other inferiour Animals of whom it is never said that God breathed into them the Breath of life That first Soul of Man especially was like unto Fire as one saith of all Human souls Igneus est Ollis Virg. Aen. 6. vigor It surely had the vigour of fire and did extend it self into the grand Corporation of all Mankind as one spark of fire may enflame a whole City The brute Creatures ever since their first Creation did propagate their Souls to their kind and to this day those Creatures do receive their souls by Traduction from their Dams The greatest Sciolists in Natural Philosophy cannot reasonably prove any other Original of those brute Souls but only by propagation which yet they deny to human Souls It must be confessed by Christians that the souls of brute Creatures were at the beginning created by God as the reasonable Soul of Adam was yet the souls of Brute Creatures are mortal but the reasonable Souls of Men are immortal the reason is because the Divine Nature did personally unite it self with our whole human Nature which is the only reason why human Souls do not die and that human Bodies after death shall rise again to Life at the general Resurrection But the Divine Nature did not so unite it self with the nature of those other inferiour Creatures which are therefore left to perish utterly Of which something
Christ was bred in the Body of his Mother without Copulation as worms are in other Bodies and therefore without sin Eve her self was made of Adam's Body and Soul without any Copulation or lust and therefore without any derivation of sin indeed her Extraction was before the Fall and before Concupiscence was entred into the Man which yet I conceive would have so been although the Woman had not been so made till after the Fall of the Man For certain then the blessed Mother of our Redeemer was a pure Virgin untill the Birth of her Son Jesus but whether she continued and persevered in her Virginity untill her death is not necessary or much pertinent to be considered in this Question it being a full and sufficient argument of the pure and sinless Conception and Birth of Christ that he was born of the Virgin Mary during her Virginity Mariam Joseph concubitu nec cognoverat nec cogniturus erat August To 7. N. 52. Yet in the Primitive Church both Eastern and Western it was generally received as a Truth that she persisted in her Virginity to her death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Greeks said and the Latines as Austin declares Aug. de Catechi Rudib. c. 22. Tc. 4. Maria Virgo concipiens pariens moriens It was so near an Article of their Faith that such as denied her perpetual Virginity as Helvidius in St. Jerome and Jovinian Hier. con Helv. Au. To. 7. n. 55. Epiph. Haer. 78. in St. Austin were accounted Hereticks and such are out by Epiphanius in his Catalogue of Heresies under the title of Antidicimarianitae with us since her departure she is called to this day the Virgin Mary There is a Prophetical Allegory recorded Isa 29. 11. by the Prophet in these words The Vision of all is become unto you as the words of a Book that is sealed which Men deliver to one that is Learned saying Read this I pray thee and he saith I cannot for it is sealed This Allegory is thus unriddled by St. Chrysostome Chry. n. 59 Greg. Neo. n. 2. and before him by Gregory Neocaesaria except one of them or his Scribe borrowed it from the other they expound it of the Virgin Mary and Lyranus saith it was indeed Lâ—ra in Ice meant of the secret Coming of Christ The Book signifieth the Virgin Mother the Sealing of it was the design of God to preserve her in a Virgin Estate to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a living Palace and Temple to entertain God the Man to whom this Book was delivered signified Joseph who is said to be Learned sciens literas because he had a former Wife and also Children by her as some say yet he could not or might not open or read this new Book because it was sealed or kept shut for a great and Heavenly purpose such as is before said Thus they just so St. Ambrose and St. Austin expound that Vision of Ezechiel concerning tâ—e shut Gate by which Ezek. 44. 2. no Man might enter because the God of Israel hath entred in by it This Gate signified Mary who was semper intacta Joseph vir non Ambr. n. 49. Aug. T. 10. n. 51. transit per eam Deus Israel ingressus est eam The Virgin Mother is often called by the Fathers Porta Coeli and a Book hath the name of the Writer as the Eunuch read Isaias Acts 8. 28. And Moses is read every Sabbath-day Acts 15. 21. Aug. Ps 121. St. Austin calls himself a Book Nos sumus Codex eorum qui legere non noverunt So the Virgin Mary is that Book This I trust is enough to shew the meaning of those Mysterious words of Christ concerning the Eating of his Flesh and Drinking his Blood The CONCLVSION HItherto we have shewed the Real Vnion of Christ with Mankind both in Flesh and in Soul and the Modus or manner how it is brought to pass And that it doth not consist in Eating and Drinking the Sacramental Bread and Wine for without that Men may be Redeemed and Saved but not except they Eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and Drink his Blood Now for Conclusion I shall only enquire what effects and issues are produced by this Vnion which is signified by Eating and Drinking And these I find to be Two 1. Immortality of all Human Souls whatsoever because all Men good and bad are united with Christ in Soul 2. The Resurrection of all Human Bodies both of holy and unholy Persons because all are united with Christ in Flesh Both the effects may clearly appear by the words of Christ For First he saith Except ye Eat the Flesh John 6. 53. c. ye have no life in you therefore they that have so eaten his Flesh c. have life in them Secondly In the very next words he saith Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood 54. hath Eternal Life and I will raise him up at the Last day 1. Eternal Life is meant of the Immortality of all Human Souls 2. Raising up at the Last day signifieth the Resurrection of Human Bodies at the last Judgment From these Premises we may easily collect that because all Men both Good and Bad are really united with Christ both in Soul and Flesh as hath been proved before therefore all Men both good and bad shall have Eternal life viz. Immortality of Souls and Resurrection of Bodies If it be questioned whether the Damned may be said to have Eternal life because they have been united with Christ so as is said We answer Yes For their Souls are Immortal as really as the Souls of the Blessed and their Bodies shall be raised to Life at the general Resurrection as truly as the Bodies of the Saints both the Blessed and the Damned in Bodies and in Souls shall then have Everlasting life the one in happiness the other in Misery And although the Miserable State and condition of the Damned as Beza saith Bez. Cat. p. 31. is not worthy to be called Life and is therefore called Eternal Death and Everlasting Damnation yet it is such a death as is called Mors sine morte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it Aug. T. 13. n. 31. Letan Longa sic morte necabat Virg. Aen. l. 5. 1 Cor. 15. 26. is a living death and endless living in misery it is a life though worse than death or annihilation and such an everlasting life as Devils have The mention of Everlasting fire implieth everlasting Bodies and in that it is said that Death is to be destroyed this argues that then there will be no more Dying and therefore it is said The Dead shall be raised incorruptible And this mortal shall put on Immortality and this is true both of the Good and of the Bad for all must stand before the Judgment-Seat of Christ and Rom. 14. 10. Apost Nicaen Athan. this is confessed in all our Church Creeds The Resurrection of the Body and Life Everlasting and
that we look for both and that all Men shall rise with their Bodies and shall give an account All therefore Good and Bad. This being evident we are further to enquire what is the efficient or true cause of the Immortality of Human Souls and of the Resurrection of Human Bodies more than of the souls and bodies of other inferior Creatures although their bodies and souls were at first Created by God as ours were and therefore the Mahumetans say that there shall be a Resurrection of Brute creatures as Armachanus reporteth and Arm. f. 161. Heathens said that in their Elysium a place was for Birds as Ovid. Amorum L. 2. Eleg. 6. Colle sub Elysio nigra nemus illice frondet Ovid. Amorum li. 2. El. 6. Vdaque perpetuo gramine terra viret Si qua fides dubiis volucrum locus ille piarum Dicitur obscoenae quo prohibentur Aves To this our Answer is That because Human bodies and Souls are united with the Body and Soul of Christ in the first Original Soul and Body therefore our Souls are Immortal and our Bodies shall rise immortal but so shall not the other Creatures because they are not so united The reason is clearly declared by Christ himself in these words He that eateth me even he shall live John 6. 57. by me For as the Body and Soul of Christ are now Immortal because united with the Divine Spirit as himself saith I live by the Ibid. Father so our Souls are and our Bodies shall be Immortal because they are united with the Body and Soul of the Son of God and this not by vertue of his meer Soul and his meer Flesh both of them being of themselves but Creatures but because his Soul and Body are and ever were personally united with the Divine Spirit or Godhead that is it only which caused this kind of Vitality in all Mankind for of his meer Flesh alone Christ saith The Flesh profiteth nothing Joh. 6. 63 But of the Spirit or Godhead united with his Flesh he saith It is the Spirit that quickneth the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life and therefore the Apostle saith of the whole Person of Christ The last Adam was made a quickning 1 Cor. 15. 45. Spirit that is He was made so by Union with the Godhead for the Flesh of Christ alone was mortal but by this Union it became both Vital and Vivifical They that say that our Souls are Immortal only by Creation being Reasonable Souls and should have been Immortal though God the Son had not united himself with our Nature These to me seem to gainsay the words of Christ for it is not by the Reasonabless but their Union with the Soul of Christ that makes them immortal I suppose they will not say that our Bodies shall rise from death only because they are human Bodies No for both these are the effects of this Union which Christ called the Eating his Flesh and Drinking his Blood and nothing else and therefore St. John saith God hath given to us Eternal Life and this 1 John 5. 11. 12. Life is in his Son he addeth He that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life To this most Holy Son of God and Son of Man our ever blessed Redeemer and Saviour together with the Eternal Father and the Divine Spirit of both Benediction Honour and Thanksgiving for ever and ever Amen Amen FINIS THE CONTENTS Chapter 1. THE Vnion of Christ with Mankind in Adam in order to our Redemption signified by the Eating and Drinking the Flesh and Blood of Christ the different understanding thereof by Romanists Lutherans and Zuinglians from the Church of England 2. The signification of eating of the Tree of Life of the Tree of Knowledge of Manna of Sacrifices and of the Paschal Lamb. 3. That Eating the Flesh of Christ is not meant of Oral Eating of St. Peters Eating parallel'd with our Eating of Christ 4. That the necessity of our real Vnion with the Flesh of Christ is called Eating how we are united with his Body and the benefit thereof 5. The Doctrine of the Fathers concerning our Vnion with the Body of Christ of his Body natural mystical Of the Subjection of Christ 6. Why this Vnion is described by eating the Flesh of the Son of Man and not rather of the Son of God 7. That the Redeemer was necessarily to be the Son of Man and also the Son of God 8. Why this Vnion is expressed by such Tragical words of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood Why the Primitive Church mingled water with Wine in the holy Chalice 9. The practice of some Hereticks in eating Human flesh in their Sacrament compared with the Doctrine of Transubstantion The calumny of Anthropophagy charged upon Christians and removed 10. That this Eating the Flesh of Christ is now to be done for that it was performed at our first Conception in the Womb that the Fathers and all other Latin Translators render those words of Eating the Flesh of Christ otherwise then we do 11. How our Vnion with the Flesh of Christ is more beneficial to us than our Vnion with the flesh of the Patriarks Prophets and Apostles 12. Of Eating the Flesh of Christ Spiritually what is meant by it and whether such an Eating be sufficient to the right end 13. Of Eating by Faith whether believing the Articles of Faith be that Eating which is thereby meant Of those words of St. Austin Crede Manducasti how to be rightly understood The three states of Mankind 14. Of the Blood of Christ that it is not literally to be understood nor to be drank Orally 15. Of the forbidding of Blood by the Law and the Gospel that it was but a Temporary Discipline Why Fornication was forbidden to the Gentiles converted by the Apostolical Council 16. That the Blood of Christ signifieth the Life or Soul of Christ 17. That Drinking the Blood of Christ signifieth only the Vnion of our Souls with his Soul Of the 3 Ingredients in Christ The Godhead Flesh and Soul 18. To what end and special purpose the Holy Supper was instituted the abuse by witholding the Chalice from the People that the corporal Presence of Christ is not in the Saments but in the Communicants 19. That the Soul of Christ and all other Human Souls are derived from the Original soul of Adam that the Doctrine of daily Creation of new Human Souls is erroneous that our Souls proceed immediately from our Mothers and in the Womb. 20. Of the Traduction or Propagation of the Soul of Christ and of all other Human Souls from Adam Some doubts and objections cleared The true cause of the Immortality of Human Souls and of the Resurrection of our Bodies more than of brute Creatures 21. Of the time when Conceptions receive life and soul in the Womb which is called Quickning Of Barrenness That the Vnion of our souls with the Soul of Christ is at our Quickning in the Womb the Doctrine of the Church of England therein 22. That the Soul of Christ must as necessarily have proceeded from Adam as his Flesh Of some Heresies which gainsayed the Traduction of Souls The Doctrine of daily Creation of new Souls examined 23. The judgment of the Fathers concerning Traduction of Souls The error of the Pelagians therein and the evil consequences thereof 24. That Christ was free from Original sin although his Soul and Body were derived from Adam 25. That although the Mother of Christ were conceived in sin yet her Son Jesus was free from her Sin and how That she was a pure Virgin at the Birth of Christ That her perseverance in Virginity to her Death though it is true yet it is not necessarity pereinent to this question Conclusion The Effects of our Vnion with Christ viz. 1. The Immortality of all Human Souls 2. The Resurrection of all Human Bodies which are called Eternal Life and Raising at the last Day FINIS
Mouth-eating The Psalmist saith They eat up my People as bread and They have devoured P. 14. 4. Jacob that is saith Austin upon that place Gentes multos in suum malignum corpus Aug. in Ps 78. seu Societatens transire terrendo coegerunt the Heathens have forced many into their malignant body and association by terrifying them yet not by Oral eating Ezekiel is commanded to eat the Roll and Ezâ—k 3. 3 10. Rev. 10. 9 so is St. John commanded to eat the Book which signified that they should deeply take the words thereof into their consideration to consider and ponder them in their hearts and minds Peter one of the brothers of Lombard is commonly called Petrus Comestor and another great Writer was called Jacobus de Voragine Peter the Eater and James the Gulf or devourer not for gormondizing of meat but because of multitude of Books which by their Readings they had devoured and digested as Cato was called heluo librorum a very Glutton Tull. de Fin. lib. 3. of Books by Tully But above all the former Eatings that Divine Extasie or Trance or Rapture of St. Peter recorded Acts 10. doth clearly Acts 10. 13. shew that there is another way and meaning of Scriptural Eating which is not Oral for in that Vision there was presented to St. Peter a vessel descending from Heaven wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and fouls of the air and a Voice came to him rise Peter kill and eat By these several creatures the Nations or Gentiles are signified as formerly in the vision of Daniel the four Monarchies were Dan. 7. presented to him in the shapes and resemblances of four Beasts The first as a Lion the second as a Bear the third as a Leopard the fourth as a dreadfull Beast with iron teeth both these apparitions of those creatures signified People and Nations It is a very mean conceit and a low gloss of some late Expositors put upon that mysterious Vision of St. Peter by which was signified the calling of the Gentiles to the Gospel But those Writers would have no more meant thereby but only a permission to eat of such Creatures as were formerly forbidden as unclean by the ceremonial Law yet we find not mention of any fish in the Vessel although some sorts of fish are mentioned amongst forbidden meats as unclean viz. such as have not fins Levit. 11. 10. or scales whereby we may reasonably conclude that the Vision had a farther reach and project than Eating the mention of wild beasts signified the mission of the Gospel to such People as were not then civilized such as are now called sylvestres Populi Savages barbarous and lawless some as yet are called the wild Irish Surely the vision under the apparition of Beasts and fowls pointed at Men only who are conversant on the Earth and in the Air as beasts and fouls are but live not in the Water St. Peter was commanded to kill and eat the Gentiles which if literally understood would be most barbarous and also impossible But to kill signified to mortifie them to convert or turn them from their Idolatry to kill their Heathenism in them as St. Austin saith upon those words Occiduntur cum Christiani fiunt ex Paganis Aug. in Ps 149. The Heathens are said to be kill'd when of Pagans they are made Christians and again upon the word kill he saith Macta Id. Ps 30. id est occide quod fuerant fac quod tu es Kill in them what they were and make them such as thou art Neither is Peter commanded only to kill or convert them but also to take the Gentiles so mortified and converted into the Body Fellowship and Communion of the Church and so the same Father expounds the word Eat Petrus recipit Gentes in communionem Id. lib. 50. homiliarum hom 45. to 10. Ecclesiae quasi escam ut incorporentur By Eating Peter is required to receive the Gentiles into the mystical body of the Church and to incorporate them as meat is concorporated with our natural bodies This Exposition is evidently confirmed by St. Peter himself for after this Vision he went forthwith to Cornelius a Roman and Gentile he preached Christ to him and converted him and baptized him and thereby received and incorporated him in the Corporation of the Church The Eating of the flesh of Christ in those mysterious words of Christ is in like manner to be understood so as to signifie an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or rather a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is our Incorporation or Concorporation with Christ or the union or conjunction of our bodies with his Body and so doth the forenamed Father expound those very words of Christ Except ye eat c. Nisi incorporentur Aug. in l. c. Christo and Qui venit ad Christum incorporatur ei to eat the flesh of Christ signifieth to be incorporated in him as every one must be that cometh to him Peter did not Orally eat the Nations neither is it required by those words that we should Orally eat the flesh of Christ what frantick Fanatick will so understand those word of Christ If thy right hand offend Mat. 5. thee cut it off c. as actually to the Letter to cut off his own hand or pull out his own eye From the grounds and reasons premised my Conclusion is and ever will be that the Eating of the flesh of Christ is meant and to be understood only of the union or conjunction of our flesh with his Flesh or our concarnation with him so as to be flesh of his Flesh as the Apostle saith without Gal. 5. 30. which Union there will be no possibility of Redemption of our bodies by the bitter passions and death of his blessed Body But how this conjunction and union of his Body and our bodies was contrived and effected is next to be enquired CHAP. IV. IT is certainly necessary for our Redemption and in order thereto that first there must be a true real and corporal union or conjunction of our flesh with the Flesh of our Redeemer which corporal union was contrived and effected by the most Wise Just and Mercifull Godhead and was by him designed and plotted before the Creation on purpose to put Mankind into a capacity of Redemption his Providence foreseeing the fall of Man and his goodness and mercy providing the cure of Redeemableness by God the Son to be in time coincarnate with us and to become Emanuel For if it may appear that the flesh or body of Christ was made of the same Materials of which our flesh and bodies are made and if both he and we have derived our Flesh from the self-same lump of the first Man who then can deny an Union and conjunction of him with us in that first Lump The first Man was made of a piece of Earth and the first Woman was derived
flesh some other way and not from Man or Woman as sometimes he did in the days of the Patriarchs in the Old Testament as namely when he appeared to Jacob of which it is said There wrestled a Man with Gen. 32. 24. Josh 5. 13. him till the breaking of the day And a man of War appeared to Joshua with his sword in his hand who is called the Captain of the Lords host whom Joshua called Lord and fell on his face to the earth and worshipped Exod. 3. 5 him and pulled off his shoes from his feet as Moses was commanded before by God Surely this was an apparition of God the Son in the assumed body and shape of Man who appeared most evidently before to the Patriarch Abraham of whom it is written that the Lord appeared to Abraham Gen. 18. Three Men stood by him they talked with him they eat with him and travelled toward Sodom one of the Three certainly was the person of the Son of God whoever the other two were I will not dispute who being here called a Man no doubt but he had then taken a body of Flesh upon him howbeit that flesh and body was not derived or propagated from any man or woman as Tertullian observeth Christus cum Angelis Tert. adv Marc. lib. 3. n. 42. tunc apud Abraham in veritate quidem apparuit sed nondum natae quia nondum moriturae Christ with the other two Angels did verily appear at Abrahams Tent in true and real flesh yet not in flesh born or derived from Mankind because he was not to suffer or die in that Flesh Therefore he could not by reason of that assumed flesh be called the Son of Man although he was like to a real Son of Man and but only like and if the Son of God had still retained and continued in that assumed body or flesh in which he then prefented himself to Abraham and had not taken his human Nature otherwise from his Virgin Mother and so from the first Man he could not have been our Redeemer Such another apparition we find in the Prophet Daniel who in his Vision saw one like the Son of Man who came with the Dan. 7. 13 clouds of Heaven This was meant of the Son of God who in Daniels time was not the Son of Man or Ben-David being then not incarnate of the Virgin and is therefore said to be only like the Son of Man or as it is said in another place of that Prophet One like the similitude of the Sons of men and One like the appearance of the Sons Dan. 10. 16 18. of Men. But the Redeemer must be not in similitude or appearance only but truly and really the Son of Man before he could be compleatly qualified for our Redeemer because the Redeemer and the Redeemed must be necessarily united in flesh mutually and must be considered and looked on by Divine Justice as if they were but one man or one Person which was wrought and performed by the union of Christ with all Mankind in the loins of Adam from whom all our bodies and souls are derived For the Law of God must be performed by that human Nature upon which it was imposed which law never hath been and never will be perfectly kept by any meer man therefore the Son of God made himself the Son of man and so to be under and subject to the Law and a Performer of the Law in the behalf of all the Sons and Daughters of men as both the Old and New Testaments declare Sacrifices and offerings Hâ—b 10 5 thou wouldest not but a body hast thou prepared for me And In the Volume of the Book it is written of me to do thy will O God then said he Lo I come to do thy will O God And I delight to do thy will O my Ps 40. 8. God yea thy Law is within my heart and by the which will we are sanctified or designed for Redemption by the Offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all And You now hath he reconciled in the body of his Heb. 10. 10. Col. 1. 21 22. 1 Pet. 2. 24. Flesh through death to present you holy and unblameable and his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree CHAP. VII THe Redeemer of Mankind must needs have been both the Son of God and also the Son of Man and therefore is called Emmanuel or Theanthropos because the Son of God as only so could not die and therefore not redeem us Nor could the Son of Man as only so satisfie Divine Justice for the sins of the World None can be in a condition and state redeemable by Christ but only Adamites that is Adam and his off-spring Eve and their Posterity because they only are united with the Redeemer in the first Man The Apostate Angels can have no Redemption nor any benefit by the Incarnation or death of Christ for want of this Vnion because as the Apostle observeth He took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham Heb. 2. 16. We find several addresses in the Gospel made to Christ by the title of Son of David and we perceive by the events of them that Christ did well approve of that Appellation as by the two blind men Mat. 9. Thou Son of David have mercy on us Mat. 9. 27. 20. 3. 15. 22. and by two other blind men Mat. 20. Have mercy on us O Lord thou Son of David and by the woman of Canaan Mat. 15. for all of them obtained of Christ what they so desired The Church of England so prayeth O Son of David have mercy upon us and St. Matthew begins his Gospel with Jesus Christ the Son of David St. Luke derives Christ through many Generations of men through Adam and Christ himself very rarely and but secretly calls himself the Son of God but very often and openly and mostly the Son of Man because by Joh. 9. 35. 37. this Sonship he became Jesus the Saviour and Redeemer The Athanasian Creed declares that it is necessary to everlasting salvation to believe rightly in the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ And the Hymn of St. Ambrose and St. Austin dayly repeated in our Churches thus declareth the way and means used by the Son of God to qualifie his Divine Person so as to be a fit Redeemer When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man thou didst not abhor the Virgins Womb by all these expressions it appeareth that the Redeemership of Christ did consist not only in his Godhead but also in his Manhood in neither singly but in both jointly Both Christ himself and all Generations of men must have proceeded from one Original otherwise Christ could not be the Redeemer of all the World And if any one Man in the World can be found that descended not from Adam Christ cannot be the Redeemer of that man There were divers Heresies raised
would signifie a necessity of our most near conjunction with him so as to be one flesh with his Flesh in order to the Redemption of our bodies by his Body which otherwise could not be as is shewed before for there cannot be a surer Union than such as our food with us which unites it self and grows into one bulk with our Bodies as is before said the whole stature and increase of our magnitude from Cap. 2. our Nativity our augmentation from one cubit at our Birth to five cubits at our full and ripe Age is wholly by our food so that nothing is more ours than that There was a truth in that Epitaph of the voluptuous King Sardanapalus Haec habui Plut. mor. Diod. Sic. quae edi he accounting nothing to be his but what he had eaten for when all other worldly acquirements of lands wealth treasures and honours at our death are utterly lost that only by which our Food is united with us shall be restored and after the Resurrection will continue with us for ever and must he accounted ours Like this union is the Union of our flesh with the Flesh of Christ in the first Man which is the ground of our Redemption and of the Resurrection of our bodies without which neither could be more than the resurrection of brute beasts for in the first Man was the general Atonement of mankind with Christ both in flesh and in Soul by which Vnion Mankind is made capable of claiming the benefits of his Merits and of the Passions of his blessed Body and Soul Christ saith No man hath ascended Joh. 3. 13 into heaven but the Son of Man c. upon which words St. Austin saith Si vis ascendere Aug. in loc esto in Christo whosoever shall ascend into heaven must necessarily be in Christ that is united with Christ for except we so eat the Flesh of the Son of Man c. we have John 6. no life in us This doctrine of Vnion was represented and signified by Christ in the Institution of his Holy Supper by eating and drinking that sanctified Bread and Wine That Sacrament is therefore called by St. Cyprian the Sacrament of Redemption and by St. Austin the Sacrament of Vnion and both Cap. 2. the Scripture and the Church call it the Communion which word clearly signifieth the mutual Union of Christ and Mankind as is before shewed which the Primitive Fathers did so rightly apprehend as may appear by a general usance practised in those times in the office of the Sacrament In the Sacramental Chalice the Fathers for many Ages tempered or mixed water with the Wine although we find neither Precept nor Precedent for it in the holy Scriptures yet de facto it appeareth that so it was by many evidences in the Fathers as in Justin Martyr Cyprian Ambrose Chrysostom and Austin which Custome is to this day continued in many Places and Churches and by reason of the Antiquiry thereof it is pretended to be an Apostolical Tradition and very early instituted as a Canon by Alexander the first who was Bishop of Rome about the year of Christ 118. as Platina reports Of this Usance St. Cyprian renders this Cyp. l. 2. epist 3. reason and plausible account in an Epistle written to Caecilius in the sacred Chalice saith he the Water signifieth the People and the Wine representeth Christ Vinum sine aqua est Christus sine Populo Aqua sine vino est Populus sine Christo Wine alone may signifie Christ without his People and water alone may signifie the People without Christ but both together so mingled in the Chalice was to signifie that Christ and his People were so united concorporated and entwined one with the other as the wine with the water therefore Christ said He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my John 6. Blood dwelleth in me and I in him which is as much as if he had said he that dwelleth in me is he that Eateth my flesh which dwelling is mutual for by this Union the flesh of Christ dwelleth in us and our flesh in him There were a Sect of Hereticks called Theod. haer fab lib. 1. Hydroparastatae or Aquarii set up by one Tatianus mentioned in Theodoret who consecrated water only in the Sacramental Chalice without Wine and are therefore by St. Austin put into his Catalogue of Hereticks under the title of Aquarii because Aug. T. 6. haer 64. water alone did not represent that mutual Union of Christ and his People which the Church intended as is before said by their mixture of Water with Wine CHAP. IX THere were in the Primitive times some Hereticks who thought those words of Christ concerning the eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood were to be understood grosly and literally of Oral eating just as the Transubstantiators at this day pretend and as formerly the Disciples of Capernaum thought when they asked how can this Man give us his flesh to eat Upon which words St. Austin saith Discipuli ejus Aug. in Psal 25. acceperunt id stultè carnaliter cogitantes quòd Dominus praescisurus erat particulas de corpore suo eis daturus Those Disciples apprehended that speech foolishly and carnally thinking that he would cut his Body in pieces and give it them The Manichees said that when men did eat fruits or herbs or other food that then they did eat the parts or Members of God mingled with those creatures As St. Austin Aug. cont Faust l. 13. c. 6. reporteth of them The Gnostick Hereticks used for their Mysteries or Sacraments to bruise the flesh of a new-born Babe in a mortar and to eat it with Honey and Pepper and for this they pretended those words of Christ Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man c. as Epiphanius reporteth Epiph. hâ—â—r 26. Hie. Epi. ad Marcel n. 18. Epip haer 48. The Montanists also cruelly and impiously used to prick the veins of a sucking Child and with it to knead Meal and of both to make their Encharist as Epiphanius reporteth and St. Cyril of Jerusalem nameth Cyril cat 16. a Montanist-Woman one Midra who practised this cruelty in the 16th Catechism of Illuminates if those Catechismes be his Now let the prudent Reader consider whether the Doctrine of the Transubstantiators be not grounded on the same misunderstood Principle on which the above-named Hereticks founded their Errors and cruel practices viz. on those words of Christ Except ye eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man c. These practices brought a great suspicion and raised scandalous reports upon the ancient Christians as Epiphanius observes Epip haer 26. 29. for because those Hereticks who did really in their Mysteries so do as is said and called themselves Christians therefore the Jews and the Gentiles and Persecutors thought that all true and Catholick Christians did the same Salvianus tells us that Salv. n. 6. the
a common Man and that afterwards God the Word united himself with his flesh for that was done in the Virgins Womb his Flesh was never existing alone but ever was the Flesh of God his Body always was Corpus Dei the Body of God as the Scripture calls his Blood the Blood of God Acts 20. 28. And Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. his Death the Death of God as St. John saith Hereby we perceive the love of God because he hath laid down his life for us The laying down of the life of Christ is called the laying down the life of God The vertue and efficacy of the Flesh of the Son of Man and that which makes his flesh so benificial to Mankind consisteth in this Vnion viz. Because his Flesh is joyned and personally united with the Word or Son of God for his Flesh if it were nothing else but only flesh it could not profit us as Christ said the Flesh profiteth nothing for it is the Union of his Divine Spirit with his Flesh that maketh his flesh Vivifical or Quickening as Christ said It is Joh. 6. 63 the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the Words that I speak they are Spirit and they are Life the meaning is that the whole efficacy of his Flesh consisteth only in and by the conjuction of his Divine Spirit with it who is not only Vivifical but also Life it self therefore the Apostle saith the last Adam was made a quickning 1 Cor. 15. 45. Spirit The last Adam signifies Christ who is called Adam only because his Human nature was derived from Adam which human Nature was made Vivifical by being united with the Divine quickning Spirit and because this last Adam and the Divine Spirit or Godhead were personally united in Christ therefore he saith of him The Second Man is the Lord from Heaven The flesh Vers 47. of Christ thus being sweetned by his Divine Spirit is like that Leaven mentioned Mat. 13. 33. in the Gospel wherewith the whole lump of Mankind is seasoned the efficacy power and operation whereof may more easily be apprehended by this similitude As wood or a dead coal or iron do noâ— of themselves alone burn or heat a man but if they be joyned with fire and made red hot thereby they will heat and burn The flesh of the Son of Man alone is like the wood and iron and the Divine Spirit united with the flesh is like the fire as he once appeared in Cloven tongues like as of Acts 2. fire by which Spirit only the flesh is actuated and made operative hence proceed those effects and productions mentioned in the Gospel where Christ said I am the Bread which came down from Heaven and John 6. 33 41 51 giveth life to the World we know that only his Divine Spirit came from Heaven not his flesh of which effects we shall say more in their due place CHAP. XII ANother Question to be disputed concerning the Modus the way or manner of this mysterious Eating is how Men can be truly said to eat the Flesh of Christ And this because those that disavow and abhor the Dream of Transubstantiators of a gross carnal and Oral eating have conceived another way which they call Eating Spiritually which word is used in this question by the Church of England declaring to the penitent and faithfull Communicants that They Spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood They dwell in Christ and Christ in them They be One with Christ and Christ with them which is true By those words of Dwelling in Christ and being One with him and Eating his Flesh this Church declareth 1. First a true and real Union of our flesh with his very Flesh although she utterly denieth the gross and Oral eating and tearing of his Flesh 2. Secondly she declareth by the word Spiritually That this Eating is to be understood only Mystically or Spiritually and not carnally or Orally for Oral eating is only of the Sacrament but not of the very real Substance which is signified by that Sacrament So we are now to enquire what is meant by the Eating the flesh of Christ spiritually To this we Answer That this word Spiritually hath a double signification for D. Vshers Serm. ad Parl. 1620. 1. First It is by many Learned Men thought to signifie only the Receiving the Spirit of our Lord Jesus by which we are united with him because the same Spirit which is in Jesus is from him the Head derived and communicated to his Members Of this Union of the Spirit or spiritual Union of us with Christ the great Apostle often speaketh He that is joyned to the Lord 1 Cor. 6. 17. 12. 13. Eph. 4. 4. is one Spirit and By one Spirit ye are all bapzed into one Body and There is one Body and one Spirit By vertue of this one Spirit so communicated the whole multitude of the Church or Members of Christ are accounted but one Mystical Body But this Spiritual Vnion or Union in Spirit although it is true and real yet this alone may not be thought to be so plenary or so sufficient an Union as is necessarily required for expediting that great Work for which the Blessed Godhead designed Mans Union with Christ as may appear by the Reasons following 1. First If to eat Spiritually should signifie to receive the Spirit of Christ only and no more and be only so by us apprehended utterly disowning the eating or the real Union of his Flesh with our flesh in truth and reality we shall thereby disturb and null the Order of the grand and mercifull work of Redemption which could not be wrought only by an union or conjunction of the Spirit of the Son of God with us but also with the Union of his blessed Flesh and Blood with our flesh and blood because the Spirit alone is not a Redeemer for the Spirit could not suffer and die for us as a Redeemer must it was the vital blood and death of the Redeemer that was necessarily required for Mans Redemption 2. Secondly The Son of God as only so was a Spirit from Eternity for God is a Spirit But if the Son of God will vouchsafe to become a Redeemer he must needs be first the Son of Man and Emanuel as the Church in her Hymn confesseth When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man thou didst not abhorr the Virgins Womb. For if God the Son or God the Word had so continued in his pure Divinity and had not assumed our Human nature so as to be the Son of Man and the Word made Flesh he could not have been Christ nor Jesus nor Priest nor Sacrifice nor Redeemer for otherwise we might as well say that the Person of the Father or the Person of the Holy Ghost were our Redeemers although neither of those Persons assumed our nature as Austin or rather Gennadius observed Aug. T. 3. n. 72. Nec Pater nec Spiritus