Christ than any of them all For Christ in this Chapter perceiving that the Jews did follow him for Love of the Loaves desires them ver 27. to labour not for the Meat which perisheth but for that Meat which endureth for ever But forasmuch as they being Carnal in their Apprehensions and not understanding the Spiritual Language and Doctrine of Christ did judge the Manna which Moses gave their Fathers to be the most Excellent Bread as coming from Heaven Christ to rectifie that mistake and better inform them affirmeth First That it is not Moses but his Father that giveth the true Bread from Heaven ver 32. and 48. Secondly This Bread he calls himself ver 35. I am the Bread of Life And ver 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven Thirdly He declares that this Bread is his Flesh ver 51. The Bread that I will give is my Flesh And ver 55. For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is drink indeed Fourthly The Necessity of Partaking thereof ver 53. Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you And lastly ver 33. the blessed Fruits and necessary Effects of this Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ This Bread giveth Life to the World ver 50. He that eateth thereof dyeth not ver 58. He that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever ver 51. Whose eateth this Flesh and drinketh this Blood shall live for ever ver 54. And he dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him ver 56. And shall live by Christ ver 57. From this large Description of the Origine Nature and Effects of this Body Flesh and Blood of Christ it is apparent that it is Spiritual and to be understood of a Spiritual Body and not of that Body or Temple of Jesus Christ which was born of the Virgin Mary and in which he walked lived and suffered in the Land of Judea because that it is said both that it came down from Heaven yea that it is He that came down from Heaven Now all Christians at present generally acknowledge that the outward Body of Christ came not down from Heaven neither was it that part of Christ which came down from Heaven And to put the matter out of doubt when the Carnal Jews would have been so understanding it he tells them plainly ver 63. It is the Spirit that quickeneth but the Flesh profiteth nothing This is also founded upon most sound and solid Reason because that it is the Soul not the Body that is to be nourished by this Flesh and Blood Now outward Flesh cannot nourish nor feed the Soul there is no proportion nor Analogy betwixt them neither is the Communion of the Saints with God by a Conjunction and mutual Participation of Flesh but of the Spirit He that is joined to the Lord is One Spirit not one Flesh. For the Flesh I mean outward Flesh even such as was that wherein Christ lived and walked when upon Earth and not Flesh when transposed by a Metaphor to be understood Spiritually can only partake of Flesh as Spirit of Spirit As the Body cannot feed upon Spirit neither can the Spirit feed upon Flesh. And that the Flesh here spoken of is spiritually understood appears further in that that which feedeth upon it shall never dye But the Bodies of all Men once dye yea it behoved the Body of Christ himself to dye That this Body and Spiritual Flesh and Blood of Christ is to be understood of that Divine and Heavenly Seed before spoken of by us appears both by the Nature and Fruits of it First It 's said It is that which cometh down from Heaven and giveth Life unto the World Now this answers to that Light and Seed which is testified of John 1. to be the Light of the World and the Life of Men. For that Spiritual Light and Seed as it receives place in mens Hearts and room to spring up there is as Bread to the hungry and fainting Soul that is as it were buried and dead in the lusts of the World which receives Life again and revives as it tasteth and partaketh of this heavenly Bread And they that partake of it are said to come to Christ neither can any have it but by coming to him and believing in the appearance of his Light in their Hearts by receiving which and believing in it the Participation of this Body and Bread is known And that Christ understands the same thing here by his Body Flesh and Blood which is understood John 1. by the Light inlightening every Man and the Life c. appears for the Light and Life spoken of John 1. is said to be Christ He is the true Light and the Bread and Flesh c. spoken of in this 6th of John is called Christ I am the Bread of Life saith he Again They that received that Light and Life John 1. 12. Obtained Power to become the Sons of God by believing in his Name So also here John 6. 35. He that cometh unto this Bread of Life shall not Hunger and he that believes in him who is this Bread shall never thirst So then as there was the outward visible Body and Temple of Jesus Christ which took its Original from the Virgin Mary so there is also the Spiritual Body of Christ by and through which He that was the Word in the beginning with God and was and is GOD did Reveal himself to the Sons of Men in all Ages and whereby Men in all Ages come to be made partakers of Eternal Life and to have Communion and Fellowship with God and Christ. Of which Body of Christ and Flesh and Blood if both Adam and Seth and Enoch and Abraham and Moses and David and all the Prophets and Holy Men of God had not eaten they had not had Life in them nor could their inward Man have been nourished Now as the outward Body and Temple was called Christ so was also this Spiritual Body no less properly and that long before that outward Body was in Being Hence the Apostle saith 1 Cor. 10. 3 4. That the Fathers did all eat the same spiritual Meat and did all drink the same spiritual Drink for they drank of that Spiritual Rock that followed them and that Rock was Christ. This cannot be understood otherwise than of this Spiritual Body of Christ Which Spiritual Body of Christ though it was the saving Food of the Righteous both before the Law and under the Law yet under the Law it was vailed and shadowed and covered under divers Types Ceremonies and Observations yea and not only so but it was vailed and hid in some respect under the outward Temple and Body of Christ or during the continuance of it so that the Jews could not understand Christ's Preaching about it while on Earth And not the Jews only but many of his Disciples judged it an hard saying murmured at it and
Manichees were Condemned for denying that Grace is universally given by Baptism and Julian the Pelagian by Augustine for denying Exorcism and Insufflation in the use of Baptism All which things Protestants deny also So that Protestants do but foolishly to upbraid us as if we could not shew any among the Ancients that denied Water-baptism seeing they cannot shew any whom they acknowledge not to have been Heretical in several things to have used it nor yet who using it did not use also the Sign of the Cross and other things with it which they deny There were some nevertheless in the darkest Times of Popery who testified against Water-baptism For one Alanus page 103 104 107. speaks of some in his Time that were burnt for the denying of it For they said that Baptism had no Efficacy either in Children or Adult Persons and therefore Men were not obliged to take Baptism Particularly Ten Canonicks so called were burnt for that Crime by the Order of King Robert of France as P. Pithaeus tells in his Fragments of the History of Guienne Which is also confirmed by one Johannes Floracensis a Monk who was famous at that Time in his Epistle to Oliva Abbot of the Ausonian Church I will saith he give you to understand concerning the Heresie that was in the City of Orleans on Childer-mass-day For it was true if ye have heard any thing that King Robert caused to be burnt alive nigh Fourteen of that City of the Chief of their Clergy and the more Noble of their Laicks who were hateful to God and abominable to Heaven and Earth for they did stiffly deny the Grace of Holy Baptism and also the Consecration of our Lord's Body and Blood The Time of this Deed is noted in these Words by Papir Masson in his Annals of France lib. 3. in Hugh and Robert Actum Aureliae publice Anno Incarnationis Domini 1022. Regni Roberti Regis 28. Indictione 5. quando Stephanus Haeresiarcha Complices ejus damnati sunt exusti Aureliae Now for their calling them Hereticks and Manichees we have nothing but the Testimony of their Accusers which will no more invalidate their Testimony for this Truth against the use of Water-baptism or give more ground to charge us as being one with Manichees than because some called by them Manichees do agree with Protestants in some things that therefore Protestants are Manichees or Hereticks which Protestants can no ways shun For the Question is Whether in what they did they walked according to the Truth testified of by the Spirit in the Holy Scriptures So that the Controversie is brought back again to the Scriptures according to which I suppose I have formerly discussed it As for the latter part of the Thesis denying the Use of Infant-baptism it necessarily follows from what is above-said For if Water-baptism be Ceased then surely Baptizing of Infants is not warrantable But those that take upon them to Oppose us in this matter will have more to do as to this latter part For after they have done what they can to prove Water-baptism it remains for them to prove that Infants ought to be Baptized For he that proves Water-baptism Ceased proves that Infant-baptism is Vain But he that should prove that Water-baptism continues has not thence proved that Infant-baptism is necessary That needs something further And therefore it was a pitiful Subterfuge of Nic. Arnoldus against this to say That the denying of Infant-baptism belonged to the Gangrene of Anabaptists without adding any further Probation Concerning the Communion or Participation of the Body and Blood of Christ. The Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is Inward and Spiritual which is the Participation of his Flesh and Blood by which the Inward Man is daily nourished in the Hearts of those in whom Christ dwells Of which things the Breaking of Bread by Christ with his Disciples was a Figure which they even used in the Church for a time who had received the Substance for the sake of the Weak Even as Abstaining from things strangled and from Blood the Washing one anothers Feet and the Anointing of the Sick with Oil All which are commanded with no less Authority and Solemnity than the former yet seeing they are but the Shadows of better things they Cease in such as have obtained the Substance § I. THE Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ is a Mystery hid from all natural men in their first fall'n and degenerate State which they cannot understand reach to nor comprehend as they there abide neither as they there are can they be Partakers of it nor yet are they able to Discern the Lord's Body And forasmuch as the Christian World so called for the most part hath been still labouring working conceiving and imagining in their own natural and unrenewed Understandings about the things of God and Religion therefore hath this Mystery much been hid and sealed up from them while they have been contending quarrelling and fighting one with another about the meer Shadow Outside and Form but strangers to the Substance Life and Vertue § II. The Body then of Christ which Believers partake of is Spiritual and not Carnal and his Blood which they drink of is pure and Heavenly and not humane or Elementary as Augustin also affirms of the Body of Christ which is Eaten in his Tractat Psal. 98. Except a Man eat my Flesh he hath not in him Life Eternal And he saith The Words which I speak unto you are Spirit and Life understand spiritually what I have spoken Ye shall not eat of this Body which ye see and drink this Blood which they shall spill that Crucifie me I am the Living Bread which have descended from Heaven he called himself the Bread who descended from Heaven exhorting that we might believe in him c. Quest. If it be asked then What that Body What that Flesh and Blood is Answ. I Answer It is that Heavenly Seed that Divine Spiritual Coelestial Substance of which we spake before in the 5th and 6th Propositions This is that Vehiculum Dei or Spiritual Body of Christ whereby and where-through he communicateth Life to Men and Salvation to as many as believe in him and receive him and whereby also Man comes to have Fellowship and Communion with God This is proved from the 6th of John from verse 32. to the end where Christ speaks more at large of this matter than in any other place And indeed this Evangelist and beloved Disciple who lay in the Bosom of our Lord gives us a more full account of the Spiritual Sayings and Doctrine of Christ And it 's observable that though he speaks nothing of the Ceremony used by Christ of Breaking Bread with his Disciples neither in his Evangelical Account of Christ's Life and Sufferings nor in his Epistles yet he is more large in this account of the Participation of the Body Flesh and Blood of
and among Protestants in particular have arisen but also such Absurdities irrational and blasphemous Consequences have ensued as make the Christian Religion odious and hateful to Jews Turks and Heathens The Professors of Christianity do chiefly divide in this matter into three Opinions The first is of those that say The Substance of the Bread is Transubstantiated into the very Substance of that same Body Flesh and Blood of Christ which was born of the Virgin Mary and crucified by the Jews So that after the Words of Consecration as they call them it is no more Bread but the Body of Christ. The second is of such as say The Substance of the Bread remains but that also that Body is in and with and under the Bread So that both the Substance of the Bread and the Body Flesh and Blood of Christ is there also The third is of those that denying both these do affirm That the Body of Christ is not there Corporally or Substantially but yet that it is Really and Sacramentally received by the Faithful in the use of Bread and Wine But how or what way it 's there they know not nor can they tell only we must believe it is there yet so that it is only properly in Heaven It is not my Design to enter into a Refutation of these several Opinions for each of their Authors and Assertors have sufficiently Refuted one another and are all of them no less strong both from Scripture and Reason in Refuting each their contrary Party's Opinion than they are Weak in Establishing their own For I often have seriously observed in reading their respective Writings and so it may be have others that all of them do notably in so far as they Refute the contrary Opinions but that they are mightily pained when they come to Confirm and Plead for their own Hence I necessarily must conclude That none of them had attained to the Truth and Substance of this Mystery Let us see if Calvin after he hath Refuted the two former Opinions be more successful in what he affirms and asserts for the Truth of his Opinion who after he hath much laboured in overturning and Refuting the two former Opinions plainly confesseth that he knows not what to affirm instead of them For after he has spoken much and at last Concluded That the Body of Christ is there and that the Saints must needs partake thereof at last he lands in these Words Sect. 32. But if it be asked me how it is I shall not be ashamed to confess That it is a Secret too high for me to comprehend in my Spirit or explain in Words Here he deals very ingeniously and yet who would have thought that such a Man would have been brought to this Strait in the Confirming of his Opinion Considering but a little before in the same Chapter Sect. 15. he accuseth the Schoolmen among the Papists and I Confess truly In that they neither Understand nor Explain to others how Christ is in the Eucharist which shortly after he Confesseth himself he cannot do If then the School-men among the Papists do neither Understand nor yet can Explain to others their Doctrine in this matter nor Calvin can comprehend it in his Spirit which I judge is as much as not to understand it nor Express it in Words and then surely he cannot Explain it to others then no certainty is to be had from either of them There have been great Endeavours used for Reconcilement in this matter both betwixt Papists and Lutherans Lutherans and Calvinists yea and Calvinists and Papists but all to no purpose and many Forms and Manners of Expressions drawn up to which all might yield which in the end proved in vain seeing every one understood them and interpreted them their own way and so they did thereby but Equivocate and Deceive one another The Reason of all this Contention is because they all wanted a clear Understanding of the Mystery and were doting about the Shadow and the Externals For both the Ground and Matter of their Contest lies in things extrinsick from and unnecessary to the main Matter and this hath been often the Policy of Satan to busie People and amuse them with outward Signs Shadows and Forms making them Contend about that while in the mean time the Substance is neglected Yea and in Contending for these Shadows he stirs them up to the practice of Malice Heat Revenge and other Vices by which he establisheth his Kingdom of Darkness among them and ruines the Life of Christianity For there has been more Animosity and Heat about this one Particular and more Blood-shed and Contention than about any other And surely they are little acquainted with the State of Protestants Affairs who know not that their Contentions about this have been more hurtful to the Reformation than all the Opposition they met with from their common Adversaries Now all these uncertain and absurd Opinions and the Contentions therefrom arising have proceeded from their all agreeing in Two General Errors concerning this thing Which being denied and receded from as they are by us there would be an Easie Way made for Reconciliation and we should all meet in the one Spiritual and true Understanding of this Mystery and as the Contentions so would also the Absurdities which follow from all the Three forementioned Opinions Cease and fall to the ground The First of these Errors is in making the Communion or Participation of the Body Flesh and Blood of Christ to relate to that outward Body Vessel or Temple that was born of the Virgin Mary and walked and suffered in Judea whereas it should relate to the Spiritual Body Flesh and Blood of Christ even that Heavenly and Celestial Light and Life which was the Food and Nourishment of the Regenerate in all Ages as we have already proved The Second Error is In tying this Participation of the Body and Blood of Christ to that Ceremony used by him with his Disciples in the breaking of bread c. as if it had only a Relation thereto or were only enjoyed in the use of that Ceremony which it neither hath nor is For this is that Bread which Christ in his Prayer teaches to call for terming it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. the supersubstantial Bread as the Greek hath it and which the Soul partakes of without any relation or necessary respect to this Ceremony as shall be hereafter proved more at length These Two Errors being thus laid aside and the Contentions arising therefrom buried all are agreed in the main Positions viz. First That the body flesh and blood of Christ is necessary for the nourishing of the Soul Secondly That the Souls of Believers do really and truly partake and feed upon the body flesh and blood of Christ. But while Men are not content with the Spirituality of this Mystery going in their own Wills and according to their own Inventions to strain and