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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A10135	The table of the Lord whereof, 1. The vvhole seruice, is the liuing bread. 2. The guests, any man. 3. The mouth to eate, faith onely. By Gilbert Primerose, Doctour of Divinitie, one of his Maiesties chaplaines in ordinary, and pastour of the French church at London.	Primrose, Gilbert, ca. 1580-1642.	1626 (1626)	STC 20392; ESTC S114083	64,701	238

the body and the Spirit the manhood and the Godhead of Christ for he is one with vs in both natures Even as the same author saith that f Idem adv Nestor lib. 4. cap. 6. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we are sanctified and revived spiritually and corporally that is to say not onely in our spirits but also in our bodies because saith he g 1 Cor. 15 53. this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortalitie h Ex Theodoreto dialogo 2. So S. Ignace saith that Christ is ioyned to the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 carually and spiritually i.e. both in his humane and divine nature and not partly by a carnall partly by a divine manner For the manner of the vnion of Christ with the Father is wholly divine And so also the manner of our vnion with him is altogether divine and spirituall Dare Papists say that we are ioyned with Christ naturally although Cyrillus saith that our vnion with him i Cyril in Iohan lib. 11. cap. 26. is naturall Yet he speaketh so because our nature is ioyned with his natures as he prooveth because k 1 Cor. 10.27 the Church is Christs body and we are members of Christ in particular So then in regard of the obiects which are vnited this vnion is naturall reall substantiall corporall spirituall because his whole person is ioyned with ours And therfore I say that we must eate Christ not onely as bread but also as living And if as man he is bread and as God is living we must eate him in both natures together For in both natures he is our Mediatour and the bread whereby we liue YET in this eating wee must obserue an order Like l Gen. 28.11 Iacobs ladder by his manheed he toucheth the earth By his God head he toucheth heavē And by both vnited together he ioyneth the earth with heaven reconcileth man with God obtaineth to vs the service of the Angels of God which m Ioh. 1.51 ascend and descend vpō him and by him vpon vs But in such sort that by him as he is man they alcend from vs and goto him as he is God and from him as he is God descend vnto vs by him as he is man In the same order doe we cate him and abide in him and he in vs. n Aug. in Ioh. trac 42. Adnentus eius humanitas eius Mansio eius diuinit as eius Diuinitas eius quo imus Humanitas eius qua imus Nisi nobis fieret qua iremus nunquam ad illum manentē perueniremus He commeth vnto vs saith S. Austin by his humanitie He abideth with vs by his divinitie His divinitie is that wherevnto we goe His humanitie is that whereby we goe If he were not vnto vs the way whereby we may goe we should never come vnto him in that wherein he abideth with vs. But because I haue spoken of this bread largely inough vpon the first part of the Verse I leaue it to come to the third part of my division which is OF THE EATING of the living Bread and of the manner thereof CHAPTER V. I. To eate Christ is to be vnited vnto him II. Necessitie of our vnion with Christ III. Expressed in the Scripture by many similitudes and in the sixt of S. Iohn by the similitude of Eating IV. All Papists hold that Christ is eaten in the Sacrament with the mouth of the body V. The liter all sence is not alwayes to be followed VI. When it is lawfull when not to aske How VII Papists agree not among themselues concerning divers circumstances of the bodily eating TO EATE is to chew and worke the meate with our teeth if it be solide and strong to sup and swallow it downe if it be liquid to receiue it into our stomackes to disgest it there till it be turned into blood and changed into the substance of all the parts of our bodies that thereby this our mortall life may be maintained which otherwise should decay and perish Even so saith Christ a Ioh. 6.53.54 Except ye eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his blood ye haue no life in you And of those that eate him he saith Who so eateth my stesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life and I will raise him vp at the last day Whereby it is easie to be vnderstood that this eating and drinking is a certaine action whereby Christ is vnited vnto vs so neere that we sucke life out of him yea that he himselfe beōmeth b Col. 3 4. our life as the Apostle calleth him c Aug. Confess l. 7. c. 10. Nec tu me in te mutabis sicut cibum carnis tuae sed tu mutaberis in me It is true that the bread of the earth when we eate it cannot feed vs till it be changed into our bodies because we are more excellent then it is But the bread which came downe from heaven is more excellent then we are and therefore that we may be fed by it we are changed into it made members of his bodie of his flesh and of his bones Even as the fire turneth into fire all things that feed on it THIS leadeth vs by the hand to the consideration of the necessitie of the eating of this bread that is to say of our vnion and communion with Christ Our felicitie is to be ioyned with GOD d Psal 36.9 with whom is the fountaine of life But e Esa 59.2 sinne separateth betweene vs and our God For f 1 Ioh. 1.1.5 he is light and in him there is no darknesse at all g Eph. 5.8 we are darkenesse and in vs by nature there is no light at all h 2 Cor. 6.15 What communion hath light with darknesse O Lord thou hast made vs for thine owne selfe that sticking fast vnto thee we may be blessed by thee But loe by our sinne we i Eph. 2.11.12.13 are far off and k Psal 73.27.28 loe they that are far from thee shall perish But it is good for vs to draw neere vnto thee neither is our heart at rest till it returne vnto thee Tell vs then ô Lord how shall we be againe ioyned with thee The Sonne the Word the Wisedome of God answereth l Ioh 14.6 No man cōmeth vnto the Father but by me And S. Paul telleth vs why and how saying m Eph. 2.13 Now in Christ Iesus ye who sometimes were farre off are made nigh by the blood of Christ Aske ye why Because by the blood of his sacrifice he hath satisfied the iustice of God asswaged the burning fire of his indignation and made attonement for vs as n Heb. 7 22. Suretie and o Heb. 9.15 Mediatour of the new Testament Aske ye how Because we are in him He is our p Exod. 28.11.12.30 high Priest who beareth vs vpon his shoulders and vpon his heart before the Lord q 1

Ioh. 5.11.12 who hath given to vs eternall life and this life is in his Sonne He that hath the Sonne hath life and he that hath not the Sonne hath not life For as r Math 13.44 he who found a treasure hid in a field could not claime any right vnto it till he bought the field So cannot we challenge ſ Col. 2.3 the treasures of wisdome knowledge and of that t Ioh. 1.16 fulnesse of graces which is in Christ till he himselfe be ours and so ours that we be in him and one with him by a most reall vnion of his person with our persons EVEN as u Rom. 6.5 the graffe is one tree with the stocke wherein it is graffed x Ioh. 15.1 the vine and the branches are one plants y 1 Cor. 12.12 the head and the members are one body a Eph. 5.31.32 the husband and the wife are one flesh b Eph 2.20.21 the foundation and the stones builded vpon it are one Temple and to come to the similitude of my Text the bread which was no part of vs because it is without vs when it is eaten becōmeth a part of our flesh and of our bodies So ye see not onely by the similitude of eating but also by all the rest that our vnion with Christ is so necessary that as a man cannot liue without meate nor a house stand without a foundation no more can we liue stand and withstand in the evill day without our vnion with Christ according to his own saying c Ioh. 15.5 I am the vine ye are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same briugeth forth much fruit for without me or severed from me ye can doe nothing Ye see also that he is vnited with vs in all that is his i. in both his natures d Eph. 5.30 In his manhood for we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones And in his Godhead For e 1 Cor. 6.7 he that is ioyned vnto the Lord is one Spirit Likewise we are vnited with him in all that is ours i. not only in our soules but also in our bodies as the Apostle saith f 1 Cor. 6.15 Know we not that your bodies are the members of Christ IF THIS had beene diligently and religiously observed there should not be any controversie betweene Papists vs about the manner of the eating of Christ for if to eate Christ be no other thing but to vnite Christ vnto our selues if we know how we are vnited with him we cannot chuse but know how we eate him If we be one with him corporally that is after an outward and corporall manner then we care him corporally But if our vnion with him be spirituall doubtlesse the mouth wherwith we eate him must be a spirituall mouth Papists say that our eating of Christ is both spirituall and corporall That out of the Sacrament it is spirituall And many Papists as g Biel super can Miss lect 8● Gabriell Biel h ●a●●tan in 3 part q 80. art vlt. Caietan i Cusan epist 7. ad Bohemos Cusanus k Ianseni concordant c 59 Iansenius l Tapper explicat art 15 Lovaniens Tapper m Hessel in lib de commun sub vnaspecie Hesselius and others acknowledge that Christ in this whole Chapter speaketh of the spirituall eating only n Bellarm. de Eucharist lib. 1. cap. 5. Bellarmin with the rest of the Societie and other Popish Doctors grant that wee must take in that sence all the words of Christ from the seven and twentith vnto the one and fiftie verse which now I expound But that from henceforth beginning at the one fiftie verse vnto the end of the Chapter Christ speaketh of the Eucharist which opinion Cusanus refuteth by these words of Christ vers 53. Exceptye eate the flesh of the Son of man and drinke his blood ye haue no life in you saying that o Cusan epist 7. ad Bohem. Necesse est● quod si de omnibus sanctis debet verificari qui habent vitamillam divinā quod non imelligitur de visibili seu Sacramentali manducatione sed de spirituali if they must be verified of all the Saints which haue this divine life they must not be vnder stood of the visible or Sacramentall but of the spirituall eating Which is true Yet all Papists agree that in the Sacrament Christ is eaten not onely spiritually by faith but also corporally by the mouth of the body in such sort that the true body of Christ entereth into their mouthes and is received into their stomackes If ye aske how they can beleeue such a mōstrous Doctrine They answere that Christ affirmeth in this Chapter that we must eate his flesh drinke his blood And that in the Sacrament he hath commaunded vs to eate his body saying Take eate This is my bidy To refuse to eate him were disobedience To aske how is incredulitie like vnto that of the Iewes of Capernaum p Ioh 6 52. Rhennsta who stroue amongst themselues saying HOW can this man giue vs his flesh to eate This say they is the literall sence and this sence they will follow BVT first if the literall sence must be alwayes followed why beleeue they not as the Anthropomorphits did that God hath a body as we haue seeing God saith that he hath eyes eares hands feete c Why shake they not hands with the Arrians and deny Christ to be God because he himselfe said q Ioh. 14.28 My Father is greater then I Certainely if they had been in Nicodemus his place they would not haue asked of Christ r Ioh. 3.4 How can a man be borne when he is old but said vnto him Lord feeing thou hast said that we must be borne againe we beleeue that we shall enter the second time into our mothers wombe and be borne againe And if they had bin standing by the Samaritane Woman they would haue naught her to beleeue that Christ is reall and substantiall water because he called himselfe water May they not also with as good reason expoūd literally that which ſ Pro. 9.5 the Wisdome in the Proverbs t Cant. 5.1 the Spouse in Salemons Song u Esa 55.1 God in Esaiah speaketh of the furnishing of their Table with beastes honey milke bread and wine And when God saith x Psal 81.10 Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it y Cant 5.1 eate drinke abundantly if we must alwayes cleaue to the leaues of the words we must prepare our throats our bellies and drinke stoutly till we be drunke SECONDLY if those speeches must be taken allegorically of meate and drinke of another kinde then those which are earthly and vsuall amongst vs it is no offence to aske how we may be made partakers of them To aske how the things which GOD alone doth may be done as how he created the world How

the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeue on his Name This seemeth strange to flesh and blood which may aske u Aug. in Iohan trac 50. Quem tenebo absentem Quo●●do ●●anum in coelūmittam vt ibi sedentem te●eam fidem mitte tenuisti Whom shall I hold Is he not absent Is he not in heaven How shall I send my hand into heauen that I may hold him sitting there S. Austin answereth Send thy faith and thou hast taken hold of him 6. Such as is our palate wherwith we taste him such is our mouth wherewith we eate him x Psal 34.8 O taste and see that the Lord is good How y Iob. 34.3 The eare trieth words as the mouth tasteth meat So this bread which is the word of God a Ioh. 1.14 the word which was made flesh must be tasted with a spirituall taste breeding in Vs a delight of it as S. Basill writeth on the 33. Psalme And as Tertullian saith b Tertull. de Resurrect carnis c. 37. Proinde incausam vitae appetendus sermo deuor andus auditu ruminādus intellectu side digerendus We must long after it devoure it with our eares ruminate it with our vnderstanding disgest it with our faith 7. Christ saith c loh 6.56 He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him If then ye can know how he dwelleth in you and you in him ye may easily conclude that after the same manner ye eate him Saith not S. Paul that d Eph. 3.17 he dwelleth in our hearts by faith And S. Augustin * Aug. in Iohan. tract 26. Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam ilham bibere potum in Christo manere illum manentem in se habere that to eate him is to dwell in him and haue him dwelling in vs What is that but to beleeue in him He that beleeueth in him saith the same Doctor eateth him e Ibid. Qui credit in eum manducat Inuisibiliter saginatur quis inuisibiliter renascitur Infans intus est Novus intus est vbi nouellatur ibi satiatur He is fed inuisibly because he is borne againe inuisibly He is an infant inwardly He is new inwardly where he is renued there he is satisfied FINALLY Such as are the benefits and the ends of this eating such must it be For the meanes must be correspondent vnto their end And we may know of what kind the meane is by the end to which it is directed If the end of our eating be to strengthen our mortall bodies and to make them lustie tall big let vs open our mouthes sharpen our teeth inlarge our bellies But if this bread be as S. Bernard saith * Bernard in prologo de Coena dimini In ea mensa inuenies cibū non ventris sed mentis food for our soules not for our bellies if by it our * 1 Cor. 15.44 naturall bodies must be made spirituall we must needs seeke a mouth in our soules to eate it spiritually That mouth is faith CHAPTER X. 1. Three reasons why Christ vsed the metaphores of bread and of eating II. Great instructions in both III. The metaphor of eating teacheth vs what preparation must goe before faith IV. And what is the nature of faith IF THIS be so say the Popish f Bellarm. de Euchar lib 1 cap. 5. § 8. Quis credar rem facillimam qualis est credere in Christū voluisse dominū cum tāto offendiculo discipulorū innoluere tot abscurissinus metaphoria cum potuisset vno verborem totam declarare Doctours why did the Lord involue a most cleare and easie thing with so many metaphores and giue occasion of offence vnto his disciples For he might haue said in one word He that beleeveth on me I answere 1. that the Lord spake so vnto them because he desired to stir vp in them a spirituall desire of a more excellent bread then that was for which they followed him as I haue said in the exposition of the first part of this Verse 2. Such metaphores of eating and drinking were not vncouth vnto them for they are frequent in the old Testament But they had a loathing of heavenly meats and therefore they tooke exceptions against his person when he spake of them and would not vnderstand him as it is written g Psal 36.3 The wicked hath left off to be wise and to doe good 3. Metaphores and similitudes are more popular then words which are proper because that by the likenesse of earthly things apprehended by the outward sences they make heavenly and spiritual things to come into the mind and thus are most fit for the instruction of those which being more dul haue need of milke and not of strong meate II. FOR EXAMPLE when Christ calleth himselfe the living bread there is greater instruction and comfort in that similitude then if he had called himselfe the Saviour of the world Because the vse of bread is to nourish and to feed and thereby we learne that Christ is come downe from heaven to be the true food and life of our foules Likewise when he exhorteth vs to eate of this bread he giveth vs a more large and full instruction then we could haue received if he had onely exhorted vs to beleeue in him Because this one word of eating teacheth vs how we must be prepared before we can beleeue in Christ and what is the true action and nature of faith whereby we beleeue in him III. As FOR the preparation we know by daily experience that he that is to eate must haue an emptie belly know and feele the need he hath of meate and hunger and thirst after it h Pro. 27.7 The full soule loatheth an honey-combe but to the hungry soule every bitter thing is sweet Even so before we can beleeue in Christ we must know and feele out owne indigence and the need we haue of his grace that we may be able to say to God i Psal 84.2 My soule longeth yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord My heart and my flesh cryeth out for the living God If this preparation be in you ye haue your comfort in these words of Christ k Math. 5.6 Blessed are they which doe hunger and thirst after righteousnesse for they shall be filled For without it there is no comming vnto Christ and therefore no comfort from him Doth he not cry l Ioh. 7.37 If any man thirst let him come vnto me and drinke Can we go vnto him Can we drinke of the fulnesse of grace which is in him till we thirst after him IV. BEING thus prepared by hunger and thirst we must take the meate which we long for worke it with our teeth receiue it into our stomackes disgest it there till it be turned into our blood flesh and by a true transsubstantiation repaire restore our decaying bodies All that

is contained in this word of eating and sheweth vnto vs the nature and true action of faith which is to apply Christ vnto our soules so neerly that every one out of the true sence of this heavenly gift in his owne heart saith most truly as the Spouse doth m Cant. 2.16 My beloved is mine and I am his and as Thomas did n Ioh. 20.21 My Lord and my God according to the promise of the new Testament o Zach. 13.9 I will say It is my people and they shall say The Lord is my God Such was the faith of S. Paul when he said p Gal. 2.20 I am crucified with Christ neverthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liveth in me And the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who loved ME and gaue himselfe for ME. Such is the faith of every true Christian according to this saying of S. Peter q 2 Pet. 1.1 ye haue obtained like precious faith with vs. What seeke we by eating of our daily bread To liue What seeke we by eating of Iesus Christ To haue communiō with him that we may liue by him The Apostle saith that we liue by faith Therefore saith S. Cyprian r Cypr. de Coena domini Qnod est escacarni hoc animae est fides That which food is to the body the same is faith to the soule For the same cause S. Augustin expounding the words of my Text saith that ſ Aug. in Iohan trac 26 Credere enim ineum hoc est manducare panem vivum to beleeue in Christ is to eate the living bread This is not their exposition It is from Christ himselfe as we haue heard CHAPTER XI I. To eate Christ by faith it is no imagination as Papists say II. Neither is it an easie thing by nature III. It goeth beyond the whole reach of nature IV. Therefore we must aske it of God V. And although it be weake be assured that it will eate Christ IF THAT be true say Papists if to eate Christ be no other thing but to beleeue in him there is nothing more easie then to be saved What is faith An imagination in the braine that Christ hath saved vs. How easily may we imagine such a thing and so be saved by a fancie 1. Indeed if we did speake of eating of Christ as they doe it might be said most truely that there is nothing more easie What so easie to any man as to open the mouth of the body and to swallow downe that which entereth into it Is there any Papist that findeth any difficultie in it Yea they hold their eating of Christ so easie that they make it common not onely to bad as well as to good men but also to toades wormes dogs asses mice and other beasts 2. When they speake of faith as of an imagination they teach vs what they iudge and what they will haue vs to sudge of their faith They say that they beleeue in God Is their beliefe nothing but an imagination They call on God And t Rō 10.14 how shall they call on him in whom they haue not beleeved u Rō 14.23 For whatsoeuer is not of faith is sinne What Will they confesse that their prayers and in a word all their most laborious devotion is nothing but an imagination Aske of them how they know that Christs body is in the Sacrament as big and as tall as it was on the crosse although such a thing came never in Christs mind they will answer that Christ hath said it and they beleeue it That beliefe indeed is nothing but a most fond imagination But will they call it so 3. A great many of their Doctors confesse that in the first part of this Chapter till the one fiftie verse Christ speaketh of the spirituall manducation of his body and recommendeth it vnto vs and some of the most learned amongst them confirme by insoluble arguments that the whole Chapter is of the same argument And dare they say that Christ recommended nothing vnto vs but imaginations 4. Since the beginning of the world there was never any man saved but by the eating of Christ The Apostle writeth of the fathers which were in the desert that x 1 Cor. 10 3.4 they did all eate the same spirituall meate and did all drinke the same spirituall drinke y Aug. de poenit cap. 1. to 9. Eundem non inuenio quomodo intellig am nisi cum quem nos The same which we eat drink not corporall in the elemēt but spirituall in the signification For they dranke of that spirituall Rocke that followed them and that Rocke was Christ Was that eating and drinking of Christ before he came into the world nothing but an imagination How many milliōs of Christians die and are saved before they can eate Christ in the Sacrament And yet without eating of Christ spiritually there is no salvation Are they also saved by imagination When we shall be called a Rev. 19.7 to the marriage-supper of the Lambe when b Mat. 8.11 we shall sit downe with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven when there c Psal 36.8 God shall satisfie vs abundantly with the fatnesse of his house and shall make vs drinke of the river of his pleasures shall that eating and that drinking also be nothing but an imagination As we shall eate him then so must we eate him now AND to eate him so now is not an easie thing is not an imagination To see our owne misery and the mercy of God our naughtinesse and his goodnesse our emptinesse and his fulnesse our folly and his wisedome our weakenesse and his power our shame and his glory displayed in Iesus Christ is it an easie thing Is it an imagination To know and to feele how worthy I was of his hatred and how wonderfull is that loue wherwith he hath loved me in his deare Sonne Iesus Christ is it an easie thing is it an imagination To runne vnto Christ to imbrace him to take hold on him to lodge him in our hearts to say vnto him as Iacob did d Gen. 32.26 I will not let thee goe except thou blesse me Or rather with David e Ps 73.28 It is good for me to draw neere to God I haue put my trust in the Lord God And therefore I will never let thee goe that thou mayest blesse me for ever To seeke and finde grace mercie peace life and salvation in him and therevpon to say f Psal 118.6.14 The Lord is on my side I will not feare The Lord is my strength and song and is become my salvation is it an easie thing Is it an imagination SVRELY the eating of Christ by this kind of faith goeth so farre beyond the power and reach of nature that g Math. 16.17 flesh and blood doe not reveale Christ to be the Sonne of