overcome by them the Spirit which is in them is greater than he that is in the world they do duties as becomes them who live at so high a rate in a very lively vigorous manner the free Spirit stablishes and enlarges their hearts to run in the pure ways of holiness and obedience under crosses they do not murmur at the hand of God but in an holy silence subject to it the Spirit strengthens them unto all patience St. Paul glories in afflictions that the Power of Christ may rest upon him 2 Cor. 12.9 The Noble Potamenia being by the Persecutors threatned to be cast into a Vessel of burning Pitch begged of them That she might not be cast in all at once Spondan Annal. Anno. 310. but piece-meal that they might see how much patience the unknown Christ had given unto her The Reason of such acts of power and strength in Believers is because they live upon the Body and Blood of Christ and from thence have a Divine virtue and power to perform the same 2dly Christ as food is united unto believers there is a very close and intimate union between the food and the body and so there is between Christ and believers He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him saith our Saviour vers 56. Eating here must not be taken properly an oral manducation is capernastical and indeed a very horrible thing to be imagined Hence St. Austin saith That the command of eating his flesh and drinking his blood seems to require an horrible wickedness and then concludes De Doctr. Christ lib. 3. c. 16. Figura ergo est a thing to be done in a spiritual way Hence Averroes the Philosopher said That if Christians devoured their God he would not have his soul to be with them It is a wonder to me that those who are called Christians should hold such an eating Nay that men on earth should orally eat the body of Christ in Heaven or that his glorified body should come into our earthly mouths and stomacks is to me a thing utterly impossible he is and must for ever remain in glory The eating therefore is a spiritual one done by faith though Christ be in Heaven faith flies up and apprehends him In 1 Cor. 10. Hom. 24. St. Chrysostom would have us be as Eagles and so fly to Heaven and then adds Where the carcass is there will the eagles be Christ our aliment is gone to Heaven and faith follows after him to draw life and virtue from him Faith doth spiritually participate of his body and blood and from thence doth derive a Divine power and strength into the soul As faith ascends up so the holy Spirit comes down upon believers which compleats the union between him and them They dwell in him and he in them as our Saviour speaks they dwell in him by faith and he in them by his Spirit There is a mutual indwelling a most near and intimate union between them The learned Grotius takes this mutual indwelling to be only amore mutuo by a mutual love Amans est ubi amat quod hic tribuitur manducationi id alibi tribuitur dilectioni 1 Joh. 4.16 The lover is where his love is What here is attriouted to eating that in another place is attributed to love He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him But I take it there is a difference our union to Christ is first and more immediate and then in and through him we are united unto God It 's true God dwells in the sincere lovers but he dwells in them as in parts of Christ partakers of the atonement were they not such the spots of guilt and imperfection upon them would make the holy one wave dwelling in them Christ is united to us as aliment inlivening and strengthening us but God is not as such united to us though the fountain of life and virtue be in him yet are these derived down unto us in and through Christ of whose body and blood we do by faith participate We are saith Bishop Vsher by a mystical and supernatural union as truly conjoined with Christ as the meat and drink is with us when by the ordinary work of nature it is converted into our own substance 3ly Christ is food by way of eminency Food above all food other bread is comparatively but a shadow or meer figure but he is the true bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living bread which makes men live for ever other bread comes but out of the earth but he is that bread which came down from Heaven The Son very God came down into our flesh and in it was broken upon a Cross that his body and blood might become bread for us He hath saith Bishop Vsher by his death made his flesh broken Incarnat fol. 52. and his blood poured out for us upon the Cross to be fit food for the spiritual nourishment of our souls and the very well-spring from whence by the power of his Godhead all life and grace is derived unto us Thus that excellent man Other food being inferior to the body is changed into our substance but Christ the spiritual food being infinitely more excellent than our souls turns believers who feed upon him into his own likeness Christs blood may be read in their serene consciences his death may be seen in their continual mortifications his Spirit shews it self in their holy graces as they live at an higher rate so they live in a more divine manner than other men Their humility meekness love zeal obedience patience tell us that they live upon him who turns the eater into himself the eater so participates of him as to be assimilated to him Thus much touching the resemblances of the Mystical union I shall now draw out fome Conclusions from them because as is before noted the Analogy between the Mystical union and the earthly patterns serves if genuinely taken not only for illustration but for very good proof 1. The union between Christ and believers is not meerly a Political one such as is between a King and his Subjects It 's true Christ is a King believers are his subjects there are Laws of constitution which make him a King over them and Laws of administration according to which he governs them yet the union between him and them is not meerly Political To make this appear I offer these things The manner of his Kingdom is considerable were his Kingdom such only as earthly ones are there might be some colour to say That the union is only Political But his Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18.36 It is not mundanae indolis of an earthly but of an heavenly nature Eusebius Hist 13. When the kindred of our Saviour were asked touching his Kingdom they answered Domitian That it was not Earthly but Coelestial It cometh not in outward pomp and glory but in inward efficacy It stands not meerly without in Laws and Ordinances but
Heathen or Head of the Church as an Husband Christ as an Head hath the same nature with Believers but exceeds them in order as being first and highest in perfection as being full of Grace in virtue as influencing into the Church The necessity matter and way of this influence Christ an Head above all other heads as making of no member a member and as having virtue enough for a world THE Union between the Foundation and the Building in the earthly pattern importing only a support but no vital influence the Holy Ghost goes on to set forth the mystical union by that which is between the Vine and the Branches I am the Vine ye are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing saith our Saviour Joh. 15.5 In the former Chapter he told them of his going away here he comforts them against it his departure should be no separation still he would be closely united to them as the Vine is to the Branches He is a Vine one whose shadow reaches to the ends of the earth whose precious blood cheereth the heart of God and man I mean it satisfies justice and quiets conscience Believers are Branches in him not native ones but insititions taken off from the old stock of Adam and implanted into Christ Hence they are said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 6.5 implanted into him so as to have juice from him The union between him and them is so intimate that they abide in him by Faith and he abides in them by his Spirit the effect of this union is fruitfulness Though the seeming Branches mentioned verse 2. are but pampinarii such as have leaves only yet the real ones are always fructuarii such as have holy fruit In this resemblance some things are to be observed The Vine and the Branches have one nature so have Christ and Believers he took an humane nature that he might be a Vine to us and we Branches in him that he might communicate spiritual sap unto us and in vertue of it we might bring forth fruit unto God The Arrians of old argued from this place against the Deity of Christ The Vine said they is of the same nature with the branches but not of the same nature with the Husbandman Christ is consubstantial with us who are the Branches but not with the Father who is the Husbandman To which I answer this parable of the Vine proves Christs Deity as well as his humanity he must be not a meer man but God-man in one person else he could not be such a Vine as he is here described to be Were he only God he could not be an homogeneal Vine and have one nature with us were he only man he could not be an influxive Vine and communicate spiritual life unto us it being beyond the sphear of a meer creature to do it Were he as the Arrians would have him no more than so all the Branches in him would be dry and withered no sap of Grace or spiritual Life would be found among men It 's true the earthly Vine hath not the same nature with the Husbandman but the spiritual one hath it here the Husbandman is the root of the Vine it self here the Vine calls the Husbandman Father My Father saith our Saviour is the Husbandman this Vine in eternity sprung out of the Fathers bosom and in time sprung out of the Virgins womb so he is consubstantial with the Father as to his Divinity and consubstantial with us as to his humanity The Branches are in the Vine so are Believers in Christ St. Austin saith of every Branch Si in vite non est in igne erit In Job Tract 81. If it be not in the Vine as a living Branch it shall be in the fire as a dead one Naturally all men are in the old stock of Adam dead and withered branches fit to be gathered up and cast into the fire but the Holy Spirit which fills the humane nature of Christ and will not suffer such a Vine as he is to be without Branches works Faith in men and so implants them into him Believers are said to be in him they are not united to him mediately only as being in the Church which is his body but immediately as being mystical parts of him A man saith Theophylact is by faith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 part of the root not meerly tied to him by outward ordinances In Joh. 15. but intimately joined and incorporated into him The Vine communicates juice to the Branches In Coenâ Ser. 10. Christ in whom as St. Bernard speaks there is totus humor a fulness of the Holy Spirit influences Grace and spiritual Life into Believers Hence it is that they bear holy fruits our Saviour emphatically expresses this The branch cannot bear fruit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of it self verse 4. To make it bear fruit two things are requisite it must be in the Vine and it must have sap from thence else it is dry and withered in like manner Believers must be in Christ and must have a Divine Spirit from him else they are good for little or nothing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 severed from me ye can do nothing saith Christ verse 5. A man off from Christ like a branch off from the Tree is altogether sapless and unprofitable whatever blossoms of morality may be no spiritual fruits can be found in one seperate from Christ holy fruits are from Divine Influences and these are from union with Christ The Ancient Fathers observe from this parable Ita sunt in vite palmites ut viti nihil conferant sed inde accipiant unde vivant sic quippe vitis est in pulmitibus ut vitale subministret eis non sumat ab eis ac per hoc maventum in se habere Christum mavere in Christo discipulis prodest non Christo Conc. Arans 2. can 24. that the union between Christ and Believers is such that he communicates life to them but receives it not from them they receive life from him but communicate it not to him We have here a great mystery Believers are ingrafted into Christ and in a sort parts of him hence the very same Spirit which is in him is derived to them to make them bear good fruit The union between the Vine and the Branches importing a vital influence but in a low negative life the Holy Ghost goes on to set forth the mystical union by that which is between the natural head and the body we have two excellent Texts for this Christ is an head From whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of it self in love Ephes 4.16 Again he is an Head from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministred and knit
Believer in this posture is sure to hear of him he shall be more and more led into holy Truths his ear is opened and his mind in a readiness for further instruction The Spirit will make deeper impressions and seal divine Truths upon his heart The rich Mines of Precepts and Promises shall lye more open before his eyes Again Christ is a great King higher than the Kings of the Earth he was anointed with the Holy Ghost he hath all the power in Heaven and Earth his Laws are all rectitude and grace his Throne must be set up in the hearts and spirits of men Unto this Faith answers by that obediential temper which is in it It owns his Soveraignty it kisses his Scepter it chuses him as a Lord â—t loves to live in his Dominions if he come forth in his Royal Command it opens the everlasting doors that he may reign within This is a fit posture it is called receiving Christ Jesus the Lord Col. 2.6 Christ will own such as his Subjects he will more and more lift up his Throne in their hearts he will let them see more of his power and glory he will make them taste the fruits of his Government in protection and excellent rewards This is the second step of union between Christ and Believers There is that in Faith which answers to all his Offices there is satisfaction in him and recumbency in them instruction in him and docibleness in them Royalty in him and obedientialness in them 3ly There is by faith a right unto Christ God did not only send his Son in the flesh to satisfie and merit for us but he hath let down from Heaven a Charter of Promises that we might see upon what terms we may have a title to Christ By that Charter sealed with his blood the believer who also seals to it by faith hath a clear right unto him My beloved is mine saith the Church Cant. 2.16 Believers have a right to claim him as their own though he be an infinite person one who is a center of Perfections a treasury of merits having in himself enough to satisfie the heart of God and supply the wants of men yet may they claim him as their own His blood is theirs it is the blood of their Sponsor and Head it was shed on purpose to justifie them as to the Law to cleanse away their sins His Spirit is theirs it is upon him as an Head and Trustee accordingly it is to be communicated to them it is to flow in their hearts in rivers of living graces They have also a right to become the sons of God It 's true they are not as he is natural Sons but they are adopted ones In their adoptive Sonship there is as Aquinas observes a shadow of the Eternal One. He is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sum. 3. part q. 23. Ar. 2. or brightness of his Father and in them there is a splendor of grace resembling God in a measure at last they shall as sons enter into his joy and sit down with him in his Throne and there not only behold his glory but have a share in the blessed region and all this is made good by the Gospel one jot or tittle of which can no more fail than God can forfeit his truth and faithfulness This is another step there is by faith a true right unto Christ 4thly There is by faith more than a meer right to Christ there is an intimate union with him believers are built upon him as a foundation inserted into him as a Vine incorporated with him as an Head To understand which of a meer right is utterly to evacuate these Metaphors which were planted in Scripture on purpose to signifie a very near union with him It is said in Scripture That we are in him and he is in us We dwell in him and he dwells in us We abide in him and he abides in us To interpret these phrases of a meer right as if all the meaning were but this We have a right to him and he hath a right to us is to dispirit those expressions which do as Emphatically speak a very near union as any words can possibly do No man ever used such words to express a right no man can use higher to express an union In those phrases therefore we have an intimate union set forth unto us so also we have in that of the Apostle We are made partakers of Christ Heb. 3.14 Not meerly of his benefits but of himself When the same Apostle would set forth the Hypostatical union of our nature to Christ he saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did partake of our flesh and blood Heb. 2.14 When in this place he would set forth the Mystical union of believers to him he saith That we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partakers of him we do in a sort possess him we partake of him as members do of their head His satisfaction reaches down to us to make us stand before God his Spirit is communicated to us to make us a fit Temple for himself By faith we come to be in intimate union with him and in a spiritual manner possessed of him Thus much touching Faith as a bond of union with Christ The other bond is the holy Spirit The Scripture speaks of it negatively and positively Negatively If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 The Spirit of Christ is that which just before is called the Spirit of God which quickens our mortal bodies ver 11. which leads the sons of God ver 14. which makes them cry Abba Father ver 15. which bears witness with their spirit ver 16. He that hath not this Spirit in such measure as is necessary to Salvation he is none of Christs he is not united to him as a member none of his members are void of the Spirit Positively He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he is in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 The same holy Spirit which is upon Christ the Head falls down upon believers as members of him though Christ an infinite person assumed an humane nature though his humane nature was in the same person with his Divine yet which is admirable to consider the holy Spirit had a special hand in uniting the humane nature to his person and in sanctifying it the holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Luk. 1.35 The holy Spirit descended like a Dove and lighted upon him Mat. 3.16 His Divine Nature was alsufficient and near enough to the humane yet was he anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Act. 10.38 The sanctifying of his humane nature is in a peculiar manner attributed to the holy Spirit The reason I take it is this God in his wise counsel would have it to be so that the same Spirit which united the two Natures in the Person of Christ
all these glorious appearances operate intimately and immediately he penetrates into the inmost spirit and is more intimate to it than that is to it self he operates not only by an immediation of virtue but by an immediation of essence for his virtue is not distinct from his essence Thus there is a communication of the Spirit an excellent operative intimate presence with Believers as if he were a kind of soul to them to quicken them unto every good work But alas how short are our thoughts in this point how little a portion of it do we know The Master of the Sentences out of St. Chrysostom asserts That we cannot comprehend how God is every where much less can we comprehend how he who is every where is in a special manner in Believers I verily think that those Phrases of Scripture which express the Spirit to be communicated to them have in them a mystery much deeper than we can dive into I shall therefore make no further answer to the Quaere it is enough for me to say with Fulgentius That the inhabitation of the Holy Trinity in us De Pers Christ is non localis sed immensa non comprehensibilis cogitatione sed venerabilis fide not local but immense not comprehensible in thought but venerable in Faith I conclude with that of Zanchy De trib El. lib. 4. cap. 1. Spiritus Sanctus quia immensus est ideo ubique est maximè in omnibus fidelibus speciali quodam sed incomprehensibili modo The Holy Spirit because he is immense therefore he is every-where most of all he is in all the faithful after a certain special but incomprehensible manner The next thing which comes to be considered in this discourse is the Operations of the Spirit I touched upon this before but now I will speak a little more to it It 's true these Operations being among the opera ad extra are common to the whole Trinity yet in Scripture they are in a peculiar manner attributed to the Spirit the reason of which is because of that order which is among the persons in the Sacred Trinity the Father is of himself fons Deitatis the fountain of the Deity the Son is from the Father lumen de lumine light of light the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son he proceeds by an eternal spiration from both of them And as is the order of subsisting so is the order of operating the Father operates from himself the Son from the Father the Holy Spirit from both Hence in the three great Works of God Creation which is the first rise of things out of nothing is in a special manner attributed to the Father Redemption which helps up a poor fallen creature is in a special manner attributed to the Son Sanctification which perfects the redeemed is in a special manner attributed to the Holy Spirit Hence in the great Work of Salvation the Father laid the counsel and platform of it the Son carries on the work in a middle mediating way the Holy Spirit according to his place in order consummates it by working Faith and all other Graces But this is only by the way In treating of these Operations I shall note two things that is what is in them of respect to union with Christ and what is in them of respect to the Inhabitation of the Spirit or which is all one to the Inhabitation of the whole Sacred Trinity The first Operation of the Spirit in Believers is this He forms all holy Graces in them he draws the very Picture of Christ upon them in humility love meekness mercy goodness heavenliness patience this operation is requisite upon a double account One that Christ may have a seed the Father promised him a seed he himself merited one yet a seed he could not have unless the Spirit did work these Graces which make us to bear a resemblance of him Another that God might have a Temple under the Old Testament he had an outward Temple but even then he would have an inward one a Sanctuary in the heart under the New Testament he had a Temple in the humane nature of Christ but even in that he aimed to have a Tabernacle in men but this could not be unless the Spirit did come and turn the heart into an holy place for him As touching this Operation the holy Graces may be considered under a double notion either as they make us to have one common nature with Christ and thus they import union with him or else as they are tokens of the divine Presence and thus they import the Inhabitation of God in us These Graces make us to have one common nature with Christ and thus they import union with him there is as the learned Camero observes a double union one ab uno communi simpliciter from one common nature simply considered thus all men are united there being one humane nature in them another ab uno communicato from one nature communicated thus a Father and a Son are united the Son having the same nature communicated from the Father To apply this distinction First Believers have one common humane nature with Christ not only in that large sense in which all men have the same nature with him but in a more strict sense peculiar to believers only He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one Hebr. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one not of one God so Angels also are not of one Adam so wicked men also are but of one nature and condition Christ hath an humane nature sanctified by the Spirit and so have Believers this is one peculiar thing in which he and they meet there is no other holy flesh in all the world but what is in him and them This tells us that they are so united to him in one common nature as no other creature in Heaven or Earth is Angels are not so they are holy but not flesh unregenerate men are not so they are flesh but not holy Believers only have as Christ hath an humane nature sanctified by the Spirit Further which advances the Union they have this sanctified nature from him we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 In this sanctified nature there are two things a carnal substance and an holy quality as to the carnal substance he is of our flesh and of our bones he did partake of flesh and blood with us As to the holy quality we are of his flesh and of his bones by him we are partakers of the divine nature Thus believers are joyned to him as to the Fountan of their Sanctity their holy Graces all hang upon him as beams upon the Sun If the Children of Reuben and Gad had been asked What part have you in the Lord they would have shewed the pattern of the Altar If Believers be asked What part have you in Christ they can shew forth their holy Graces These are Copies drawn after him
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the literal sense of it Touching his Power to do it they say there is an hypostatical union of the divine and humane natures in Christ his Hypostasis is communicated to the humane nature therefore so are the divine Properties such as Immensity is he sits in the humane nature at the right hand of God and that right hand is every-where The union of the two natures is inseparable therefore where his Deity is there is his Humanity he is everywhere God incarnate therefore no-where excarnate or out of the flesh In answer unto this I shall offer some things As touching the Will of Christ expressed in those words This is my body The Lutherans seem to stand for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Letter of the Text but their Interpretation is not a litteral one This is not properly in with and under this in propriety This is my body is one thing in with and under This is my body is another neither is their Interpretation true Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament as well as the Lords Supper as in the one the blood of Christ is not in with and under the water so in the other the body is not in with and under the bread the reason is alike in both Sacraments If in the Eucharist the body be in with and under the bread then the blood is in with and under the wine consequently the blood is separate from the body There is put upon Christ now in Glory not to say a second passion but as many passions as there are Eucharists It is not easie to imagine how the bread should be broken and the body under it not be so or how the body should be broken on Earth and at the same time glorious in Heaven or how the same body at the same instant can be present in as many distant places as there are Eucharists in the world or if such a Presence might be how the body coúld be finite or indeed a body All which strange Riddles the Lutherans must maintain to make good their opinion As touching the Power of Christ to do it the particulars must be considered First The Hypostasis is communicated to the humane nature therefore so are the divine Properties such as Immensity is Theol. Ancil 51. I answer with the learned Baronius the Hypostasis of the Word is communicated to the humane nature not inhaesivè or denominativè but sustentativè the humane nature of Christ is not a Person it may no more be called a person than Christ may have two persons it doth not subsist but exist in the person of the Word there is no personality in it but it is received and taken into the person of the Word and the person of the Word doth stay and sustain it Hence it is evident that the hypostasis not being communicated to the humane nature inhesively or denominatively the divine Properties are not so communicated to it neither is there any immensity therein It 's true from the hypostatical union of the divine and humane natures in Christ there doth issue a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communication of Properties the Properies of both natures are truly and really attributed to the Person the Person subsists in both natures both natures are united together in the Person but the Properties of the divine nature are not communicated to the humane for then the humane should be not immense only but infinite and eternal nay God himself because the divine Properties are all one with the divine Essence The second thing is Christ in his humane nature sits at Gods right hand and that right hand is everywhere I answer This argument supposes that the body of Christ is as the right hand of God is which is utterly untrue the right hand of God is incorporeal is the body of Christ so or can it be so and not cease to be a body The right hand of God is infinite is the humane nature of Christ so or can it be so and not become a God In like manner the right hand is everywhere must the humane nature be so too Scripture opposes it in those very Texts which mention Christs Session Christ sits at the right hand of God but where It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heavenly places Eph. 1.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the high places Heb. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Heavens Hebr. 8.1 The Session therefore notes out his state of Glory in Heaven not his universal Presence The Apostle tells the Colossians that Christ sits on the right hand of God and from thence presses them to set their affections on things above not on things on the earth Col. 3.1 2. But if the Session note an universal Presence the Apostles exhortation vanishes into nothing Stephen looketh up and saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.55 56. But if the being at the right hand did point out an universal Presence what needed any looking up or opening of Heaven to see him who in his humane nature is every-where Again If the Ubiquity of Christs humane nature be from his Session then it is not from the hypostatical Union which was long before in the first moment of his Incarnation or if it be from the hypostatical union then it is not from the Session which was after his Passion and Resurrection The next thing is the union of the two natures in Christ is inseparable therefore where his Deity is there is his Humanity I answer There may be an union and yet the united may not co-exist in all places a Star is united to its Orb yet the Orb is where the Star is not The humane nature of Christ is united to the divine yet the divine nature is where the humane is not the reason is evident where the united are equal there may be a full co-existence in place but where they are unequal as the two natures in Christ must needs be there it cannot be so the infinite nature is not put into finite straits the finite one is not stretcht into an infinity the union joyns not destroys the natures the humane nature must have its limits the divine can have none Hence it appears that the divine nature must needs be where the humane is not The last thing is Christ is everywhere God incarnate no-where excarnate or out of the flesh I answer As to that he is every where God incarnate it may be taken two ways either thus God who is in the flesh is every where and this is true but proves not the ubiquity of the flesh or thus the flesh in which God is is every where and this would make for ubiquity but it is untrue As to the other He is no where excarnate or out of the flesh he may be said to be out of the flesh two ways either thus The union of the natures is dissolved the divine nature is separated from the humane and
this never is or can be though the divine nature be where the humane is not yet the union remains it being made cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non cum loco with the word not with place the Divine nature being immense cannot possibly by distance be separated from any thing if in the least point it were separated it should cease to be immense or else thus The Divine Nature is not shut up in the limits of the flesh but doth transcendently exceed them and thus the Divine Nature is not so properly out of the flesh as beyond it according to its Infinity it is where the humane is not Thus much touching the Doctrine of the Lutherans in this point But if there is not a corporal presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist is there no presence at all Are the Sacraments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked signs and empty figures of Christ crucified This indeed is charged upon us by the Papists and Lutherans When Calvin saith that the body of Christ is exhibited to us in the Sacrament De Euch. lib. 1. c. 1. Bellarmine cries out that it is but mera ludificatio When Wendilin speaks of the presence of Christs body in the Eucharist Wend. Ex. 103. the Lutherans cry out fucus est dolus est it is a colour a cheat Nevertheless we say that the body and blood of Christ are truly though spiritually present not as contained in the elements but as exhibited to our Faith Thus Reverend Calvin hath it Inst lib. 4. c. 17. s 11. Dico in coenae mysterio per symbola panis vini Christum verè nobis exhiberi in the mystery of the Supper by the Symbols of bread and wine Christ is truly exhibited to us Thus the excellent Vsher Serm before the Commons 1620. Of his precious body and blood we are really made partakers that is in truth and in deed and not in imagination only although in a spiritual and not a corporal manner Thus the Church of England Hom. 1st of the Sacrament In the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent but the Table of the Lord the bread and cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the annunciation of his death yea the communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvelous incorporation which by the operation of the Holy Ghost the very bond of our conjunction with Christ is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful And again The body of Christ is given Art the 28. taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner It 's true the Papists and Lutherans make light of this spiritual presence Gregory de Valentiâ calls it merum somnium Calvinisticum a meer Calvinistical dream The Lutherans say that this is not a true presence of Christs body but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imago a spectrum or image In answer to this I shall offer two or three things The Papists and Lutherans who cast off this spiritual presence as a fancy do yet in explaining a corporal presence make the notion too fine to consist with the nature of a body De Euch. Lib. 1. c. 2. Lib. 3. c. 4. Bellarmine will not have the body of Christ in the Eucharist to be visible sensible tangible it exists after the manner of Spirits nay it is present after the manner of God The Lutherans will not have the body of Christ in the Eucharist to be visible palpable local circumscribed with place it exists in a supernatural manner it is present praesentiâ divinâ by a Divine presence Thus they who slight the spiritual presence do make the corporal one so fine that the body of Christ after they have stript it of its essential properties is more like a Spirit than a Body The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a spiritual one This is clear the presence is such as the faculty is to which the thing is presented the Bread and Wine which are the outward symbols of the Sacrament are presented to our sense the Body and Blood of Christ which are the inward marrow of it are presented to our Faith In the former a corporal presence is necessary in the latter a spiritual one Again The presence is such as the eating is the eating of Christ is spiritual it is as appears in the sixth chapter of St. John from spiritual principles to a spiritual end from the quickening spirit to life eternal the presence therefore must be a spiritual one that it may sute to the eating Further The presence is as the union is the union between Christ and us is spiritual he dwells in us by Faith he lives in us by his Spirit the presence therefore must be a spiritual one that it may agree with the union The Fathers are not for a corporal but a spiritual presence St. Cyprian treating of the Eucharist saith (a) Non tà m corporali quà m spiritali transitione Christo nos uniri de Caenâ That we are united to Christ not by a corporal but spiritual transition St. Ambrose saith (b) In illo Sacramento Christus est quia corpus est Christi non ergò corporalis esca sed spiritalis est De iis qui initiantur cap. 9. In the Sacrament is Christ because it is the Body of Christ it is not therefore corporal food but spiritual St. Athanasius saith of the Body of Christ (c) Corpus meum in cibum dabitur ut spiritualitèr unicûique tribuatur In illud qui dixerit Verbum That it is given for food that it may be spiritually distributed to every one St. Austin saith (d) Habuit Christum Ecclesia secundum praesentiam carnis paucis diebus modò fide tenet Tract in Joh. 50. The Church had Christ according to the presence of flesh a few days now she holds him by faith St. Bernard saith (e) Eadem caro nobis sed spiritualitèr non carnalitèr exhibeatur in fest Mart. That the flesh of Christ is exhibited to us spiritually not carnally Thus the Ancients are not for a corporal presence but a spiritual one This spiritual presence is so great a mystery that reverend Calvin saith Instit lib. 4. c. 17. Nec mens plane cogitando nec linguà explicando par esse potest the mind cannot conceive it the tongue cannot utter it Where mysteries are deep to speak a little is enough I shall therefore only touch on two things The one is this the body of Christ is objectively present to our faith St. Paul tells the Galatians that before their eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among them his Cross was at Jerusalem his glorious residence in Heaven yet he is before our faith in the Gospel and particularly in the Eucharist in which as in a sacred Crucifix we see him as it were a suffering for us It is here to be