in the Primitive times of the Church which depraved the Doctrine of the Incarnation of Christ and thereby greatly disturbed even nulled the Doctrine of Redemption and therefore the Fathers took special notice of them and strongly confuted them 1. The ancient Heresie of the Valentinians Epiph. haer 31. was that the Flesh of Christ came from Heaven and only passed through the Womb of the Virgin Mary as water through a conduit pipe But the Angel said to her Thou shalt Lu. 1. 31. conceive in thy womb and her Cozen Elizabeth being then inspired by God said to her Blessed is the Fruit of thy Womb therefore 42. if Christ were Conceived and were the Fruit of the womb he surely was not only a Passenger or only as a Traveller in an Inn or as a Guest or Stranger but he is expresly called a Son which could not be if he were not bred in the Virgins womb 2. Apelles and his Sect said that Christ Epiph. haer 44. made himself a Body of the Elements and that he did not receive his Flesh from the Virgin 3. The Manichees said that the flesh and Aug. epist 74. body of Christ was not a true and real body and flesh but only a similitude or shape thereof and a meer Phantasm They confessed him to be God but denied that he was Man contrary to the blasphemy of the Jews who knew him to be a Man but would not confess or believe that he was God 4. Some Anabaptists also in the former Pat. Symson cent 16. Century sprang up in Germany who said That Christ took not his flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary but brought them with him from Heaven Those Anabaptists fell into this Heresie by misunderstanding som passages of Scripture where it is said The Son of Man Joh. 3. 13 6. 38. came down from Heaven and where Christ said of himself I came down from Heaven And where St. Paul said The Second Man is the Lord from Heaven 1 Cor. 15. 47. Apollinarius dixit carnem Christi ab aeterno fuisse de coelo descendisse Soz. l. 6. c. 27. But those sayings which are meant properly of the Godhead of the Son of Man yet are also truly said of the whole Person of Christ by an Antidosis or communication of Properties as Divines call it which consisteth in this That the two distinct Natures in Christ viz. the Godhead and the Manhood do both of them communicate their several properties each to other by reason of the Union of those two distinct Natures in that one Person of Christ Hence it is that the Scripture so speaketh of the Person of Christ They crucified the Lord of Glory And the blood of 1 Cor. 2. 8 Acts 20. 28. Acts 3. 15 Christ is called the Blood of God And the Jews are said to have crucified the Prince of Life And of the Thief Christ said This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise Luke 23. 43. yet Christ himself was not then in Paradise as Man but only as God In the same sense the words of Christ above-mentioned are to be understood The Son of Man came from Heaven which is true because the same Son of Man was also the Son of God and the only God who indeed came down from Heaven Not only the Hereticks but the Heathens also depraved and obscured the Doctrine of Redemption by affirming that Men at first sprang out of Trees or grew out of the Earth Rupto robore nati Juvenal Sat. 6. Compositique luto nullos habuere parentes And the Jews also said that God made at first two Women for Adam although we find but one and her taken out of the side of the first Man flesh of his flesh the other must have been otherwise made whereupon the Jews feigned Genealogies as derived from the womb of the second Woman which are those Genealogies which St. Paul called vain as St. Austin thought Aug. To. 6. n. 16. 1 Tim. 1. 4. which Jewish fiction depraved the doctrine of our Union with Christ and consequently of universal Redemption of Mankind because that Work was limited and confined to the Seed of Eve who was that Woman whose Seed should bruise the serpents head who was the only Woman that was taken out of Adams side and all Nations of men with Christ also have proceeded from the loins and womb of that one Man and that one Woman This necessary Vnion was intimated by the Prophets and also by the Apostle by the similitude of earthen Vessels and of bread The Potter hath power over the clay of the same lump to make one Vessel to honour Isa 45. 9. Jer. 18. 6. Ro. 9. 21. 2 Cor. 4. 7. another to dishonour and St. Paul calleth our bodies earthen Vessels Christ also and his Members are resembled to Bread in respect of their Union and communion one with the other The Bread which we break 1 Cor. 10. 16. is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ for we being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread The similitude holds in this that as many earthen Vessels are made out of one lump of clay and many Breads or loaves out of one dough or lump of Past wherein they were first united before they were extracted and severally formed just so all Men in the world with Christ himself were at first united in that one lump or mass of the first Man before they were extracted of which Union St. Paul saith that God hath made of one blood whatever blood signifieth all Nations of Acts 17. 26 Men. CHAP. VIII THe Eating of the flesh of Christ certainly signifieth only the Vnion of our flesh with his Flesh which Vnion was from Eternity designed by the Godhead in his mercifull purpose towards Mankind his future and intended Creatures as hath been before shewed But then if so we are next to enquire why it pleased our Redeemer to express and declare this Vnion by such seeming-harsh and tragical Words of Eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood which if literally and grosly understood of Oral eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Man are such things as all civilized People both Christians and Heathens abhor and those that have been observed so to do as Pliny writeth of the ancient and rude Plin. hist lib. 7. c. 2. Scythians are branded with a character of barbarous savageness and inhumanity as Plutarch and Salust noted of the Catilinarian Plut. in vit Cicer. Salust de bel Catil conspirators that they entred a wicked Covenant by a bloody ceremony of killing a man and tasting of his flesh and drinking of his blood mingled with Wine and St. Jerom writeth that himself saw Hier. con Jovin l. 2. c. 5. barbarous People in France feeding on human flesh The Answer hereunto is That our Saviour therefore chose this similitudinary way to express our Union with himself because he
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
Head Psa 133. which ran down upon the beard of Aaron and went down to the skirts of his garments the ointment signified the Spirit and its graces In consideration of this Union by those three knots or ligaments just now mentioned the Fathers looked on Christ and his Members and considered them so united as upon one Body or one Man or one universal Person because there is no one man or woman in the World whose nature Christ hath not assumed whereof St. Ambrose saith In Christo summa universalitatis Ambr. de chit Saty. To. 4. p. 146. est portio singulorum Christ is as the total Summ of all men and a portion or parcel of every man To the same purpose Prosper saith Tota Ecclesia cum Christo capite Prosp Ps 102. Id. Ps 131. est unus homo and in another place he saith Tota civitas Dei est unus homo in capite corpore The whole Church with Christ the Head is one Man and the whole City of God is but one Man in the head and body St. Austin is very plentifull and Aug. in Joh. Tra. 108. plain in this matter of Vnion and saith Vnus est Christus caput corpus ipsi sunt ego and in another place Vnus Homo caput Aug. Ps 127. Id. Ps 30. corpus Christi sumus non solum Christiani and again Christus est multa membra unum Corpus The meaning of all is that they are but one Body and are considered as one Person for as the Head and the other parts altogether are but one man so Christ and all his mystical Members are but one whole Christ which whole mystical Body consisting of Christ the Head and Christians the members thereof the same Father often calleth Christum totum and Aug. in Ps 36. 37. alibi Christum plenum and Christum universum and Plenitudinem Christi and Christum diffusum that is the whole full universal diffused Christ or the fulness of Christ St. Paul also useth the same expression concerning Christ and his Members He God Eph. 1. 22 23. hath given him to be head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that filleth all in all So that Christ himself with his Church are here said to be the full Christ or fulness of Ps 82. Christ And as in Scripture many are called 1 Cor. 8. 5. Psal 105. 15. Gods although there is but one God because God distributes his Spirit to them So many are called Christs Nolite tangere Christos meos because Christ hath united himself with them both by his Spirit and by his Flesh of which union of his Flesh himself saith He that eateth my flesh dwelleth John 6. 56. in me and I in him because he hath taken his flesh from the same Original whence our flesh is derived therefore as our flesh dwelleth in him so his Flesh dwelleth in us St. Hilary in his 8. Book de Trinitate Hil. n. 3. declareth the union of the Flesh of Christ with the flesh of Men and those not only holy and spiritual men but also with unholy and carnal men in these words Habemus in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christum we that are but carnal men have Christ by his flesh remaining in us And just so writeth the venerable and blessed Martyr Archbishop Cranmer in his Book against Bish Gardiner That Christ did unite himself with us as Man by his Incarnation But this necessary Doctrine of mutual union of Christ and Mankind hath been too much neglected by late Divines who have but only hinted or lightly touched it whereunto in their Disputes concerning the Eating of the flesh of Christ they have been necessarily driven which Doctrine is of such weighty concernment that it deserveth very serious and diligent inquisition There is a very hard and dark passage of St. Paul concerning Christs delivering up his Kingdom and of his subjection to God in the Exposition thereof many Divines have greatly and dangerously erred in dethroning Christ as if those words did signifie the Period and utter ending of his Kingdom which we are sure must last for ever The words of St. Paul are these When the end cometh he shall deliver up the Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 24. 28. to God even the Father and then shall the Son himself be subject to him c. These words cannot possibly be rightly understood but only by considering Christ and his Members joyntly as one full and whole Christ for though the Man Christ considered only by himself in his own particular Person and only in his Manhood always was is and for ever will be subject to the Godhead yet the whole Christ that is not only his self alone but his mystical Members even his Saints and his Elect at or after the final Judgment shall be so subject and so perfectly and compleatly obedient to the Godhead as they never yet were nor ever will be during this World of which Subjection and Union I have elsewhere written at large CHAP. VI. BUt why doth Christ require this Eating in these terms and words of the Flesh of the Son of Man Why might he not rather have said Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of God For the flesh of Christ was the flesh of God the Son and God the Word St. John saith the Word was made Joh. 1. 14. Flesh and his Blood is expresly called the Blood of God by the great Apostle Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with Acts 20. 28. his own Blood and St. John calls his life and death the life and death of God Hereby we perceive the love of God because he hath 1 John 3. 16. laid down his life for us And his Virgin Mother is often called by the Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parent or Mother of God 1. To this we answer First That the Son of God considered only and singly as the Son of God in his pure Godhead and only as God the Word and as he was in the form of God only and without Incarnation could not be our Redeemer and if he had continued so as to be only the Son of God as he was from Eternity and had never taken our human Nature upon him so as to be thereby really the Son of Man he could not be the Christ neither could any obligation or engagement have been upon him to perform the Law which Law was imposed only upon Mankind neither could he have redeemed us because he could not die being not mortal otherwise then by assuming our Mortal nature into Personal union with his Immortal and Divine nature Therefore in order to the office of a Redeemer he must become a Man and his flesh must needs be the flesh of the Son of Man 2. Secondly We say That although the Son of God had really assumed a body and
believing they tremble and although they believe as we do yet they have not so eaten nor are so united with Christ as Mankind is I may truly say of Angels Credunt sed non edunt because they are not so united they are utterly uncapable of the benefit of Christs Incarnation and therefore of Redemption by him There have been and still are many Millions of People in the World who never believed the Christian Faith as Pagan-Infidels and Jews and such as are above-mentioned Cap. 10. and many barbarous and uncivilized People that still sit in darkness and in the shadow of death who never so much as heard of Christ Yet all these being the Redemtion is as broad as Human nature Bish Bedels Letter pa. 26. race and posterity of Adam have every one so eaten the flesh of the Son of Man as is here meant that is they are united with the flesh of Christ in the loyns of the first Man which Union was actuated at their conceptions in the Wombs of their mothers although they never were or perhaps never will be Believers of all such I may say Edunt sed non credunt therefore this Eating cannot be meant only of Believing St. Austin in his 25. Tractate on St. John Aug. in Joh. writing upon those words in the 6. Chapter This is the work of God that ye believe Joh. 6. 29 on him whom he hath sent saith Quid paras dentes ventrem crede manducasti Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy stomach believe and thou hast eaten by which passage some have thought that St. Austin meant that Believing was the only way of Eating the flesh of Christ But the contrary is proved before and if St. Austin were of that Opinion he is not to be followed therein yet I am confident that he did not so mean because I find that this learned Father hath divers times otherwise expounded those words which mention the Eating and Drinking the flesh and blood of Christ to be meant of our Incorcorporation in him which must signifie the union of our flesh with his Flesh for so he Aug. lib. 3. con Pelagian c. 4. to 7. n. â—9 saith of those words John 6. Nisi manducaveritis carnem nemo potest vitam aeternam habere nisi incorporetur Christo No man can have Eternal life except he be incorporated in Christ And in another place he bringgeth in Christ saying Qui venit ad me incorporatur Id. in Joh. Tract 25. Ibid. Tract 27. mihi he that cometh to me is incorporated in me Again he saith Manducare illam escam est manere in Christo Christum manentem in se habere to eat that Food is to abide in Christ and to have Christ abiding in him And in the same Tractate he thus sheweth the union or conjunction of Christs Flesh with our flesh Siquis liquefactae cerae c. If a man shall Id. ibid. melt wax and then put other melted wax into it he wholly mingleth the one with the other Just so is it with the flesh of Christ and our flesh whereby it comes to be truly said by Christ He that eateth my Joh. 6. 56 Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him for certainly that God the Creator might effect this Union of Mankind with the Redeemer he extracted all out of one as Prosp very judiciously observeth Deus ex uno fecit omnes ut in Christi corpus Prosp de Prov. n. 39. venirent God made men Christ and all out of one Adam that all Men might come into the Body of Christ If now it be granted that St. Austin did intend those words to signifie so as is above said then they will amount no farther than this which to me seemeth a true gloss and as much as if he had said think it not needfull to prepare thy mouth to eat the Flesh of Christ for Crede manducasti thou hast so eaten his Flesh already as he meant by being united with him in the very Conception only believe in him and thereby that Eating or Vnion shall be profitable for thee and not otherwise because the Union or Concarnation of our flesh with his without Faith cannot reach so far as to Salvation for the very worst of men as is said before are united in flesh with the Flesh of Christ The Wisdom of the Godhead with Justice and Mercy designed this our Union with the flesh of God the Son on purpose to qualifie and prepare our foreseen lapsed Nature so as by this way to put Mankind into a condition and capacity of Redeemableness and so of Salvation possibly which could not otherwise be consistent with Divine Justice as neither could it become his Mercy to have created Mankind on purpose to torment us for ever in Hell Our perdition is not from him but from our selves for he would not the death of a Ezek. 18. 32. sinner therefore hath he set us into this way and possibility of Life For the Nature of Mankind hath been in three several conditions which Divines express by these three words 1. Natura Instituta 2. Natura Destituta 3. Natura Restituta By which they mean the state of Innocency the state of our Fall and the state of our Recovery by Christ The first was whilst our first Parents who were created pure and holy continued in that Original Integrity without sin The second was after their Fall or Sin by which they became destitute and were deprived of their prime Graces and Purity and we by them The third condition is our restitution to Grace and Pardonableness by Christ who being the Son of God to effect this Restitution became the Son of Man by assuming the same Nature which we have and in that Nature perfectly performed that Law of God which was imposed upon us in our behalf and for us and moreover bare in his own Body the punishments due for the sins of our lapsed Nature All the wisdom of Men and Angels could not find out a way whereby lapsed Mankind could with justice be restored but the mercifull Godhead effected it by God the Son to become Emanuel this was the Lords doing only Or if any creature had known or discovered the same means what Man or Angel or Archangel durst presume to have suggested it to the Godhead so as to say Thou O God hast imposed a Law on man which Mankind by all its own power being lapsed cannot possibly perform And thou hast threatned death for transgression thereof which no Man possibly by himself can escape therefore do thou O God thine own self perform thine own Law and to this end abase thy self and assume mans Nature on thee and suffer the punishment due to Man for otherwise the whole Generation of Mankind must perish everlasting How unlikely or rather impossible would this suggestion seem to any Creature ever to take effect Yet the mercifull Godhead in great power and wisdom
any need of or benefit by such a Presence but the true and concerning and beneficial Presence of Christ is in and with the Communicants which Presence is effected by the Union of his Flesh and Soul with our flesh and soul so as hath been before shewed Wherefore if we will be content and rest satisfied with this plain and easie Exposition of those words of Christ which I firmly believe to be true viz. that the Eating and Drinking of His flesh and blood signifieth only the union or conjunction of his Flesh and Soul with our flesh and soul all difficulties and obscurities will be cleared without any violence to those words of Christ And the order and method in which the just and mercifull Godhead proceeded in preparing and in making a way to the Redemption of our lapsed Nature will be to our great Consolation made manifest to us We have seen before how our flesh and the Flesh of Christ have been united in the next place we are now to show how the Union of our souls with his Soul hath been wrought and really performed CHAP. XIX IN order to the understanding of the Union of our Souls with the Soul of Christ which is mysteriously vailed by an obscure description under a Figurative Speech of Drinking his Blood we are first to enquire of and to find out the Original or Spring whence both Christ and we have derived and received our Souls For if it may appear that the human Soul of Christ did proceed from the very same Fountain from which all Men in the world have received their Souls then it cannot be denied that his Soul and our souls were joyned and united in that one Original Fountain which is the Soul of the first Man For why should it seem less credible or harder to conceive that all Human Souls are derived and have proceeded from that one Soul of the first Man than to believe and acknowledge that all Human Bodies Christs and all are derived and propagated from the body or lump of the said first Man Surely no Learned or but Intelligent Christian will deny that Christ and all Men were united in the Loins of Adam Now if it be enquired whence or from whom Christ immediately received his Soul We answer that he received it from his Blessed Virgin Mother and in her Womb and that it was derived and propagated from her Virgin Soul for he had no Earthly Father from whose Thigh his Soul could be propagated If it be again enquired whence the blessed Virgin received her Soul We answer that she also received it from her Mothers Soul and in the Womb and so we affirm of all the souls of Men and Women that they are propagated from the souls of their Mothers and that this Propagation ascendeth ultimately unto Eve the first Woman from whose Soul the Soul of Christ and the Souls of all her Posterity are descended If it be farther enquired when Eve had and received her Soul We answer that she received her Soul with her Body also from the first Man her Body from his Body and her Soul from his Soul and whence Adam received his Soul the Scripture evidently declareth that his Soul was immediately Created and Inspired by God in these words God breathed into his nostrils the Gen. 2. 7. breath of Life and Man became a living Soul We farther affirm that the Soul of Adam was the only Soul that was created by God and also that from that one Soul all human Souls from that time till now and also untill the end of the World are and will be derived and propagated We read not of any other particular Soul in the Holy Scriptures that was immediately created by God because indeed all Human Souls were Originally couched and virtually included in that one Prime Soul of the first Man Inspired by God Good Reader observe with me that Bucan p. 86. 88. Woolnor p. 77. which hath been formerly observed by other Writers that those words which our English Translation renders the breath of Life Gen. 2. 7. might and should more fitly and truly have been rendred the breath of Gen. 2. 7. Chaiim of Lives Lives Spiraculum Vitarum Because in the Original the word which is translated Life is a word Plural and signifieth Lives it may therefore reasonably be conceived that the most wise Spirit of God intended to signifie by that Plural word that the whole multitude of human Lives and Souls were potentially and virtually residing in that one created Soul of Adam and were to be derived and propagated from thence to all Mankind Christ and all as being the Spring and Fountain of all future Souls for of him only and of none other it is said that God breathed into him the Breath of life or lives We know that the first Woman had a Soul proper to her self but we find not that God did newly Create or Breath into her a new and several Soul because she did receive her soul from the Man and so it must have been produced for weighty Reasons and not any other way her soul was derived from his soul the Godhead did not create two Originals or Fountains of souls nor of bodies for both the flesh and the soul of Eve and of all Men with Christ also were necessarily to be derived from the flesh and soul of Adam for otherwise although the first Man and the first Woman were united in flesh yet they had not been united in Soul except Eve's soul had been derived from the soul of Adam nor could the soul of Christ by any other way have come from Adams soul and consequently he could not have been the Redeemer of the souls of Adams Posterity Certainly all Men in the World are Adamites both in respect of their bodies and also of their souls so is Christ himself Ben-Adam therefore the Apostle calls him the Last Adam because he was the Son of 1 Cor. 15. 45. Adam therefore he is called by his Fathers name By reason of the Union of our bodies with Christs Body in the loyns of Adam the Apostle saith we are members of his Flesh and by reason of the Union of all Mens souls in that one Original Soul of Adam the same Apostle said to the Athenian Philosophers that God hath made of one Blood Acts 17. 26. all Nations of Men. Blood in Scripture signifieth the soul as hath been proved before and so I believe it doth in that place and so the meaning must be that God hath made of one Soul all the souls of all nations of Men which surely is true For if their was a necessity in order to the Redemption of our Bodies that the Redeemer must have received his flesh by Propagation from the first Man the like necessity must needs be for the Redemption of our Souls that the Redeemer must have received his Soul by Traduction from the Soul of the same first Man in whom the Redeemer and the Redeemed were
erroneous and untheological and will appear anon to be Heretical because it is destructive of the Doctrine of Redemption except we will confine it and understand it to be spoken only of the Soul of Adam which was the first and the only human Soul that ever could truly and properly be said to be so created and infused Neither is the time of Drinking the Blood of Christ to be confined or thought to be first performed when we receive the Sacrament thereof because the Blood of Christ is not really in the Sacramental Chalice neither is his Soul there but his blood or Soul are in the Communicants for this drinking of his Blood which is really intended by those words must have been performed although the Sacrament had never been set up for we drink the Blood of Christ at our quickning in the Womb because then our blood or souls are united with the Blood or Soul of Christ when we are not in any capacity of Receiving the Sacrament thereof Therefore all the Latine Fathers and all later Theological Writers although they are of several and opposite Persuasions in Religion yet they generally Read those words of Christ Nisi Biberitis which I conceive to signifie a Tense of the time past Except ye have drank as is observed before of the word Eat The flesh and blood of Christ is not now to be eaten and drank really for that was actually performed before even at our Union with his Flesh and Soul in our Mothers Wombs St. Austin upon those words Psal 22. Aug. in Psal 21. 10. Thou art my God from my Mothers belly observeth that although God the Father was the Father of God the Son before his Incarnation and from Eternity Yet that he could not be called the God or the Lord of the Son but only in consideration of his intended Incarnation And because the Son in the womb of the Virgin assumed the whole Human Nature and not only Flesh nor only a Soul but both therefore God the Father became his God and his Lord the God and the Lord both of his Body and of his Soul This the same Father divers times observeth as namely on the 136 Psalm and also in his To. 6. n. 17. 19. Polemicks against the Arians The Church of England evidently declareth the same Doctrine in the 2 Article of Religion in these words Christ took Mans Nature in the Womb of Art Rel. 2. the Blessed Virgin of her Substance so that two whole and perfect Natures that is to say the Godhead and the Manhood were joyned together in one Person It being granted that Christ took the whole and perfect Human Nature upon him in the Womb it must needs be consequently granted that he there received his Human Soul because neither the Flesh alone nor the Soul alone can be truly and severally called the Perfect Human Nature We know that the Ancient Church accounted Athan. de Incar n. 22. Epip haer 77. them to be Hereticks who taught that Christ assumed only his Flesh but not his Human Soul in the Womb of the Virgin The Athanasian Creed also declareth Athan. Symb. that Christ was Man of the Substance of his Mother Perfect God and Perfect Man He could not be Perfect Man of the Substance of his Mother except he had received both his Flesh and his Soul from her otherwise by her he could have been but Semivir i. an imperfect or half-man The true and real Union of the Son of God with Mankind consisteth in the assumption of his Flesh and Soul from Mankind by which assumption the Son of God became the Son of Man and by it only he is stiled Emanuel And the Union of Mankind with Christ which is called Eating the Flesh of the Son of Man and Drinking his Blood consisteth only in the propagation or derivation of our Bodies and Souls with the Body and Soul of Christ from that one Original Mass and Fountain of all Human Bodies and Souls viz. from Adam in whose loyns and Soul all Mankind with Christ himself were in the beginning United CHAP. XXII THE Doctrine of this Vnion is so necessarily to be joyned and considered with the grand Doctrine of our Redemption by Christ that it cannot reasonably be by us apprehended how our bodies or our souls can with Divine Justice be redeemed by him without the mutual Union of his Body and Soul with our bodies and souls For if Christ must necessarily have taken his Flesh of Man because he might not otherwise destroy or condemn sin in the flesh the like reason will hold concerning the Soul that he might not condemn sin in the Soul but by assuming his Rom. 8. 3 Soul from Man The Soul by sin fell as much as the Body or rather much more for the transgression of Gods Command was principally or soly the act of the Soul the body did but only execute that which the Soul prescribed and dictated The body by it self could not sin more than a sword by it self can wound or a pen alone can write St. Austin often tells us and truly Non peccat nisi Anima only the Soul Aug. de Gen. lib. 10. c. 11. sinneth The same kind of Arguments by which the Fathers answered and confuted those Hereticks who denied the traduction of the Body of Christ from the body of the first Man are as firm and strong to confute the other sort of Hereticks who denied the propagation of the Soul of Christ from the Soul of the first Man both which Heresies depraved and indeed destroyed and nulled the Doctrine of Redemption of our Bodies and Souls by the Body and Soul of Christ Epiphanius and after him St. Austin report this as the Heresie of Apollinarius Epip haer 77. Aug. in Joh. Tract 47. that he affirmed that Christ had no Human or Intellectual Soul but that his Godhead supplied all the Offices and actions of a reasonable Soul in his Body St. Jerome and St. Austin charge Origen Hier. n. 42. Aug. Epist 27. that he had taught that the Souls of Men were more Ancient than their Bodies and that they were created before their Bodies and that they came from Heaven this error of Origen appeareth in his Third Book Orig. Per. Arch. l. 3. c. 3. Lib. 4. c. ◠Perj Archoon in which he agreeth with the Opinions of Plato and Aristotle who had said that the Souls of Men were not derived from their Ancestors but came from without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 These erroneous Opinions disturbed the doctrine of our redemption by Christ which Redemption necessarily presupposeth an Union of our souls with the Soul of Christ which Union cannot otherwise be found but only in the Original Fountain of all our Souls viz. in the Soul of the first Man Let it now be considered whether the present vulgar Opinions and the Doctrines of some Divines and Neoterick Writers be not altogether as destructive of the doctrine of Redemption
the present Eucharist or as if it were not already done for the Eating here meant is intended generally by all Mankind and not only by holy Men as Prophets Patriarchs Apostles Israelites or Christians but also by Infidels by Pagans Turks Athiests and the very worst of all Mankind by such as never heard of Christ and those that never received the Sacrament of the Body of Christ or so much as once heard of it and moreover by such as despised it nor is Cain or Judas the worst of both Testaments excluded from this Eating of the flesh of Christ so as it here signifieth because they were redeemed by him My reason for this Assertion is because I firmly believe that this Eating signifieth only the Vnion of the bodies of all Men in the World with the body of Christ in that one original Lump of Adam wherein the worst of Men have their Interest and Participation as truly and really as the greatest Saints on Earth for the Son of God by his Incarnation assumed Human flesh which was the same not only with the flesh which holy Men derived from the loyns of Adam but with that Flesh which Unholy and generally all Men received thence All Adamites of what condition soever do communicate in the Incarnation of Christ nor is there any Man whose flesh Christ hath not assumed and with whose flesh the Flesh of Christ is not united because the benefit of his Incarnation was to be tendered to all the Progeny of Adam that is to the whole Adam which is all Mankind and only to them from which benefit and all the consequences thereof the Apostate Angels are utterly excluded because as the Apostle saith He took not on Heb. ◠16. him the Nature of Angels but he took on him the Seed of Abraham and therefore he took on him the Seed of Adam in whose loyns both Abraham and Christ and all Mankind were united as before is shewed The time when Man doth thus Eat the flesh of the Son of Man that is when our flesh is united with the Flesh of Christ is at our Conception in the Womb for then we at first concarnate with Christ and then we first communicate in the same Flesh which Christ and we by propagation have derived from the first Man Hence it is that David the Type of Christ said of the Men of Juda Ye are my Brethren my bones and 2 Sam. 19. 12. my flesh which was true only because David and that Tribe were united in the loyns of the Patriark Juda Just so the Apostle saith of the Ephesians and of himself We are Members of his body of his Eph. 5. 30 flesh and of his bones which cannot otherwise appear to be true but only by the Union of their bodies with the Body of Chirst in the loyns of the first Man for we nor they did descend from the Body of Matth. 25. 40. Christ nor were we ever in his loyns yet he calls us his Brethren because we with him have one Father in the flesh that is 1 Cor. 15. 45. Adam whose Sons we all are and so is Christ who is therefore called the last Adam which is the name of his Father as Aug. Retract l. 1. c. 15. Cassander Pag. 47. other Men are also called by the names of their earthly Fathers as Austin saith of all Men Omnis homo terrenus est Adam every man on earth is Adam and Cassander in his Book de duabus Naturis in Christo very truly observeth Christus juxta carnem est consubstantialis universo humano generi Christ according to the flesh is consubstantial with all Mankind There are yet some few Questions to be examined and discussed in this weighty Mystery concerning the Vnion of our flesh with the flesh of Christ which is here signified by Eating of which we are next to enquire CHAP. XI IT being granted that our flesh and the Flesh of Christ are so united or entwined and mingled one with the other as is said it may be enquired what vertue or efficacy hath the Flesh of Christ more than the flesh of the Patriarks Prophets and Apostles with whom we are as really united in the first Man as we are with Christ for we know that the flesh of Christ is a Creature and so is the flesh of those who all descended from Adam as Christ did To this Query we answer and grant that the flesh or body of Christ was and still is a Creature for he took upon him the Phil. 2. 7. form of a Servant a servant must needs be a Creature and every creature is a servant to the Godhead only the Godhead is neither a creature nor a servant therefore the flesh of Christ being considered alone and only by it self being a Creature doth not enoble Christ nor entitle him higher than to be stiled only the Son of Man the Son of the Virgin Mary and of David of Abraham and of Adam But withall we are to consider that this Son of Man and this form of a Servant was personally united with the Son of God and with the Form of God the flesh of Christ was the flesh of God the Word of which it is said the Word was made Flesh and the John 1. 1 14. 1 Tim. 3. 16. Rom. 8. 3 Word was God therefore Christ is called God manifested in the flesh and of him it is said that God sent his Son in the likeness of sinfull Flesh The flesh which the Son of God assumed was true and real Flesh yet not sinfull flesh but only in similitude viz. like to the flesh of other Men which is sinfull This Son of God by Incarnation being made the Son of Man is called Emanuel Isa 7. 14. and this because he is God personally united with Man and is Theanthropos 9. 6. and though he is very Man yet he is also very God and is therefore by the same Prophet called the Mighty God and the Everlasting Father True it is that the flesh of Christ is a Creature but not singly and soly and only a meer Creature but such a Creature as was always united and personally joyned with the Creator for the flesh of Christ never was consisting or existing alone without his Godhead his Humanity was ever united with his Divinity The good Rule of Divines is Humana natura in Christo non est Cass n. 1. Fol. 11. Persona appellanda quia non subsistit per se there never was any minute of time since the first Conception of Christ wherein his flesh body or Manhood was alone disjoyned or seperated from his Godhead therefore the single human Nature of Christ may not be called a Person Cassander saith very truly Non primùm natus est Homo Cass fol. 32. communis de Virgine demum post habitavit in eo Verbum sed in ipso utero Virginali secum Carnem conjunxit We are not to think that Christ was first born
assumpsit carnem sed Filius tantúm So all Divines will assent to this Theological Axiom Divina Cassander Fol. 30. natura non est Redemptrix quia pati non potuit the pure and single Divine nature could not be the Redeemer because it could not suffer or die And we know that Redemption was confined and limited so as to be only by the Seed of the Woman but the Spirit or Holy Ghost is not the Seed of the Woman therefore God the Son took on him that Seed and that form of a Servant and therein he became our Redeemer because thereby he became Mortal and could suffer and die Neither could the human Nature of Christ considered singly and alone without his Divine Nature and by it self only have redeemed us because no meer Creature could possibly be of sufficient worth to ransom the World or to satisfie Divine Justice for the sins of Mankind 3. A third Reason is That other Creatures besides Mankind have the Spirit of God which is the same Spirit with the Spirit of Christ yet those other creatures have no benefit by the Incarnation and Passion of Christ For the blessed Angels are plentifully endowed with the Spirit yet because they are not united with the flesh and blood of Christ they cannot be capable of any benefit thereby or of Redemption if need were more than the evil or Apostate Angels are because the Son of God dit not assume the nature of Angels nor Heb. 2. 16. did any Angels assume the nature of Man Besides other inferiour Creatures are not destitute of the Spirit of God which is said to fill Heaven and Earth The Psalmist Jer. 23. 24. Ps 139. 6 Joel 2. 28 could not tell whether he should go from the Spirit and God by his Prophet had said I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh which is truly performed not only on Mankind but also on other inferiour Creatures for by the vertue and vigour of the Spirit they live and move and have their being yet Acts 17. 28. they are not thereby capable of the benefits or effects which come by the Incarnation because they are not so united with Christ as our Nature is For these reasons I conceive it may appear that the Eating or the Union with the Flesh of Christ is not meant of Receiving only the Spirit or of eating his Flesh spiritually in that sense which is abovesaid 2. Secondly Those words of Eating spiritually in the sense of the Church I conceive to signifie such a kind of Eating as is distinct and different from the literal or Grammatical signification thereof and from any gross carnal or Oral eating and that it signifieth to Eat according to the Spirit that is according to the intent purpose and true inward meaning and sense of the Spirit For we know that the word Spirit in Scripture is often opposed to the word Letter as may appear by those words of St. Paul God hath made us able Ministers of the 2 Cor. 3. 6. New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit Upon which words St. Athanasius Athan. To. 3 n. 26 thus writeth to Serapion Vos si sacras literas evolveritis invenietis Spiritus vocabulum in hoc usurpari ut mentem verborum significet If you will peruse the Holy Scriptures you will find that the word Spirit is used to signifie the Mind or meaning Now the spirit mind or meaning of those words is to be really united with Christ yet without any Oral manducation literally taken The Psalmist saith God hath spoken once twice Psal 6◠11. have I heard this Duo haec audivi that is saith Isychius that he considered not only Isych in Levit. the Letter but also the Spirit or meaning of the words for the Letter is but folium Spiritus as the same Father saith like to the leaf which covereth the fruit or like unto the Vail wherewith the shining face of Moses was shadowed or as the shell is to the kernel Origen in his Tractates upon St. Matthew calls the Letter sepulchrum Prophetarum Orig. Tract 3. 26. like a sepulcher in which the prophetical Mysteries are hid but the signification and meaning of the Letter is saith he Regalis dignior intellectus which he calls animam spiritum Literae the more noble and more worthy understanding of the Prophetical Writings and the very life and spirit of them In the Levitical Law those Creatures are Lev. 11. 3 accounted clean which divided the hoof and chewed the Cud which in the Spirit or meaning signified those Persons who in their Meditations on Scriptural Figures did distinguish or divide the outward Letter from the inward Spirit or meaning thereof And St. Austin was bold to say Aug. in Ps 103. Quaedam quasi absurda miscet Spiritus sanctus ut ex eo quod non possumus accipere ad literam cogat nos spiritualiter quaerere It hath pleased the Holy Ghost to mingle some passages with his Word which seems uncomely and absurd that thereby he might compell us to search out the Spirit or meaning of that which we cannot conceive fit or true according to the bare Letter As If thy right eye offend thee c. or Mat. 5. If thy right hand offend thee c. The great Oratour observeth Scriptum sequi Calumniatoris Tul. pro Caecina N. 14. est boni judicis voluntatem scriptoris He is but a Wrangler who urgeth only the bare letter of a Writing but a good Judge will consider the will and meaning of the Writer So say we that because to eat the flesh of Christ literally taken is impossible and unprofitable and undecent therefore we deny that way and acknowledge the other way of Eating spiritually which according to the intent Spirit and meaning of Christ signifieth the real Vnion of us with him both in flesh and soul so as is above shewed and will be more hereafter CHAP. XIII THere are others that think that the Eating and Drinking the flesh and blood of Christ is by Believing in him which they call Eating by Faith without any consideration of any other Vnion with his Flesh and Blood But these men do not rightly weigh and ponder the order and method which our most wise most just and most mercifull God designed for the acquitment of lapsed Mankind that their Redemption might be wrought not only by his Mercy but also with a strict observance of exact Justice which could not be performed without an Union of the Redeemer and the Redeemed as is before shewed This Union which Christ called Eating is not performed only by Faith or Believing for the Blessed Angels believe yet cannot be said to eat his Flesh or to be united so with him as is here required even the Apostate Angels do also believe every Article of the Christian Faith and this upon more certainty and evidence than many good Christians have knowledge of and with their
certainly signifies the conjunction or union of his Soul with our Souls in order as a necessary way or method to put us into a capacity of redemption of our souls by his Soul For we cannot be capable of the benefits of the Passions death and Obedience of Christ except we be One with him both by the union of our flesh with his Flesh and of our souls with his Soul because God doth neither punish nor reward one for another as is at Chap. 4. large shewed before Therefore that the Son of God might be every way fitly qualified to be a Redeemer of Mankind he assumed human Flesh from the same Original that we had our flesh that thereby he might be a Redeemer of our flesh or bodies and he assumed an human Soul from the same Fountain from which all our Souls sprang that thereby he might be a Redeemer of our souls as Athanasius hath observed in his Athan. T. 3. n. 23. Book of the Incarnation In Redemptione corpus pro corpore anima pro anima reddenda fuit integrum aliquid pro integro homine He was to give his Body for the redemption of our bodies and to yield up his Soul for our Souls and his whole Man for our whole Man There are three Ingredients to be considered in the Redeemer 1. His Divinity or Godhead for he was and is God the most High and the only God 2. His human Flesh or Body 3. His human Soul By the two latter by him so assumed as is said he became Perfect Man as by the former he was and is Perfect God His pure Godhead alone and considered without his Human nature assumed could not be a Redeemer because the law was not imposed upon God or the Son of God as only so but upon Mankind or Sons of Men Nor could the pure Godhead suffer death which was to be suffered by the Redeemer Or if the Godhead had assumed only an human Body or Flesh without an human Soul this could have been but a Redeemer of the Body at most if that but not of the Soul Or if the Godhead had assumed only an human Soul without a Body it could not have redeemed our bodies nor our whole Man as the Axiome of Divines teacheth us Divisus Christus non est Salvator viz. Beza Cat. Part. 2. p. 18. If Christ had not united all these Ingredients in his one Person his Godhead his Flesh and his Soul we could not have him for our Saviour Or if Christ had been only a meer Man consisting of Soul and Body as we all do and had not been God he could not have been our Redeemer because it was only his Divinity joyned with and united personally with his Flesh and Soul that gave lustre worth and infinite value to his human Nature so that for the great work of mans Redemption it was necessary that the Redeemer should be not only Perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and Human flesh subsisting but also with them Perfect God Or if Christ being very God had really assumed a Body and also a Soul otherwise and not from his Virgin Mother but had made a Body and also created a Soul for himself which had not been derived from Mankind and so not united with our bodies and souls or if his Body or Soul had come down from Heaven as some Hereticks said and passed through the Virgins Womb only as water doth through a pipe and had been only for a time an Inhabitant or Inmate of the Womb and had not been really the Seed of the Woman and the Son of the Virgin and the very Fruit of the Womb both in Soul and in Body and derived from the first Man and the first Woman as we all are he could not have been our Redeemer because he could not be united otherwise with all Mankind in flesh and soul nor we with him For as our Union with his Flesh which is called the Eating of his flesh must needs be with it as it is the flesh of the Son of Man which signifieth that it must be with that Flesh or Body of his which he assumed and derived from Mankind by being conceived in the Womb and not from any other flesh or body which the Son of God had sometime taken on him otherwise than by Conception and Birth as is before observed in his Apparition and converse with the Patriark Abraham so likewise the union Gen. 18. Suprac 6 7. of our Souls with his Soul which is called the Drinking of his Blood must be with that Soul of his which was so derived from the first Man and the first Woman by Propagation as all our Souls are otherwise we cannot be united in our Souls with his Soul neither could he be a Redeemer of our Souls This Doctrine of our Union with Christ both in our Bodies and also in our Souls was intimated though something darkly as to me seemeth at the Institution of his holy Eucharistical Supper which is next to be very briefly touched CHAP. XVIII WHen our Saviour had a long time concealed the Mysterious way or manner how our Redemption was to be effected by him and how his own proper and personal Death might be satisfactory to Divine Justice for and instead of the deserved deaths of all Men Yet that he Might not leave his Disciples altogether ignorant in so weighty a Concernment he was pleased a little before his death in some measure to reveal that Secret to his Apostles and by them to his succeeding Church for which purpose only he instituted his last Holy Supper to be a visible Sign or Sacrament and also a Memorial thereof in all Generations untill his Coming again First therefore He took Bread and gave it to them and said Take Eat This is my Luke 22. 19. Body which is given for you as if he had said my Body is already to you such as this Bread will be to you for by Eating and Digesting it the Bread will be your nourishment it will be joyned and united with your Bodies and grow into one flesh with your flesh and be one Body with you Christ calleth himself Bread Ego sum John 6. Panis because as bread being eaten and digested becomes incorporate or incarnate with us so is Christ Incarnate or rather Concarnate with us We receive our Flesh from our Mothers the bread which the Mother eateth is converted into milk with which the Infant is nourished and thereby is fleshed and groweth so that the Bread and the Child become united and grow into one Body St. Austin saith concerning this very thing Quod manducat mater hoc manducat Aug. Psa 33. Ser. 1. Infans sed quia minùs idoneus est Infans qui pane vescatur ipsum panem Mater incarnat per humilitatem mamillae lactis succum de ipso pane pascit Infantem That which nourisheth the Mother the same nourisheth the Infant but because the Infant is not able to