VIII I. Wee must learne of Christ how he giveth himselfe and how we receiue him II. Christ giveth himselfe vnto vs by his Spirit III. To be in Christ and to haue the Spirit of Christ are equivalent in the Scriptures IV. We haue no reall vnion with Christ in the Sacraments but by the Spirit V. It is easie to the Spirit to vnite vs vnto Christ VI. We must pray for the Spirit WE shall not goe astray if in this point and all others we follow the counsell of S. x Cyrill in Ioh. lib. 4. c. 13. Quaerendum enim ita semper est vt apud cum habitemus ad alienas sententias non defer amur Cyrillus and make inquirie in such sort that we dwell with God and be not caried about with the opinions of men Papists beleeue that they must eat Christ because he hath said it We beleeue it likewise But when he telleth vs also how he giveth himselfe and how we must eate him they stop their eares and will not heare we must not doe so we must say vnto him as Samuel did to GOD y 1 Sam. 3.9 Speake Lord for thy servant heareth He of all can best tell how he giveth himselfe and how we receiue him And what he answereth to both questions must be true TO THE first he answereth in the 63. verse of this Chapter saying It is the Spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake vnto you they are Spirit and they are life i. they must be vnderstood of the spirit which is a Rom. 8.2 the Spirit of life quickning the flesh of Christ and b Aug. in Iohan. tract 27. Ergospiritus est qui viuificat Spiritus euim facit viua membra making all the members of his body to liue by a spirituall vnion with him He had said before vers 56. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him And S. Iohn saith that c 1 Ioh. 4.13 hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in vs because he hath given vs of his Spirit It is then by the Spirit that he giveth himselfe vnto vs and dwelleth in vs. And this giving of himselfe vnto vs by his Spirit is so incompatible with his bodily presence that he averred for a most certaine truth that d Ioh. 16.7 it was expedient that he should goe away For if I goe not away said he the Cemforter will not come vnto you but if I depart I will send him vnto you And what to doe e Ioh. 14.16.17.18 To abide with you for ever And this abiding of his Spirit with vs is his abiding with vs as he saith in the next verse I will not leaue you comfortlesse I will come to you THIS IS so true that in the new Testament to be in Christ and to haue the Spirit of Christ are equivalent The Apostle averreth that f Rom. 8.9.10 if any man haue not the Spirit of Christ he is not his Wherevnto he addeth If Christ be in you because Christ is not in vs but by his Spirit This vnion of Christ with vs extendeth it selfe to our bodies g 1 Cor. 6.15 Know ye not saith the Apostle that your bodies are the members of Christ If ye aske of him How He answereth h Vers 17. He that is ioyned vnto the Lord is one Spirit i. e. he is made one with the Lord by the holy Spirit as he sheweth when he asketh againe i Vers 19. What know you not that your body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you which ye haue of God WE haue no other kinde of vnion with Christ in the Sacraments It is written of our Baptisme that k 1 Cor. 12.13 by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body because it is the Spirit that in our Baptisme incorporateth vs in Christ It is also written of the Lords Supper 1 Cor. 12.13 that we haue bin all made to drinke into one Spirit because that in that holy Sacrament he giveth his body vnto vs by his Spirit Although that his body should come downe from heaven and enter into our bodies it could not vnite vs vnto him as I haue said for the flesh profiteth nothing But that which is impossible to his flesh is easie to his Spirit which if he send from heaven into our hearts it will vnite vs vnto him more truely and neerely then our soules are vnited to our bodies THIS then is the true How Christ giveth himselfe to be eaten 1. Vse wherevnto we must submit our minds and cogitations without any further inquirie following the example of the blessed Virgin who when the Angel had instructed her that l Luk. 1.35.38 the holy Ghost should come vpon her and make her to conceiue brought into captivitie all her thoughts to the obedience of the Word of GOD and said Behold the handmaid of the Lord be it vnto me according to thy Word Behold I pray you how the Sunne budgeth not out of his heavenly tabernacle and neverthelesse darting his beames from heaven to earth communicateth it selfe to all the creatures that are on earth And shall we say that m Mal. 4.2 the Sunne of righteousnesse must leaue his celestiall and glorious palace to make good the word which he hath spoken of our communion with him O blasphemy He hath said that by his Spirit he will come vnto vs and dwell with vs He will doe it as he hath said it n Luk. 1.37 For with God no word shall be impossible WHEREFORE fettering our curiositie with the shackles of the word of God let vs cry to heaven o Veni creator Spiritus Et infunde coelitus Lucis tuae radium Come O most holy and blessed Spirit into our hearts assured that if we pray so earnestly God will heare vs p Luk. 11.13 For saith Christ if ye being evill know how to giue good gifts vnto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father giue the holy Spirit to them that aske him CHAPTER IX I. We must learne of Christ himselfe how we eate him II. Such bread such eating III. Such man such eating IV. Such sences and instruments to apprehend him such eating V. Such end of our eating such eating LET Vs in the next place goe againe vnto Christ and aske and learne of him how we must eate this bread which came downe from heaven For q August in Ioh tract 27 Patitur enim nos non contradicentes sed nosse cupientes he beareth with vs when we aske of him not to contradict but to learne O ye that haue an eare to heare heare r Deut. 29.29 The secret things belong vnto the Lord our God Å¿ 1 Sam. 6.19 Looke not with the men of Bethshemesh into this Arke of the Lord t Iob. 33.13 He giueth not account of any of his matters u Deut. 29.29 But
downe from heaven WHEN we call to minde the end of his comming When we heare now that he is come from heaven to be our bread to be the salvation of our soules When that truth shall be confirmed vnto vs in the Sacrament if we be not more insensible then stones and rocks we shall all acknowledge our great indignitie all cry vnto God with David r Psal 144.3 Lord what is man that thou takest knowledg of him Or the sonne of man that thou makest account of him When King David called Mephibosheth to eat bread at his table continually Mephibosheth bowed himselfe and said ſ 2 Sam. 9.7.8 What is thy servant that thou shouldest looke vpon a dead dog such as I am confessing his owne vnworthinesse although he was a Kings sonne How much more should we t Eph. 2.3 who are by nature the children of wrath acknowledge our selues to be worse then dead dogs when the King of Kings not onely calleth vs to eat bread at his table but also offereth himselfe vnto vs to be our bread Certainly we should u Origin homil 6. in diversos follow the laudable custom of the auncient Church on the Communion day and say vnto him as the Centurion did x Mat. 8.8 Lord I am not worthy that thou shouldest come vnder my rooffe Thus farre should goe our humilitie TRVE humilitie is the mother of obedience Behold saith he I stand at the doore and knocke y Rev. 3.20 If any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come to him sup with him and he with me When he knocketh shall I refuse to open vnto him because I am not worthy that he should come vnto me z Ioh. 1.11 He came to his owne That was mercie For they were not worthy that he should come vnto them And his owne received him not That was sinne As he said a Ioh. 15.22 If I had not come and spoken vnto them they had not had sinne but now they haue no cloake for their sinne b Mat. 22.1 The great King made the mariage of his Sonne and sent his servants to call them that were biddē to the wedding That was favour And they would not come That was ingratitude Therefore he was wroth against them and desiroyed them But he gaue good intertainment to the poore blind maimed halt that came For although they were not worthy to be called he was worthy to be obeyed We we are to day those ghefts too too vnworthy to sit at his Table and to eat of his Supper But seeing he saith this day to my sinfull soule as he said once to the Publicane and great sinner c Luk. 19.5 Zacheus To day I must abide at thy house I le make hast as Zacheus did I le leape downe from the Sycomore of pride I le run home with the seete of faith and of obedience to prepare the lodging of my soule for the Lord of glory I le receiue him ioysully into the house of mine heart And he will say to my soule This day salvation is to come to this house O eternall wisedome of the Father thou cryest vnto vs to day d Pro. 9.5 Come eat of my bread and drinke of the wine which I haue mingled O glorious spoufe of the Church thou vouch safest to be our e Cant. 5.1 honey combe and our honey our wine our milke and our bread and thou cryest againe vnto vs Eate O friends drinke abundantly O beloved In this blessed Sacrament thou sayest the third time f Mat. 26.26.27 Take eate This is my body drinke ye all of it This is my bloud And shall we not obey thee Shall we not follow the example of Mephibosheth Shall we not accept with reverence and thankesgiving the honour of thy Table and the benefit of thy meat Papists call not this pride it is humilitie call it not presumption It is obedience WE WHICH are invited to day to eate of this bread know that to obey is a most acceptable sacrifice to God and therefore let vs try our selues and come and eate The scripture as I haue said maketh mention of three commings of Christ Of his comming in the flesh in the Spirit and in glory The first was visible in infirmitie as the Prophet said g Esa 53.2 When we see him there is no beautie that we should desire him The second is invisible but yet most sensisible in the power of the holy Spirit crying in our harts h Rom. 8.15 Abba Father None seeth the Spirit in another But every true Christian feeleth it in himselfe i 2 Cor. 13.5 know ye not your owne selues saith the Apostle how that Iesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates And he saith that k Rom. 8.9 if any man haue not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his because Christ is in vs by his Spirit The third shall be visible in Maiestie when l Esa 52.10 all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of the Lord. In the first m Ioh. 1.11 he came vnto his owne and his owne received him not In the second he cōmeth n Vers 23. to them that loue him and keepe his words In the third o Heb 9.28 he shall appeare vnto them that looke for him vnto salvation p Bernard de Adnentu domini serm 5. In primo Christus fuit redemptio nostra In vltimo apparebit vita nostra In isto requies est consolatio nostra In his first comming he was our redemption In the second he is our rest and consolation In the last he shall be our life O then O let vs thanke him for his first comming whereby he hath redeemed vs Let vs examine our selues if we loue him and keepe his words that thereby we may be assured of his second cōming into our hearts by his blessed and holy Spirit to comfort vs. And because he is to come once againe vnto salvation q 2 Tim. 4.8 vnto all them that loue his appearing r Heb. 9.28 and looke for him let vs ioyne our selues with the Church and with the Spirit and cry with heart mouth ſ Rev. 22.17.20 Come quickly Even so come Lord Iesus For then if we be found having the oyle of faith and charitie in our t Math. 25.10 Lampes we shall enter with the bridegroome to the mariage and know by experience that which now we know by faith that u Rev. 19.7 blessed are they which are called vnto the mariage-supper of the Lambe These are the true sayings of God To whom with the Sonne the holy Ghost be all prayse all glory and all honour both now and evermore AMEN THE SECOND PART OF THE EATERS AND OF THE EATING OF THE LIVING BREAD Preached at Otlans before the KINGS Maiestie the twelfth of Iuly 1625. IOHN VI. 51. If any man eate of this bread he shall liue for ever
THE TABLE OF THE LORD WHEREOF 1. THE VVHOLE SERVICE IS THE LIVING BREAD 2. THE GVESTS ANY MAN 3. THE MOVTH TO Eate FAITH ONELY By GILBERT PRIMEROSE Doctour of Divinitie one of his Maiesties Chaplaines in Ordinary and Pastour of the French Church at London LONDON Printed by I. D. for Nicholas Bourne and are to be sold at his shop at the Royall Exchange 1626. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE S ir IAMES FOVVLERTON First Gentleman of his MAIESTIES Bed-chamber c. RIGHT HONOVRABLE SOoner shall the heaven be without stars the stars without light the fire without heat the aire without moisture the Sea without agitation a faire meddow without grasse then the Church without the poisonous tares and noysome weeds of hellish heresies which springing vp with the wholesome and soule-feeding wheat the Lord Iesus hath sowed in the heavenly field of his Church hast to smoother it ere it grow to any beautiful and fruitfull perfection For a 1 Cor. 11.19 there must be heresies that they which are approved may be made manifest Therefore as God foretelling that b Zach. 1.18.19.20.21 foure hornes should arise to scatter Iudah Israel and Ierusalem foretold also that he had appointed foure Carpenters to fray them even so foreseing that by the ever-watching craft of the ever-waking divell the venemous seed of deadly errors should grow with the good corne of the Gospell to choake it he ordained diligent and faithfull 1 Cor. 3.9 Labourers to weed and plucke them out by the roote These Labourers are the Pastours of the Church who should be not onely d 1 Tim. 3 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to teach good and sound doctrine but also e Tit. 1.9 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apt to convince the gainesayers And certainely if it be the dutie of all Christians not onely f Athenag in legat pro Christianis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to speake of the truth but also to dispute for the truth How much more should the man of God the Doctour of the Church be g Aug. de Doc. Chri. lib. 4. c. 4. Veritatis propugnator erroris expugnator defender of the truth and over-commer of errour Never was there in the Church greater need of both then now that the Whoore of Babylon giues to the Kings and great men of the earth great bowles of her phyltres to drinke farre more dangerous then the waters of Aethiopia i Ovid. 15. Metamorphos Quos si quis faucibus hausit Aut furit aut patitur mirum gravitate soporem For assoone as they haue set that golden cup to their heads they are possessed with a dizzinesse and as if they had drunke a worse Nepenthé then that which k Homer Odys lib. 4. Helena gaue to Telemachus they forget their owne name of Christians and never speake of Iesus Christ but to seeke vnder a Herodian colour of worshipping him to kill him againe in his members Of what pestilent herbes that loue-drinke is made who knowes not How all those that call themselues Catholiques are bewitched with it who sees not Where these mishapen and ougly plants whose bane-giving liquor banishes the wisest men from their best wits doe grow who hath read in the seventeenth chapter of the Revelation of S. Iohn what is written of the woman arrayed in purple scarlet of the golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthinesse of her fornications of the name written on her forehead in capitall Letters MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH of the blood of the Saints wherewith she is drunken of the beast with seaven heads she sits vpon of many waters she rules over and will not affirme boldly that S. Hierome strayed not from the Truth when he said it is l Hierony ad Marcel linam viduam Rupes Turpeia the Towne builded on seaven Mountaines Rome even that Rome where in Hieromes dayes was the true Church the Trophies of the Apostles and Martyrs the true confession of Christ and was then decaying then beginning to be m Rev. 18. the habitation of devils the hold of every foule Spirit and a cage of every vncleane and hatefull bird There is the devils garden and his Gardener the man of sinne the Sonne of perdition whose emissaries runne abroad sowing every where the aconit of his most venemous doctrine the only Marchandise these Mountebankes of the fourth vow fetch from that dungeon of infernal fiends which being n Rev. 11.8 spiritually Sodom and Egypt hath nothing but faire shewes of rotten and stinking drugges like the o Ioseph de bello Iudaico lib. 5 cap. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 apples of Sodom which at the first touching vanish away in smoake and ashes and worse then Egypt p Odyss lib. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aboūds in evill weeds hath few or no good hearbes Of these loathsome and infectious hearbs the best whereof is but Swines-grasse at my attendance at Court in Iuly last I laboured to grubbe vp with the hooke-weed of the word of GOD that poysonous Toad-stoole called Transubstantiation the last and the foulest master-piece of work of the divels husbandry and wherein he delights most because it is most like vnto himselfe For by it Ceres Bacchus are worshipped vnder the name of Christ poore Christians blind-folded by the Corybantes of Babylon are holden in hand that a round and thin crust of the breadth of a shilling is Christs owne selfe as big as tall as perfect a man as he was on the Crosse that at the Masse they see him that at Easter they eate with the mouths of their bodies his flesh bones blood and whole body that therefore they must worship that crust with the worship of Latria due to none but God So he makes them the greatest or at least as great idolaters as ever were in the world This seemed so barbarous to the Ambassadours of the Towpinambauts in Frāce not long since that although they be the most barbarous people of the world and eaters of mens flesh yet to the naturall light that hath remained in their brutish minds this went beyond all brutishness that reasonable men should eate that which they worship or worship that which they eate And certainely said they if Our God were as beneficiall to vs as your Christ is to you we would honour him the best we could but we would not eate him And one of them made a Proselyte by the Capuchin Friars of Paris being asked if he was now a good Christian Yes said he for every day for my breakefast I eate one of your Christs What I then preached in two Sermons both for the truth against this most abominable errour I haue set down in this little Booke which I dare to send abroad cloathed with the livery of your honourable most worthy Name that appearing to the common view with such a goodly face it may
some aske why Iesus Christ did vse such Metaphoricall words of bread of eating seeing he might haue said in proper cleare tearmes that h Heb. 5.9 he is the author of eternall salvation vnto all them that obey him as the Apostle calleth him in the Epistle to the Hebrewes I answere first O man wilt thou teach the Word and Wisdome of God to speake i Exod. 4.11 Who hath made mans mouth Or who maketh the dumbe or deafe the seeing or the blind Is it not I saith the Lord And wilt thou to render him like for like make his mouth Secondly I say that of all words those are most cleare and easie to be vnderstood which haue greatest conformitie with our affections desires For which cause God framing his stile to our capacity by similitudes of worldly things which are most esteemed and affected of vs leadeth vs from the lower parts of the earth far aboue all the visible heavens from carnall and sensuall imaginations to spirituall and godly meditations from the vaine cōceit which we haue of our owne worthinesse to bungring and thirsting after his righteousnesse Neither did he fetch such similitudes from a farre off but e re natâ as his servants did light on such or such things he maketh allusion vnto them and by them instructeth his people in the knowledge of the mysteries of the Kingdome of Heaven Because men prise gold aboue all mettall and value precious stones at an high rate he saith that he k Efa 54.11 Rev. 21.18 will lay the foundations of his Church with precious stones make her gates of pearles her wals of iasper her streets of pure gold Because the Iewes were much given to bodily exercise and to renting their clothes in the dayes of their fasting he speaketh vnto them of a spirituall fasting which he calleth l Esa 58.6 the loosing of the bands of wickednesse c. and m Ioel. 2.11 the renting their hearts Because also they were ever bragging that they were Iewes and had the Circumcision the Apostle teacheth them that the true Iew n Rom. 2.28.29 whose praise is not of men but of God is one inwardly that the true Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit that all true Christians o Phil. 3.3 are the Circumcision CHRIST by whose Spirit the Prophets and Apostles spake did delight in such similitudes He exhorteth those which are addicted to gathering of perishable and momentarie treasures p Mat. 6.22 to lay vp for themselues treasures in heaven To them which told him when he was preaching that q Mat. 10.47.50 his mother and brethren desired to speake with him he answered whosoever shall doe the will of my Father which is in heaven the same is my brother and sister and mother When the woman of Samaria which was drawing water had said vnto him r Ioh. 4.9.10.14 How is it that thou being a Iew askest drinke of me which am a woman of Samaria He tooke occasion of her speech to call his doctrine his grace his owne selfe the living water whereof whosoever drinketh shall never thirst and by such speeches he brought her to the spirituall drinking of the water of grace whereof the well-spring is in heaven When his Disciples prayed him to take some meate he refused saying ſ Ioh. 4.34 My meate is to doe the will of him that seni me and to finish his worke In the last day of the feast of Tabernacles seeing the people very busie about drawing of water and powring of it out before the Lord as if that had beene the principall part of Gods seruice he stood and cryed t Ioh 7.37.38.39 If any man thirst let him come to me and drinke He that beleeveth in me as the Scripture hath said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water This spake he of the Spirit which they that beleeue in him should receiue AFTER the same manner perceiving that those fiue thousand men which he had miraculously fed and filled with fiue loaues and two small fishes were come to make him a King not for any true loue vnto him but onely because they had bin fed by him and had conceived a new hope that following such a wonderfull King meate should never be wanting to their bellies yea that he would make bread to raine downe vpon them as Moses did vpon their fathers in the Wildernesse he by diversion speaketh to them of a farre more excellent bread which he would giue them even of the true bread which came downe from heaven and endureth vnto everlasting life exhorteth them to labour for it Shewing in all the Chapter and particularly in this verse that he is that bread and that the onely meane to labour for it is to beleeue in him If he had clothed them miraculously as miraculously he had fed them and if they had followed him thervpon to make him King he would vndoubtedly advised them to labour for the raiments which wax never old and said that he is that raiment As indeed the holy Apostle will haue vs to beleeue that Christ is our garment when he saith that u Gal. 3.27 as many as haue beene baptized into Christ haue put on Christ and exhorteth vs x Rō 13 14 to put on the Lord Iesus Christ Which no man that is not witlesse or besides himselfe will take literally neither also any of the other similitudes whereof there is great plentie in the Scripture and I haue related some few Let then Papists tell vs Why the words of this Chapter should be taken in a literall sence which they shall never be able to doe BVT to leaue Papists let vs who are to communicate this morning to the blessed seales of this doctrine weigh in our minds how Christ per allegoriam necessariorum pabulorum by the allegory of necessary food as y Tertull. de Resurrect Carnis cap. 37. Tertullian speaketh withdraweth the thoughts of his followers from the outward to the inward man from the flesh to the Spirit from the food of the body to the food of the soule a Aug. in Ioh. tract 25. Ille post miraculi Sacramentum sermonem infert vt si fieripotest qui pasti sunt pascantur quorum satiauit panibus ventres satiet sermonibus mentes sed si capiunt Et si non capiunt sumatur quod non capiunt ne fragmenta percant that if it be possible those which are fed may be fed againe and as he had filled their bellies with bread he may also fill their minds with his speeches But if they take them And if they take them not as indeed they tooke them not i.e. they vnderstood them not let vs take them least the fragments perish as we are exhorted by S. Austin Let vs I say now even now ponder with our selues that although we doe eate and drinke to maintaine this mortall and ever-dying life and that this is the
and to him that is neere saith the Lord and I will heale him that is to say according to the interpretation of the Apostle peace to the Gentiles which f Eph. 2.12.17 were strangers from the Couenants of promise hauing no hope and being without God in the world and therfore were farre off and peace to the Iewes which had the Covenants of promise and in that respect had g Deut. 4.7 God nigh vnto them THE one and the other was figured by the burnt offerings h Levit. 11.11 the blood wherof was sprinckled round about vpon the Altar to teach the people that the bloud of the Messias was to be shed for the elect which dwell every where vpon the globe of the earth As when the high Priest did i Exod. 20.24 Levit. 7.34 Levit. 10.14 waue the waue offering and shake it to and fro and k Exod. 29.27 heaue vp the heaue offering he figured that which Christ said that l Ioh. 12.32 33. if he were lifted vp he would draw all men vnto him This he said signifying what death he should die WHATSOEVER was prophecied and figured hath beene punctually fulfilled Christ commanded his Apostles m Mat. 28.19 to teach all Nations What he commanded they did At his death n Mat. 27.51 the vaile of the Temple was rent in twaine from the top to the bottome to signifie that by the power of his death o Eph. 2.14 the middle wall of partition betweene vs and the Iewes is broken downe the enmitie is abolished and of twain we are made in him one new man Now the p Rom. 1.16 Gospell is the power of God to saluation to euery one that beleeueth to the Iew and to the Greeke Now according to the prediction of Christ q Mat. 8.11 many come from the East and West sit downe with Abraham and Isaac and Iacob in the kingdome of heaven and these many are r Rev. 7.4.9 of all Nations and kindred and people and tongues as well as of Iewes Now ſ Math. 15.26.27 the dogs doe no more eate the scraps of the childrens bread which fall from their Maisters Table But by a most mercifull wonder are of dogs made the children of God and sit with him at his Table The Iewes were first called to this glorious feast Vpon their refusall t Luk. 14.21 the poore the maimed the halt the blind are brought in This was and is to the Iewes a heart-breaking sorrow S u Act. 10.28 Peter himselfe at the first repined against it x Act. 11. ◠2.18 The rest of the Apostles the brethren that were in Iudea contended with Peter about it and when they were better informed they spake of it as of a great wonder S. Paul calleth it y Rom. 16.25.26 a mysterie which was kept secret since the world began for although that now by the Scriptures of the Prophets it is made knowne to all Nations yet the manner thereof that a Eph. 3.3.5.6 the Gentiles should be fellow-heires and of the same body and partakers of the promise of God in Christ by the Gospell not by the Law by faith not by Circumcision without any observation of Iudaicall feasts Ambros ib. fasts abstinences dayes and other elements of the Iewish discipline was not revealed to any of the Prophets was not made knowne in other ages to the sonnes of men was first reuealed vnto the Apostles and Prophets of their time by the Spirit Now our little children see it and know it more clearly then Abraham the Father of the beleevers then Dauid who spake so much of it then all the Prophets did THAT which was to the Iewes a heart-sorrow to the Prophets a booke sealed to the Apostles a mysterie to the first Christians of Iudea a wonder is to vs our salvation Shall it not also be our ioy and the matter of our thāksgiving b Rom. 9.23.24 God hath made knowne the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he afore had prepared vnto glory Even vs whom he hath called not of the Iewes onely but also of the Gentiles And shall not we hearken to the exhortatiō of the Apostle and c Rom. 15.9.11 Psal 117. glorifie God for his mercy As it is written O prayse the Lord all ye Nations Praise him all ye people For his merciful kindnesse is great toward vs and the truth of the Lord endureth for ever When Christ was borne in Bethlehem which is interpreted the house of bread to be the living bread to the dead the Angels of heaven who for their owne particular had no interest in his birth ioyned themselues in a great host to praise God saying and singing d Luk. 2.14 Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace good will towards men And shall not we who are these men for whom he is come we who feede every day on him sing prayse glory and honour to God who hath sent him to be our bread and hath called vs to eate of this bread Shall we not say and sing with Dauid e Psa 18.49 Therefore will I giue thanks vnto thee O Lord among the Heathen and sing prayses vnto thy Name CHAPTER III. I. All kinde of persons in any Nation may eate of the living bread according to the Prophecies and types of the Law II. And the doctrine of the Gospell III. Three vses of this doctrine IS f Rom 3.29 GOD the God of the Iewes onely Is he not also of the Gentiles Yea of the Gentiles also and of any man amongst Iewes and Gentiles without distinction of persons According to the prophecie of Esaiah g Esa 60.3 The Gentiles shall come to thy light and Kings to the brightnesse of thy rising Not Kings onely but Kings aswell as men of meaner sort but men of meane condition aswell as Kings h Psal 22.26.29 The meeke shall eate and be satisfied All they that be fat vpon earth shall eate and worship Vnder the Law there were sacrifices not onely for but also for poore men He which had not l Levit. 1.3.10.14 a bullocke of the heard to offer came with a Lambe or a kid of the flocke and was accepted And m Levit. 12.6.8 the woman which after her purificatiō was not able to bring a Lambe and a Pigeon for her oblation was quit for two turtles or two yong pigeons For Christ is a propitiatorie Sacrifice for rich and poore men and women And as all persons of all qualities which were bitten with the fierie Serpents in the wildernesse were healed when they looked vpon the Serpent of brasse which Moses had set vpon a pole according to the Word of God n Num. 21.8 Euery one that is bitten when he looketh vpon it shall line o Ioh. 3.14 15. Even so said Christ of himselfe must the Sonne of man he lifted vp that whosoever beleeveth in him should
the living God but the Father which is in heauen and it is as difficile yea as impossible to beleeue in Christ as to resolue to be a Martyr for Christ Therefore the Apostle conioyneth them as two most wonderfull rare gifts of God saying h Phil. 1.29 For vnto you it is given in the behalfe of Christ not onely to beleeue on him but also to suffer for his sake Yea he saith that God displayeth the same i Eph. 1.19.20 might of his power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead to make vs beleeue WHEREFORE let vs all cry to God with David k Psal 119.18 Open thou mine eyes that I may beholde wondrous things out of thy law Let vs all pray for our selues as the blessed Apostle did for the Ephesians that l Eph. 1.17.18 the God of our Lord Iesus Christ the Father of glory may giue vnto vs the spirit of wisdome and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of our vnderstanding being inlightened that we may know what is the hope of his calling and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints AND when we haue received this faith from aboue let vs acknowledg the weaknesse of it cry to the Lord with teares as did the Father of the lunatick child m Marke 9.24 Lord I beleeue helpe thou mine vnbeliefe and with the Apostles n Luk. 17.5 Lord increase our faith Yet resting still assured that as the Pilots trembling Diall in a shippe tossed to and fro with the waues of the tempestuous Sea looketh straight to the North Pole as the shaking hand of a poore man sicke of the Palsey stretcheth it selfe forth to receiue the rich almes of a bountifull King and as a dying man will open his wanne and withered mouth to let downe the restoratiue whereby his life is restored So our trembling shaking and weake faith will in the midde◠of the most tempestuous and blustery Sea of temptations fasten her eyes vpon Christ receiue him and eate him that in the middest of death and in the belly of the graue we may be saved by him CHAPTER XII I. The eating of Christ by faith is possible II. It is not hindred by the distance of time III. Nor of place IV. It may be fitted to all the similitudes which expresse our vnion with Christ V. It is decent VI. It is profitable CHRIST said to the father of the Lunarike child o Marke 9.24 If thou canst beleeue all things are possible to him that beleeveth Then say I to him that beleeveth it is possible to eate Christ by his faith I say more that to eate him so is decent and glorious vnto Christ and most profitable to the eater If there were any impossibility in this eating it should come either from the distāce of time or from the distance of place We eate him as dead And wee reckon from his death 1625. yeares which is a long time He died in Golgotha which is far removed from vs and we must goe to his crosse eate him there From thence we must goe vp to heaven where he now is and feed vpon him there Between the heavens where he is and the earth where we are the distance is almost infinite Behold now how all that is not any impediment to faith To BEGIN by the distance of time Between the promise made to Abraham and Christ there is 1927. yeares and he had eyes not in his head but in his heart to see Christ as Christ said p Ioh. 8.56 Abraham reioyced to see my day and he saw it and was glad From the first Passeover which was kept in Egypt till Christ there is 1497. yeares At that time q Heb. 11.27.28 Moses by faith kept the Passeover for sooke Egypt and endured as seeing him who is inuisible At that same time the Fathers in the desert r 1. Cor. 10 3.4 did eate the same spirituall bread and drinke the same spirituall drinke which was Christ How but by faith For Christ is ſ Rev. 13.8 the Lambe slaine from the foundation of the world in the efficacy of his death towards all the faithfull which were from the beginning So the Apostle saith that t Gal. 3.1 Christ is euidently set forth before our eyes and is crucified among vs Crucified certainely to the eyes of our faith which seeeth the things past from the beginning of the world and all those that are to come till the end of the world For u Heb. 11.1 faith is the substance of things hoped for and the euidence of things not seene it giveth a being in the heart to that which hath no being in the world and maketh visible that which is inuisible AND THEREFORE the distance of place also cannot hinder it For although we traile these our mortall bodies on the earth yet x Phil. 3.20 our conversation is in heaven and our y Heb. 6.19.20 hope is an anchor of the soule both sure and steadfast and which entereth into that within the vaile whither Iesus Christ as forerunner is entred for vs. There by faith z Eph. 2.6 wee sit together with him There our faith seeth him eateth him imbraceth all the promises of God in him O the most wonderfull efficacy of faith It seeth all things past and to come It imbraceth the two ends of the world It flyeth backward to Golgotha and according to the saying of Christ a Math. 24.28 Wheresoever the carkasse is there will the Eagles be gathered together like a spirituall Eagle it stoopeth vpon him hanging on the Crosse It fastenth her clawes vpon his wounds it drinketh the blood streaming out of his side it feedeth on him with a greedie stomacke and leaveth him never till it be satisfied and because it is vnsatiable and never hath enough of him it leaveth him never Forthwith and at the same instant it flyeth aboue all the visible heavens it entreth boldly into Gods closet it b Rev. 3 2◠sitteth downe with him in his throne and raigneth with him most gloriously in heaven THE EATING of Papists cannot be sitted to any of the other similitudes this can to them all By what is Christ our head and we his members He the vine and we the members By his Spirit and by our faith By what is he the foundation and we the Temple built on him By his Spirit and by our faith By what doth he giue himselfe to be our Garment By his Spirit By what doe we put him on By our faith By what is he borne in our hearts By his Spirit By what are we borne againe made new creatures in him By our faith By what are we washed in his blood By his Spirit and by our faith By what doth he wed vs to himselfe that we may be his wife By his Spirit By what doe we espouse him that he may be our husband By our faith By what