Power to encourage Piety and good Manners and all that is worthy of Praise amongst Men. And whilst we make it manifest to the World that Righteous Men are in their Distress so far from being forsaken of God that not only their Distress but their Innocence too and their Vertue shall be considered by Men we do effectually reprove Wickedness and Vice and preach Honesty and Piety And it is not unlikely but Charity thus placed besides the Good that it does to the Bodies of some will do good also to the Souls of others Upon such plain Reasons as these we should more especially do Good to the Houshold of Faith Whereby also we may without farther trouble avoid their Censures who carry their Respect to those whom God loves and honours beyond what I have been pleading for I mean those who reckon it to be no small Act of Piety to visit the Bones and the Ashes and other Reliques of Saints and Martyrs and to leave costly Presents at their Shrines and Sepulchres For it has been laid to our Charge with no little Confidence that we dishonour and contemn the dead Servants of God because we do not thus offer to ' em But we may I hope clear our selves without offence and say that we are as ready to honour the Dead as to relieve the Living Saints We are not well assured that the Bones and the Utensils to which so mighty a Regard is given are indeed the Remains of Saints But if we were yet we are not satisfied that there is any respect to the dead Bodies of the Saints beyond that of a decent and honourable Interment warranted by the Examples of the truly Primitive Church and that any Service to 'em beyond this is acceptable to God has wanted Proof hitherto and Defence as well as Proof But now we are very sure that the Bodies of Righteous and Godly Men are holy and the living Temples of God whilst they live with us in this World For this the Scripture saith We are sure that the Sacrifices of Alms which are Sacrifices when given for God's sake that with them I say God is well-pleased for this is affirmed in the Scripture We are very sure that they are doubly pleasing to him when they are presented to his living Members when they are distributed to the Houshold of Faith for this also is according to Scripture And in all these things there is such evident Congruity that Reason without any Dispute presently agrees to ' em In a word I do not read that any the least Promise is made to visiting and presenting the Ashes of the Dead nor that Christ will take these things when done in honour of his Servants as done to himself But I read that at the last day our having visited and relieved our feeding clothing and comforting the least of his true Servants that are with us will be so accounted and will be rewarded as if these things had been done to himself In as much as ye did it to the least of these ye did it also unto me All which being considered we may be sure that we are well guarded against the angry Reflections of our Neighbours if we take care to excel them in Charity to the Living as much as they imagin they out-do us in honouring the Dead And thus much for the Objects of Charity as they are specified in the Text. I am now to touch upon that Intimation of the Rewards of it which we have in the Text also As we have opportunity It is a true sence of these words to interpret them thus as often as occasions of Charity present themselves and as long as we are in a condition to do good Works of this kind But as I told you they have a plain reference to the three foregoing Verses Be not deceived God is not mocked for whatsoever a Man soweth that shall he also reap For he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life everlasting And let us not be weary in well-doing for in due season we shall reap if we faint not As we have therefore opportunity let us c. i. e. as long as the opportunity or season of sowing in good Works lasts let us sow that we may reap plentifully when Harvest-time comes i. e. when the Rewards of Charity shall be given abroad as they will assuredly be in a better World if not in this also The Seed which he means as we find by the 6th Verse are the good things of this Life And as by sowing to the Spirit he undoubtedly meant doing good out of our worldly Store to All Men and especially to the Houshold of Faith so by sowing to the Flesh must on the other hand be meant the encreasing of our own Possessions and the serving of our own Pleasures I will not say providing for inordinate Lusts for this is more than the Text necessarily implies tho' that be sowing to the Flesh too So that we will set that aside and consider what the use of that Wealth will come to which is expended in things not to be blamed in goodly Houses and fine Cloaths and a plentiful Table and the like For this is sowing to the Flesh and the Apostle tells us that he that soweth to the Flesh shall of the Flesh reap Corruption i. e. at the end of this Life he shall find that all these things have perished in the using and can turn to no account for him now at last that there is no farther enjoyment of them and that the very remembrance of them which is all that is left hath neither Pleasure nor Profit in it And so he shall reap for this sowing nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Corruption i. e. no increase but a loss of what he sowed Now true it is that thus we must all sow to the Flesh in some degree or other we must provide for our own Bodies and the needs of our Life and we may make a reasonable use of our Wealth for the innocent Pleasures of it too But this is that sowing which will yield no Harvest at last There is an Enjoyment for the time but when the use is over there is no farther Profit to be expected So that he is said by the Apostle to sow to the Flesh who does little or nothing else with the good things of this World that God has given him but only sets himself out with them and applies them wholly to the serving of his own Needs and Pleasures For by him that soweth to the Spirit he could not mean one that makes no use of his Wealth for supplying his own Needs and Necessities but one who does that and relieves others too Now of him it is said that he shall reap Life everlasting for tho' the Seed be it self of a transitory carnal and perishing Nature yet being thus disposed to a spiritual use being cast into such a Soil it
mistunderstood And then I answer as I have done in the Notes upon that place that I am not obliged to say precisely what our Saviour's reason was for that But besides what you will find there it may be said that sometimes it well becomes a Man of Wisdom and Authority when he finds his Words perverted by caviling People to repeat them again and thereby to speak his own Assurance that they did not drop unadvisedly from him and that 't is not his own but his Hearers Fault that he is misunderstood And this is the more reasonable to be said in the present case if the Jews wilfully perverted our Saviour's Words to that absurd sense of eating his Flesh with their Teeth as 't is probably they did and that because his Expressions were plainly allusive and because also the Allusion was now and then explain'd as I shew'd before What inconvenience is it therefore to suppose that our Lord perceiving that his Divine Discourses and Exhortations had but hardened them in a Spirit of Contradiction did not think himself bound to use presently the utmost plainness of Words for the sake of Men to whom he had spoken plainly enough already if any good were to be done upon them But for further satisfaction in this matter I refer you once more to the Paraphrase and Notes which are already finished and where some little Light is given to those Passages which may seem obscure enough I hope to lead you out of all danger of suspecting those words of our Saviour V. 51 c. to enforce that the Substance of his Flesh must be eaten by us either in or out of the Sacrament It seems I told you that these Passages were not to be understood of the Sacrament I should have added that because they signify those things which are signify'd in the Sacrament that they may be very aptly applied to the Sacrament especially in Exhortations to Devotion nay and that there are some cases in which a Man may argue from the one to the other and some Questions to which both the one and the other give equal Light which may very well be and yet it will by no means follow that these words are primarily to be understood of the Eucharist And this Opinion I cannot deliver up meerly because you have heard that the Church always held the contrary No Man I believe has a greater regard to the constant and universal Tradition of the Church than my self But then I do not think my self bound to believe that the Church has always held this or that because this and that Man tells me so For if a Man can speak and has a Cause to serve 't is as easie to say Thus saith the Church as to say Thus saith the Scripture I remember indeed that our Country-man Nicholas Sanders tells us That (c) Nic. Sanderus de Euchar. p. 23. to deny these words to be understood of the Eucharist is contrary to the Instruction and Authority of all Antiquity And Maldonate says That (d) Maldon in Joan. 6. all the ancient Fathers acknowledge it And others say the same thing and it seems you have heard it Now this is but a custom of speaking which some Men have gotten For I am well assured that all the Fathers were not of their mind Clemens Alexandrinus (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Paedag. lib. 1. c. 6. p. 105. Paris supposes these Expressions to eat the Flesh of Christ and to drink his Blood to be as figurative as that of St. Paul to feed with Milk and tells us upon this occasion that the word is variously allegorized being called Meat and Flesh and Nourishment and Bread and Blood and Milk and that our Lord is all these things for our enjoyment who believe in him Now I am perswaded you will not say that this Father interpreted the Words under Debate of the Eucharist Tertullian to shew that these Words the Flesh profiteth nothing do not make against the Resurrection of the Flesh saith (f) Sic etsi carnem ait nihil prodesse ex materia dicti dirigendus est sensus Nam quia durum intolerabilem existimaverunt sermonem ejus quasi vere Carnem suam illis edendam determinasset ut in Spiritum disponeret statum salutis praemisit Spiritus est qui vivificat atque ita subjunxit Caro nihil prodest ad vivificandum scilicet Exequitur etiam quid velit intelligi spiritum Verba quae locutus sum vobis Spiritus sunt Vita sunt Sicut supra qui audit Sermones meos credit in eum qui c. Itaque Sermonem constituens vivificatorem quia Spiritus Vita Sermo eundem etiam Carnem suam dixit quia sermo Caro erat Pactus proinde in causam Vitae Appetendus devorandus Auditu ruminandus intellectu Fide digerendus Nam paulo ante Carnem suam panem quoque Coelestem pronunciaret urgens usquequaque per Allegoriam c. Tertul. de Resâ—r Carnis c. 36 37. That we are to be directed to the sence of what is said by the subject-matter of it For because they thought his saying hard and intollerable as if he intended his Flesh should be truly eaten by them he to shew that the Cause of Life and Salvation was spiritual premised this That the Spirit quickneth and then added The Flesh profiteth nothing that is in respect of quickning And then he shews what he means by the Spirit The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life As he had said also before He that heareth my words and believeth in him that sent me hath Eternal Life and shall not come into Condemnation but hath passed from Death to Life Therefore making his Word to be the quickning Principle since his Word is Spirit and Life he called his Word also his own Flesh for the Word was also made Flesh and therefore in order to Life it is to be hungred after and devoured by HEARING and to be chewed again by the VNDERSTANDING and to be digested by FAITH And afterwards he affirms that our Lord all along urged his Intent by an Allegory So that Tertullian was so far from thinking these Passages to refer to the Eucharist that I am in some doubt whether he understood them with any special reference to the Death of Christ. Origen also interprets Flesh and Blood in like manner For says he (g) Carnibus enim sanguine Verbi sui tanquam mundo cibo atque potu reficit omne hominum genus Orig. in Levit. Hom. 7. By the Flesh and the Blood of his WORD as with pure Meat and Drink he refresheth all Mankind And †Vide in Mat. Tract 12. elsewhere he speaketh to the same purpose St. Athanasius likewise seems to me to be of the same Opinion who speaking of the literal sence in which the Jews understood our Saviour hath these words (i) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Athan. in
illud Evangelii Quincunque dixerit c. For how could his Body suffice for so many to eat of that it should become nourishment for the whole World It is says he for this reason that he mentioned the Son of Man's ascending into Heaven that he might draw them off from the Corporeal Notion Which Testimony as it manifestly shewed his Judgment to be that our Saviour did not require the proper eating of his Natural Body so it contains a very probable Argument that he did not understand those Words of eating his Sacramental Body For if he had so understood them it had been very accountable that the Body of Christ i. e. his Sacramental Body was sufficient for the nourishment of the whole World And by removing all Corporeal Notions of eating and drinking he seem'd to establish only a Spiritual Notion But St. Hierom is plain and full to this purpose beyond all contradiction as I am perswaded For thus he speaks (k) Quando dicit qui non comederit Carnem meam biberit Sanguinem meum licet in Mysterio posset intelligi tamen verius Corpus Christi Sanguis ejus Sermo Scripturarum est Doctrina Divina est Si quando audimus Sermonem Dei Sermo Dei Caro Christi Sanguis ejus in auribus nostris funditur nos aliud cogitamus in quantum periculum incurrimus Sic in Carne Christi qui est Sermo Doctrinae hoc est Scripturarum Sanctarum Interpretatio sicut volumus ita cibum accipimus Hieron Comment in Psal 147. When Jesus saith He that eateth not my Flesh and drinketh not my Blood although it may be understood in a Mystery i. e. as I think of the Eucharist yet the truer sence is that the Body of Christ and his Blood is the Word of the Scriptures is Divine Doctrine And therefore he continues not long after in this manner If when we hear the Word of God the Word of God and the Flesh of Christ and his Blood is poured into our Ears and we think of something else into how great a danger do we run Afterwards comparing it to Manna which was said to give that Taste to every Man which he liked best So saith he in the Flesh of Christ which is the Word of Doctrine that is the Interpretation of the Holy Scriptures as we would have it so we receive Food If thou art holy here thou findest Comfort St. Hierom could not have been more express if he had been to maintain this Interpretation against an Adversary Nor does the Paraphrase of Eusebius come much behind St. Hierom's Interpretation For he makes our Saviour's Explication V. 63. to run as if he had said (l) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Euseb Caesariensis contra Marcel de Eccles Theol. lib. 3. c. 12. Do not think that I speak of that Flesh which I carry about me as if you ought to eat that or that I command you to drink my sensible and corporeal Blood You well understand that the words which I speak to you are Spirit and Life So that as Eusebius goes on his Words and Doctrines are Flesh and Blood of which whoever constantly partakes he being nourished with Heavenly Bread as it were shall partake of the Heavenly Life He that says this and knows what he says could hardly suppose that the Eucharist was particularly intended by our Saviour in these Passages I shall trouble you with no more Instances of this kind these being sufficient to shew that All the Ancients did not understand those words of the Eucharist And now I will make no difficulty to grant that the other Opinion is not destitute of all Authority but has the Countenance of some Fathers to support it For we do not pretend to any such priviledge of speaking as to say we have All the Fathers in a Case where we have not every One But this I must needs say That those Fathers who as far as I have yet discovered seem to speak most expresly in favour of the Sacramental Sense do not come up to the peremptoriness and clearness of those who are for the Spiritual Sense (m) Cypr. de Orat. Dom. St. Cyprian understanding the daily Bread which we pray for not only of common Food but of the Eucharist applies those Words to it If any man eateth of this Bread he shall live for ever And says he as 't is manifest that * Qui corpus ejus attingunt they who belong to his Body or Family and having a right thereunto communicate in the Eucharist do live so it is to be feared and we are to pray lest any of us being excommunicated and separated from the Body of Christ should be far removed from Salvation since himself uttered this threatning Except ye eat the Flesh and drink the Blood c. Now I desire not to make less of these words than they imply But yet I must say that St. Cyprian seems in these and in the foregoing Words which are to the same purpose to interpret that Bread which he that eateth of shall live for ever and the Flesh and the Blood of Christ not only of the Eucharist but of all the Means of Grace that are afforded to his Members in the Communion of his Body whereof as he had reason he thought the Eucharist to be the principal to which no excommunicated Person had right Not to say that the Eucharist might be here particularly mentioned because those words Except ye eat c. have a more clear allusion to the Eucharist than to any other Means Nor am I alone in this Interpretation of St. Cyprian †Notae in Cypr. Paris For thus saith Priorius The Explication of this place is taken from Tertullian Cap. 6. de Orat. Therefore by desiring daily Bread we pray for a perpetual continuance in Christ and to remain undivided from his Body Thus also Rigaltius upon the place The words of God the Father which Christ in the Flesh brought for our Salvation are here to be understood Therefore all that time in which Christ lived amongst us in the Body his Preaching his Gospel is the Body and Flesh of Christ It is the Cross of Christ 't is the Blood of Christ With this Meat and Drink we Christians are nourish'd to eternal Life By which 't is manifest that Rigaltius did not understand St. Cyprian in that manner as to abate at all of his Judgment that the * Observ Galeat in Cypr. Id. spiritual sense of eating and drinking is to be understood throughout in the 6th of St. John (n) Basil Moral Reg. 21. St. Basil is another who applies these Words to the Sacrament not where he undertakes to give their proper meaning but in his moral Collections under the Head of receiving the Eucharist which I do not see but he might do and yet believe that the Spiritual Sense of eating and drinking Christ was directly intended For as I have already told you the Eucharist
but produce this Text for themselves against our Usage and Doctrine saying That if our Lord had not treated of receiving the Sacrament in these words he would not have distinguished between eating and drinking least of all between eating the Flesh and drinking the Blood but since he so accurately distinguisheth between these things he insinuates his Discourse to be concerning the reception of the Eucharist c. But says the Cardinal these things are easily thrown off by observing that in this very Chapter Jesus said not long before He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth in me shall never thirst For in these words which 't is plain do not belong to the Sacrament of the Eucharist our Lord plainly distinguishes Hunger from Thirst which is equivalent to his distinction between eating and drinking For Hunger refers to eating and Thirst to drinking Therefore from the distinction between eating and drinking no solid Argument can be drawn to infer the Discourse to be of the Sacrament of the Eucharist In like manner the distinction between Flesh and Blood availeth nothing to their purpose but rather against them because the Flesh is not distinguished from the Blood after any sort but only as they are separated as Meat from Drink But 't is evident that the real separation of the Flesh and Blood of Christ in the Sacrament is represented only But in the Death of Christ it was actual and according to the thing it self And if it be urged that the Flesh and the Blood are here discoursed of under the Notion of Meat and Drink and not according to what they were in their own Nature and that for this reason the Discourse runs upon the Flesh in the Sacrament and the Blood in the Sacrament separated one from another The Answer to this is afforded by what has been already said viz. that our Lord had spoken of himself before as of one that takes away Hunger and of one that takes away Thirst and yet 't is not also inferred from hence that he spake of himself as under that species of the Sacrament whereby he takes away Hunger and that species of the Sacrament whereby he takes away Thirst For he discourses of the Flesh and Blood †Partibus mortis suae which are parted at his Death as they are to be embraced by the Mind being the Meat and Drink of the Soul Because unless our Spirit be sustained by the Death of Christ as by Meat and be delighted with it as with Drink there is not the Life of the Spirit in us And now Sir having given you so large an Account of this great Man's Opinion in his own Words I shall content my self to say in general that if it were needful others might be produced for the same even Popes Cardinals Bishops and Doctors who as far as I can discern were for number as well as quality not inferiour to those who maintained the contrary side before the Council of Trent Nay that Council it self would have better informed those that told you the Church has still understood this part of the Chapter as treating of the Eucharist There were warm Discourses in the Congregation between the Divines concerning the Interpretation of these Passages But at last it was concluded neither to affirm or deny them to be meant of the Eucharist but it was agreed however to deny that the necessity of communicating in both kinds could be inferred supposing that the Eucharist was meant that is to say it was carried by the Majority And to gratifie those that thought it was not meant it was to be acknowledged that they had Fathers and Doctors of their Opinion For the Matter all things considered was accommodated as well as it could be in these words (u) Sed neque ex Sermone illo apud Joâ—nnem sexto recte coligitur utriusque speâ—â—i communionem à Domino Praecepram esse â—â—cunque juxta varias sanctorum Patrum Doctorum Interpretationes inteliigatur Conc. Trid. Sess 21. cap. 1. Nor from that Discourse in the 6th of St. John is it rightly gathered that the Communion of both kinds was enjoined by our Lord however that Discourse be understood according to the various Interpretations of the Holy Fathers and Doctors I doubt I have said more than enough upon your short intimation of that Pretence that the Church has always interpreted these places of the Eucharist But I hope you will make this construction of it that I am one of those who bear a due regard to the Authority and Tradition of the Universal Church as I believe you to be another For which Reason I thought it more needful to remove so great a Prejudice out of your way as the belief of the foresaid Insinuation would have been And I am confident you now see that in maintaining the Eucharist not to be intended by our Saviour in any part of this Chapter any more than other parts of Christianity I am not obliged to encounter the Authority of All the Ancients or of the whole Church nay that in this matter I do not so much as entrench upon the Authority of the Council of Trent it self Indeed that Council would have me to believe that not one of the various Interpretations of the Fathers and Doctors makes against the Communion in one kind But I hope I may be excused if I can believe that which several Men of high Rank in their own Church were not able to believe And as for that Doctrine that Christ is properly eaten in the Eucharist I ought to be excused too if I can by no means believe it or else those Fathers must be condemned who believed the Capernaites to be a perverse sort of Men for turning our Saviour's words in this Chapter to so inhumane and absurd a sense as if he had exhorted them to eat a Man's Flesh according to the propriety of those words For no Man can say that this is either inhumane or absurd who believes the Doctrine of Transubstantiation and that Christ is properly eaten in the Eucharist So that for what I can see this Chapter of St. John instead of affording a solid Argument for that Conclusion when it comes to be well considered upon the Grounds of Reason and Authority does at last yield a Terrible Objection against it I have thought of all these Things with the liberty of one that loves Truth not without due regard to the Ancient Doctors of the Church Our common Master hath taught me to call no man Master upon Earth yet I never refused the help of his Ministers to guide me into the knowledge of this Truth And since I have been able to use that help I have still valued in the first place that assistance which is offered me from the Primitive Bishops and Fathers And this Liberty I have been encouraged to use in the Church of England not only for judging of Points which she has not determined but those also which she has
to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him and I will raise him up at the last day V. 45. It is written in the Prophets And they shall be all taught of God Every man therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me V. 46. Not that any man hath seen the Father save he which is of God he hath seen the Father V. 47. Verily verily I say unto you He that believeth on me hath everlasting Life V. 48. I am that Bread of Life V. 49. Your Fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderness and are dead V. 50. This is the Bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not die V. 51. I am the living Bread which came down from Heaven If any man Eat of this Bread he shall live for ever and the Bread that I will give is my Flesh which I will give for the Life of the world V. 52. The Jews therefore strove amongst themselves saying How can this Man give us his Flesh to eat V. 53. Then Jesus said unto them Verily verily I say unto you Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink his Blood ye have no Life in you V. 54. Whoso eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day V. 55. For my Flesh is Meat indeed and my Blood is Drink indeed V. 56. He that eateth my Flesh and drinketh my Blood dwelleth in me and I in him V. 57. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me V. 58. This is that Bread which came down from Heaven not as your Fathers did eat Manna and are dead he that eateth of this Bread shall live for ever V. 59. These things said he in the Synagogue as he taught in Capernaum V. 60. Many therefore of his Disciples when they had heard this said This is an hard saying who can bear it V. 61. When Jesus knew in himself that his Disciples murmured at it he said unto them Doth this offend you V. 62. What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before V. 63. It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing The words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life V. 64. But there are some of you that believe not For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not and who should betray him V. 65. And he said Therefore said I unto you that no man can come unto me except it were given unto him of my Father V. 66. From that time many of his Disciples went back and walked no more with him V. 67. Then said Jesus unto the Twelve Will ye also go away V. 68. Then Simon Peter answered him Lord to whom shall we go Thou hast the words of eternal life V. 69. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ the Son of the living God V. 70. Jesus answered them Have not I chosen you Twelve and one of you is a Devil V. 71. He spake of Judas Iscariot the Son of Simon for he it was that should betray him being one of the Twelve 31. 'T is true that in our need thou gavest us Bread to eat making five Loaves to serve above five thousand of us But what was this to Moses's feeding our Fathers in the Desert who were vastly many more and this Forty years with Manna also which was not earthly Food such as we are yesterday but Bread from Heaven as we are taught in Psal 78.25 32. Now the Reply that Jesus made to this supposed that these Men wanted not evidence of his coming from God and that they ought not to compare the Manna which their Fathers ate with the Bread that he had given them the day before but rather with that inestimable Blessing which God had now bestowed upon them in giving his own Son for the Life of the World And in this he pursued his constant Design of taking off their Affections from Worldly and directing them to Heavenly Things For he answered them to this effect Whereas you magnifie Moses for giving your Fathers Bread from Heaven I tell you it came not from that Heaven which is the place of Immortality but only from that Region of the Air which though it be also called Heaven shall at last perish with the Earth But now God offereth unto you that which in the most excellent sense is Heavenly Bread and which indeed comes from the place where his Majesty dwelleth 33. Whereas also you extol Moses for preserving the Lives of your Fathers in the Wilderness so long as he did you may consider it was but a short Life at longest which that Bread served to sustain But he whom God hath now sent from Heaven is indeed and desires therefore to be called the True Bread because he can preserve you to Eternal Life And Lastly the Bread which Moses gave your Fathers did indeed serve a great many yet they were but a very few in comparison for that which I speak of is sufficient to give Eternal Life to the whole World 34. They replied hereupon We desire no other Bread than this which thou so highly magnifiest give us but such Bread always as this and without all question we shall believe thee V. 34. They are still the same Persons that speak for there is yet no reason to suppose the contrary And by this saying it seems they understood Jesus as if he had spoken to them of Bread from Heaven in the literal and gross sence and by giving that to 'em from day to day had promised to make them live for ever So that from his last Words they seemed to conceive some better hope of him again and that he would go on to fill their Bellies every day Therefore they spake to him now with more respect So hard it was even for Jesus to bring them to any understanding or sence of things that concerned their Minds though he would lead them thereunto by allusion to things grateful to their Senses And this indeed was the general Temper of the Jews in our Saviour's days who were also in this respect rather worse than their Fore-fathers It was just such another Answer that the Samaritan Woman made to a like Speech of our Lord as you may see Ch. 4. 5 13 14 15. 35. Jesus answered If you understand me aright you have your Wish I do not now discourse of those Signs which you desire to see before you believe for you have already had Signs in abundance but of the far greater Benefits which you will gain by believing in me than your Fathers had from Moses I tell you therefore that I am the Bread of Everlasting Life and he that believeth in me and submitteth to my Doctrine hath the Bread and Water of Life and shall hunger and thirst no more for
talked amongst themselves as if these Sayings of their Master must needs be offensive to the Ears of all Persons that had a sence of Humanity and as for themselves that they knew not what to make of them 61. Neither did they desire him to explain himself further but he by his Divine Spirit knowing what they muttered amongst themselves applied himself to them in particular and upbraided them in this manner for taking so unreasonable an offence against him 62. When you shall see me ascend up to Heaven it will not seem strange that I came down from thence and because even then it will remain necessary that you should eat my Flesh and drink my Blood you may be sure I do not mean that gross feeding upon my Flesh and drinking my Blood in which you understand what I have said for my Body will then be too far removed from the Conversation of mortal Men to be capable of being so used 63. No when I speak to you of the Conditions of obtaining everlasting Life though I have now expressed them by eating my Flesh and drinking my Blood yet you had reason to understand me of spiritual Actions which do indeed tend to the bettering of the inward Man For they are such things only that feed the Soul and can preserve it to Eternal Life But to this purpose the flesh profiteth nothing No not my own Flesh if you should eat it as grosly as you understand my Sayings For even this would be but bodily Nourishment but would have no Influence upon the Mind But if you would know what those things are that better the Soul and it is my Business to call you off from that sollicitous Care you take of your mortal Bodies to mind your Souls and to provide for a blessed Resurrection If I say you would know what things are proper for the Improvement of the Mind they are the Words that I speak unto you they are those Precepts of a heavenly Life and those Promises of eternal Life which I have laid before you that Faith which I require you to have in my Death and that Example of Doctrine Charity and Humility which I require you to follow These are the spiritual means of renewing your Minds and therefore Means also of fitting you for Eternal Life V. 61 62 63. Our Lord perceiving how grosly the Jews and some of his own Disciples understood those Expressions of eating his Flesh and drinking his Blood did upon this occasion explain his own meaning as fully as he did to Nicodemus in the point of Regeneration For Nicodemus having said How can a Man be born when he is old Can he enter the second time into his Mothers Womb and be born Jesus answered Verily verily I say unto thee except a Man be born of Water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God That which is born of the Flesh is Flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit Which was as much as to say The Flesh profiteth nothing as here V. 63. And if you were by a strange Miracle to be born again the natural way by this fleshly Birth you would come again but into a mortal Life but that fleshly Birth would not avail you for everlasting Life In the very same manner our Saviour repeated in this Chapter those Sayings which the Jews and some of his own Disciples were offended at and in the same manner he explained them afterwards It is the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speak unto you they are Spirit and they are Life Which being compared with the Answer to Nicodemus now mentioned and explained by the light that Answer affords can yield no other meaning than that which I have expressed in the Paraphrase As for the 62d V. it might be intended as an Answer to that particular Exception against him mentioned V. 42. that he was the Son of Joseph and could not therefore reasonably pretend to come down from Heaven To which if our Lord referred his words are a proper Answer viz. that when they should see him ascend into Heaven they would no longer doubt of the truth of his coming from thence But I rather think those words refer to that great Offence which some of his own Disciples took against him that he should speak of their eating of his Flesh and drinking of his Blood For they were his Disciples only that saw him ascend And when they should know that he was in Heaven they could not without great Stupidity think that he would give them his Flesh to eat and his Blood to drink in that gross sence wherein they understood him However I have put both these Interpretations into the Paraphrase 64. But no wonder that you wrest my Sayings to so absurd a sence as you do for there are some amongst you that dislike my Doctrine and are grown weary of following me and wait for an opportunity to leave me For as soon as any Man professed himself his Disciple Jesus knew how he stood affected towards him And he did not only know who of the Multitude that follow'd him would revolt but likewise which of his Apostles would betray him See V. 36. 65. And Jesus added Because I knew that there were some such amongst you therefore I thought fit to tell you before V. 37 39 44. that my Doctrine would never be heartily entertained by any but those whom God had prepared for it by enduing them with a Mind willing to learn and with a prevailing desire of obtaining God's Favour and Eternal Life 66. Upon this close application of his Doctrine to the Consciences of those insincere Disciples of his they finding themselves discovered and that it was to no purpose to dissemble resolved to pretend themselves his Disciples no longer and went off from him without more ado 67. Jesus seeing them turn their Backs upon him took this occasion both to shew that some of his Disciples were sincere and that he cared not to be followed by any but those that were willing and therefore he said to the Twelve You see I do not compel Men to follow me but that I let them depart if they will go Now what say you will ye still continue my Disciples or follow the Example of these Men and go away 68. Whereupon Peter who was still the most forward Speaker in his Master's Cause answered for himself and the rest Lord our greatest concern is to attain eternal Life and there is none other but thy self who can guide us to it And we understand that those very Sayings of thine with which these Men were so unreasonably offended do shew us the necessity of believing thy Words and Doctrine as thou didst now tell them V. 63. that we may live for ever V. 68. Thou hast the words of eternal Life This saying of St. Peter confirms the Interpretation I have given of V. 63. For here he seems plainly to repeat our Lord's sence almost in the
same Words The Words that I speak unto you they are Life or the Words of Eternal Life As if St. Peter had said We do not understand thee in that gross and absurd Sense to which these Men have perverted thy Sayings for we perceive that thou speakest of those Doctrines and Revelations by which we are to be guided to eternal Life But if St. Peter had understood our Saviour in that sence wherein the unbelieving Jews and his revolted Disciples understood him St. Peter's Answer would surely have been to this purpose Whatever appearance there is of Inhumanity and Contradiction in giving thy Flesh to be eaten and thy Blood to be drunk for the Life of the World yet we believe that we shall eat thy natural Flesh and drink c. because thou hast said it For though this hard Saying staggered those Men that are gone off yet it does not stagger us at all This had been a Confession of Faith suitable to the occasion and to the Spirit of St. Peter if he had understood our Saviour as the Jews did At least he would have used those very Expressions which our Saviour used when the Jews took offence i. e. he would have said To whom should we go but to thee who wilt give us thy Flesh to eat and thy Blood to drink that we may have Eternal Life But when he rather chose to confess his Faith in the Explanatory words V. 63. Thou hast the words of Eternal Life I think a reasonable Man must acknowledge that St. Peter did not understand our Saviour's Expressions as the perverse Jews understood them 69. And we have already arrived to this Faith by seeing thy mighty Works and hearing thy Divine Doctrines for by these Testimonies we are convinced beyond all doubt that thou art the promised Messias and whereas these Men casted thee the Son of Joseph we assuredly believe that thou art the Son of that God who giveth Life to All and will give Eternal Life to all that believe in thee And to this Answer of Peter's all the rest assented V. 69. And St. Peter having thus shewed plainly enough what he understood by the Flesh and Blood of Jesus viz. his Doctrine or words of eternal Life he shews as plainly in this Verse what he and the rest understood by eating viz. believing as Jesus himself had explained it before Vers 47. Therefore says he And we believe and are sure c. So that by what St. Peter said upon this occasion it appears sufficiently that if Jesus had meant the literal and gross sence the Jews and the Disciples that forsook him understood him aright and Peter and the rest of the Apostles and Disciples that staid mistook him which 't is certain they did not because our Saviour approved what St. Peter said in the name of all the rest And in the Interpretation of our Saviour's words it is I believe more safe to follow St. Peter with the approbation of our Saviour than to follow any of his Successors without it 70. But this being spoken in the Name of All Jesus to shew that he as well understood the Hearts of his Twelve Apostles as he did of the multitude of his Disciples V. 64. answered them to this purpose What one of you hath said in behalf of All is true of All but one I have indeed chosen you Twelve before all my other Disciples to be my chief Companions and Ministers but there is one of you who already hates me and is treacherously bent to do me mischief 71. Though he did not mention Judas the Traytor yet he meant him and not any other of the Apostles THE CONCLUSION AND now I heartily beseech All into whose Hands these Papers may chance to come not to think that this Chapter is to be done withal when they are once satisfied what our Lords meaning was in those Expressions of Eating him and the like but that they would please to attend to the Reason and End of these and such kind of Sayings which will convince them I doubt not that this excellent Chapter is fit to be thought of and laid to heart every day they live Great pity it is that this Portion of God's Word also should come to be a Bone of Contention which was designed to beget and improve in the Disciples of Jesus a Spirit of true Wisdom and Piety and to establish them in a Holy Life That which our Lord principally aimed at in all this Discourse was to make his Hearers concerned in good earnest for their Eternal State which will at first sight appear to any Man that mindeth how often those Sayings return of everlasting Life and living for ever and being raised up at the last day Now this indeed seemed to be his great Design in almost all his Sermons and Applications to the People from whence we may gather this profitable Instruction that Men were more or less prepared to receive the Truth as it is in Jesus according as they were more or less affected with the End of his coming into the World which was to bring them to everlasting Life But in this Chapter and in some others there is a peculiar Instruction tending to this purpose which we ought all of us very frequently to consider not slighting it because it is very plain but making much of it both because it is very useful and strongly suggested by our Lord himself And 't is in short this that the Care we are at and the Pains we take for the Welfare of this short Life should awaken in us a greater care and concern for our everlasting Welfare And that we who are so thoughtful and diligent in pursuing our Temporal Interests should be ashamed and count our selves reproved by our worldly Cares if we are not much more careful to work out our Salvation This was the Method our Lord took to bring those People to Wisdom and therefore he represented to them the Means and Conditions of everlasting Life under the Names of those Things which their Hearts had hitherto been most set upon i.e. Bread and Eating and Drinking For these were the Men that had been fed by him the day before and now they followed him for the Loaves that is in hope to reap such bodily Advantages as these from him every day But to bring them to some sense of better things and to lead them towards a due Esteem of that end for which he came into the World he proceeds in his Admonitions by calling the Spiritual Benefits which he had in store for them Bread and Food and their receiving those Benefits Eating and Drinking ever and anon letting them know that if they ate and drank of that Food which he came to give them they should live for ever And what was the Instruction of this way of discoursing to them but that if the bodily Food for which they were so sollicitous were a valuable Enjoyment which yet would serve but for the prolonging of a mortal Life how ought