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
a common Man and that afterwards God the Word united himself with his flesh for that was done in the Virgins Womb his Flesh was never existing alone but ever was the Flesh of God his Body always was Corpus Dei the Body of God as the Scripture calls his Blood the Blood of God Acts 20. 28. And Acts 20. 28. 1 John 3. 16. his Death the Death of God as St. John saith Hereby we perceive the love of God because he hath laid down his life for us The laying down of the life of Christ is called the laying down the life of God The vertue and efficacy of the Flesh of the Son of Man and that which makes his flesh so benificial to Mankind consisteth in this Vnion viz. Because his Flesh is joyned and personally united with the Word or Son of God for his Flesh if it were nothing else but only flesh it could not profit us as Christ said the Flesh profiteth nothing for it is the Union of his Divine Spirit with his Flesh that maketh his flesh Vivifical or Quickening as Christ said It is Joh. 6. 63 the Spirit that quickneth the Flesh profiteth nothing the Words that I speak they are Spirit and they are Life the meaning is that the whole efficacy of his Flesh consisteth only in and by the conjuction of his Divine Spirit with it who is not only Vivifical but also Life it self therefore the Apostle saith the last Adam was made a quickning 1 Cor. 15. 45. Spirit The last Adam signifies Christ who is called Adam only because his Human nature was derived from Adam which human Nature was made Vivifical by being united with the Divine quickning Spirit and because this last Adam and the Divine Spirit or Godhead were personally united in Christ therefore he saith of him The Second Man is the Lord from Heaven The flesh Vers 47. of Christ thus being sweetned by his Divine Spirit is like that Leaven mentioned Mat. 13. 33. in the Gospel wherewith the whole lump of Mankind is seasoned the efficacy power and operation whereof may more easily be apprehended by this similitude As wood or a dead coal or iron do noâ— of themselves alone burn or heat a man but if they be joyned with fire and made red hot thereby they will heat and burn The flesh of the Son of Man alone is like the wood and iron and the Divine Spirit united with the flesh is like the fire as he once appeared in Cloven tongues like as of Acts 2. fire by which Spirit only the flesh is actuated and made operative hence proceed those effects and productions mentioned in the Gospel where Christ said I am the Bread which came down from Heaven and John 6. 33 41 51 giveth life to the World we know that only his Divine Spirit came from Heaven not his flesh of which effects we shall say more in their due place CHAP. XII ANother Question to be disputed concerning the Modus the way or manner of this mysterious Eating is how Men can be truly said to eat the Flesh of Christ And this because those that disavow and abhor the Dream of Transubstantiators of a gross carnal and Oral eating have conceived another way which they call Eating Spiritually which word is used in this question by the Church of England declaring to the penitent and faithfull Communicants that They Spiritually eat the Flesh of Christ and drink his Blood They dwell in Christ and Christ in them They be One with Christ and Christ with them which is true By those words of Dwelling in Christ and being One with him and Eating his Flesh this Church declareth 1. First a true and real Union of our flesh with his very Flesh although she utterly denieth the gross and Oral eating and tearing of his Flesh 2. Secondly she declareth by the word Spiritually That this Eating is to be understood only Mystically or Spiritually and not carnally or Orally for Oral eating is only of the Sacrament but not of the very real Substance which is signified by that Sacrament So we are now to enquire what is meant by the Eating the flesh of Christ spiritually To this we Answer That this word Spiritually hath a double signification for D. Vshers Serm. ad Parl. 1620. 1. First It is by many Learned Men thought to signifie only the Receiving the Spirit of our Lord Jesus by which we are united with him because the same Spirit which is in Jesus is from him the Head derived and communicated to his Members Of this Union of the Spirit or spiritual Union of us with Christ the great Apostle often speaketh He that is joyned to the Lord 1 Cor. 6. 17. 12. 13. Eph. 4. 4. is one Spirit and By one Spirit ye are all bapzed into one Body and There is one Body and one Spirit By vertue of this one Spirit so communicated the whole multitude of the Church or Members of Christ are accounted but one Mystical Body But this Spiritual Vnion or Union in Spirit although it is true and real yet this alone may not be thought to be so plenary or so sufficient an Union as is necessarily required for expediting that great Work for which the Blessed Godhead designed Mans Union with Christ as may appear by the Reasons following 1. First If to eat Spiritually should signifie to receive the Spirit of Christ only and no more and be only so by us apprehended utterly disowning the eating or the real Union of his Flesh with our flesh in truth and reality we shall thereby disturb and null the Order of the grand and mercifull work of Redemption which could not be wrought only by an union or conjunction of the Spirit of the Son of God with us but also with the Union of his blessed Flesh and Blood with our flesh and blood because the Spirit alone is not a Redeemer for the Spirit could not suffer and die for us as a Redeemer must it was the vital blood and death of the Redeemer that was necessarily required for Mans Redemption 2. Secondly The Son of God as only so was a Spirit from Eternity for God is a Spirit But if the Son of God will vouchsafe to become a Redeemer he must needs be first the Son of Man and Emanuel as the Church in her Hymn confesseth When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man thou didst not abhorr the Virgins Womb. For if God the Son or God the Word had so continued in his pure Divinity and had not assumed our Human nature so as to be the Son of Man and the Word made Flesh he could not have been Christ nor Jesus nor Priest nor Sacrifice nor Redeemer for otherwise we might as well say that the Person of the Father or the Person of the Holy Ghost were our Redeemers although neither of those Persons assumed our nature as Austin or rather Gennadius observed Aug. T. 3. n. 72. Nec Pater nec Spiritus
hath been Cap. 11. said before and more will be said in its due place The prime cause of the propagation of Human souls is the gift of God by his Benediction recorded in these words God blessed them and said unto them be fruitfull Gen. 1. 28. and multiply and replenish the Earth Can we imagin that this Benediction of fruit-fulness and multiplying should extend to flesh or bodies only and not to Souls Whereas the like blessing of fishes and fowls enabled them to produce and propagate not only bodies but the whole Creatures viz. both the bodies and the souls of their Kinds of which Benediction we thus read God created Whales and every living creature Gen. 1. 21. which moveth and every winged fowl and God blessed them and said be fruitfull 22. and multiply c. By vertue of this Benediction those Creature are enabled unto this day to produce their kinds both in bodies and in souls This gift and blessing of fruitfulness both of fowl and of cattle is also again renewed after the Flood and repeated Gen. 8. 17. and also of Mankind Gen. 8. 17. 9. 1. Gen. 9. 1. God blessed Noah and his Sons and said unto them be fruitfull and multiply and replenish the Earth It may seem strange that those Divines who confess the Traduction of our bodies with the Body of Christ from the loyns of the first Man as being necessary for Redemption of our bodies yet that they should deny the Traduction of our Souls with the Soul of Christ from the first Man which is altogether as needfull for the Redemption of our Soul In the Holy Scripture care is taken to declare the derivation of our souls from our Parents rather than of our Bodies because that of Souls is more secret than the other of Bodies Gen. 46. 26. it is said Gen. 46. 26. All the souls which came with Jacob into Egypt which came out of his loyns or thigh all the Souls were sixty and six How Souls can be truly said to come from the loyns or thigh of the Man without a Figure or Metonymy is hard to be understood except we will thus apprehend it viz. that although the Souls of Mankind being in the Womb are immediately and truly derived from the souls of the Mothers yet they are here said to come from the loyns of the Man because the seed of Conception which came from the Man hath it it self Potentiam receptivam a power or capacity of receiving the soul or life though it hath not Potentiam productivam any power of it self to produce or introduce the Soul And because the Womb alone without that seminal conception from the Man cannot produce a soul or life therefore are the Souls said to come from the loyns of the Man for there never was nor ever will be a Child-bearing Woman without the Cooperation of Man or Malekind except only that miraculous Childbirth of Christ by his blessed Virgin-Mother which was wrought by the Holy Ghost Nor was there ever any Soul derived immediately from Man but only the soul of Eve which accompanied her flesh The reports of Buddas Plaeto are Fables Hier. n. 14. at her Production out of the side of the Man But ever since Eve all her Posterity have received their lives or souls in the Womb from the lives or souls of their Mothers as may appear probably by the time when the Conception is first animated in the Womb which is next to be considered CHAP. XXI COncerning the time when the said Conception in the Womb is first animated or enlivened with a Soul which is called Quickning both Philosophers and learned Physicians and also our experienced Matrons who have born and brought forth many children have informed us That some Conceptions are not quickned but about the end of 20 Weeks others at 15 Weeks and some at 10 Weeks and surely at the first instant or beginning of the Conception the Soul is not presently Infused So Aristotle acknowledgeth that the soul is not Arist de Gen. Ani. l. 2. c. 3. then Actually in the conceived Seed but only Potentially so as is before said Now if it be granted that our souls come from the Souls of our Parents and also that they are not transmitted with the Seed from the Father it will follow that they cannot in reason be thought to be propagated from the Father because no Man will believe that after so long a time whilst the Conception remains in the womb without life or soul and also the Man being absent in a far remote distance of place from the Woman as it may and doth many times happen I say it cannot be imagined that at the instant of Quickning the Soul or Life should wander from the Father by a kind of Metempsychosis or Transmigration unto the mothers Womb. This being impossible it must follow that the Soul necessarily doth proceed and is derived only and immediately from the Soul of the mother wherein if she fail by reason of some continued Indisposition of the Womb she is called Barren and because the Animation of the Conception is only from the Woman therefore because of her failing therein Barrenness is imputed only to the Jer. 22. 30. Woman and not at all to the Man though Childless It is so with the Seed of Man which is conceived in the Womb as it is with meat received into the stomach which hath no life in it self Actually but it hath a power or capacity to receive life which life it will afterwards actually receive when it shall be really united with the former parts of the Body for then the life and soul will enter into it as they did before into all the additional parts of our Bodies for we see that our bodies have been augmented by our food and have grown into so great a bulk from our so small dimensions at our Birth This being evidently true why should it seem less credible that the Soul of the mother entreth into and enliveneth her Conception in the womb then it is to believe and acknowledge that the Soul doth enter into and enliven the new acquired parts of our Bodies which have been added by our food The time and manner of the Soul 's entring into the Conception is thus described by that learned Physician before mentioned when saith he the parts of the Embryon are once shaped formed and perfected Jac. Horstius to that use in the womb then doth the life or soul of the Mother together with the Vital Spirit proceed from her heart and enter into that fruit of her womb This is the time when we receive our Souls by traduction from the souls of our Mothers and this is the time of the Vnion of our souls with the Soul of Christ which Christ himself called Drinking his Blood That common saying concerning the Original of the Soul Creando infunditur infundendo creatur if it be meant of every particular human Soul is very
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
eat bread therefore the mother doth first digest and so incarnate the bread and uniteth it with her own body and of it by her mild and tender Breast she produceth milk by which the Infant is mediatly so fed with the said bread Such is the Union of the Flesh of Christ with our flesh because both he and we received our flesh from that one Original lump of the first Man wherein both he and we were united and thereby he and we became one Body just as our food becomes one flesh and one body with that Body of ours which we had before any new Addition was made to it by any new food which is the reason why the Scripture accounteth Christ and his Members to be but one Body as the Apostle saith We being many are one Ro. 12. 5. 1 Cor. Body in Christ and We are the Body of Christ and Members in particular and Ye are all one in Christ Jesus and We are Members 12. 27. Gal. 3. 28 Eph. 5. 30 of his body of his flesh and of his bones By vertue of this Union the obedience of Christ both Active and Passive is and justly may be accounted ours because Christ and his Members are One. And for this consideration only and for this resemblance only Christ said of the Sacramental Bread This is my Body which is given for you Likewise of the Wine Christ said This is my Blood Drink ye all of this We know that by Blood the life or soul is signified as is before proved therefore the Sacramental Wine represented his Soul the Wine which we drink as well as the Bread which we eat becomes our nourishment and so unites it self with our Persons and grows into one bulk with us and is really one with us and thereby it becomes to us such as the Soul of Christ is already to us for our souls and the Soul of Christ are really united because his Soul and our souls and the souls of all our Ancestors and Posterities ever were and still will be derived and propagated from that one Original Soul of the first Man in whose Soul at its very Creation and Insufflation the Soul of Christ and all our Souls are virtually included and united Therefore surely the meaning of those words of Christ must be this that his Soul and our Souls must have been so united as well as his Flesh and our flesh that so he may be fitly the Redeemer both of our Bodies and of our Souls for certainly no man can have Redemption by him except as a necessary Preparative thereunto he be really united with him both in Flesh and in Soul which is that very thing which Christ called the Eating of his Flesh and Drinking his Blood This Doctrine is not new but hath been long ago taught by the School in those times when Truth might be declared without danger of the Fagot For Pet. Lombard Sent. 4. Dist 11. about the year of Christ 1150. which was before Transubstantiation was established in the Church of Rome thus writeth Christ saith he took on himself the whole Nature of Man that he might redeem the whole Man therefore his Assumption is celebrated in the Holy Supper by the two Elements of Bread and Wine Panis ad carnem refertur Vinum ad Animam ut animae carnis susceptio in Christo utriusque liberatio in nobis significetur The Bread representeth the Flesh and the Wine the Soul that thereby the Assuming of a Body and a Soul by Christ and the Deliverance or Redemption of our Bodies and Souls by him may be signified So Clemens Romanus long before Christus dedit carnem suam pro carne nostra animam suam pro anima nostra vid. f. n. 3. in Clem. Rom. Those that imagin that the Sacramental Chalice representh only the Blood of Christ and that those words of Christ This is my Blood signified only the meer natural Blood of Christ Grammatically properly and literally taken such do greatly err and mistake the Mystery for this cannot possibly be the meaning thereof because as is before said his meer Blood was not Redemptive for the Act of Redemption consisted Sup. cap. 14. only in the powring out his precious Life and Soul for us so that by the Blood the Soul must needs be meant and the Sacramental Wine must needs relate to the Life or Soul of Christ Those likewise that teach the withholding of the Sacramental Chalice from the People or Lay-Communicants do misunderstand the meaning thereof they pretend that after the pronouncing of the words of their Consecration the Wine is not Wine for that the substance of Wine is quite gone and annihilated leaving nothing behind but only the meer Accidents viz. the colour taste and quantity of the Wine but not the Wine it self and that the Chalice doth contain only the Blood of Christ instead of the Wine and because they make the People believe that in their little Wafer-Host the whole Christ is contained viz. his Body and Blood therefore in Receiving the Host they receive both the Flesh and the Blood by Concomitancy But herein they err in that they think that by the word Blood only meer blood is meant which indeed doth signifie not literally Blood but the Soul of Christ in which Soul if the People do not really Communicate that is if their Souls be not really united with the Soul of Christ they cannot be in a full capacity of the Redemption of their souls by his Soul Besides what need was there that Christ should require with the Eating of his flesh particularly as another thing the Drinking of his Blood if by Blood he had meant only meer Blood seeing that the living Flesh of Christ must needs include his Blood as themselves acknowledge The laborious and tedious Disputes of Divines of contrary Persuasions in Religion concerning the presence of Christ in the Sacrament whether it be a carnal and corporal Presence or only a Spiritual Presence I conceive with submission to Superiors to have been as needless as we have found them to be fruitless and endless their various glosses upon the Scriptural words in that business have more obscured the question as Origen said of the Exposition of a passage of St. Paul Hic sermo non sui nanatura Orig. in Ro. 12. 16 sed interpretatione obscurior fact us est And Maldonate a learned Jesuit of Mald. in Lu. 2. 34. late observed concerning a place in St. Luke Nescio an facilior hic locus fuisset si nemo eum exposuisset They both conclude that some Scriptures would be more easily understood if Expositors had not too much tampered with them and so verily I think of those words which mention the Eating and Drinking the Flesh and Blood of Christ The real and true Presence of the Flesh and Blood or Soul of Christ is not to be thought to be in the Elements or Sacramental signs of Bread and Wine neither is there