eo dictum est Ecce ego vobiscum sum usque ad consummationem seculi Secundum carnem vero quod verbum assumpsit secundum id quod de Virgine natus est secundum id quod a Hudaeis prebensus est quod ligno confixus quod de cruce depositus quod linteis involutus quod in sepulchro conditus quod in resurrectione manifestatus non semper habebitis vobiscum S. Aug. Tractat. 50. in John plainly in respect of that Body which was assumed by the Word which was born of the Virgin which was apprehended by the Jews which was nailed to the Tree which was taken down from the Cross and was wrapped up and laid in the Sepulchre in respect of that Body we have him not with us but in respect of his Majesty in respect of his Providence in respect of his Ineffable and invincible Grace that promise of his is fulfilled lo I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the world And speaking of the Eucharist he doth distinguish between Nam nos bodie accipimus visibilem cibum used aliud est Sacramentum aliud virtus Sacramenti S. Aug. Tractat. 26. in John Usque ad Spiritûs participationem manducemus bibamus Id Tract 27. the Sacrament it self and the virtue of the Sacrament calling that the Grace of Christ which is not consumed with our Teeth and the participation of the Spirit This is that which S. Austin elsewhere calls the Intelligible the Invisible the Spiritual Body of Christ that which Ireneus calls the Heavenly thing that which Clement and Jerome call the spiritual Flesh and Bloud of the Lord That which Pseudo-Cyprian calls the Divine Virtue the Divine Essence the Divine Majesty the participation of the Spirit the drink which flowes and streams from that Spiritual Rock Christ Jesus That which S. Ambrose calls the spiritual Aliment and the Body of a Divine Spirit that which others call the Lords Immortality his Divine Body the Truth of his Body the Nutriment of the Inward Man the vital Pulment of the Incarnate Deity and divers other expressions we meet with in old Authors signifying the wonderful vertues of Christs Glorified Humanity whereof every Faithful Soul is made Partaker S. Ifidore Pelusiot conceived that the roasting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isidor Pelus Ep. 219. l. 1. of the Paschal Lamb with Fire did Typically fignifie that Christ the true Pasleover was to unite the Fire of the Divine Essence to his Flesh to be eaten of us That 's his Experssion and it shews his opinion that we receive the virtue of his Divine through his Humane Nature Among modern Foreign Writers none seems to me to have explained this thing better than the moderate and Judicious Author of the Diallacticon Eucharistiae a Book written about 130. years ago to compose all controversies Hoc corpus hunc sanguinem carnem hanc substantiam corporis non communi more nec ut humana ratio dictat accipi oportet sed it a nominari existimari credi propter eximios quosdam effectus virtutes proprietates conjunctas quae corpori sanguini Christi natura in sunt nempe quod Pascat animas nostras vivificet simul corpora ad resurrectionem immortalitatem praeparet Dialact pag. 33. 34. Non hic cogitandûm est nos crudas bominis carnes comedere vel sanguinem bibere Sed verba spiritalia esse spiritualiter intelligenda carnem quidem sanguinem nominari sed de Spiritu Vita idest vivifica dominicae carnis virtute debere intellagi c. Ibid. pag. 25. Quia figur a veri corporis panis est jure Corpus appellatur quia virtutem ejusdem vitalem conjunctam habet multo magis tum vero maxime quod utrumque complectitur Ibid. pag 54. Panis Domini Corpus Christi est quia gratiam virtutem ejus vitalem conjunctam habet Quod outem haec non commentitia aut nuper nata sententia est sed ab antiquis recepta approbata Scriptoribus claris ipsorum testimoniis confirmabimus Ibid. pag. 57. about the Sacrament and he too goes altogether this way shewing that that Body of Christ which is present with us is his spiritual Body and that we communicate thereof by deriving Efficacy Power and Vital Virtue from the Body of the Lord. And this account I am the better pleased and satisfied with because it was a Notion that was en tertained and really asserted by a very Learned Doctor of our own Church with Dr. Jack vol. 3. p. 325. Seq whose words I shall conclude this consideration we must not collect saith he that Christs Body because comprehended within the Heavens can exercise no real operation upon our Bodies or Souls here on Earth or that the live Influence of his Glorified Humane Nature may not be diffused through the World as he shall be pleased to dispense it no we must not take upon us to limit or bound the Efficacy of Christs Body upon the Bodies or Souls which he hath taken into his Protection there are Influences of Life which his Humane Nature doth distill from his Heavenly Throne And the Sacramental Bread is called his Body and the Sacramental Wine his Bloud as for other reasons so especially for this because the Virtue and Influence of his most Bloudy Sacrifice is most plentifully and most effectually distilled from Heaven unto the worthy Receivers and many more things he saith to the same effect By this account we may easily undergand the meaning of the sixth chapter of S. John which hath so puzled many Learned Interpreters and we may fairly give the reason of the Sentence of our Lords Except ye eat the Flesh of the Son of man and drink his Bloud ye have no life in you For the Principle of life comes from our Lords Glorified Humanity and unless we receive into our Souls the vital Virtue which distilleth from it we can be in no other than a dead Condition I do not mean that 't is impossible to have life without receiving the Sacrament no there is that which Divines call a Sacramental and Spiritual receiving of Christ and a Spiritual receiving only when men eat and drink after a right manner they receive both the Sacrament and also the thing or virtue of the Sacrament but yet men may derive and by Faith do derive virtue from Christ without the Sacrament if they do not abstain through negligence or the love of sin and the like The Grace of God is not tyed to Sacraments so but that God may dispense it as he pleaseth nor are we to conceive that the Blessed Body of Christ doth quicken none but at the Communion CHAP. X. That Christs Spiritual Body is actually verily and really taken and received by the Faithful in the Lords Supper Proved from the Analogy thereof to other Sacrifical Feasts among Jews and Heathens From S. Pauls Viscourse 1 Cor. 10. and from the sense of
would be whole and not whole These and the like are everlasting and certain principles which all men that will obey common reason must agree in and they are taught us both in Christian and Heathen Philosophy as common Notions and Maxims as fixt and clear as that one and one makes two So that to contradict these principles is to tell Mankind that they are all mad-men and fools that are not able to tell their Fingers And yet these principles are contradicted by the Doctrine of Transubstantiation which is made up of I know not how many impossibilites which we can no more reconcile to reason than we can prove that the same proposition is both true and false in the same respect and that man who believes that Doctrine must believe the grossest and most palpable contradictions For according to this rate these monstrous Absardities will follow that Christs Humane flesh is Circumscribed in Heaven as every body must be confined to a certain place and yet at the same time is in millions of places here on Earth and yet one Body still That it is whole and yet is broken That it is divided and yet is entire that it is entire in every Wafer and yet if you break those Wafers into a thousand particles that the body of Christ is one still and whole in every the least particle That tho there be feet and hands and head and many other constituent and integral parts in Christs body and tho all these parts are the one without the other and by the other and distinct from the other yet that all are so jumbled and crowded together into a point that whosoever eateth but a piece that is no bigger than a Pins point eateth all and every part of Christs body And many more such contradictions there are so wild so irrational so inconsistent with common sense that 't is as tiresome to count them up as to tell the number of the Stars Further yet Thirdly we find by experience that what we eat and drink at the Communion doth serve for Nourishment 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Justin Mart. Apol. 2. Quomodo dicunt carnem in corruptionem devenire non percipere vitam que a corpore Domini Sanguine alitur Subaud Symbolico Irer adv Haeres l. 4. c. 34. * it recruites the spirits and helps to repair the expences of Nature and they tell us of King Lewis that he lived 40 days together onely by the food which he had from the Holy Table and without question any man may sustain himself a Considerable time onely by the use of the Sacred Viands provided he receive a Convenient Quantity Now we desire a Rational answer to this Inquiry what is it that nourisheth a man in this case If they say it is Christs Body and Bloud Naturally understood and Corporally taken it is Blasphemy for then it may feed a Reprobate aswell as a Saint and a Jew aswell as a Christian nay what if some Unclean Beast should happen to light on it The Consequences thereof would be such are as enough to strike the Heart of any good Christian with Horrour but to hear them mentioned If they say it is the Species the Accidents of Bread and Wine that nourisheth without the Substance of either it is down right Non-sense And they were as good say that a Body can be sustained with a shaddow or that a man may Live upon a shew which is not so much as Air or that he may be fed by Dreaming specially if he Dream as Pharaoh's Baker did of three Baskets upon his Head full of all manner of Meats or that he may Quench his Thirst and Refresh his Spirits only by Looking upon Grapes nay though he mistake Paint for Reality as those Birds did which flew to the Picture of a Vine which Zeuxes had drawn supposing that they were Natural and Real Clusters Either they must grant that to be Bread and Wine which they feel in their Stomachs and find Refreshment and Strength from or else they must say we Trust too much to Sense and Reason and then they cannot blame us but by allowing sense and Reason to be on our side a Crime which I wish all Romanists were guilty of in every Particular To all which I add in the 4th Place that the outward parts of the Sacrament are Subject to many Alterations and Changes which without Loathsomness and Abhorrence we cannot conceive to be incident to the Blessed Body and Bloud of our Redeemer the Lord of Glory The solid part is torn in pieces with our Teeth and if men have stronger Stomachs than the Capernaites who could not away with the thoughts of eating Humane Flesh or if they can endure to go beyond the Cannibals who were wont to eat their Enemies Flesh only yet we have Reason to wonder how they can rellish the thoughts of out going the most Barbarous Pagans who ever had more Reverence and Veneration for that they Worshipt than to Devour such things as they took to be Deities Yet thus the Romanists do not stick to do for which reason Averroes would not become a Christian but when he saw some of that denomination to Eat that which they Adored as their God he cryed out with Indignation Let my Soul rather venture its Lot and take its portion with the old Philosophers Again the Bread may grow Mouldy may Corrupt may bread Worms and stink for which cause Hesychius tells us of some Christians formerly Hesych in Levit. that their custome was to Burn the Remaining Surplusage of the Sacrament Nay it may be stoln away by a Mouse as sometimes it hath been since People came to be so Superstitious as to Reserve it and to secure it from the like chance and from the Vermines teeth the Romanists are wont to keep it shut up close in a Pix So also the Liquid part in the Cup may Intoxicate the Brain being immoderately taken it may be prickt and become Eager through negligence and many accidents more 't is Subject unto which without abomination we cannot conceive can happen to the Holy Bloud of our Saviour Nay both the outward Elements may be Bellarm. de Euch. lib. 3. c. 24. mixed with Poyson and Peter Martyr well objected against the Papists neither doth Cardinal Bellarmine positively deny the truth of the Stories that Pope Victor the 3d. and the Emperour Henry the 7th were both of them poysoned with the Sacrament In a word our Saviour himself hath told us S. Matth. 15. 17. that whatsoever entreth in at the mouth goeth into the Belly and is cast out into the Draught Origen doth positively affirm the same thing of the Quod si quickquid ingreditur in os in ventrem abit in secessum ejicitur ille cibus qui Sanctificatur per verbum Dei perque obsecrationem juxta id quod habet materiale in ventrem abit in secessum ejicitur Et haec quidem de Typico Symbolicoque corpore
but remained perfectly United to it by a Substantial Conjunction and by reason of that Conjunction it was restored to life after so many hours In like manner when we give up the Ghost the Body parteth with the Soul and during this state hath no manner of sensation or Motion having lost the Natural Principle of Both but yet it is not separated from Christ though it Corrupteth in the Grave while its Mate is in the enjoyment of Bliss yet it is still United to its Lord by a Mystical Conjunction and by reason of that Union it shall be reunited to the soul in Gods good time that Both may have their Partnership in the fruition of an endless Life 3. This consideration were it duely weighed would be of very great Use and Comfort to good men when they are going out of this world But there is besides a third thing to be considered viz. that as we are united to Christ so Christs Nature is also communicated to Us by means of this Sacrament which doth further conclude an Assurance of an Happy Resurrection This Nature thus communicated is as it were a Spark of the Divine Nature which gives the Body a Disposition and Aptitude to Rise again like that Vital Principle in wheat that makes it Apt to spring out of the earth again when 't is committed to the ground though it hath been laid up a long time in the Granary S. Cyril calls Christs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Cyril where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a living Body and so corpus vitae in some of the Latines as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is a Glorious Body Phil. 3. 21. Living Body meaning the Virtue of it or his Spiritual Body the Quickning Seed that is in us For Christ by Divine Influences from his body giveth vitality to our mortal Bodies by that vivifick Virtue which is communicated by the Bread it entreth into the bodies of the Faithful though it be Substantially absent And hence he argues that if the dead in our Saviours time were raised to Life onely by being touched with his Holy Body out of which there went Virtue certainly the vital 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Cyril in Joan. lib. 4. cap. 14. Blessing must be much more abundant which we receive who even Taste and Communicate of it because it transforms Communicants into its own Blessed Condition that is into Immortality In like manner Ireneus proved the Certainty of a Resurrection from the Virtue and efficacy of this Sacrament supposing it a thing very Unreasonable to deny that Flesh to be capable of Incorruption which is nourished with This is plainly the meaning and force of those words of Irenaeus Quomodo dicunt Haeretici carnem in corruptionem scilicet finalem devenire non percipere vitam quae a corpore Domini sanguine alitur Quemadmodum qui est e terra panis percipiens invocationem Dei jam non communis panis est sed Eucharistia ex duabus rebas constans terrena caelisti sic corpora nostra percipientia Eucharistiam jam non sunt corruptibilia spem Resurrectionis habentia Adv. Haeres lib. 4. cap. 34. Quando mixtus calix fractus panis percipit verbum Dei fit Eucharistia sanguinis corporis Christi ex quibus augetur consistit carnis nostrae substantia quomodo negant carnem capacem esse donationis Dei quae est vita aeterna quae sanguine corpore Christi nutritur membrum ejus est Id. lib. 5. cap. 2. that Bread which carrieth with it the vital Virtues of the Flesh of our Lord because those Virtues turn to the advantage of that Body as well as of the soul by reason that our Flesh being United to the Flesh of Christ by the Spirit is by the Eucharist Prepared and Disposed for and made capable of the gift of God which is eternal Life But to conclude this point besides these arguments drawn from the Reason of the thing it self and from the sense and suffrage of Antiquity our Saviours own words are abundantly demonstrative of this matter in S. Jo. 6. The bread of God is be with cometh down from heaven and giveth Life unto the world I am that bread of Life Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead this is the bread which cometh down from Heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye for ever 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 Who so eateth my Flesh and drinketh my bloud hath eternal Life and I will raise him up at the last day for my Flesh is meat indeed and my bloud is drink indeed As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me even he shall live by me These words are so plain that they need no Explication if by eating the Bread the Meat the Flesh here spoken of we understand not of Believing the Doctrines of Christianity as some most Absurdly imagine nor of eating the very Substance of Christs Body as others most Ridiculously conceive but our partaking and communicating of the Virtues of his Flesh and Bloud which is the genuine and Catholick construction Now by a right use of this Holy Sacrament we do this effectually and consequently may be assured that as we are blest with the Spirit and Life and Communion of Christ in this world by so doing so we have an undoubted Title to a Life of Glory and Immortality in the next CHAP. XII Two Practical Conclusions from the Whole Discourse I Have now done with the Speculative or Doctrinal part of this Subject having after a plain Didactical manner delivered and asserted the true Catholick Faith concerning this Sacrament and from the consideration of those blessings which it brings with it I shall briefly draw these following Inferences and so conclude the whole matter 1. That we are not to rate this Mystery according to its Face and Outward Appearance nor judge of its efficacy and Dignity by the Elements For though our Senses do infallibly assure us that it is Bread and Wine yet our Faith ought to assure us too that it is not Common bread or Bare Wine but something more By the word and Prayer and by the Secret but effectual operation of the Holy Ghost there is besides the Natural and true Substance of the materials an Addition of Grace which is chrefly und principally to be considered by us And this is that Change of the Elements which the Catholick Church ever did believe meaning not a change of their Nature but of their Use of their Quality of their Condition As when we say such a man is turned a Christian or such a Christian is turned a Minister or such a Fabrick is turned into a Church our meaning is not that
not Mat. 6. unto you saith he treasure upon Earth willing us thereby rather to set our minds upon Heavenly treasure which ever endureth than upon Earthly treasure which by many sundry occasions perisheth and is taken away from us And yet worldly treasure must needs be had and possessed of some men as the person time and occasion doth serve Likewise Mat. 10. he said When you be brought before Kings and Princes think not what and how you shall answer Not willing us by this Negative that we should negligently and unadvisedly answer we care not what but that we should depend of our Heavenly Father trusting that by his Holy Spirit he will sufficiently instruct us of answer rather than to trust of any answer to be devised by our Wit and study And in the same manner he spake when he said It is not you that speak but it is the Spirit Mat. 10. of God that speaketh within you For the Spirit of God is he that principally putteth godly words into our mouths and yet nevertheless we do speak according to his moving And to be short in all these sentences following that is to say Call no Man your Father upon Earth Let Mat. 23. no Man call you Lord or Master Fear not Mat. 23. them that kill the Body I came not to send Mat. 10. peace upon Earth It is not in me to set Mat. 10. you at my right hand or left hand You shall Mat. 20. not worship the Father neither in this Mount Joh. 4. nor in Jerusalem I take no witness at no Joan. 5. Man My Doctrine is not mine I seek John 7. not mine I seek not my glory In all John 8. these Negatives our Saviour Christ spake not precisely and utterly to deny all the foresaid things but in comparison of them to prefer other things as to prefer our Father and Lord in Heaven above any worldly Father Lord or Master in Earth and his fear above the fear of any Creature and his word and Gospel above all worldly peace Also to prefer spiritual and inward honouring of God in pure heart and mind above local corporal and outward honour and that Christ preferred his Fathers glory above his own Now forasmuch as I have declared at length the Nature and kind of these Negative speeches which be no pure Negatives but by comparison it is easie hereby to make answer to St. John Chrysostome who used this phrase of speech most of any Author For his meaning in his foresaid homily was not that in the Celebration of the Lords Supper is neither Bread nor Wine neither Priest nor the Body of Chist which the Papists themselves must needs confess but his intent was to draw our minds upwards to Heaven that we should not consider so much the Bread Wine Priest and Body of Christ as we should consider his Divinity and Holy Spirit given unto us to our eternal Salvation And therefore in the same place he useth so many times these words think and think not Willing us by those words that we should not fix our thoughts and minds up the bread Wine Priest nor Christs body But to lift up our hearts higher unto his Spirit and Divinity without the which his Body availeth nothing as he said himself It is the spirit that giveth life the Flesh availeth Joan. 6. nothing Thus far he Therefore when you address your selves to the Table of the great God you should be full of lofty and Divine apprehensions of that hidden Treasure of Celestial Grace and Virtue which is then to be tendred unto you how mean soever the Instruments of that Grace are in their own Nature And accordingly you should go with those Holy dispositions and affections with that Reverence dread and awe of God but withal with that forwardness and swiftness of Devotion and with those transports of pleasure and joy as if you were now going to the very gate of Heaven Men should be afraid to use this important and venerable Ordinance with respect to secular and base ends only to satisfie the Laws of the Realm to save their Places their Reputation their mammon It is a most fearful act of presumption a deadly and horrid prophanation an argument of Atheistical or debaucht minds when men dare prostitute a thing of such a sacred Nature to their carnal Lusts and take the Viands of Eternity into their hands and mouths even when the Devil is in their hearts When you prepare for this solemn occasion be in good earnest with God and with your own Souls be as considerate and serious as if you were going to die be as upright in heart as if you were to take the next step to judgment When you see the Holy Table spread call home your thoughts let your minds be as composed and your Meditations be as full of Reverence as if you saw a vision and beheld the food of Angels let down from Heaven in a Sheet when the happy hour is now come that God waits to bless you with the greatest Treasure of his love begrudge not the going to his Table for it but bless God that you may have it for fetching and when you go be as pure in heart as if your lips were touched with a live Coal from off the Altar prostrate your bodies and cast your Souls down to the lowest step of humility and adore the Almighty like those Seraphims in Isaiahs Vision who covered their feet and their Faces with their wings as they cried one unto another Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole Earth is full of his Glory Isa 6. 2 3. When the Bread and Wine are made Sacraments and those blessed Symbols of Grace are reached out unto you think and know that the Lord of Life and Glory is now coming under your roof and great is the Peace of such as receive him with the passionate desires of affectionate Penitents that bathe his feet with their Tears and lodge him in the retirements of a clean innocent and Virgin heart And when you depart let it be with Thanksgivings and Hallelujahs and with all the expressions of grateful Souls enflamed with the Love of Jesus and with a deep sense of your Honour and Felicity that God hath vouchsafed thus to visit you with his goodness that he hath taken you into his Arms that he hath covered your offences that he hath fed you with the true Bread of Life from Heaven that he hath shed his love abroad in your hearts by the Holy Ghost which is now given unto you that he hath united you to himself by the Communication of the Divine Nature that he hath cast into you the seed of immortality and given you an earnest of a blessed Resurrection and an antepast of Heaven for all these blessings you receive at the hand of God as oft as ye eat this Bread and drink this Cup of the Lord after a worthy manner and as it becometh Saints
should prepare not so much the Mouth as the Heart And this is the true reason of those Rhetorical Expressions of some of the Fathers S. Chrysostomes especially where they seem to speak as if it were not Bread and Wine but something of a more Noble and Excellent nature that we Communicate of Such forms of speech were not Pure Negatives but Negatives by Comparison as hath been admirably well proved and explained by the Learned Archbishop Cranmer in several the like instances both in the old and New Testament It is not Bread and Wine that is it is not so much the Bread and Wine as the Body and Bloud of Christ which is to be considered The Elements are nothing at all in Comparison of that which they do Represent Exhibite and bring to us And the design Defence pag. 36. of those Fathers was to draw our minds upwards to Heaven that we should not regard so much the Bread the Wine the Priest and the Natural Body of Christ as we should consider his Divinity and Holy Spirit given unto us to our Eternal salvation That we should not fix our thoughts and minds upon the things themselves before us but lift up our hearts higher unto Christs Spirit and Divinity without which his Body availeth not as he said himself it is the Spirit that giveth life the Flesh profiteth nothing The Arch-Bishop is very copious upon this and I shall transcribe his words the rather because the passage is very useful and the Book is not very common This form of speech saith he is Negatives by compason commonly used not only in the Scripture and among all good Authors but also in all manner of Languages For when two things be compared together in the extolling of the more excellent or abasing of the more vile is many times used a Negative by comparison which nevertheless is no pure Negative but only in the respect of the more excellent or the more base As by example When the people rejecting the Prophet 1 Reg. 8. Samuel desired to have a King almighty God said to Samuel They have not rejected thee but me Not meaning by this Negative absolutely that they had not rejected Samuel in whose place they desired to have a King but by that one Negative by comparison he understood two affirmatives that is to say that they had rejected Samuel and not him alone but also that they had chiefly rejected God And when the Prophet David Psal 22. said in the person of Christ I am a Worm and not a Man By this Negative he denied not utterly that Christ was a man but the more vehemently to express the great humiliation of Christ he said that he was not abased only to the Nature of Man but was brought so low that he might rather be called a Worm than a man This manner of speech was familiar and usual to St. Paul as when he said It is Rom. 7. not I that do it but it is the sin that dwelleth in me And in an other place he saith Christ sent me not to baptise but 1. Cor. 1. to preach the Gospel And again he saith My speech and preaching was not in words 1 Cor. 1. of mans perswasion but in manifest declaration of the Spirit and power And he saith also Neither he that grafteth nor he 1 Cor. 3. that watereth is any thing but God that giveth the increase And he saith moreover It is not I that live but Christ liveth Gal. 2. within me And God forbid that I should Gal. 6. rejoyce in any thing but in the Cross of our Lord Jesu Christ And further we do not Ephe. 6. wrestle against flesh and blood but against he Spirits of Darkness In all these sentences and many other like although they be Negatives nevertheless St. Paul meant not clearly to deny that he did that evil whereof he spake or utterly to say that he was not sent to Baptize who indeed did Baptize at certain times and was sent to do all things that pertained to salvation or that in his office of setting forth Gods word he used no witty perswasions which indeed he used most discreetly or that the grafter and waterer be nothing which be Gods Creatures made to his similitude and without whose work there should be no increase or to say that he was not alive who both lived and ran thro' all Countries to set forth Gods Glory or clearly to affirm that he gloried and rejoyced in no other thing than in Christs Cross who rejoyced with all men that were in joy and sorrowed with all that were in sorrow or to deny utterly that we wrestle against flesh and blood which cease not daily to wrestle and War against our Enemies the world the flesh and the Devil In all these sentences St. Paul as I said meant not clearly to deny these things which undoubtedly were all true but he meant that in comparison of other greater things these smaller were not much to be esteemed but that the greater things were the chief things to be considered As that sin committed by his infirmity was rather to be imputed to original sin or corruption of Nature which lay lurking within him than to his own will and consent And that although he was sent to Baptize yet he was chiefly sent to preach Gods word And that although he used wise and discreet perswasions therein yet the success thereof came principally of the power of God and of the working of the Holy Spirit And that although the Grafter and Waterer of the Garden be some things and do not a little in their Offices yet it is God chiefly that giveth the increase And that although he lived in this world yet his chief life concerning God was by Christ whom he had living within him And that although he gloried in many other things yea in his own infirmities yet his greatest joy was in the Redemption by the Cross of Christ And that although our spirit daily fighteth against our flesh yet our chief and principal fight is against our ghostly enemies the subtil and puissant wicked Spirits and Devils The same manner of speech used also St. Peter in his first Epistle saying that the apparel Pet. 3. of Women should not be outwardly with broidred Hair and setting on of Gold nor in puting on of gorgious apparel but that the inward man of the heart should be without corruption In which manner of speech he intended not utterly to forbid all broidering of Hair all gold and costly apparel to all Women For every one must be apparelled according to their condition state and degree but he meant hereby clearly to condemn all pride and excess in apparel and to move all Women that they should study to deck their Souls inwardly with all virtues and not to be curious outwardly to deck and adorn their bodies with sumptuous apparel And our Saviour Christ himself was full of such manner of speeches Gather