necessarily to have been united in soul as well as in body otherwise he could be but an Half-Redeemer and we but Semiredempti i. e. redeemed but in one part or half-redeemed for it would prove but a Redemption of our Bodies only and not of our Souls Gregory Nazianzen in an Epistle to Cledonius Naz. Orat 51. a Priest which goes under the title of the 51 Oration thus writeth The Son of God took upon him the Nature of Man and all that of Man which needed help and recovery therefore he must needs have taken the Soul as well as the flesh from Man for otherwise he would be like to a Man who having a sore eye and a sore foot and should apply a Medicine to the foot only and quite neglect the eye Thus he so that although our bodies were well provided for by having a Redeemer yet the souls would want a Redemption for themselves and so the sentence of God would be executed on them The Soul that sinneth it shall die Eze. 18. 4 But the Mercifull Godhead took care both of our bodies and of our Souls and therefore sent God the Son as the Apostle saith in the likeness of sinfull Flesh and Rom. 8. 3. for sin condemned sin in the flesh So likewise did he send the same Son of God in the likeness of a sinfull Soul thereby to condemn sin in the Soul the Lord Jesus is a Saviour not only of bodies but of souls also and is therefore called by the Apostle the Sheepherd and Bishop of Souls 1 Pet. 2. 25. as Moses and Aaron had formerly stiled him The God of the Spirits or Souls of all Num. 16. 22. Flesh The Son of God was the Creator not only of bodies but also of souls and the Son of Man was and is the Redeemer of both For this gracious purpose only God did unite himself with Mankind not only in Flesh but in Soul also and thereby he became a Compleat Emanuel And this union or conjunction of God with Man was effected by the Propagation or Traduction of the Flesh and Soul of Christ from the flesh and soul of the first Man as all our Bodies and Souls have been and now are and will be to the end of the World Of the Traduction of our bodies no Man boubteth but of the Original and Traduction of Souls great disputes have been and yet are of which we are next in order to consider CHAP. XX. THE Doctrine of the Original of the Soul of Christ and of all human Souls and consequently the Doctrine of the Redemption of our souls by the Soul of Christ hath been much obscured by the vain and trifling Arguments of some natural Philosophers and as much by the frivolous Queries of some late Theologues whereas some learned Physicians to whom Jacobus Horstius Geor. Horstius Animas propagari ab animabus parentum putat Keckerman Phys p. 630. Truth is more beholding in this point have with great judgment and by their Experiences shewed and proved that our Souls are derived by Traduction from the Souls of our Mothers in the Womb as the Soul of Christ certainly was and as one of them saith Instar surculi ex trunco as a young grift sucketh life from the stock And the Souls of all Mothers as is beforesaid are derived from the Soul of the first Man unto which Doctrine all men who do rightly apprehend and understand the order and method of Redemption to consist in the Vnion of Christ with Mankind will be driven at last to consent Those Men that oppose the Traduction of Souls from the Soul of Adam demand how it is possible that such an innumerable company of Souls can be derived from one single Soul seeing the Soul is a Spirit and indivisible and therefore not to be parted by Decisions and mincings into such several parcels for so in time it would have nothing left to it self but would be utterly annihilated But these Men may as reasonably doubt how so many thousands of Bodies could proceed from that one single Body of the first Man during the 930 years of his life without any diminution of the quantity or dimensions of his Body seeing they were all Originally in his Loyns Or how the Sun communicates his light to every star in Heaven without any diminution or lessening his Light nothing is more like the Soul than light The Philosophers called the Soul of Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 propter cognationem cum lumine as Plutarch saith because it is Plut. con Colot so like to light and Christ is said to Enlighten every Man because he hath given a John 1. 9. reasonable Soul to all Men as Expositors agree St. Austin resembles the traduction of the Soul to the Light of a lamp Ignis Aug. cont Pelag. T. 7. n. 63 lucernae integer manet licet altera de illa accendatur Millions of Tapers may receive light from one single Taper without diminishing the light of that one Taper and so our Souls are propagated from that one Original Soul without any division or diminution thereof Let it be considered that the Soul of the first Man was created immediately by God of which it is said God breathed into his Gen. 2. 7. Bucan p. 86. 88. nostrils the breath of Life or of Lives this Breath of God was Spiraculum Omnipotens of which the Psalmist saith By the Breath Psal 33. 6 of the Lord the Heavens were made and all the Host of them by the Breath of his mouth The human Soul hath a prerogative of its Original above other inferiour Animals of whom it is never said that God breathed into them the Breath of life That first Soul of Man especially was like unto Fire as one saith of all Human souls Igneus est Ollis Virg. Aen. 6. vigor It surely had the vigour of fire and did extend it self into the grand Corporation of all Mankind as one spark of fire may enflame a whole City The brute Creatures ever since their first Creation did propagate their Souls to their kind and to this day those Creatures do receive their souls by Traduction from their Dams The greatest Sciolists in Natural Philosophy cannot reasonably prove any other Original of those brute Souls but only by propagation which yet they deny to human Souls It must be confessed by Christians that the souls of brute Creatures were at the beginning created by God as the reasonable Soul of Adam was yet the souls of Brute Creatures are mortal but the reasonable Souls of Men are immortal the reason is because the Divine Nature did personally unite it self with our whole human Nature which is the only reason why human Souls do not die and that human Bodies after death shall rise again to Life at the general Resurrection But the Divine Nature did not so unite it self with the nature of those other inferiour Creatures which are therefore left to perish utterly Of which something
out of the Man and not made of another piece of Earth for the Woman could not have been in union with Christ except she had been taken out of the Man as Christ and all Mankind are nor could she or we have been capable of Redemption by Christ without this union with Christ in the first Man Hence it is that the Apostle saith We are Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Eph. 5. 30 31 32 Bones The like he saith of Christ and his whole Church They two shall be one Flesh but I speak concerning Christ and his Church This is said because all Men and Women with Christ also were originally joyned and united in Adam and therefore Prosper Prosp ad Cap. Gallorum observeth Nullus est hominum cujus natura non erat suscepta à Christo there is not any Man in the world whose Nature was not assumed by Christ Ipse Adam toto terrarum orbe sparsus est Aug. Ps 95. And St. Paul saith God hath made of one Blood all Acts 17. 26. nations of Men it is meant of the blood of the first Man by which word Blood something more is implied than only Flesh as will appear hereafter and more than Blood literally taken In the Old Testament where we read of Filius Hominis or Son of Man the same words in the Original are Ben-Adam often The Genealogy of St. Luke derives Christ from Adam and St. Paul calls Christ the Last Adam as children are called by the 1 Cor. 15. 45. names of their Progenitors therefore St. Austin to shew the original of all Men with Christ himself saith Omnis homo terrenus Aug. Retract l. 1. c. 16. est Adam every Man of the Earth is Adam for it is as easie to apprehend Christ to be the Son of Adam as to be the Son of David and of Abraham and as easie Mat. 1. 1. to understand that Christ was united with Mankind in the loins of Adam as to apprehend that Levi was in the loins of Abraham Heb. 7. 10 when Melchisedech met him which was long before Levi was begotten Moreover even when Adam was formed there was an original corporal union of all Mankind in that one parcel of Earth of which Man was made which is the reason why not only Adam but all his Posterity are called Earth and Dust O Earth Earth Earth hear the Word of the Lord. Gen. 3. 19 Jer. 22. 29. The reason why I have said that the Redeemer must be united and be one with the Redeemed is because God doth not punish or reward eternally one for another but the same that performeth or transgresseth his Laws is punished or rewarded The Wise man saith He that justifieth the Prov. 17. 15. wicked and condemneth the just are both abominable to the Lord. The Jews had a cursed and murmuring Proverb among them The Fathers have eaten sour grapes and the Eze. 18. 2 Jer. 31. 29. Childrens teeth are set on edge their meaning was that their Fathers had committed that sin for which their Children were punished but God did controll that false imputation saying Every one shall die for his own sin And He that eateth sour grapes his teeth shall be set on edge and the Soul that sinneth it shall die So it is said in the Gospel Every man shall bear his own burthen Gal. 6. 5◠1 Pet. 1. 17. and God judgeth according to every Mans work Therefore the Redeemer must be really united and be as one man with the Redeemed otherwise the passions and Death of Christ the Redeemer cannot in the exact Justice of the Godhead satisfie for the sins of the People Christ said to a young man If thou wilt Mat. 19. 17. enter into life keep the Commandments This must be confessed to be true that no man can be saved except he perform the Law If it be enquired how any meer man can enter into Life seeing every one transgresseth the Law We answer that every true and faithfull Member of Christ fulfilleth the Law because Christ hath performed it who is One with his Members This weighty and necessary Doctrine of the union of Christ with Mankind is evidently and plentifully declared both in the Holy Scriptures and also in the Writings of the Fathers which I have elsewhere shewed at large in the Gospel Christ said I am the Vine ye are the branches the root stock and branches of the Vine are Joh. 15. 5 but one Tree St. Paul saith of Christ and of men that they are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fellow Plants or planted together planted in Adam and we being many are one body in Christ and Rom. 6. 5 Rom. 12. 5. as the Body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so is Christ And your 1 Cor. 12. 12. 1 Cor. 6. 15. 1 Cor. 12. 27. Gal. 3. 28 bodies are the members of Christ and ye are the Body of Christ and members in particular and therefore the same Apostle saith of the Galatians Ye are all one in Christ Jesus The union or Oneness of men with Christ doth not consist only in this that Christ communicateth his Spirit to us men but also in that Christ and all Mankind were originally together in the first Man and are all derived from the flesh and blood of him as I noted before from the words of St. Paul Acts 17. 26. that God made of one blood all Nations of men and that one Blood was the blood of Adam For although we never were in the loins of Christ nor derived from him yet because Christ and we and all Generations of men were originally in the loins of Adam therefore in him we were then all united CHAP. V. IN the next place we are to enquire what was the Doctrine of the Fathers concerning the Body of Christ and also concerning the Union of the Head with the members thereof 1. The Body of Christ in Scripture hath a double signification 1. It signifieth the natural proper and individual or personal Body of Christ of which it is said a woman poured ointment on his Body and Joseph begged Mat. 26. 12 27 58 the Body of Jesus 2. The Body of Christ signifieth his Body Mystical that is the whole Corporation of Christ and his Members of which it is said He is the Head of his body the Church Col. 1. 18 Christs Natural body is but a part of his Mystical body as our head is but a part of our natural body And as the head and other parts of our natural body are visibly united so Christ and all his Members are united and joyned by an invisible Tie or knot both in Flesh and Soul as will hereafter appear as also in one Spirit proceeding from Christ the Head and communicating it self to every particular member of that great Mystical Body as it is said of the precious Ointment upon the
certainly signifies the conjunction or union of his Soul with our Souls in order as a necessary way or method to put us into a capacity of redemption of our souls by his Soul For we cannot be capable of the benefits of the Passions death and Obedience of Christ except we be One with him both by the union of our flesh with his Flesh and of our souls with his Soul because God doth neither punish nor reward one for another as is at Chap. 4. large shewed before Therefore that the Son of God might be every way fitly qualified to be a Redeemer of Mankind he assumed human Flesh from the same Original that we had our flesh that thereby he might be a Redeemer of our flesh or bodies and he assumed an human Soul from the same Fountain from which all our Souls sprang that thereby he might be a Redeemer of our souls as Athanasius hath observed in his Athan. T. 3. n. 23. Book of the Incarnation In Redemptione corpus pro corpore anima pro anima reddenda fuit integrum aliquid pro integro homine He was to give his Body for the redemption of our bodies and to yield up his Soul for our Souls and his whole Man for our whole Man There are three Ingredients to be considered in the Redeemer 1. His Divinity or Godhead for he was and is God the most High and the only God 2. His human Flesh or Body 3. His human Soul By the two latter by him so assumed as is said he became Perfect Man as by the former he was and is Perfect God His pure Godhead alone and considered without his Human nature assumed could not be a Redeemer because the law was not imposed upon God or the Son of God as only so but upon Mankind or Sons of Men Nor could the pure Godhead suffer death which was to be suffered by the Redeemer Or if the Godhead had assumed only an human Body or Flesh without an human Soul this could have been but a Redeemer of the Body at most if that but not of the Soul Or if the Godhead had assumed only an human Soul without a Body it could not have redeemed our bodies nor our whole Man as the Axiome of Divines teacheth us Divisus Christus non est Salvator viz. Beza Cat. Part. 2. p. 18. If Christ had not united all these Ingredients in his one Person his Godhead his Flesh and his Soul we could not have him for our Saviour Or if Christ had been only a meer Man consisting of Soul and Body as we all do and had not been God he could not have been our Redeemer because it was only his Divinity joyned with and united personally with his Flesh and Soul that gave lustre worth and infinite value to his human Nature so that for the great work of mans Redemption it was necessary that the Redeemer should be not only Perfect Man of a reasonable Soul and Human flesh subsisting but also with them Perfect God Or if Christ being very God had really assumed a Body and also a Soul otherwise and not from his Virgin Mother but had made a Body and also created a Soul for himself which had not been derived from Mankind and so not united with our bodies and souls or if his Body or Soul had come down from Heaven as some Hereticks said and passed through the Virgins Womb only as water doth through a pipe and had been only for a time an Inhabitant or Inmate of the Womb and had not been really the Seed of the Woman and the Son of the Virgin and the very Fruit of the Womb both in Soul and in Body and derived from the first Man and the first Woman as we all are he could not have been our Redeemer because he could not be united otherwise with all Mankind in flesh and soul nor we with him For as our Union with his Flesh which is called the Eating of his flesh must needs be with it as it is the flesh of the Son of Man which signifieth that it must be with that Flesh or Body of his which he assumed and derived from Mankind by being conceived in the Womb and not from any other flesh or body which the Son of God had sometime taken on him otherwise than by Conception and Birth as is before observed in his Apparition and converse with the Patriark Abraham so likewise the union Gen. 18. Suprac 6 7. of our Souls with his Soul which is called the Drinking of his Blood must be with that Soul of his which was so derived from the first Man and the first Woman by Propagation as all our Souls are otherwise we cannot be united in our Souls with his Soul neither could he be a Redeemer of our Souls This Doctrine of our Union with Christ both in our Bodies and also in our Souls was intimated though something darkly as to me seemeth at the Institution of his holy Eucharistical Supper which is next to be very briefly touched CHAP. XVIII WHen our Saviour had a long time concealed the Mysterious way or manner how our Redemption was to be effected by him and how his own proper and personal Death might be satisfactory to Divine Justice for and instead of the deserved deaths of all Men Yet that he Might not leave his Disciples altogether ignorant in so weighty a Concernment he was pleased a little before his death in some measure to reveal that Secret to his Apostles and by them to his succeeding Church for which purpose only he instituted his last Holy Supper to be a visible Sign or Sacrament and also a Memorial thereof in all Generations untill his Coming again First therefore He took Bread and gave it to them and said Take Eat This is my Luke 22. 19. Body which is given for you as if he had said my Body is already to you such as this Bread will be to you for by Eating and Digesting it the Bread will be your nourishment it will be joyned and united with your Bodies and grow into one flesh with your flesh and be one Body with you Christ calleth himself Bread Ego sum John 6. Panis because as bread being eaten and digested becomes incorporate or incarnate with us so is Christ Incarnate or rather Concarnate with us We receive our Flesh from our Mothers the bread which the Mother eateth is converted into milk with which the Infant is nourished and thereby is fleshed and groweth so that the Bread and the Child become united and grow into one Body St. Austin saith concerning this very thing Quod manducat mater hoc manducat Aug. Psa 33. Ser. 1. Infans sed quia minùs idoneus est Infans qui pane vescatur ipsum panem Mater incarnat per humilitatem mamillae lactis succum de ipso pane pascit Infantem That which nourisheth the Mother the same nourisheth the Infant but because the Infant is not able to
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
as those Errors of the abovesaid Ancient Hereticks were seeing these Men affirm that human Souls are by thousands dayly and newly Created whereby they busie the Godhead with new Creations of Souls upon the quickning of every Conception whereby they manifestly declare that they deny the Union of our Souls with the Soul of Christ in the first Man and consequently deprave and nullifie the doctrine of the Redemption of our souls by his Soul Certainly there must be a real Union of our Souls as well as of our bodies with the Body and Soul of Christ for otherwise he could not be a Redeemer of our bodies and souls Yet in this Doctrine concerning the Union of the Soul of Christ with the Souls of us Men which we have here asserted we are not so to be understood as if we meant or affirmed that there is but one particular Soul of all Men which was the error of Averroes an Ethnick Philosopher about 1150 Years of Christ as Tolet reporteth Tolet. in 3. Phy. neither do we approve of the Opinion of some Ancient Platonicks who said there was but one universal Soul of all Creatures in the World which they called Animam Euseb de Prae. Naz. Orat. 37. Aust de de Temp. Ser. 143. Mundi which error is taken notice of by Eusebius Nazianzen and Austin who said that those Heathens having a glimmering apprehension of the Ubiquity and general Cooperation of the Divine Spirit with all Creatures called it a Soul But our Assertion doth not in the least gainsay the Plurality of the Souls of Men more than the Plurality of their Bodies for as multitudes of fruits and flowers may grow and proceed from one Tree or one Stalk and yet we say not that they are but One fruit or but one Flower So although all our Bodies and all our Souls sprang from that One Body and that One Soul of the first Man yet there are and will be innumerable particular Bodies and Souls We affirm only this that all human Bodies are but the off-spring of that One first Body and all human Souls are but as the Daughters of that One Original Soul of Adam neither doth the Plurality of particular Souls hinder the Union of that multitude in their prime Original Fountain wherein they were radically joyned The Jews used to say that Adams Soul was in David and the Scripture saith that The Soul of Jonathan was knit with the Soul 1 Sam. 18. 1. Acts 4. 3◠of David and that the multitude of Believers were of one Soul These sayings may be rightly understood of Union not only in regard of mutual Love Concord and Affection but also in consideration of that one Original Soul from whence all of them sprang for the Soul of Adam branched out not only to David but to Christ and also to all Men in the World and in this consideration the Soul of Jesus our Redeemer is One with our Souls being so knit and united with ours as is said therefore the holy Man Macarius thus writeth Macar Hom. 14. thereof Vna anima est Ecclesia apud Deum quia habet Communionem cum Sponso coelesti The Church is as one Soul with God having Communion with her Heavenly Spouse or one Soul is a Church as St. Paul saith of the Husband and Wife as the resemblance of Christ and his Church They two shall be one flesh and I speak of Christ and his Church and Nazianzen calls Basil Dimidium Eph. 5. 31 Naz. Orat 19. animae As for those speeches concerning Union of Souls which fell from Heathen Writers I take to be meant only of the amity and concord of Friends as that of Horace and Virgil Hor. Od. 3. Pers Sat. 5. Animae dimidium meae And of Persius Quant aque nostrae Pars tua sit cornute animae And of Ovid Qui duo corporibus mentibus unus erant Ovid de Trist And of Aristotle concerning two Friends 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For these Heathens Diog. in Vit. Arist did not understand the mystery nor the great concernment of the Union of our souls with the Soul of Christ our God Incarnate CHAP. XXIII WE have shewed before that by reason of the Union of the flesh of Christ with our flesh Christ and his Church are looked on and considered as one Body and are so called by the Apostle Ye are the Body of Christ Much rather may we 1 Cor. 12. 27. be said to be One with Christ by reason of the Union of his Soul with our Souls for otherwise the great Mystical Body or Church of Christ wanting the life or soul of her Head would be but as a Carcass or lifeless Body neither could we be perfectly and compleatly so as the Apostle saith of the Galatians Ye are all one in Christ Jesus except Gal. 3. 28 our souls be united with his Soul nor can this Union of Souls be any other way apprehended or possibly effected but only by the Propagation of His and our Souls from the Original Soul of the first Man The Doctrine of the Propagation of all human Souls from that one and only created Soul of Adam is not new but was anciently taught and received very early in the Primitive Church although it was not fully established by general consent Tertullian in his Book de Anima clearly Tert. de Anima Cap. 27. declareth Animas ab Adamo esse that our Souls are derived from Adam and again in the same Book he saith Omnis Anima in Adamo Id. ibid. Cap. 40. censetur donec in Christo recenseatur Every Soul is censed or accounted in Adam untill it is new enrolled and accounted in Christ St. Jerome acknowledgeth this to be the Doctrine and judgment of Tertullian and he farther addeth Animas Hier. ad Marcellinum Ep. 82. To. 2. p. 254. ex traduce maxima pars Occidentalium autumant ut quomodo corpus ex corpore sic anima nascatur ex anima c. The greatest part of the Western Church holdeth that as our body was derived from the Body so our souls do spring from Souls St. Austin also disputeth very eagerly for the Traduction of Souls yet neither he nor St. Hierome Aug. Epist 28. would then presume to determine that difficult question Pelagius the Heretick was one of them Aug Epist 157. who denied the Traduction of Souls from the first Man and presuming thereon used that denial as a principle Argument against Traduction of Original sin from our Parents for surely if our Souls be not derived from them and so originally from Adam we should not be liable to the guilt of his sin because the Soul only is the seat of sin as is before shewed They that affirm and believe that God doth yet dayly create new Souls may consider whether they do not thereby manifestly fall into the Heresie of Pelagianism Aug. To. 3. n. 72. for by denying the propagation of the Soul which they
in Covenant or Suretyship 5. Fide in Faith The Vnion which I shall chiefly endeavour to describe in this Tractate consisteth in the two first of these which I firmly believe to be intended and meant in that Speech of Christ Joh. 6. 53. Except ye Eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and Drink his Blood c. THE Flesh of Christ CHAP. I. HE that attempteth to discover the grand mystery of Eating and Drinking the Flesh and Blood of Christ must begin his Work very early even at the Creation of our first Parents or rather before the foundation of the World Because the most wise mercifull and just Godhead had designed the redemption of Mankind from Eternity by God the Son And did lay the foundation and the frame order and method thereof in the first Man and the first Woman from whom every man and woman that are were or hereafter shall be born with Christ himself also have derived both their Flesh and their Souls that so an Union and conjunction might be made of the Redeemer with the Redeemed without which Union the Son of God could not be fitly qualified to perform with Justice the great Work of Redemption of Mankind Concerning this Union those words of Christ are to be understood John 6. 53. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and Joh. 6. 53. Mat. 26. 26. drink his blood and those other words Mat. 26. 26. This is my Body and This is my Blood both must needs be true because Truth hath spoken them The former were meant of the real and substantial Union and conjunction of our flesh with his Flesh and of our souls with his Soul the latter were meant of the Representation or similitude of our true real and substantial union with Christ in his whole humane Nature signified to us by the Sacramental eating and drinking of Bread and Wine as it was before represented to the Israelites in eating the flesh of the Paschal Lamb. For as with them and with us The Lamb and Bread and Wine were really to be taken into our bodies and do really nourish us and unite themselves with our bodies and grow into one bulk with us So Christ with Mankind must be united and be One with us otherwise he cannot with the strictness of Divine Justice be the Redeemer of Mankind neither could man be capable of redemption by him Concerning the truth and reality of eating and drinking the flesh and blood of Christ the Redeemer the Reformed Chruches and also the Vnreformed do both agree and yet exceedingly differ and disagree in the manner and way thereof 1. The Roman Transubstantiators would have us believe that Christ is eaten in the Sacrament really pretending that the Bread and Wine are transubstantiated or rather annihilated and that the whole Christ is brought into the room thereof and so eaten But this cannot be the mode or way of eating Christ because the eating and drinking by him meant must have been in all former and past Generations and must still stand firm and true although the Sacrament or Eucharist had never been instituted for Abraham Isaac Jacob Noah and Adam himself must have eaten so as is here meant else they could not be redeemed by Christ And this Eating of Christ was true and real before he was actually Born or Incarnate St. Paul saith Our Fathers did eat the same meat and drink of the same Rock that 1 Cor. 10. 3. followed and that Rock was Christ therefore they did eat Christ so as he meant 2. The Lutheran Consubstantiators would have men believe that the Flesh and Blood of Christ literally understood are really carnally and grosly received in and with the Sacramental bread and wine But neither can this way be true because the Eating here meant must have been and still is without the Sacrament thereof for the flesh of Christ is now and hath been eaten by those that never heard of nor ever did receive or communicate in the Sacrament for Children Heathens Turks and Jews and the most profane Christians must have eaten Christ otherwise they could have no possibility or be in any capacity of Redemption Yet the Scriptures the primitive Fathers and the Church of England do clearly declare that the benefit of Redemption belongeth and is offered to God the Son hath redeemed me and all Mankind the whole World to all and every Man and Woman as our Church Catechism teacheth 3. The Zuinglians who are called Sacramentarians would have men believe thatf Eating the flesh and Drinking the blood o Christ is meant only of receiving the signs figures or Sacraments thereof viz. by bread and wine in the Eucharist But neither can this way be the right meaning thereof because we must truly and really receive the very thing it self for we must corporally be united with the flesh of Christ and really and truly must our Souls be united with the Soul of Christ else no redemption can possibly be either of our bodies or of our Souls by him Calvin upon those words This is my Body very truly Calvin n 1 Cor. 11. 24. affirmeth Neque fallax est Christus qui vacuis figuris nos ludat Mihi extra controversiam est Veritatem hic cum suo signo conjunctam esse 1. Christ did not delude us with empty figures I doubt not at all but that the truth was joyned with the sign 4. The Church of England doth not to my apprehension clearly determine of the Modus or manner of Eating the Flesh or drinking the blood of Christ either in the Sacrament or out of the Sacrament yet thus far this Church proceedeth in the mystery Art Relig 28. of the holy Supper and saith in the 28th Article that it is the Sacrament of Redemption just so as St. Cyprian had before written of the same thing in an Epistle to Coecilius wherein he calleth the Lords Supper Sacramentum Redemptionis because Cyp. 2. epist 3. thereby as by an holy sign we are taught the manner way and method used by Christ in the work of our Redemption The Church of England again declareth in the Office of the Eucharist that the faithfull and penitent Receivers do spiritually eat and drink the Flesh and Blood of Christ that they dwell in Christ and Christ in them that they be One with Christ and Christ with them the meaning is that the holy Supper is the Sacrament or mysterious sign of our Union with the flesh of Christ and with the blood or Soul of Christ just as both S. Austin and Aug. in John 26. Ansel in Mat. 26. after him S. Anselm called it Sacramentum Vnitatis 2. The Sacrament of Union and the very word Communion as this Sacrament is called signifieth the same Communio is all one with counio or unio cum because the sacramental Eating and Drinking representeth the Union or conjunction of the flesh and soul of Christ with our flesh and soul without which neither our bodies nor
any need of or benefit by such a Presence but the true and concerning and beneficial Presence of Christ is in and with the Communicants which Presence is effected by the Union of his Flesh and Soul with our flesh and soul so as hath been before shewed Wherefore if we will be content and rest satisfied with this plain and easie Exposition of those words of Christ which I firmly believe to be true viz. that the Eating and Drinking of His flesh and blood signifieth only the union or conjunction of his Flesh and Soul with our flesh and soul all difficulties and obscurities will be cleared without any violence to those words of Christ And the order and method in which the just and mercifull Godhead proceeded in preparing and in making a way to the Redemption of our lapsed Nature will be to our great Consolation made manifest to us We have seen before how our flesh and the Flesh of Christ have been united in the next place we are now to show how the Union of our souls with his Soul hath been wrought and really performed CHAP. XIX IN order to the understanding of the Union of our Souls with the Soul of Christ which is mysteriously vailed by an obscure description under a Figurative Speech of Drinking his Blood we are first to enquire of and to find out the Original or Spring whence both Christ and we have derived and received our Souls For if it may appear that the human Soul of Christ did proceed from the very same Fountain from which all Men in the world have received their Souls then it cannot be denied that his Soul and our souls were joyned and united in that one Original Fountain which is the Soul of the first Man For why should it seem less credible or harder to conceive that all Human Souls are derived and have proceeded from that one Soul of the first Man than to believe and acknowledge that all Human Bodies Christs and all are derived and propagated from the body or lump of the said first Man Surely no Learned or but Intelligent Christian will deny that Christ and all Men were united in the Loins of Adam Now if it be enquired whence or from whom Christ immediately received his Soul We answer that he received it from his Blessed Virgin Mother and in her Womb and that it was derived and propagated from her Virgin Soul for he had no Earthly Father from whose Thigh his Soul could be propagated If it be again enquired whence the blessed Virgin received her Soul We answer that she also received it from her Mothers Soul and in the Womb and so we affirm of all the souls of Men and Women that they are propagated from the souls of their Mothers and that this Propagation ascendeth ultimately unto Eve the first Woman from whose Soul the Soul of Christ and the Souls of all her Posterity are descended If it be farther enquired when Eve had and received her Soul We answer that she received her Soul with her Body also from the first Man her Body from his Body and her Soul from his Soul and whence Adam received his Soul the Scripture evidently declareth that his Soul was immediately Created and Inspired by God in these words God breathed into his nostrils the Gen. 2. 7. breath of Life and Man became a living Soul We farther affirm that the Soul of Adam was the only Soul that was created by God and also that from that one Soul all human Souls from that time till now and also untill the end of the World are and will be derived and propagated We read not of any other particular Soul in the Holy Scriptures that was immediately created by God because indeed all Human Souls were Originally couched and virtually included in that one Prime Soul of the first Man Inspired by God Good Reader observe with me that Bucan p. 86. 88. Woolnor p. 77. which hath been formerly observed by other Writers that those words which our English Translation renders the breath of Life Gen. 2. 7. might and should more fitly and truly have been rendred the breath of Gen. 2. 7. Chaiim of Lives Lives Spiraculum Vitarum Because in the Original the word which is translated Life is a word Plural and signifieth Lives it may therefore reasonably be conceived that the most wise Spirit of God intended to signifie by that Plural word that the whole multitude of human Lives and Souls were potentially and virtually residing in that one created Soul of Adam and were to be derived and propagated from thence to all Mankind Christ and all as being the Spring and Fountain of all future Souls for of him only and of none other it is said that God breathed into him the Breath of life or lives We know that the first Woman had a Soul proper to her self but we find not that God did newly Create or Breath into her a new and several Soul because she did receive her soul from the Man and so it must have been produced for weighty Reasons and not any other way her soul was derived from his soul the Godhead did not create two Originals or Fountains of souls nor of bodies for both the flesh and the soul of Eve and of all Men with Christ also were necessarily to be derived from the flesh and soul of Adam for otherwise although the first Man and the first Woman were united in flesh yet they had not been united in Soul except Eve's soul had been derived from the soul of Adam nor could the soul of Christ by any other way have come from Adams soul and consequently he could not have been the Redeemer of the souls of Adams Posterity Certainly all Men in the World are Adamites both in respect of their bodies and also of their souls so is Christ himself Ben-Adam therefore the Apostle calls him the Last Adam because he was the Son of 1 Cor. 15. 45. Adam therefore he is called by his Fathers name By reason of the Union of our bodies with Christs Body in the loyns of Adam the Apostle saith we are members of his Flesh and by reason of the Union of all Mens souls in that one Original Soul of Adam the same Apostle said to the Athenian Philosophers that God hath made of one Blood Acts 17. 26. all Nations of Men. Blood in Scripture signifieth the soul as hath been proved before and so I believe it doth in that place and so the meaning must be that God hath made of one Soul all the souls of all nations of Men which surely is true For if their was a necessity in order to the Redemption of our Bodies that the Redeemer must have received his flesh by Propagation from the first Man the like necessity must needs be for the Redemption of our Souls that the Redeemer must have received his Soul by Traduction from the Soul of the same first Man in whom the Redeemer and the Redeemed were
not their breasts or faces or hands and this they did because in those Parts their lust or concupiscence appeared for before their Fall lust had not entred into them neither had the Man known the Woman till after the Fall which is noted first Gen. 4. 1. where it is first said Adam knew Eve his Wife and she Gen. 4. 1. conceived and bare Cain who was the First-fruit of their Concupiscence Afterwards it is said Adam begot a Child in his own likeness Gen. 5. 3. and called his name Seth that is in a condition of sin like unto his Father for although Seth was a good Son yet he as much as his brother Cain was begotten in sin in lust and concupiscence wherein also all the succeeding Generations from Adam and Eve unto this day are begotten viz. in lust and concupiscence And this Concupiscence is that Original sin whereof the Psalmist saith I was shapen in iniquity Psal 51. 5 and in sin did my Mother conceive me The Apostle saith the same of all Men in consideration of this Original sin Death passed Ro. 5. 12. on all Men for that all have sinned Divers Expositors put this gloss upon those words excepto Christo they meant that all have sinned except only Christ which is true and may thus be cleared The Generation of Christ was far different from all other Generations of Mankind for it was without Copulation and carnal Concupiscence because he was born of a Virgin without the Cooperation of Man which was so designed by the Godhead on purpose to preserve the most holy Body and Soul of the Redeemer without sin which being of so great concernment for our comfort to be known was foretold by God himself first then by his Prophets then by his Angel The Seed of the Woman must bruise the Serpents head no Gen. 3. 15 mention of a Man Behold a Virgin shall conceive Isa 7. 14. Jer. 31 22. and bear a Son And The Lord hath created a new thing in the earth a Woman shall compass a Man 1. A Woman only without a Man 2. Created therefore it was the Extraordinary and Omnipotent work of the Creator 3. A new thing for it never was so before with any Woman nor will ever be so again 4. To compass a Man 1. to inclose a Man-child in the womb of a Woman and she a Virgin utterly unknown by Man this is the peculiar Work of the Godhead Although Turks say they have always such Births among them therefore Christs Birth of the Virgin was no Balaeus n. 54. Hier. con Jovinian n. 14. Mat. 1. Luke 1. marvel So Buddas the Indian was falsly said to be the Son of a Virgin This Prophetical Woman was the blessed Virgin Mary who was declared by the Heavenly Angel Gabriel to be a pure Virgin after her Espousals and after the Conception and after the Birth of her Son Jesus And because the Mother of the Redeemer was necessary to have been a Virgin therefore all our Church Creeds declare the same That Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary That he was Incarnate by the Symb. Apostol Nicaen Athanas Ambros Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary That he was Man of the Substance of his Mother and in the Symbolical Hymn of S. Ambrose and St. Austin it is said of him When thou tookest upon thee to deliver Man thou didst not abhor the Virgins Womb. In all these notice is given of the Woman and Virgin without any mention of Man the Redeemer was to be answerable to Melchisedech Heb. 7. 3. Aug. To. 7. n. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as St. Austin saith Sine Matre Deus sine Patre Homo he was God from Eternity of the Substance of the Father but Man of the Substance of his Virgin Mother only from whom he received both his Fesh and Soul CHAP. XXV IT being granted or presumed that Christ received both his Flesh and his Soul from the blessed Virgin Mother and she hers from our first Parents We are yet farther to enquire how his Flesh and Soul Dominicani Franciscani differunt in hac r◠could be free from that Original sin except we will also grant that his Mother was conceived without sin which I suppose no Learned or but Intelligent Divine will affirm it being accounted by St. Austin one of the Pelagian Herisies who yet refused Aug. cont Pelag. T. 7. n. 50. to dispute against her in that Question Propter honorem Domini as he saith Our Answer is that although Christ derived both his Flesh and his Soul from the Virgin and although his Virgin Mother was certainly conceived in sin and therefore not without Original sin during her whole life yet Christ did not with his Flesh and Soul derive any sin from her because he was not by her conceived in sin viz. in lust or concupiscence For Original sin is Aug. T. 3. N. 73. not derived into us by receiving our Flesh and our Souls from our Mothers but only by concupiscence and lust whereby ordinary Conceptions are produced But Christ was conceived of the Virgin by the Holy Ghost without man and so without lust and therefore without any sin which is the reason rendred by S. Austin Nulla concupiscentia carnali Aug. in Enchir. T. 3. n. 58 seminatus est Christus ergo nullum peccatum Originaliter traxit i◠That because Christ was not begotten or conceived in carnal lust therefore his Conception was without sin so Isychius answereth Christi humanitas munda est ut quae non genita est ex Viri Isych in Levit. Cap. 14. immunditia Christs whole human Nature was clean because not begotten in uncleanness so that although both the Flesh and the Soul of the Virgin Mother were stained with Original sin yet the Flesh and Soul of Christ sprang from her without her sin because he was conceived without carnal Copulation and Lust Sometimes we know worms are bred in mens Bodies and derive their flesh and bulk from them yet it would be ridiculous to say or imagin that these worms draw original sin from those Human bodies because they are therein bred without any copulation or carnal concupiscence Herod was eaten of worms which were bred Acts 12. 23. in his own body yet those worms by that Generation did not derive any sin from Herod And if now any Man should be miraculously produced and formed out of another mans Body he should not thereby attract any sin because such a Production would be without copulation and lust as Aquin. 1. 2 9 81. Art 4. Orig. T. 2. N. 44. Aug. in Psal 21. Aquinas determined Origen in his 14 Homilie on St. Luke and St. Austin on the 21 Psalm and in other places both of them do expound those words of David Psal 22. 6. I am a worm and no Man to be meant of the Conception of Christ Quia vermis non aliunde sed in corpore Origo est because
Head Psa 133. which ran down upon the beard of Aaron and went down to the skirts of his garments the ointment signified the Spirit and its graces In consideration of this Union by those three knots or ligaments just now mentioned the Fathers looked on Christ and his Members and considered them so united as upon one Body or one Man or one universal Person because there is no one man or woman in the World whose nature Christ hath not assumed whereof St. Ambrose saith In Christo summa universalitatis Ambr. de chit Saty. To. 4. p. 146. est portio singulorum Christ is as the total Summ of all men and a portion or parcel of every man To the same purpose Prosper saith Tota Ecclesia cum Christo capite Prosp Ps 102. Id. Ps 131. est unus homo and in another place he saith Tota civitas Dei est unus homo in capite corpore The whole Church with Christ the Head is one Man and the whole City of God is but one Man in the head and body St. Austin is very plentifull and Aug. in Joh. Tra. 108. plain in this matter of Vnion and saith Vnus est Christus caput corpus ipsi sunt ego and in another place Vnus Homo caput Aug. Ps 127. Id. Ps 30. corpus Christi sumus non solum Christiani and again Christus est multa membra unum Corpus The meaning of all is that they are but one Body and are considered as one Person for as the Head and the other parts altogether are but one man so Christ and all his mystical Members are but one whole Christ which whole mystical Body consisting of Christ the Head and Christians the members thereof the same Father often calleth Christum totum and Aug. in Ps 36. 37. alibi Christum plenum and Christum universum and Plenitudinem Christi and Christum diffusum that is the whole full universal diffused Christ or the fulness of Christ St. Paul also useth the same expression concerning Christ and his Members He God Eph. 1. 22 23. hath given him to be head over all things to the Church which is his Body the fulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of him that filleth all in all So that Christ himself with his Church are here said to be the full Christ or fulness of Ps 82. Christ And as in Scripture many are called 1 Cor. 8. 5. Psal 105. 15. Gods although there is but one God because God distributes his Spirit to them So many are called Christs Nolite tangere Christos meos because Christ hath united himself with them both by his Spirit and by his Flesh of which union of his Flesh himself saith He that eateth my flesh dwelleth John 6. 56. in me and I in him because he hath taken his flesh from the same Original whence our flesh is derived therefore as our flesh dwelleth in him so his Flesh dwelleth in us St. Hilary in his 8. Book de Trinitate Hil. n. 3. declareth the union of the Flesh of Christ with the flesh of Men and those not only holy and spiritual men but also with unholy and carnal men in these words Habemus in nobis carnalibus manentem per carnem Christum we that are but carnal men have Christ by his flesh remaining in us And just so writeth the venerable and blessed Martyr Archbishop Cranmer in his Book against Bish Gardiner That Christ did unite himself with us as Man by his Incarnation But this necessary Doctrine of mutual union of Christ and Mankind hath been too much neglected by late Divines who have but only hinted or lightly touched it whereunto in their Disputes concerning the Eating of the flesh of Christ they have been necessarily driven which Doctrine is of such weighty concernment that it deserveth very serious and diligent inquisition There is a very hard and dark passage of St. Paul concerning Christs delivering up his Kingdom and of his subjection to God in the Exposition thereof many Divines have greatly and dangerously erred in dethroning Christ as if those words did signifie the Period and utter ending of his Kingdom which we are sure must last for ever The words of St. Paul are these When the end cometh he shall deliver up the Kingdom 1 Cor. 15. 24. 28. to God even the Father and then shall the Son himself be subject to him c. These words cannot possibly be rightly understood but only by considering Christ and his Members joyntly as one full and whole Christ for though the Man Christ considered only by himself in his own particular Person and only in his Manhood always was is and for ever will be subject to the Godhead yet the whole Christ that is not only his self alone but his mystical Members even his Saints and his Elect at or after the final Judgment shall be so subject and so perfectly and compleatly obedient to the Godhead as they never yet were nor ever will be during this World of which Subjection and Union I have elsewhere written at large CHAP. VI. BUt why doth Christ require this Eating in these terms and words of the Flesh of the Son of Man Why might he not rather have said Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of God For the flesh of Christ was the flesh of God the Son and God the Word St. John saith the Word was made Joh. 1. 14. Flesh and his Blood is expresly called the Blood of God by the great Apostle Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with Acts 20. 28. his own Blood and St. John calls his life and death the life and death of God Hereby we perceive the love of God because he hath 1 John 3. 16. laid down his life for us And his Virgin Mother is often called by the Fathers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Parent or Mother of God 1. To this we answer First That the Son of God considered only and singly as the Son of God in his pure Godhead and only as God the Word and as he was in the form of God only and without Incarnation could not be our Redeemer and if he had continued so as to be only the Son of God as he was from Eternity and had never taken our human Nature upon him so as to be thereby really the Son of Man he could not be the Christ neither could any obligation or engagement have been upon him to perform the Law which Law was imposed only upon Mankind neither could he have redeemed us because he could not die being not mortal otherwise then by assuming our Mortal nature into Personal union with his Immortal and Divine nature Therefore in order to the office of a Redeemer he must become a Man and his flesh must needs be the flesh of the Son of Man 2. Secondly We say That although the Son of God had really assumed a body and