2dly. Christ as food is united unto believers; there is a very close and intimate union between the food and the body, and so there is between Christ and believers: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him, saith our Saviour, vers. 56. Eating here must not be taken properly; an oral manducation is capernastical, and indeed a very horrible thing to be imagined: Hence St. Austin saith, That the command of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, seems to require an horrible wickedness; and then concludes,1 Figura ergo est; a thing to be done in a spiritual way. Hence Averroes the Philosopher said, That if Christians devoured their God, he would not have his soul to be with them. It is a wonder to me that those who are called Christians, should hold such an eating! Nay, that men on ⟨p. 113⟩earth should orally eat the body of Christ in Heaven, or that his glorified body should come into our earthly mouths and stomachs, is to me a thing utterly impossible; he is and must for ever remain in glory. The eating therefore is a spiritual one, done by faith; though Christ be in Heaven, faith flies up and apprehends him.2 St. Chrysostom would have us be as Eagles, and so fly to Heaven; and then adds, Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be. Christ our aliment is gone to Heaven, and faith follows after him, to draw life and virtue from him. Faith doth spiritually participate of his body and blood, and from thence doth derive a Divine power and strength into the soul. As faith ascends up, so the holy Spirit comes down upon believers, which completes the union between him and them: They dwell in him, and he in them, as our Saviour speaks; they dwell in him by faith, and he in them by his Spirit. There is a mutual indwelling, a most near and intimate union between them. The learned Grotius takes this mutual indwelling to be only amore mutuo, by a mutual love. Amans est ubi amat, quod hic tribuitur manducationi, id alibi tribuitur dilectioni, 1 Joh. 4.16. The lover is where his love is. What here is attributed to eating, that in another ⟨p. 114⟩place is attributed to love, He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. But I take it, there is a difference; our union to Christ is first and more immediate, and then in and through him we are united unto God.
2dly. Christ as food is united unto believers; there is a very close and intimate union between the food and the body, and so there is between Christ and believers: He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him, saith our Saviour, vers. 56. Eating here must not be taken properly; an oral manducation is capernastical, and indeed a very horrible thing to be imagined: Hence St. Austin saith, That the command of eating his flesh, and drinking his blood, seems to require an horrible wickedness; and then concludes,1 Figura ergo est; a thing to be done in a spiritual way. Hence Averroes the Philosopher said, That if Christians devoured their God, he would not have his soul to be with them. It is a wonder to me that those who are called Christians, should hold such an eating! Nay, that men on ⟨p. 113⟩earth should orally eat the body of Christ in Heaven, or that his glorified body should come into our earthly mouths and stomacks, is to me a thing utterly impossible; he is and must for ever remain in glory. The eating therefore is a spiritual one, done by faith; though Christ be in Heaven, faith flies up and apprehends him.2 St. Chrysostom would have us be as Eagles, and so fly to Heaven; and then adds, Where the carcass is, there will the eagles be. Christ our aliment is gone to Heaven, and faith follows after him, to draw life and virtue from him. Faith doth spiritually participate of his body and blood, and from thence doth derive a Divine power and strength into the soul. As faith ascends up, so the holy Spirit comes down upon believers, which compleats the union between him and them: They dwell in him, and he in them, as our Saviour speaks; they dwell in him by faith, and he in them by his Spirit. There is a mutual indwelling, a most near and intimate union between them. The learned Grotius takes this mutual indwelling to be only amore mutuo, by a mutual love. Amans est ubi amat, quod hic tribuitur manducationi, id alibi tribuitur dilectioni, 1 Joh. 4.16. The lover is where his love is. What here is attriouted to eating, that in another ⟨p. 114⟩place is attributed to love, He that dwelleth in love, dwelleth in God, and God in him. But I take it, there is a difference; our union to Christ is first and more immediate, and then in and through him we are united unto God.
- 1De Doctr. Christ. lib. 3. c. 16.
- 2In 1 Cor. 10. Hom. 24.
