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fathers do apply the sixth of John to the hearing of the word also; as, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen", Eusebius Cæsareensis, and others. "We are said to drink the blood of Christ," saith Origen, "not only by way of the sacraments; but also when we receive his word, wherein consisteth life even as he himself saith, The words, which I have spoken, are spirit and life. Upon which words of Christ, Eusebius paraphraseth after this manner; "Do not think that I speak of that flesh wherewith I am compassed, as if you must eat of that; neither imagine that I command you to drink my sensible and bodily blood but understand well that the words, which I have spoken unto you, are spirit and life. So that those very words and speeches of his are his flesh and blood; whereof who is partaker, being always therewith nourished as it were with heavenly bread, shall likewise be made partaker of heavenly life. Therefore let not that offend you, saith he, which I have spoken, of the eating of my flesh and of the drinking of my blood; neither let the superficial hearing of those things, which were said by me of flesh and blood, trouble you. For these things sensibly heard profit nothing; but the spirit is it, which quickeneth them that are able to hear spiritually." Thus far Eu

• Clem. Alexan. pædagog. lib. 1. cap. 6.

P. Orig. in Levit. cap. 10. hom. 7.

4 Bibere autem dicimur sanguinem Christi, non solum sacramentorum ritu, sed et cum sermones ejus recipimus, in quibus vita consistit; sicut et ipse dicit : Verba, quæ locutus sum, spiritus et vita est. Origen in Num. hom. 16. op. tom. 2. pag. 334.

· Μὴ γὰρ τῶν σάρκα ἣν περίκειμαι νομίσητέ με λέγειν ὡς δέον αὐτὴν ἐσθίειν, μηδὲ τὸ αἰσθητὸν καὶ σωματικὸν αἷμα πίνειν ὑπολαμβάνατε με προστάττειν· ἀλλ ̓ εὖ ἴστε ὅτι τὰ ῥήματα ὰ λελάληκα ὑμῖν πνεῦμά ἐστι καὶ ζωὴ, ὥστε αὐτὰ εἶναι τὰ ῥήματα καὶ τοὺς λόγους αὐτοῦ τὴν σάρκα καὶ τὸ αἷμα· ὧν ὁ μετέχων ἀεὶ ὡσανεὶ ἄρτῳ οὐρανίῳ τρεφόμενος, τῆς οὐρανίου μεθέξει ζωῆς. Μηδὲ οὖν, φησί, σκανδαλιζέτω ὑμὰς τοῦτο ὃ περὶ βρώσεως τῆς ἐμῆς σαρκὸς καὶ περὶ πόματος τοῦ ἐμοῦ αἵματος εἴρηκα, μηδὲ ταραττέτω ὑμᾶς ἡ πρόχειρος ἀκοὴ τῶν περὶ τῆς σαρκὸς καὶ αἵματος εἰρημένων μοι. Ταῦτα γὰρ οὐδὲν ὠφελεῖ αἰσθητῶς ἀκουόμενα, τὸ δὲ πνεῦμά ἐστι τὸ ζωοποιοῦν τοὺς πνευματικῶς ἀκούειν δυναμένους. Euseb. lib. 3. ecclesiast. theologiæ, contr. Marcell. Ancyran. MS. in publica Oxoniensis academiæ bibliotheca: et in privatis virorum doctissimorum, D. Richardi Montacutii et M. Patricii Junii. (postea cdit. una cum Demon. Evang. Paris. 28.)

sebius: whose words I have laid down the more largely, because they are not vulgar.

There remaineth the fifth and last point, which is oftentimes repeated by our Saviour in this sermon; as in the fiftieth verse : "This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die." And in the fifty-first: "If any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever." And in the fifty-fourth: "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life." And in the fifty-sixth: "He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I in him." And in the fifty-eighth: "This is that bread which came down. from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." Whereupon Origen rightly observeth the difference that is betwixt the eating of the typical or symbolical (for so he calleth the sacrament) and the true body of Christ. Of the former, thus he writeth: "Thats which is sanctified by the word of God, and by prayer, doth not of its own nature sanctify him that useth it. For if that were so, it would sanctify him also, which doth eat unworthy of the Lord: neither should any one for this eating be weak, or sick or dead. For such a thing doth Paul shew, when he saith: For this cause many are weak and sickly among "Manyt you, and many sleep. Of the latter, thus: things may be spoken of the Word itself, which was made flesh, and true meat; which whosoever eateth shall cerFor tainly live for ever: which no evil person can eat. if it could be, that he who continueth evil might eat the

* Quod sanctificatur per verbum Dei, et per obsecrationem, non suapte natura sanctificat utentem. Nam id si esset, sanctificaret etiam illum, qui comedit indigne Domino: neque quisquam ob hunc esum infirmus aut ægrotus fuisset, aut obdormisset. Nam tale quiddam Paulus demonstrat, quum ait: "Propter hoc inter vos infirmi, et male habentes, et dormiunt multi." Origen. in Matt. op. tom. 3. pag. 499.

t Multa porro et de ipso Verbo dici possent, quod factum est caro, verusque cibus, quem qui comederit omnino vivet in æternum; quem nullus malus potest edere. Etenim si fieri possit ut, qui malus adhuc perseveret, edat Verbum factum carnem, quum sit Verbum et panis vivus, nequaquam scriptum fuisset: Id. ibid. Quisquis ederit panem hunc, vivet in æternum.

Word made flesh (seeing He is the Word and the bread of life), it should not have been written, Whosoever eateth this bread shall live for ever." The like difference doth St. Augustine also, upon the same ground, make betwixt the eating of Christ's body sacramentally and really. For, having affirmed, that wicked men "may" not be said to eat the body of Christ, because they are not to be counted among the members of Christ," he afterward addeth; "Christ* himself saying, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, remaineth in me and I in him, sheweth what it is, not sacramentally but indeed, to eat the flesh of Christ, and drink his blood: for this is, to remain in Christ, that Christ likewise may remain in him. For he said this, as if he should have said: He that remaineth not in me, and in whom I do not remain, let not him say, or think, that he eateth my flesh or drinketh my blood." And in another place, expounding those words of Christ here alleged, he thereupon inferreth thus: "This is therefore to eat that meat, and drink that drink: to remain in Christ, and to have Christ remaining in him. And by this he that remaineth not in Christ, and in whom Christ abideth not, without doubt doth neither spiritually eat his flesh, nor drink his blood: although he do carnally and visibly press with his teeth the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ; and so rather eateth and drinketh the sacrament of so great a thing for judgment to himself, because that, being unclean, he did presume to come unto the sacraments of Christ."

" Nec isti dicendi sunt manducare corpus Christi; quoniam nec in membris computandi sunt Christi. Augustin. de civit. Dei, lib. 21. cap. 25. op. tom. 7. pag. 646.

Denique ipse dicens, Qui manducat carnem meam, et bibit sanguinem meum, in me manet, et ego in eo, ostendit quid sit, non sacramento tenus sed revera, manducare corpus Christi, et ejus sanguinem bibere: hoc est enim in Christo manere, ut in illo maneat et Christus. Sic enim hoc dixit, tanquam diceret : Qui non in me manet, et in quo ego non maneo, non se dicat aut existimet manducare corpus meum, aut bibere sanguinem meum. Id. ibid.

y Hoc est ergo manducare illam escam, et illum bibere potum; in Christo manere, et illum manentem in se habere. Ac per hoc, qui non manet in Christo,

Hence it is that we find so often in him, and in other of the fathers, that the body and blood of Christ is communicated only unto those that shall live, and not unto those that shall die for ever. "He is the bread of life. He therefore, that eateth life, cannot die. For how should he die whose meat is life? How should he fail, who hath a vital substance?" saith St. Ambrose. And it is a good note of Macarius, that, as men use to give one kind of meat to their servants, and another to their children, so Christ, who "created all things, nourisheth indeed evil and ungrateful persons: but the sons which he begat of his own seed, and whom he made partakers of his grace, in whom the Lord is formed, he nourisheth with a peculiar refection and food, and meat and drink, beyond other men; giving himself unto them that have their conversation with his Father: as the Lord himself saith: he that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, remaineth in me, and I in him, and shall not see death." Among the sentences collected by Prosper out of St. Augustine, this also is one. "He receiveth the meat of life, and drinketh the cup of eternity, who remaineth in Christ, and whose

et in quo non manet Christus, proculdubio nec manducat spiritualiter carnem ejus, nec bibit ejus sanguinem, licet carnaliter et visibiliter premat dentibus sacramentum corporis et sanguinis Christi: sed magis tantæ rei sacramenmanducat et bibit, quia immundus præsumpsit ad Christi accedere sacramenta. tum ad judicium sibi Augustin. in evangel. Johan. tract. 26. op. tom. 3. pag. 501.

Hic est panis vitæ. Qui ergo vitam manducat, mori non potest. Quomodo enim morietur, cui cibus vita est ? Quomodo deficiet, qui habuerit vitalem substantiam? Ambros. in Psal. 118. octonar. 18. op. tom. 1. pag. 1203.

• Παντὰ αὐτὸς ἔκτισε, και τρέφει τοὺς πονηροὺς καὶ ἀχαρίστους, τὰ δὲ τέκνα ἃ ἐγέννησεν ἐκ τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτοῦ καὶ οἷς μετέδωκεν ἐκ τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ, ἐν οἷς ἐμορφώθη ὁ κύριος, ἰδίαν ἀνάπαυσιν, καὶ τροφὴν, καὶ βρῶσιν, καὶ πόσιν, παρὰ τοὺς λοιποὺς ἀνθρώπους ἐκτρέφει, καὶ δίδωσιν ἑαυτὸν αὐτοῖς ἀναστρεφομένοις μετὰ τοῦ πατρὸς αὐτοῦ· ὡς φησὶν ὁ Κύριος, Ὁ τρώγων μου τὴν σάρκα, καὶ πίνων μου τὸ αἷμα, ἐν ἐμοὶ μένει, καγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ, καὶ θάνατον οὐ μὴ θεωρήσει. Macar. Egypt. homil. 14.

b Escam vitæ accipit, et æternitatis poculum bibit, qui in Christo manet, et cujus Christus habitator est. Nam qui discordat a Christo nec carnem ejus manducat, nec sanguinem bibit: etiamsi tantæ rei sacramentum ad judicium suæ præsumptionis quotidie indifferenter accipiat. Prosp. sentent. 339.

inhabiter is Christ. For he, that is at discord with Christ, doth neither eat his flesh, nor drink his blood: although to the judgment of his presumption, he indifferently doth receive every day the sacrament of so great a thing." Which distinction between the sacrament and the thing whereof it is a sacrament, and consequently between the sacramental and the real eating of the body of Christ, is thus briefly and most excellently expressed by St. Augustine himself, in his exposition upon the sixth of John. "The sacrament of this thing is taken from the Lord's table; by some unto life, by some unto destruction: but the thing itself, whereof it is a sacrament, is received by every man unto life, and by none unto destruction, that is made partaker thereof." Our conclusion therefore is this:

The body and blood of Christ is received by all
unto life, and by none unto condemnation.
But that substance, which is outwardly delivered
in the sacrament, is not received by all unto
life, but by many unto condemnation.
Therefore that substance, which is outwardly de-
livered in the sacrament, is not really the body
and blood of Christ.

The first proposition is plainly proved by the texts, which have been alleged out of the sixth of John. The second is manifest, both by common experience, and by the testimony of the apostle". We may therefore well conclude, that the sixth of John is so far from giving any furtherance to the doctrine of the Romanists in this point, that it utterly overthroweth their fond opinion, who imagine the body and blood of Christ to be in such a sort present, under the visible forms of bread and wine, that whosoever receiveth the one, must of force also really be made partaker of the other.

The like are we now to shew in the words of the insti

c Hujus rei sacramentum, &c. de mensa Dominica sumitur; quibusdam ad vitam, quibusdam ad exitium. Res vero ipsa, cujus sacramentum est, omni homini ad vitam, nulli ad exitium, quicunque ejus particeps fuerit. Augustin. in Johan. tract. 25. op. tom. 3. pag. 500.

d 1 Cor. chap. 11. ver. 17, 27, 29.

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