Choice Grounds and Principles of our Christian Religion, Treatise · Question 20
Quest. 20. Can we not be sustained to eternall life, vnlesse wee eate the flesh of Christ, and drinke his bloud?
Answ. Christ himselfe answereth this question, Ioh. 6. Ioh. 6.53.54.saying, Verily, verily, I say vntounto you. Except yee eate the flesh of the Sonne of Man, and drinke his bloud, yee hauehave no life in you. Whosoeuer eateth my flesh, and drinketh my bloud, hath euerlasting life, and I will raise him vp at the last day, &c.
EXPOSITION.
HOw, and in what sence, the flesh of Christ is said to be eaten, and his bloud to be drunke, wee shall take special consideration (God willing) when we come to the one and twentieth question.
In this place it may suffice, to consider somewhat generally: That our Lord Iesus Christ, is the fountaine and well-spring of life, and all good things: from whose fulnesse, aboundantly floweth sufficient grace and vertue, for the perpetuall satisfying, and refreshing of all such as hunger and thirst after the same; as this is notably confirmed in that description which he maketh of himselfe, Io. 7.Ioh. 7.37, 38, …9. where hee not onelyonly most louingly inuiteth all such as thirst after grace, mercy, and saluation, to come vntounto him to drinke, and to refresh themselues: but absolutely also pronounceth, that he that beleeueth in him, out of his belly shall flowe Riuers of water of Life. And presently after, This (saith the Euangelist) spake he of the Spirit, which they that beleeued in him, should receiue. Hereunto appertaineth that also, Ioh. 4. where he saith in plaine termes, that if the woman of Samaria had had knowledge and faith to hauehave desired the same at his hands, hee would hauehave freely sufficed her with the water of life.Ioh. 4.1 c. If thou knewest (saith he) the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, GiueGive me drinke, thou wouldest hauehave asked him, and hee would hauehave giuen thee the water of Life. This is further apparant, Ioh. 6.Ioh. 6.35.48. where he calleth himselfe the Bread of Life; nourishing (as it were) vpholding, and preseruing to eternall life, all such as truely and faithfully beleeue in his name; euen as earthly meat & drinke nourisheth, vpholdeth, and preserueth in this life, all such as eate it, receiue, and digest it:Ieu. 26.26. Ezek. 4.16. C…ap. 5.16. that euen as materiall bread is the staffe, and stay of our nourishment, (as the Scripture termeth it, and as we sée by experience, that without the same, we cannot possibly continue in life, and health;) euen so is our Lord Iesus Christ, the only meanes of our preseruation to eternall life: without the enioying and partaking of whom, and of whose righteousnesse and redemption, there is no remedy, but fearefully to perish both soule and body for euermore: That he, I say, and no other, either thing, or person, is the onelyonly spirituall food, and nourishment of our soules, by whom alone we are reconciled vntounto God, and kept in vnity with him to eternall life; and without whom, wee by sinne remaine separated from God, & so in death eternall. And therefore notably, 1. Ioh: 5.1. Ioh. 5.12. He that hath the Sonne, hath life; and hee that hath not the Sonne of God, hath not life. VntoUnto this excellent fulnesse, and fountaine of life, Christ Iesus (long time before his comming in the flesh) had the Prophet Esay relation, chapter 55. where we may see, how earnestly he exhorteth all such as hunger and thirst after saluation, that they should come, and seeke the same plentifully in Christ, & sharply blameth all those, who forsaking or neglecting Christ, doe seeke the satisfying of their hungry & thirsty soules by other meanes Ho, Esa. 55.1.2, 3.eueryevery one that thirsteth (saith hee) come ye to the waters, and ye that hauehave no siluer, come buy, and eate; come, I say, buy Wine and Milke, without siluer, and without money. Wherefore doe yee lay out siluer, and not for bread, and your labour without beeing satisfied? Hearken diligently vntounto me, and eate that which is good. And a little after: Encline your eares, and come vntounto mee: Heare, and your soule shall liue. Whereunto agreeth the complaint of the Lord by the Prophet, Ier chap. 2.Ier. 2.13. My people hauehave forsaken mee the fountaine of liuing waters, to digge them pits, euen broken pits that can hold no water. The which prophesies, that they were foretold, and spoken of Christ, and of that excellent fulnesse that should be in him, it is so cleere in the places already alledged, that wee cannot desire any thing more apparant.
But now, if we shall yet a little further consider, how our Lord Iesus Christ is made after this manner, the spirituall food and nourishment of our soules: wee must ascend higher in this consideration, then to the humanity of Christ, or to his naturall body and bloud, and conceiue that hee is the bread of life, and our spirituall nourishment, as he is in one person both God and Man. Reason. For euen as all kinde of nourishment hath some proportion of likenesse, with that body which it nourisheth: euen so Christ, the naturall Son of God, became Man, that by that likenesse and proportion with vsus, he might bee apt and fit nourishment to sustaine vsus to eternall life: He being to this end humbled and abased to the death of the Crosse, where his body was broken, and his bloud-shed: where he offered himselfe to God the Father, a full and perfect sacrifice for our sinnes: And so consequently being afterward raised from death, to life, became a very true, yea, the onelyonly true sustenance to eternall life, aptly, and truely in all respects, prepared for our soules: and not onelyonly for our soules, but euen for our bodies also; hee dying for the preseruation as well of the one, as of the other.
Acknowledging then the Lord Iesus to bee the onelyonly Fountaine, Vse. and well-spring of life: wee must be religiously carefull, (according to that which hath bin taught) to seeke the refreshing, and satisfying of our hungry and thirsty soules, onelyonly, and altogether of his fulnesse, and that euermore with an vndoubted assurance of obtaining our desire: Not according to the doctrine of the Papists, standing in doubt whether he will be so gracious or no: but remembring what S. Iames saith, chap. 1. He that wauereth, is like a waue of the Sea, Iam. 1.6.driuen with the winde, and tossed. Wee therefore he cleerely resolued, and out of all doubt:
Alwayes yet, taking heed withall, that herein wee presume not too farre, but knowing that this foode of life appertaineth onelyonly to such, as feeling the want thereof, doe desire refreshing: that therefore in the feare of God, we pray and beseech the Lord to open our eyes, that wee may see and féele our wants, the wretched and miserable estate that we are in by reason of our sinnes: it being most sure and certaine, that as the case stood with the Iewes in times past, so it stands with many of vsus at this day. We are in a miserable case, through want of this sweet and heauenly food, and yet wretched men and women (as we are for the most part) we doe not see nor perceiue it. The hunger and thirst of the body, we can quickly see and complaine of; but as for the want and necessity of the soule, many of vsus hauehave no sence or feeling at all. A rare matter to heare one (so much as once in all his life) to complaine of the want of sauing knowledge, faith, repentance, patience, zeale of Gods glory, peace of conscience, ioy in the Holy Ghost, or any other sanctifying grace of Gods Spirit. To asswage the hunger and thirst of the body, no cost or paines is thought too much: but to prouide for the good estate of the soule, to furnish the same, and to satisfie the hungry and thirsty desires thereof, (by the ordinary meanes which God hath appointed,) the least cost & the least paines, is thought to be enough, if not too much: Nay, though it be freely offered, we regard it not. Thus are wee at this day (for the most part) as ignorant of our miseries, and as sencelesse in our sinnes, as euer were the Iewes, or any other in times past. And therefore no maruell, though there be no more true zeale of Gods glory, no more true louelove of religion and godlinesse, no more care or conscience to walke vprightly in the wayes of Gods cōmandements, to be found among men: these, and such like graces (indeed) being not common to eueryevery one, but proper onelyonly to Gods children, which feele the want of them (as I said before) and hunger and thirst after them. According, as none but such, doth our Lord Iesus Christ call vntounto him, Math. 11.Mat. 11.28. And vntounto none but such doth he promise a comfortable refreshing, saying, Come vntounto mee, all ye that labour, and are heauy laden, and I will giuegive you rest.