Diuells haue a tyrannizing power when God permits But besides this vnion of vniuersall Dependance there is also another kind of Coniunction whereby not onely all Christians but all other men also yea and all the creatures in the world are vnited or ioyned vnto Christ as God For the Deity by reason of the immensitie and subtilty thereof is most fully and most inwardly totally present in and to and throughout all creatures corporall and spirituall comprehending all things but comprehended of nothing piercing all things but pierced of nothing and is farre more thoroughly present and more fully then either light or heate is in the aire or then the soule is in the body So that if that should bee which yet cannot be that is to say if the creature did not depend on Christ yet by reason of the all-piercing subtilnesse and vnmeasureablenesse of his Godhead he should penetrate and fill all things it selfe being fill'd of nothing and be most inwardly and thoroughly present vnto them and so be in some sort conioyned with them But this Coniunction is common that of true dealing Christians and Christ Iesus is speciall and proper to them This Coniunction is of the Creature to Christ as God but the other is of man to Christ God-Man or Man-God Mediator betwixt God man Here Christ is present by a most inward and thorough penetration his very Deity inclosing touching and piercing all things But there hee is present by the presence of supernaturall grace yea and his very flesh is not away or wanting but present as I will declare hereafter The Coniunction which is by penetration and omni-presence makes no man happy as the other doth with the which whosoeuer is vnited vnto Christ he is certainely in the state of grace and liues in sure hope of the state of glory And whereas the vnion of Christ and a Christian is indeed a true and certaine vnion and may properly bee so called this Coniunction by penetration and presence doth not properly conteine any vnion but onely vbiquity indistancy and an insensible but thorough repletion of all things There are not two Christs but one and this one Christ hath two distinct natures in him one Diuine the other Humane and both these names are vnited together in one and the same person by a personall vnion But we are not so vnited to Christ as our nature is to the nature of God in Christ I call Christs humane nature ours because it is indeed ours not in number the same with any mans but in kinde the same with all mens indued with a true humane soule and body not being created a new of nothing or from another peece of clay but made of a woman who came from the loynes of Adam For by the vertue of this vnion which is Hypostaticall God is man man is God But if Christians were vnited personally to Christ then the very name of Christ and God should be giuen to them which were absurd to think And which were very grosse and horrible then also God might bee as truely and as orthodoxally said to sinne when a Christian man sinned as it is said that God died was crucified and rose againe because the man who is true God in one person our Lord Iesus Christ was crucified died rose againe Though it be true that Iesus the Sonne of the blessed Virgin Mary be the true and eternall Son of the eternall and true God yet it were false and impious to say that the Church is the eternall and true naturall Daughter of God or that euery true belieuer were Gods naturall Son or God which yet were so if wee were personally vnited to the Godhead There are many Maries mothers but only the Virgin Mary was the mother of God I doubt not but that Christ is formed and is in forming in many a Ladies heart but yet hee was onely formed in that Ladies wombe as a childe Her childe onely is the naturall Sonne of God he onely is the Word the substantiall the consubstantiall and coeternall Word But if we were personally vnited to the Word or to the God head or to both Godhead Manhead in the Word then might we be called the Word of God and God yea and the Virgin Mary might bee said to be our mother as well as the mother of God yes and wee could not but be full of merits power and vertue euen as Christ But what pious eare can indure to heare such blasphemies Moreouer though it be most true which our Sauiour saith I am in my Father and you in mee and I in you yet wee must not thinke that wee are hypostatically vnited vnto Christ nor that we are so in Christ as Christ is in his Father This speech therefore of Christ must bee taken with a graine of falt For Christ is in his father as being of one and the selfe-same substance and nature with his Father being indeede the brightnesse of his glory and the very character of his Person and his true naturall Sonne and substantiall image but he is in vs as an helper ayder and susteiner by whom we haue our spirituall being life breath sense and motion and who beares vs vp and feeds vs as the roote doth the body and branches of a tree Furthermore there is a certaine vnion of the workeman and his toole of the hand and the instrument in it And thus by way of similitude Christ and all faithfull Christians who are instruments of his praises and whom he holdeth in the right hand of his power and protection bearing them as an Eagle doth her yong ones may be said to be conioyned And as in an instrument of musique tho one winde giue a generall sound yet by the diuersity and disequality of the pipes and organes all which the wind filleth the tones are varied so though one Christ be in all true Christians one spirit be inspired as a celestiall and liuing winde into them all yet they differ in their tunes actions motions and iubilations according to their owne personall and particular capacities and as the Spirit who workes not as a naturall but as a voluntary agent doth impart and diffuse his grace But whereas a sword lute trumpet and other instruments of Art are voide of life Christians are liuing and breathing Organs intellectuall spirituall and voluntary instruments for Christ to worke with and are liker a mans hand or other liue-member of his body then a sword of steele or other senselesse and dead instrument voide of reason sense life and will able to do no more then it is made to do by plaine force And whereas the workeman doth not nor cannot alwaies make or mend his toole Christ doth alwaies both make and mend his tooles For wee are his workemanship Hee hath made vs and not we our selues He that makes himselfe is alwaies marr'd in the making And he that teaches himselfe hath a foole for his master And whereas a workeman and his tooles
Emperour Albonius King of Lumbardie Sergus a King of Scotland Arden of Feuersham and many others But the Church of Christ and Christ her head are free from either doing or suffering such barbarous cruelty betwixt themselues The Diuell and the World may preuaile against some married couples and sometimes doe to the destruction of their soules no doubt but hell-gates shall not ouercome the Church the World cannot preuaile against faithfull Christians My sheepe heare my voyce saith Christ and I know them and I giue vnto them euerlasting life and they shall neuer perish neither shall any plucke them out of my hands If Christ himselfe cannot be damned then not they that are ioyned to him who died for them and rose againe for their iustification And therefore wee may boldly say There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus who walke not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit Euery godly Christian is endued is inuested is clad with Christ and weares him as a wedding garment For so many of you saith St. Paul as are baptized into Christ that is as are regenerated and borne a new of water and the Holy Ghost by whom wee are * baptized and incorporated into the body of Christ haue put on Christ as a rich precious and glorious garment whereby their naked filthinesse and filthy nakednesse is couered and are themselues accepted of God as beautifull and gracious in the beauty and grace of Iesus Christ in which they stand and appeare most sweet and amiable Now if such a man can bee damned being lapped and wrapped vp in Christ who couers him from top to toe them must Christ needes bee damned with him which cannot bee as a man that is flung in the fire with his clothes on is burnt together with them Many men in marrying make very dangerous aduentures They venture their name their peace their goods their soundnesse yea and sometimes their soules too for which respect God forbad his people to marry with the Heathen for feare they should turne them from God to Idols And this is the case of many women also who by their marriages doe buy themselues repentance and sorrow that whereas it is sayd of Iepthaes daughter that she went out to bewaile the daies of her virginity they may goe out and bewaile the daies of their mariage and that not for two moneths only but perchance as long as they liue It is good for them therfore to look before they leap and to sound before they saile But men by ioyning themselues to Christ venture nothing lose nothing or if they doe lose they gaine by their losses and are enriched by their calamity Whosoeuer shall forsake houses or brethren or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my name sake saith Christ hee shall receiue an hundred fold more and shall inherit euerlasting life Many sore vnkindnesses heart-burnings and quarrels doe now and then fall out betwixt many men and their wiues that sometimes they euen loth one another and forsake one another But Christ neuer forsakes his Spouse nor shee him Hee is with her to saue protect assist and guide her to day and for euer He loueth all those which are his vnto the end he loueth them His couenant with them is euerlasting He will neuer turne away from them to do them good but he will delight in them to do them good and will put his feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from him Hee will giue them one heart and one way that they may feare him for euer And if at any time they shall fall hee will lift them vp againe as he did Dauid and Peter and though hee doe sometimes chastize them yet hee will not remooue his louing kinduesse from them Men and their wiues are sometimes clouen-hearted hypocrites vnto God and hollow-hearted one towards another inconstant vneuen and like the beast called Onocentaurus whose vpper part resembleth a man and the nether an asse But Christ and his Spouse are true-hearted and holy All the essentiall and true members of the true Church are true Saints iustified and sanctified Euery person married is not a member of the Church hath not the Church for a mother but euery one whether wedded or single that is truely ioyned vnto Christ may iustly call the true Church Mother and the true God Father Euery man and his wife are indeed partakers of the nature of man but euery true Christian who is borne of God and is the Sonne of God and is espoused and vnited vnto Christ is partaker of the Diuine nature which many a man and his wife too are void of being not the children of God but the sonnes of Belial not the members of Christ but the very limmes of the Diuell But yet the Churches true children true Christian belieuers are not so in that manner and measure partakers of the diuine nature with Christ as women are partakers of the humane nature with men as I haue sufficiently before declared And besides the differences of a man and a woman if we regard nature are not specificall and substantiall but numericall and accidentall Homo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man is a name as common to women as to men But Deus God is a name proper to Christ who is essentially God and in whom the Diuinitie dwelleth personally and doth not commonly belong to all Christians who are partakers of the diuine nature as concerning consolation assistance and holy happy and sauing operations and are indeed indued with a new nature which may be call'd diuine because it is from Gods speciall grace and is for his honour and glory is according to his will and is opposite to that vicious and sinfull worke of the Deuill which hath corrupted the nature of man deforming the image of God according to which he was created For sure it is if any man be in Christ hee is a new creature a diuine creature the worke of Heauen The diuell who raignes in moe then in vnmarried people is expulsed out of him the spirit of God is inspired into him and a new spirit another heart a better heart is giuen him which spirit a woman hath not because this or that man hath married her but because shee is ioyned vnto Christ who hath giuen himselfe vnto her There are some men that neuer truely loued their wiues but their wiues wealth not Them but Theirs For their riches they tooke them and when once they became Masters of them they cared no longer for them And such vsually proue those young sprigges that are grafted into olde stockes Vnhappy women who loue but are not loued againe But they more vnhappy who in their elder daies when their wombes are dead doe giue the reines to lust dreaming and doting after youthes when they should rather bee preparing and trimming themselues for Christ their thoughts being ascended higher
heathenish dayes it was accounted a great fauour to haue to doe with a God But Gods Church is no Paulina yeeldes not to Mundus the World but is able to distinguish betwixt God and the world vnder what habit or colour soeuer the world appeareth Shee is neither so dimme-sighted nor so supersticious and foolish as to mistake or leaue her husband or to giue her selfe to the Iust of any out of the loue either of their fauour or dalliance with them Shee loues to beare but yet onely by her owne husband Him shee knowes well his voice she heares him shee followes But the voyce of strangers she knowes not them she followes not but flyeth from them A man may take a wife but he cannot alwayes make her a mother God maketh the barren woman to be a ioyfull mother of children A man is not able to remooue sterility nor though his wife were fruitfull to beget a childe when hee will himselfe Loe children are an heritage of the Lord and the fruit of the wombe is his reward But Christ Iesus the Churches husband a man indeede but more then a man euen God eternall is able to make his Spcuse fruitfull and to giue her children when he will and children of a better condition and complexion then husbands giue their wiues which are wormes and worse too vncleane and wretched subiect to the wrath of God and vnder death For all the children of the Church which shee beareth vnto Christ are cleane and happy faire and louely endued with the holy Ghost and clad with Christ himselfe who is their father and enrobed with his iustice as with a garment rich enough to redeem the world in which appearing before the great and righteous God the Iudge of all the world they reioyce his heart and obtaine his blessing as Iacob obtained his father Isaachs comming to him with his brothers faire apparrell on him which his mother had with her in her house Of such blessed Parents how can there be but blessed children O blessed thrice blessed are all the children of the Church The children of the greatest Kings and Queenes in the world are not to bee compared to them They are not worthy to bee named together in one day The truth is they are but very wretches how glorious soeuer they bee in the world till they come and call her mother and become obedient to her But be it that a woman be a wife vnto her husband and a mother too yet shee is not both houswife and house too Men dwell with their wiues but not in their wiues except by loue But the Catholique Church is Christs huswife and his house too his Spouse and his Temple also Ye are the Temple of the lining God saith Saint Paul In this temple Christ is alway present alway resident alway president To him this Temple is erected by him it is set vp and kept sartumtectum safe sound This he fils in it hee walkes and rules and takes great delight The Lord hath chosen her for his owne habitation and loueth to dwell in her saying This is my rest for euer heere will I dwell for I haue a delight therein Shee is a liuing Temple and Christ is the life thereof Shee is a light house but no light huswife and Christ is the Light thereof A part of which princely Palace is euery godly Christian who as a liuing stone is hewen out of that rocke of life Christ Iesus and by him made vp and put into that goodly building So then wheras many a poore child which hath both father and mother is yet destitute oftentimes of a house to put his head in and is compelled to lie vnder hedges and wals or in the open fields there is not a true childe of God there is not a man aliue if he bee filius Ecclesiae the son of the Church but hee hath an house to rest his soule in and so long as he is vnder the roofe hee is safe from euill being vnder the Lords protection who is a sure shield and castle of defence inuincible vnbatterable vnto all that put their trust in him and walke vprightly with him in his house But I will haste a little faster on No man makes his owne wife For shee is first without him a woman before hee take her to be with him as his wife It is too much for a man to make a woman for some finde it too much to mend a woman so that he must let that alone for euer as a worke peculiar vnto God And though it be an easie matter for a man to get himselfe a wife such as shee is yet a good wife a vertuous wife a prudent wife one that will doe her husband good and not euill all the dayes of her life is a blessing that comes from God Parents can giue nature but God giues grace They can giue flesh and blood but vertue and well doing are the gifts of God who is the fountaine and father of lights And it fals out sometimes by the iniquity of rigid and couetous parents that a man hath a wife thrust vpon him beeing constrained to take her for auoyding greater dangers and more greeuous euils And when they haue them they loue them as men doe straight shooes and clothes they care not for But the Lord lesus hath no wife obtruded on him against his will neither can any with subtill sleights steale into him and goe beyond him as some women vse to winne their husbands But hee takes whom hee takes willingly and makes the first motion of loue alwayes himselfe neither doth he cozen or beguile any but leads them on with truths and sollid demonstrations and promises no more then he can and will performe Yea he takes but what hee made before For all creatures haue past through his hands hee had the forming of them all And whom hee makes his wife hee does not marre in the making as sometimes men doe but reformes and beautifies them wheras men sometimes take vpon them moued by worldly respects to marry some peruerse wicked or supersticious women hoping and now and then bragging they will reforme them whereas commonly they buy repentance too late and in stead of mending them are somtimes marr'd themselues infected with their vices as wine or water with musty vessells And whereas men doe not beget their wiues they meane to marry For men marry not with their daughters And sure if Lot and Cyanippus had not both beene drunke their daughters had not beene vitiated by them Neither had Valeria Thusculana got the incestuous companie of her father but vnder the colour of another woman Which so soone as hee did perceiue he kild himselfe in detestation of the fact Euery Christian soule est filia sponsa Christi is both the daughter the Spouse of Christ Iesus descended from him and vnited to him Hee weddeth none but his owne
A THEOLOGICAL DISCOVRSE OF THE gracious and blessed Coniunction of Christ and a sincere Christian By THO TVKE Preacher of Gods word 1. COR. 6. He that is ioyned vnto Christ is one spirit The blessed Virgin Mary brought foorth Christ the Catholique Church brings foorth all true Christians LONDON Printed by Edw Griffin dwelling in the little Old-baily neere the signe of the Kings head 1617. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE SIR FRANCIS BACON Knight Lord Keeper of the great Seale of England Right Honourable THere is no sound reason why any man should glorie in himselfe being Alone and I thinke no man that is compos animi doth desire it seeing no man can be compleat and happie no not in this world without a Fellow It is no mans vnitie in himselfe but his Vnion and Communion witb others that makes him blessed Woe therefore vnto him that is alone But amongst all our Vnions one with another there is none to be compared with our Coniunction with our blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ For Princes Parents Patrones Husbands Wiues Children Kinsfolkes Friends Neighbours and all others also with whom wee are conioyned are but the spoyle of Time and a prey for Death Adam and all his Children are but Eatrh Some of them indeede stand aboue their Brethren like Mountaines yet these Mountaines as well as Mole-hills are but earth and earth will to earth though all the world say nay But our Lord Iesus Christ hath mastered the graue in the graue and ouercome death in death hee is aliue and liues for euer And whereas no other Vnion no not all the Vnions in the world together can assure the soule of Gods fatherly grace and giue it a true Title to euerlasting life this can and doth in so much that hee which is ioyned to Christ may say and say truely with Saint PAVL I am dead to the Law I am crucified with Christ but I liue yet not I any more but Christ liueth in mee And in that I now liue in the flesh I liue by the faith of the Sonne of God who hath loued me and giuen himselfe for mee A happie man indeede clothed with Christ partaker of his merits indued with his Spirit and transformed into him by his grace This man cannot perish out of doubt but Christ who died for him and liueth in him must also perish with him which cannot be There is good reason therefore to iudge an vnfeigned Christian the Only blessed man indeede and to make more account of this Coniunction then of all earthly things how glorious how great or how good soeuer A Discourse hereof I doe here offer vnto your Honourable Lordshippe and it comes cheerefully to you as being bold vpon your generous spirit and loue to learning though in it selfe it be vnworthy of so learned and iudicious a Person and comes it may be also out of season your Lordshippe being full of great and weighty businesses But yet I beseech you grace it with your kinde acceptance and vouchsafe to pardon my boldnesse with your Lordshippe Go on right noble Lord go on As you doe inioy your Fathers Honours so continue as you haue begunne to expresse his noble Vertues that while you liue not onely your owne Friends and Followers but that many a poore Priest that hath waited long at Altar and done faithfull seruice in the Church a prentishippe or perhaps two or three and could neuer come by Benefice either for want of friends or through the cruell and cursed corruption of sacrilegious Patrones and not such onely but that all which loue learning godlinesse truth and equitie may loue you and honour you and blesse God for you and that when you shall depart from hence you may inioy his Happinesse in heauen and leaue as honourable a Name behinde you here on earth The great God of Heauen and Earth double his graces in you and grant you health and long life for the good of this Church and State and the comfort of all those that loue your Person and honour your Vertues May 24 1617. Your Lordships euer humbly THO TVKE Of the Coniunction of CHRIST and a Christian OVr Lord Iesus Christ is God and Man God of God light of light very God of very God Man of the seede of Dauid borne of a woman at the fulnesse of time a virgin-man of a virgin-mother the great Sauiour of the world the King Priest and Doctor of the Church which is his mysticall body and deerest Spouse A true Christian is he that belieues truly in Christ and expresseth his confidence in him by constant obedience to his law which is his light and by sincere loue vnto him and vnto his members Hee is vnworthy the name of a Christian that is not indued with the faith of a Christian He doth really deny Christ and his Lordship that will not that Christ raigne ouer him Hee doth deny him that denies to serue him And he doth not loue him that doth not loue his seruants He is indeed a Christian faith Saint Augustine who sheweth mercy vnto all who feeles another mans sorrow as his owne who denies no poore man his meat who is contented to be inglorious before men that hee may glory before God and his Angells who despiseth earthly things that he may haue heauenly who succours the miserable and is mooued to weepe by the teares of others A true Christian is the true sheepe of Christ now the Sheepheard best knowes his owne sheepe and is best able to describe them and shew with what markes they are branded and are to be discerned Ye belieue not saith Christ for yee are not of my sheep My sheepe heare my voice and I know them and am knowne of mine and they follow me A true Christian is Christs true Disciple one that heares his word gladly and conformes himselfe vnto it carefully delighting to heare the things that are worthy to be done and to doe the things that are worthy to be heard accounting it to learne well to liue well and to know well to belieue well Now true Christian charitie discouers the true disciple of Christ By this saith Christ shall all men know that ye are my Disciples if yee haue loue one to another For sure hee loues not the Master that hates the Scholler neither deserues he the name of a scholler in the schoole of Christ that loues not the learning of Christ wherwith all his schollers are both knowne and graced and this is Charitie the poore mans riches the rich mans honour and the great mans crowne without which rich men are worse then beggars learned men viler then idiots and they that thinke themselues highest are lower then the lowest euen nothing iust nothing worse then nothing for nothing can neither doe hurt nor take hurt So then true Faith in Christ true knowledge and acknowledgement of Christ true and right hearing and discerning of the voice of
it may be truly said Hee is a man translated and transformed into Christ he is not in the flesh but in the spirit not Satan but Christ Iesus doth dwell and raigne within him O happy men that are in Christ Iesus that haue Christ Iesus for their Husband who is the staffe of their liues the breath of their nostrills and their Hope Many a man is saued and his wife damned Two shall be in a bed one of them shall bee taken the other forsaken But whoseeuer shall be found coupled to Christ shall bee saued For he is the bread of life and life eternall to all that haue and hold him There are some men or I wot not well what in the shapes of men that waxe weary of their wiues with a little acquaintance contemne them in their decaying dayes and whether young or olde will not bee pleased in them without a deale of artificiall brauery and borrowed fauour But the Lord Iesus esteemes the hart of a man and not his Art he delights in substance not in naked shewes counterfeit vertue which is true hypocrisie is accounted with him for double iniquity It is not outward beauty that he stands vpon but inward Vertue inward Trueth and not outward trappings Painting of the face with him is as the guilding of a nutmegge or the colouring of a statue and as pleasing to wise men when they spie it as a painted Sepulchre when they smell it or as counterfeit coyne when they discerne it But grace true grace which is accidentall to a man or woman is essentiall to a true Christian This is that which pleaseth Christ which hee with his owne finger hath painted and engrauen in the soule This this is the tincture and the lustre that hee delights in And as for old age hee will cast no man off for that but the longer he hath beene acquainted with any the longer any man hath liued in his seruice the longer that any haue beene coupled with him the more account he vses to make of them Old friends old seruants old followers old consorts if sincere and trusty are of all others most gracious and shall haue their rewards with the chiefest I said before that the Husband and his Wife are appointed by God to bee one common fountaine and foundation or Originall of Posterity by generation of children For neither is the Man without the Woman and efficient nor the Woman without the Man And neyther Man nor Woman without the benignity of the Sunne For it is true that Sol homo generant hominem the Sunne and Man beget a Man Our Lord the Lord Iesus Christ hath children and no children but those which he gets himselfe But the Sunne which is a naturall agent hath no hand helpeth nothing in Regeneration which is supernaturall as it doth to Generation which is naturall And though a Man cannot beget without a Woman yet is Christ God and Man able to regenerate a Man without the cooperation of any Creature by himselfe alone But yet ordinarily if not euer he doth beget men to himselfe by the Church For my part I am perswaded that hee that cannot call her Mother hath no right to call him Father For Ierusalem the City of God whose Originall is from Heauen aboue and not from the earth below is the Mother of vs all But whereas the Mother nourishes her childe with food from her owne bodie the Church feedes her children with the milk and meat of Gods word For the two Testaments are the Churches two Breasts And as Parents beget children according to their owne image that is men and sinfull and doe sometimes also lend them their owne diseases as Leprosie Palsey Gowt so the Lord Iesus begets his children according to his image substantiall I meane not but accidentall consisting in light iustice holinesse and true Christian Vertues Indeede our Parents beget vs when before we werenot but Christ begets vs being men before though in truth but dead men dead in sinnes and trespasses and the children of wrath And as they giue vs their sinne which hath beene deriued to them from Adam so Christ giues vs his Iustice and Merits to couer our sinnes as I shall afterwards shew more fully A Woman may be a Wife and yet no Mother and some are Mothers and yet no Wiues Or she may be a Mother and yet an adultresse But this is a mans affliction when either his wife is barren or vnchaste And it is a womans shame when either shee is a mother before shee bee a wife or is vnfaithfull when shee is a wife But the Church can haue no children but by Christ her husband without whose gracious influence and intention no man can make a Christian The Catholique Church as Fulgentius well obserueth is a Spouse because she is vnited and adhereth vnto Christ a mother because she is made fruitfull by Christ and a virgine because shee doth purely perseuere in Christ Shee is indeed a singular wife of rare endowments and full of honour For shee is the great kings Daughter and coupled with him that is God and Man Shee is not subiect to violence as the daughters and wiues of men are as Lucretia the wife of Collatinus Dinah the daughteer of Iacob and they that were rauisht by Brias Rodericus Nouellus Cararius Osbright and such like monsters in the shapes of men Neither brings shee any children to God by any adulterous mixture as some wanton wiues but onely by the grace of her husband Iesus Christ As for Heretiques and Infidels they bee not the fruits of her wombe but Bastards of the Diuels getting and the worlds conceiuing and bringing foorth Shee is an high and honourable mother For shee is Mother and Nurse no cruell step-mother but a louing mother and tender-hearted nurse to all Gods adopted children They that haue not her for mother haue not him for Father Shee is mother to all the true members of Christ to all his brethren They that haue not her for mother haue not him for their head and elder brother She is our spirituall mother Eue the mother of all the liuing that either liue a spirituiall life in this world or shall liue a celestall life in the world to come Shee is the mother to all true Israelites according to the faith as Sarah was to all Israelites according to the flesh And as God made Sarah a mother and gaue her a sonne out of his owne good will so God makes his Church a mother and giues her children as he pleaseth I read of a certaine Romane Lady by name Paulina a very chaste and honest matron who by no meanes would yeelde to the Iust of Mundus a Gentleman of Rome who attempted to haue corrupt her who yet being couzened by certaine Priests lay with him like a supersticious foole in the Temple of Isis vnder the name of Anubis the God of Aegypt who desired her company as those varlets tolde her And in those
whom hee doth himselfe beget by the power of his Spirit There is none ioyned to God but he that is borne of God The Spirit which regenerates vs and giues vs a new life is the same by which we are coupled vnto Christ and by whose holy inspirations faith and loue are created in vs whereby we belieue in Christ embrace him and are transformed into him The soule is the life of the body and Christ is the true life of the soule euen the soules Soule take away the soule from the body and the bodie dies euen so take away the soule from Christ or Christ from the soule and the soule will die In this case the body is but a liuing and breathing Sepulchre of a dead soule a breathlesse soule the breath whereof is the very breath of Christ Eue may be some light herein vnto vs. For Eue was made of Adam who seeing her said This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and so also we are of Christ of his flesh and of his bones as the Apostle speaketh God hath framed his Church out of the very flesh the very wounded and bleeding side of the son of man To all thinges liuing Christ is life and to men light as hee is the sonne of God to the Church both light and life eternall by being made the son of man for vs by being our Surety and Sauiour whether we respect him as God or as Man His body crucified and his bloudshed for the life of the world are the true elements of our Christian and heauenly being which maketh vs truely aliue and holy as he is of whom wee come And as by nature we are in our first parents Adam and Eue so by grace we are euery one of vs that are truely spirituall in Christ and in his Church As men we are all originally in Adam as Christians or new men we are all originally in Christ As men wee haue the nature and bloud of Eue as new men or Saints wee are partakers of the Spirit of the Church in her ministery by the gift of Christ As we are men Adam and Eue were our Parents but as we are regenerate so Christ is our father and the Church which sprang out of his holy side opened vpon the crosse is our holy and honorable mother And as Eue made not her selfe neither was made or begotten by a man but by the hand of God euen by the hand of Christ by whom all things were created so the Church is not the workemanshippe of any creature nor of her owne making and moulding but is made and fashioned by God whose workemanship wee are created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in them Indeed Adam had no stroke in Eues making she was made out of him but yet without his helpe of him not by him of his ribbe not by his hand But Christ hath a great stroke in the framing of the Church Shee is both taken out of him and made vp by him and without him shee could not be formed For by his will she is by his holy breath shee 's quickned his finger fram'd her and his merits are her making Nay not her selfe alone but all she hath that is good she hath receiued from him of his fulnesse There is not an ornament about her but is a fauour shee hath had of him There is not a pinne of her sleeue but hee hath giuen it her And tho God made Eue neither witting nor willing yet he quickens vs restores and reformes vs both witting and willing He made vs without vs but hee doth not sanctifie and saue vs without vs. But it is hee that makes vs willing and obedient being without his grace vnwilling inough of our selues dead in our sinnes and trespasses voide of a true spirituall life and being He both giues vs feete and makes vs runne He giues vs hearing eares and seeing eyes and makes vs heare and see He opens our mouthes and makes vs speake Hee vnties our bands and makes vs moue We worke and worke willingly but he giues vs hands to worke and makes vs worke Hee workes all our workes for vs. Hee giues vs both the will and the worke and that of his owne good will without our deserts But whereas not the soule of Adam but her owne did quicken susteine and gouerne Eue and whereas neither of their soules in number doe inhabit or animate any of their children but that very personall soule that euery one of them hath receiued of God who is the Father of spirits and who giues vnto euery man his owne proper spirit the truth is that Christ bestowes his Spirit vpon his Church which holy Spirit is deriued from Christ into euery true Christian man and woman who are his seede and children the issues of his Ioynes Who are not borne as meere naturall and sinfull men of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God who of his owne will begets them not of corruptible seede but of incorruptible with the word of truth as the holy Scriptures shew vs. And therfore also the holy A postle saith expresly that if any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And againe because yee are sonnes God sent foorth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts Which Spirit no sooner comes into the heart and inhabits it but hee giueth life spirituall euen as the soule no sooner is in the body and is vnited to it and dwelleth in it but it affordeth the life that is naturall or corporall And as the soule worketh in the body and mainteines the naturall life thereof and makes a man shew himselfe to be a man and indeede to bee a man and not a beast or some senseles or liuelesse lumpe of flesh so the spirit of Christ worketh in the soule of a Christian and preserues the spirituall life thereof and makes him to be and to shew himselfe to be a Christian and not a meere carnall or naturall man and childe of the Diuell And whereas many Parents are grieued to see their children increase so thicke vpon them and some more vnnaturall through diffidence in the prouidence of God are euen glad when they are rid of them by death or almost any way else the Lord Iesus Christ and the Catholique Church his Spouse our Mother take great delight and pleasure in their children are neuer grieued for the numbers of them or troubled with their fellowshippe But she rather takes it kindly and with all thankefulnesse of heart when her Lord doth visit her and giue her children both sonnes and daughters of all sorts and nations and is very carefull in their breeding when she hath them that they may be fit Instruments of his glory may doeseruice to his name in all ages and places of the world wherein and whilst they liue But that
the Body a compleate bodie without the head But being both vnited and no part wanting they become one entire and perfit body Euen so Christ and his Church instructed with all her true parts and members make together one compleate body or as it were one perfit spirituall man It pleaseth him in his mercy to count himselfe incompleat and maimed without his Church which is his Body the Fulnesse of him that filleth all in all And we for our parts are most certaine that without him we are iust nothing but that we all receiue of his fulnesse because hee is Iustification to vs and is also in vs as a most free mouing and working cause whence many blessed effects doe come all of them tending to eternall life and glory as all waters vnto the Maine I say Christ is the head the sole head of the catholique church which is his onely body For the Father hath put all things vnder his feete and hath giuen him to be the Head ouer all things to the Church So by way of supereminencie and praedominancie he is our Head alone There is no other man but this man Christ Iesus who is head and Husband to the Church which is his and his alone Truely saith Saint Gregorie Peter the Apostle is the chiefest member of the the Holy Catholique Church Paul Andrew and Iohn what are they else but heads of seuerall or particular people But yet they are all members of the Church vnder one Head Hee saith S. Ambrose is the Bridegroome that hath the Bride that is Hee alone is the Churches Husband The Apostles and other Pastors of the Church Bishops and Presbyters are the seruants or friends of the Bridegroome but none of them haue her for their Spouse none of them is her Husband Saint Bernard thus speakes to Pope Eugenius If thou beest saith he the friend of the Bridegroome doe not call his Beloued thy Princesse but Princesse challenging nothing for thine in her saue onely that thou oughtest to giue thy life for her if it were behoouefull Wee doe therefore all of vs say with Saint Paul Wee preach not our selues but Christ Iesus the Lord and our selues your seruants for Iesus sake Weacknowledge Christ for our Lord and our selues his seruants called and sent by him to wait vpon his Church and children to prepare them for Christ as a Virgin for her Husband to giue them all their portion of meat in due season and to present euery man in Christ Iesus This is our proper office this is our strife and study and this is the voice of vs all all all I say further that the Catholique Church alone is the mysticall Body of Christ The Saints before the Law saith Saint Gregorie the Saints vnder the Law and the Saints vnder Grace All these perfecting the Lords Body are members of the Church Not some of the members but all that are constituent and essentiall venerable Beda speakes the like when he saith All Churches throughout the world make one Catholique This Catholique and mysticall Body of Christ consists of true beleeuers and such as are truely sanctified For the Church of Christ and all her proper members are made clean and holy not hauing spot or wrinkle The Church of Christ is Christs Doue and Faire one but Doues are not Kytes Crowes Vultures Snakes Adders Dragons Lions Beares Leopards His Church is faire and beautifull washed with Water and annointed with Oyle and is very beautifull and perfect through the beauty which God hath put vpon her Yes She is the fairest among Women And therefore neyther shee nor any of her naturall and louing children ought to be reputed foule vile and vgly The members of the Church are Christs sheepe and he is their carefull and good Sheepheard who maketh them to rest in greene Pastures and leadeth them by the still Waters But Sheepe are not Wolues and Foxes Goates and Tygers Dogges Swine nor fatte Buls of Basan To make any such to be members of the Catholicke Church were to make Christ a Neateheard which were a transcendent indignity but let vs heare the Fathers and Doctors of the Church which shined like Lampes in the house of God in ages long agoe They saith Saint Origen which haue not spot or wrinckle or any such thing about them are the true Church And in another place hee shewes the reason why the Church is said to be holy without spot namely because she is reputed pure and sincere In the Church saith S. Chrysostome there is no earthen or wodden vessell but all are of siluer and gold For there is the body of Christ a chast Virgin not hauing spot or wrinckle When we say the Church faith S. Cyrill of Alexandria we meane the most holy multitude of the godly The Church saith Saint Ambrose is the mother of those that are aliue Surely the good Father neuer thought then that men dead in sinnes and inwardly vicious and irreformed though they should make a faire outward profession were to be reputed true members of the Catholique Church The Church of Christ saith S. Hierome is glorious not hauing spot or wrinckle nor any such therefore he which is a sinner or defiled with any filthinesse cannot bee sayd to bee of the Church of Christ nor subiect vnto Christ Prosper accordingly saith that the Catholique Church consists in the Elect foreknowne of God the children of the promise the members of Christs body Rupertus in like manner affirmeth that the vniuersall Church is cleansed in the bloud of Christ from all fault And Bernard What is the Spouse but the congregation of iust ones And what is this congregation but the generation of them that seeke the Lord of them that seeke the face of the bridegroome As for haeretiques hypocrites and other wicked and vngodly men they pertaine not to the holy Church of God as Saint Augustine speaketh although they may seeme to be within it But as Christ is the Head of the Church which is his Body and shall raigne with him in euerlasting glory euen so the Deuill is the Head and Heards-man of the wicked who are after a sort his Bodie as the said holy Father sheweth who shall be punished with him in aternall fire As concerning these three points of Popery to wit That the Bishop of Rome is the Head of the Vniuersall Church on earth to whom euery soule of man must be subiect or else he cannot but be damned Secondiy that the Church of Rome is the vniuersall Church of Christ the onely Catholique Church of Christ. Thirdly that no inward vertue is required to make a part of the Catholique Church but onely an exteriour profession of the faith and followship in Sacraments These three points of Doctrin haue in these latter times crept out of the Alpes like Mise or Rats Rome hath set