had not hereby an interesse in the best of all Gods favours in the heaven of heavens and the eternity of that glory which is there laid up for his Saints far above the reach of all humane expressions or conceits It was the word of him who is the eternall word of his father Father I will that they also whom thou hast given mee be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me and not only to be meere spectators but even partners of this celestiall blisse together with himselfe The glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one Oh the transcendent and incomprehensible blessednesse of the beleevers which even when they enjoy they cannot be able to utter for measure infinite for duration eternall Oh the inexplicable joy of the ful everlasting accomplishment of the happy union of Christ the beleeving soule more fit for thankfull wonder and ravishment of Spirit then for any finite apprehension Now that we may looke a little further into the meanes by which this union is wrought Know my Sonne that as there are two persons betwixt whom this union is made Christ and the beleever so each of them concurres to the happy effecting of it Christ by his spirit diffused through the hearts of all the regenerate giving life and activity to them the beleever laying hold by faith upon Christ so working in him and these doe so re-act upon each other that from their mutuall operation results this gracious union whereof wee treat Here is a spirituall marriage betwixt Christ and the soule The liking of one part doth not make up the match but the consent of both To this purpose Christ gives his spirit the soule plights her faith What interesse have we in Christ but by his spirit what interesse hath Christ in us but by our faith On the one part He hath given us his holy Spirit saith the Apostle and in a way of correlation we have received not the spirit of the world but the spirit which is of God And this spirit we have so received as that he dwells in us and so dwells in us as that we are joyned to the Lord and he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit On the other part wee have accesse by faith into this grace wherein we stand and reioice in hope of the glory of God so as now the life that wee live in the flesh we live by the faith of the sonne of God who dwells in our hearts by faith O the grace of faith according to St. Peters style truly precious justly recommended to us by S. Paul above all other graces incident into the soule as that which if not alone yet chiefly transacts all the maine affaires tending to salvation for faith is the quickning grace the directing grace the protecting grace the establishing grace the justifying grace the sanctifying and purifying grace faith is the grate that assents to apprehends applyes appropriates Christ and hereupon the uniting grace and which comprehends all the saving grace If ever therefore we looke for any consolation in Christ or to have any part in this beatificall union it must be the maine care of our hearts to make sure of a lively faith in the Lord Jesus to lay fast hold upon him to clasp him close to us yea to receive him inwardly into our bosomes and so to make him ours and our selves his that we may be joyned to him as our head espoused to him as our husband incorporated into him as our nourishment engrafted in him as our stock and layd upon him as a sure foundation Hitherto wee have treated of this blessed union as in relation to Christ the head it remaines that we now consider of it as it stands in relation to the members of his mysticall body one towards another For as the body is united to the head so must the members be united to themselves to make the body truly compleat Thus the holy ghost by his Apostle 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. From this entire conjunction of the members with each other arises that happy communion of Saints which wee professe both to beleeve and to partake of This mysticall body of Christ is a large one extending it self both to heaven and earth there is a reall union betwixt all those farre-spred limmes betweene the Saints in heaven betweene the Saints on earth between the Saints in heaven and earth We have reason to begin at heaven thence is the originall of our union and blessednesse There was never place for discord in that region of glory since the rebellious Angels were cast out thence the spirits of just men made perfect must needs agree in a perfect unity neither can it be otherwise for there is but one will in heaven one scope of the desires of blessed souls w ch is the glory of their God all the whole chore sing one song and in that one harmonious tune of Allelujah We poor parcell-sainted souls here on earth professe to bend our eyes directly upon the same holy end the honour of our Maker and Redeemer but alas at our best we are drawn to look asquint at our own aims of profit or pleasure Wee professe to sing loud praises unto God but it is with many harsh and jarring notes above there is a perfect accordance in an unanimous glorifying of him that sits upon the throne for ever Oh how ye love the Lord all ye his Saints Oh how joyfull ye are in glory The heavens shall praise thy wonders O Lord thy faithfulnesse also in the congregation of the Saints O what a blessed Common-wealth is that above The City of the living God the heavenly Jerusalem ever at unity within it selfe therin the innumerable company of Angels and the generall Assembly and Church of the first-born which are written in heaven the spirits of just men made perfect and whom they all adore God the judge of all and Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament All these as one as holy Those twenty thousand chariots of heaven move all one way When those four beasts full of eyes round about the throne give glory and honour and thanks to him that sits upon the throne saying Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty which was and is and is to come then the four and twenty Elders fall down before him and cast their crownes before the throne No one wears his crown whiles the rest cast down theirs all accord in one act of giving glory to the Highest After the sealing of the Tribes A great multitude which no man could number of all Nations and kindreds and people and tongues stood before the throne and before the
were given us not to engrosse and hoard up superfluously but to distribute and dispense As we have therefore opportunity let us doe good unto all men especially them who are of the houshold of faith Such then is the union of Gods children here on earth both in matter of judgement and affection and the beneficiall improvement of that affection whether in spirituall gifts or good offices or communicating of our earthly substance where the heart is one none of these can be wanting and where they all are there is an happy communion of Saints As there is a perfect union betwixt the glorious Saints in heaven and a union though imperfect betwixt the Saints on earth So there is an union partly perfect and partly imperfect between the Saints in heaven and the Saints below upon earth perfect in respect of those glorified Saints above imimperfect in respect of the weak returns we are able to make to them again Let no man think that because those blessed souls are out of sight farre distant in another world and we are here toyling in a vale of tears wee have therefore lost all mutuall regard to each other no there is still and ever will be a secret but unfailing correspondence between heaven and earth The present happinesse of those heavenly Citizens cannot have abated ought of their knowledge and charity but must needs have raised them to an higher pitch of both They therefore who are now glorious comprehensors cannot but in a generality retain the notice of the sad condition of us poor travellers here below pāting towards our rest together w th thē and in common wish for the happy consummation of this our weary pilgrimage in the fruition of their glory That they have any Perspective whereby they can see down into our particular wants is that which we finde no ground to beleeve it is enough that they have an universall apprehension of the estate of Christs warfaring Church upon the face of the earth and as fellow-members of the same mysticall body long for a perfect glorification of the whole As for us wretched pilgrims that are yet left here below to tugge with many difficulties we cannot forget that better half of us that is now triumphing in glory O ye blessed Saints above we honour your memories so far as wee ought wee doe with praise recount your vertues wee magnifie your victories we blesse God for your happy exemption from the miseries of this world and for your estating in that blessed immortality Wee imitate your holy examples we long and pray for an happy consociation with you we dare not raise Temples dedicate Altars direct prayers to you we dare not finally offer any thing to you which you are unwilling to receive nor put any thing upon you which you would disclaim as prejudiciall to your Creator and Redeemer It is abundant comfort to us that some part of us is in the fruition of that glory whereto we the other poor labouring part desire and strive to aspire that our head and shoulders are above water whiles the other lims are yet wading through the stream To winde up all my son if ever thou look for sound comfort on earth and salvation in heaven unglue thy self from the world and the vanities of it put thy self upon thy Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Leave not till thou findest thy self firmly united to him so as thou art become a limb of that body whereof he is head a Spouse of that husband a branch of that stemme a stone laid upon that foundation Look not therefore for any blessing out of him and in and by and from him look for all blessings Let him be thy life and wish not to live longer then thou art quickned by him find him thy wisdome righteousness sanctification redemption thy riches thy strength thy glory Apply unto thy self all that thy Saviour is or hath done Wouldst thou have the graces of Gods Spirit fetch them from his anointing Wouldst thou have power against spirituall enemies fetch it from his Soveraignty Wouldst thou have redemption fetch it from his passion Wouldst thou have absolution fetch it from his perfect innocence Freedome from the curse fetch it from his crosse Satisfaction fetch it from his sacrifice Cleansing from sin fetch it from his bloud Mortification fetch it from his grave Newnesse of life fetch it from his resurrection Right to heaven fetch it from his purchase Audience in all thy suits fetch it from his intercessiō Wouldst thou have salvation fetch it from his session at the right hand of Majesty Wouldst thou have all fetch it from him who is one Lord one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in all And as thy faith shall thus interesse thee in Christ thy head so let thy charity unite thee to his body the Church both in earth and heaven hold ever an inviolable communion with that holy and blessed fraternity Sever not thy selfe from it either in judgement or affection Make account there is not one of Gods saints upon earth but hath a propriety in thee and thou maist challenge the same in each of them so as thou canst not but be sensible of their passions and be freely communicative of all thy graces and all serviceable offices by example admonition exhortation consolation prayer beneficence for the good of that sacred community And when thou raisest up thine eyes to heaven think of that glorious society of blessed saints who are gone before thee and are now there triumphing and reigning in eternall and incomprehensible glory blesse God for them and wish thy self with them tread in their holy steps and be ambitious of that crown of glory and immortality which thou seest shining upon their heads AN HOLY RAPTURE OR A Patheticall Meditation of the love of Christ. BY J. H. B. N. The CONTENTS § 1. THe love of Christ how passing knowledge how free of us before we were § 2. How free of us that had made our selves vile and miserable § 3. How yet free of us that were professed enemies § 4. The wonderfull effects of the love of Christ 1. His Incarnation § 5. 2. His love in his sufferings § 6. 3. His love in what hee hath done for us and 1. in preparing heaven for us from eternity § 7. His love in our redemption from death and hell § 8. His love in giving us the guard of his Angels § 9. His love in giving us his holy Spirit § 10. Our sense and improvement of Christs love in all the former particulars and first in respect of the inequality of our persons § 11. A further improvement of our love to Christ in respect of our unworthinesse and of his sufferings and glory prepared for us § 12. The improvement of our love to Christ for the mercy of his deliverance of the tuition of his Angels of the powerfull working of his good Spirit for the accomplishment of our
of our souls we are readie to think of Christ Jesus as a stranger to us as one aloof off in another world apprehended onely by fits in a kind of ineffectuall speculation without any lively feeling of our own interesse in him whereas we ought by the powerfull operation of this grace in our hearts to finde so heavenly an appropriation of Christ to our souls as that every beleever may truly say I am one with Christ Christ is one with me Had we not good warrant for so high a challenge it could bee no lesse then a blasphemous arrogance to lay claim to the royall bloud of heaven but since it hath pleased the God of heaven so far to dignifie our unworthinesse as in the multitudes of his mercies to admit and allow us to be partakers of the divine nature it were no other then an unthankfull stupidity not to lay hold on so glorious a priviledge and to goe for lesse then God hath made us Know now my son that thou art upon the ground of all consolation to thy soul which consists in this beatificall union with thy God and Saviour think not therefore to passe over this important mystery with some transient and perfunctory glances but let thy heart dwell upon it as that which must stick by thee in all extremities and chear thee up when thou art forsaken of all worldly comforts Doe not then conceive of this union as some imaginary thing that hath no other beeing but in the braine whose faculties have power to apprehend and bring home to it self far remote substances possessing it self in a sort of whatsoever it conceives Doe not think it an union meerly virtuall by the participation of those spirituall gifts and graces which God worketh in the soul as the comfortable effects of our happy conjunction with Christ Doe not think it an accidentall union in respect of some circumstances and qualities wherein we communicate with him who is God and man nor yet a metaphoricall union by way of figurative resemblance but know that this is a true reall essentiall substantiall union whereby the person of the beleever is indissolubly united to the glorious person of the Son of God know that this union is not more mysticall then certain that in naturall unions there may bee more evidence there cannot be more truth neither is there so firm and close an union betwixt the soul body as there is betwixt Christ and the beleeving soul for as much as that may be severed by death but this never Away yet with all grosse carnality of conceit this union is true and really existent but yet spirituall and if some of the Ancients have tearm'd it naturall and bodily it hath been in respect of the subject united our humanity to the two blessed natures of the Son of God met in one most glorious person not in respect of the manner of the uniting Neither is it the lesse reall because spirituall Spirituall agents neither have nor put forth any whit lesse vertue because sense cannot discern their manner of working Even the Loadstone though an earthen substance yet when it is out of sight whether under the Table or behinde a solid partition stirreth the needle as effectually as if it were within view shall not hee contradict his senses that will say it cannot work because I see it not Oh Saviour thou art more mine then my body is mine my sense feels that present but so as that I must lose it my faith sees and feels thee so present with mee that I shall never be parted from thee There is no resemblance whereby the Spirit of God more delights to set forth the heavenly union betwixt Christ and the beleever then that of the head and the body The head gives sense and motion to all the members of the body And the body is one not onely by the continuity of all the parts held together with the same naturall ligaments and covered with one and the same skin but much more by the animation of the same soul quickning that whole frame in the acting whereof it is not the large extent of the stature and distance of the lims from each other that can make any difference The body of a child that is but a span long cannot bee said to be more united then the vast body of a giantly son of Anak whose height is as the Cedars and if we could suppose such a body as high as heaven it self that one soul which dwels in it and is diffused through all the parts of it would make it but one entire body Right so it is with Christ and his Church That one Spirit of his which dwels in and enlives every beleever unites all those far-distant members both to each other and to their head and makes them up into one true mysticall body So as now every true beleever may without presumption but with all holy reverence and all humble thankfulnesse say to his God and Saviour Behold Lord I am how unworthy soever one of the lims of thy body and therefore have a right to all that thou hast to all that thou doest Thine eye sees for me thine ear hears for me thine hand acts for me Thy life thy grace thy happinesse is mine Oh the wonder of the two blessed unions In the personall union it pleased God to assume and unite our humane nature the Deitie In the spirituall and mysticall it pleases God to unite the person of every beleever to the person of the Son of God Our souls are too narrow to blesse God enough for these incomprehensible mercies Mercies wherein he hath preferred us be it spoken with all godly lowlinesse to the blessed Angels of heaven For verily he took not upon him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham Neither hath he made those glorious spirits members of his mysticall body but his saints whom he hath as it were so incorporated that they are become his body and he theirs according to that of the divine Apostle For as the body is one and hath many members and all the members of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ. Next hereunto there is no resemblance of this mystery either more frequent or more full of lively expression then that of the conjugall union betwixt the husband and wife Christ is as the head so the husband of the Church The Church and every beleeving soul is the Spouse of this heavenly Bridegroom whom hee marrieth unto himselfe for ever in righteousnesse and in judgement and in loving kindnesse and in mercies and this match thus made up fulfils that decretive word of the Almighty They twain shal be one flesh O happy conjunction of the second Adam with her which was taken out of his most precious side Oh heavenly and compleat marriage wherein God the Father brings and gives the Bride All that the Father giveth me shall come
my self nourished by that repast let me mind that better sustenance which my soul receives from thee and finde thee more one with me then that bodily food Look but into thy Garden or Orchard and see the Vine or any other fruit-bearing tree how it grows and fructifies The branches are loaden with increase whence is this but that they are one with the stock and the stock one with the root were either of these severed the plant were barren and dead The branch hath not sap enough to maintain life in it self unlesse it receive it from the body of the tree nor that unlesse it derived it from the root nor that unlesse it were cherished by the earth Lo I am the Vine saith our Saviour Ye are the branches He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit If a man abide not in me he is cast forth as a branch and is withered were the branch and the body of the tree of different substances and only closed together in some artificiall contiguity no fruit could be expected from it it is onely the abiding in the tree as a living lim of that plant which yeelds it the benefit and issue of vegetation No otherwise is it betwixt Christ and his Church the bough and the tree are not more of one piece then we are of one substance with our Saviour and branching out from him and receiving the sap of heavenly vertue from his precious root we cannot but be acceptably fruitfull But if the Analogie seem not to be so full for that the branch issues naturally from the tree and the fruit from the branch wheras we by nature have no part in the Son of God take that clearer resemblance which the Apostle fetches from the stock and the griffe or cion The branches of the wilde olive are cut off and are graffed with choice cions of the good olive those impes grow and are now by this insition no lesse embodyed in that stock then if they had sprouted out by a natural propagation neither can be any more separated from it then the strongest bough that nature puts forth In the mean time that cion alters the nature of that stock and whiles the root gives fatnesse to the stock and the stocke yeelds juice to the cion the cion gives goodnesse to the plant and a specification to the fruit so as whiles the impe is now the same thing with the stock the tree is different from it was So it is betwixt Christ and the beleeving soul Old Adam is our wilde stock what could that have yeelded but either none or sowre fruit we are imped with the new man Christ that is now incorporated into us we are become one with him our nature is not more ours then he is ours by grace now we bear his fruit and not our own our old stock is forgotten all things are become new our naturall life we receive from Adam our spirituall life and growth from Christ from whom after the improvement of this blessed insition we can be no more severed then he can be severed from himself Look but upon thy house that from vegetative creatures thou maist turne thine eyes to those things which have no life if that be uniform the foundation is not of a different matter from the wals both those are but one piece the superstructure is so raised upon the foundation as if all were but one stone Behold Christ is the chiefe corner stone elect and precious neither can there be any other foundation laid then that which is laid on him we are lively stones built up to a spirituall house on that sure and firm foundation some loose stones perhaps that lye unmortered upon the battlements may be easily shaken down but whoever saw a squared marble laid by line and levell in a strong wall upon a well-grounded base flye out of his place by whatsoever violence since both the strength of the foundation below and the weight of the fabrick above have setled it in a posture utterly unmoveable Such is our spirituall condition O Saviour thou art our foundation we are laid upon thee and are therein one with thee we can no more be dis-joyned from thy foundation then the stones of thy foundation can be dis-united from themselves So then to sum up all as the head and members are but one body as the husband and wife are but one flesh as our meat and drink becomes part of our selves as the tree and branches are but one plant as the foundation and wals are but one fabrick so Christ and the beleeving soul are indivisibly one with each other Where are those then that goe about to divide Christ from himself Christ reall from Christ mysticall yeelding Christ one with himself but not one with his Church making the true beleever no lesse separable from his Saviour then from the entirenesse of his own obedience dreaming of the uncomfortable and self-contradicting paradoxes of the totall and finall Apostasie of saints Certainly these men have never thorowly digested the meditation of this blessed union whereof wee treat Can they hold the beleeving soul a lim of that body whereof Christ is the head and yet imagine a possibility of dissolution Can they affain to the Sonne of God a body that is unperfect Can they think that body perfect that hath lost his lims Even in this mysticall body the best joynts may be subject to strains yea perhaps to some painfull and perilous luxations but as it was in the naturall body of Christ when it was in death most exposed to the cruelty of all enemies that upon an over-ruling providence not a bone of it could be broken so it is still and ever with the spirituall some scourgings and blows it may suffer yea perhaps some bruises and gashes but no bone can be shattered in peeces much lesse dissevered from the rest of the body Were we left to our selves or could we be so much as in conceit sundred from the body whereof we are alas we are but as other men subject to the same sinfull infirmities to the same dangerous and deadly miscarriages but since it hath pleased the God of heaven to unite us to himself now it concerns him to maintain the honour of his own body by preserving us entire Can they acknowledge the faithfull soul married in truth and righteousnesse to that celestiall husband and made up into one flesh with the Lord of glory can they think of any Bils of divorce written in heaven can they suppose that which by way of type was done in the earthly Paradise to be really undone in the heavenly What an infinite power hath put together can they imagine that a limited power can disjoyn Can they think sin can be of more prevalence then mercy Can they think the unchangeable God subject to after-thoughts Even the Jewish repudiations never found favour in heaven They were permitted as a lesser evill to avoid
to me saith Christ wherein God the Son receives the Bride as mutually partaking of the same nature and can say This now is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh wherein God the holy Ghost knits our wils in a full and glad consent to the full consummation of this blessed wedlock And those whom God hath thus joyned together let no man no Devill can put asunder What is there then which an affectionate husband can withhold from a dear wife He that hath given himself to her what can be deny to impart He that hath made himself one with her how can he be divided from his other-self Some wilde fancies there are that have framed the linkes of marriage of so brittle stuffe as that they may be knapt in sunder upon every sleight occasion but he that ordained it in Paradise for an earthly representation of this heavenly union betwixt Christ and his Church hath made that and his own indissoluble Here is no contract in the future which upon some intervenient accidents may be remitted but I am my welbeloveds and my welbeloved is mine And therefore each is so others that neither of them is their own Oh the comfortable mystery of our uniting to the Son of God! The wife hath not the power of her own body but the husband We are at thy disposing ô Saviour we are not our own Neither art thou so absolutely thine as that we may not through thine infinite mercy claim an interesse in thee Thou hast given us such a right in thy self as that wee are bold to lay challenge to all that is thine to thy love to thy merits to thy blessings to thy glory It was wont of old to be the plea of the Roman wives to their husbands Where thou art Caius I am Caia and now in our present marriages we have not stuck to say With all my worldly goods I thee endow And if it be thus in our imperfect conjunctions here upon earth how much more in that exquisite one-nesse which is betwixt thee ô blessed Saviour and thy dearest Spouse the Church What is it then that can hinder us from a sweet and heavenly fruition of thee Is it the loathsome condition of our nature Thou sawst this before and yet couldst say when we were yet in our bloud Live Had we not been so vile thy mercy had not been so glorious thy free grace did all for us Thou washedst us with water and anointedst us with oyle and cloathedst us with broidered work and girdedst us about with fine linnen and coveredst us with silk and deckedst us with ornaments and didst put bracelets upon our hands and a chain on our neck and jewels on our fore-heads and eare-rings on our ears and a beautifull crown on our heads What we had not thou gavest what thou didst not find thou madest that we might be a not-unmeet match for the Lord of life Is it want of beauty Behold I am black but comely what ever our hiew be in our own or others eyes it is enough that we are lovely in thine Behold thou art fair my beloved behold thou art faire yea pleasant Thou art beautifull O my love as Tirzah comely as Jerusalem How fair and how pleasant art thou O Love for delights But oh Saviour if thou take contentment in this poor unperfect beauty of thy Spouse the Church how infinite pleasure should thy Spouse take in that absolute perfection that is in thee who art all lovelinesse and glory And if she have ravished thy heart with one of her eyes how much more reason hath her heart to be wholly ravished with both thine which are so full of grace and amiablenesse and in this mutuall fruition what can there be other then perfect blessednesse The Spirit of God well knowing how much it imports us both to know and feel this blessed union whereof himself is the onely worker labours to set it forth to us by the representations of many of our familiar concernments which we daily finde in our meats and drinks in our houses in our gardens and orchards That which is nearest to us is our nourishment What can bee more evident then that the bread the meat the drinke that we receive is incorporated into us and becomes part of the substance whereof we consist so as after perfect digestion there can be no distinction betwixt what we are and what wee took Whiles that bread was in the bing and that meat in the shambles and that drink in the vessell it had no relation to us nor we to it yea whiles all these were on the Table yea in our mouths yea newly let down into our stomacks they are not fully ours for upon some nauseating dislike of nature they may yet go the same way they came but if the concoction be once fully finished now they are so turned into our blood and flesh that they can be no more distinguished from our former substance then that could be divided from it self now they are dispersed into the veins and concorporated to the flesh and no part of our flesh and blood is more ours then that which was lately the bloud of the grapes and the flesh of this fowl or that beast Oh Saviour thou who art truth it selfe hast said I am the living bread that came down from heaven My flesh is meat indeed and my blood is drink indeed and thereupon hast most justly inferred He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in mee and I in him and as a necessary consequent of this spirituall manducation Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternall life Lo thou art bread indeed not the common bread but Manna not the Israelitish Manna alas that fell from no higher then the region of clouds and they that ate it died with it in their mouths but thou art the living bread that came down from the heaven of heavens of whom whosoever eats lives for ever Thy flesh is meat not for our stomacks but for our souls our faith receives and digests thee and makes thee ours and us thine our materiall food in these corruptible bodies runs into corruption thy spirituall food nourisheth purely and strengthens us to a blessed immortality As for this materiall food many a one longs for it that cannot get it many a one hath it that cannot eat it many eat it that cannot digest it many digest it into noxious and corrupt humours all that receive it do but maintain a perishing life if not a languishing death but this flesh of thine as it was never withheld from any true appetite so it never yeelds but wholesome and comfortable sustenance to the soul never hath any other issue then an everlasting life and happinesse O Saviour whensoever I sit at mine own Table let mee think of thine whensoever I feed on the bread and meat that is set before mee and feel
a greater never allowed as good neither had so much as that toleration ever been if the hard-heartednesse and cruelty of that people had not enforced it upon Moses in a prevention of further mischief 〈◊〉 what place can this finde with a God in whom there is an infinite tendernesse of love and mercy No time can be any check to his gracious choice the inconstant mindes of us men may alter upon sleight dislikes our God is ever himself Jesus Christ the same yesterday and to day and for ever with him there is no variablenesse nor shadow of turning Divorces were ever grounded upon hatred No man saith the Apostle ever yet hated his owne flesh much lesse shall God do so who is love it self His love and our union is like himself everlasting Having loved his own saith the Disciple of Love which were in the world he loved them to the end He that hates putting away can never act it so as in this relation we are indissoluble Can they have received that bread which came down from heaven and that flesh which is meat indeed and that bloud which is drink indeed can their souls have digested it by a lively faith and converted themselves into it and it into themselves and can they now think it can be severed from their own substance Can they finde themselves truly ingraffed in the tree of life and grown into one body with that heavenly plant and as a living branch of that tree bearing pleasant and wholesome fruit acceptable to God and beneficiall to men and can they look upon themselves as some withered bough fit onely for the fire Can they find themselves living stones surely laid upon the foundation Jesus Christ to the making up of an heavenly Temple for the eternall inhabitation of God and can they think they can be shaken out with every storm of Temptation Have these men ever taken into their serious thoughts that divine prayer and meditation which our blessed Redeemer now at the point of his death left for an happy farewell to his Church in every word whereof there is an heaven of comfort Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve in me through their word That they all may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may bee one with us And the glory that thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou in me Oh heavenly consolation oh indefeasible assurance what roome can there be now here for our diffidence Can the Son of God pray and not be heard For himselfe hee needs not pray as being eternally one with the Father God blessed for ever he prays for his his prayer is That they may be one w th the Father him even as they are one They cannot therefore but be partakers of this blessed union and being partakers of it they cannot be dissevered And to make sure work that glory which the Father gave to the Son of his Love they are already through his gracious participation prepossessed of here they have begun to enter upon that heaven from which none of the powers of hell can possibly eject them Oh the unspeakably happy condition of beleevers Oh that all the Saints of God in a comfortable sense of their inchoate blessednesse could sing for joy and here before-hand begin to take up those Hallelujahs which they shall ere long continue and never end in the Chore of the highest Heaven Having now taken a view of this blessed union in the nature and resemblances of it it will be time to bend thine eyes upon those most advantageous consequents and high priviledges which doe necessarily follow upon and attend this heavenly conjunction Whereof the first is that which we are wont to account sweetest Life Not this naturall life which is maintained by the breath of our nosthrils Alas what is that but a bubble a vapour a shadow a dreame nothing as it is the gift of a good God worthy to be esteemed precious but as it is considered in its own transitorinesse and appendent miseries and in comparison of a better life not worthy to take up our hearts This life of nature is that which ariseth from the union of the body with the soul many times enjoyed upon hard tearms the spirituall life which we now speak of arising from the union betwixt God and the soul is that wherein there can be nothing but perfect contentment and joy unspeakable and full of glory Yea this is that life which Christ not only gives but is he that gave himself for us gives himselfe to us and is that life that he gives us When Christ which is our life shall appeare saith the Apostle And Christ is to me to live and most emphatically I am crucified with Christ Neverthelesse I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee Lo it is a common favour that in him we live but it is an especiall favour to his own that he lives in us Know you not your own selves saith the Apostle how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates and wheresoever he is there he lives we have not a dead Saviour but a living and where he lives he animates It is not therefore Saint Pauls case alone it is every beleevers who may truly say I live yet not I but Christ liveth in mee now how these lives and the authors of them are distinguished is worth thy carefullest consideration Know then my son that every faithfull mans bosome is a Rebeccaes womb wherein in there are twins a rough Esau and the seed of promise the old man and the new the flesh and the spirit and these have their lives distinct from each other the new man lives not the life of the old neither can the old man live the life of the new it is not one life that could maintain the opposite struglings of both these Corrupt nature is it that gives and continues the life of the old man It is Christ that gives life to the new we cannot say but the old man or flesh is the man too For I know saith the chosen Vessell that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing but the spirituall part may yet better challenge the title For I delight in the Law of God after the inward man That old man of ours is derived from the first Adam as we sinned in him so hee liveth in us The second Adam both gives and is the life of our regeneration like as he is also the life of our glory the life that follows our second resurrection I am saith he the resurrection and the life What is it then whereby the new creature lives surely no other then the Spirit of Christ that alone is it that gives beeing and life to the renued soule Life is no
hast so loved us that thou wouldst become the Son of man for our sakes that vve vvho are the sons of men might become the sons of God Oh that vve could put off the man to put on Christ that we could neglect and hate our selves for thee that hast so dearly loved us as to lay aside thine heavenly glory for us How shall I bee vile enough O Saviour for thee who for my sake being the Lord of life and glory wouldst take upon thee the shape of a servant How should I welcome that poverty which thy choice hath sanctified How resolutely shall I grapple with the temptations of that enemy vvhom thou hast foiled for me How chearfully should I passe through those miseries and that death which thou hast sweetned With vvhat comfortable assurance shall I look upon the face of that mercifull Justice vvhich thou hast satisfied But oh vvhat a blessed inheritance hast thou in thine infinite love provided for me an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for me so as when my earthly house of this Tabernacle shall be dissolved I have a building of God an house not made with hands eternall in the heavens An house Yea a Palace of heavenly state and magnificence neither is it lesse then a kingdome that abides there for mee a kingdome so much more above these worldly Monarchies as heaven is above this clod of earth Now Lord vvhat conceits vvhat affections of mine can be in the least sort answerable to so transcendent mercy If some friend shall have been pleased to bestow some mean Legacy upon me or shall have feoffed me in some few acres of his Land how deeply doe I finde my self obliged to the love and memory of so kinde a Benenefactor Oh then Lord how can my soul be capable of those thoughts and dispositions vvhich may reach to the least proportion of thine infinite bounty vvho of a poor worm on earth hast made me an heir of the kingdome of heaven Wo is me how subject are these earthly Principalities to hazard and mutability whether through death or insurrectiō but this Crown w ch thou hast laid up for me is immarcescible and shall sit immoveably fast upon my head not for years not for millions of ages but for all eternity Oh let it be my heaven here below in the mean vvhile to live in a perpetuall fruition of thee and to begin those Allelujahs to thee here vvhich shall be as endlesse as thy mercy and my blessednesse Hadst thou been pleased to have translated me frō thy former Paradise the most delightfull seat of mans originall integrity and happinesse to the glory of the highest heaven the preferment had been infinitely gracious but to bring my soul from the nethermost hell and to place it among the Chore of Angels doubles the thank of thy mercy and the measure of my obligation How thankfull was thy Prophet but to an Ebedmelech that by a cord and rags let down into that dark dungeon helpt him out of that uncomfortable pit wherein he was lodged yet what was there but a little cold hunger stench closenesse obscurity Lord how should I blesse thee that hast fetcht my soul from that pit of eternall horrour from that lake of fire and brimstone from the everlasting torments of the damned wherein I had deserved to perish for ever I will sing of thy power unto thee O my strength will I sing for God is my deliverer and the God of my mercie But O Lord if yet thou shouldst leave me in my own hands where vvere I how easily should I be rob'd of thee with every temptation how should I be made the scorn and insultation of men and devils It is thy wonderfull mercy that thou hast given thine Angels charge over me Those Angels great in power and glorious in Majesty are my sure though invisible guard Oh blessed Jesu what an honour what a safety is this that those heavenly spirits which attend thy throne should be my champions Those that ministred to thee after thy temptation are readie to assist and relieve me in mine they can neither neglect their charge because they are perfectly holy nor fail of their victory because they are under thee the most powerfull I see you O ye blessed Guardians I see you by the eye of my faith no lesse truly then the eye of my sense sees my bodilie attendants I do truly though spirituallie feel your presence by your gracious operations in upon and for me and I doe heartilie blesse my God and yours for you and for those saving offices that through his mercifull appointment you ever doe for my soul. But as it was with thine Israelites of old that it would not content them that thou promisedst and wouldst send thine Angel before them to bring them into the Land flowing with milk and hony unlesse thy presence O Lord should also goe along with them so is it still with me and all thine wert not thou with and in us what could thine Angels doe for us In thee it is that they move and are The same infinite Spirit which works in and by them works also in me From thee it is O thou blessed and eternall Spirit that I have any stirrings of holy motions any breathings of good desires any life of grace any will to resist any power to overcome evill It is thou O God that girdest me with strength unto battell thou hast given me the shield of thy salvation thy right hand hath holden me up thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies Glory and praise be to thee O Lord which alwaies causest us to triumph in Christ vvho crownest us with loving kindnesse tender mercies and hast not held us short of the best of thy favours Truly Lord hadst thou given us but a meer beeing as thou hast done to the lowest rank of thy creatures it had been more then thou owest us more then ever we could be able to requite to thy divine bountie for every beeing is good and the least degree of good is farre above our worthinesse But that to our beeing thou hast added life it is yet an higher measure of thy mercy for certainly of thy common favours life is the most precious yet this is such a benefit as may be had and not perceived for even the plants of the earth live and feel it not that to our life therefore thou hast made a further accession of sense it is yet a larger improvement of thy beneficence for this facultie hath some power to manage life and makes it capable to affect those means which may tend to the preservation of it and to decline the contrary but this is no other then the brute creatures enjoy equallie with us and some of them beyond us that therefore to our sense thou hast blessed us vvith a further addition of reason it is yet an higher pitch of munificence for hereby we are men and as
have peace at the last ransack them thoroughly not contenting your selves with a perfunctory and fashionable over-sight which will one day leave you irremediably miserable but so search as those that resolve not to give over till you finde these gracious dispositions in your bosomes which I have here described to you so shall we be and make each other happy in the successe of our holy labours which the God of heaven blesse in both our hands to his own glory and our mutuall comfort in the day of the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ Amen THE CHRISTIAN THE Christian is a man and more an earthly Saint an Angel cloathed in flesh the onely lawfull image of his Maker and Redeemer the abstract of Gods Church on earth a modell of heaven made up in clay the living Temple of the holy Ghost For his disposition it hath in it as much of heaven as his earth may make room for He were not a man if he were quite free from corrupt affections but these he masters and keeps in with a strait hand and if at any time they grow resty and headstrong he breaks them with a severe discipline and will rather punish himself then not tame them Hee checks his appetite with discreet but strong denials and forbears to pamper nature lest it grow wanton and impetuous He walks on earth but converses in heaven having his eyes fixed on the invisible and enjoying a sweet communion with his God and Saviour Whiles all the rest of the world sits in darknesse he lives in a perpetuall light the heaven of heavens is open to none but him thither his eye pierceth and beholds those beams of inaccessible glory which shine in no face but his The deep mysteries of godlinesse which to the great Clerks of the world are as a book clasped and sealed up lye open before him fair and legible and whiles those book-men know whom they have heard of hee knowes whom he hath beleeved He will not suffer his Saviour to be ever out of his eye and if through some worldly interceptions he lose the sight of that blessed object for a time he zealously retrives him not without an angry check of his own mis-carriage and is now so much the more fixed by his former slackning so as he will henceforth sooner part with his soul then his Redeemer The tearmes of entirenesse wherein he stands with the Lord of life are such as he can feel but cannot expresse though hee should borrow the language of Angels it is enough that they two are one spirit His reason is willingly captivated to his faith his will to his reason and his affections to both He fears nothing that he sees in comparison of that which he sees not and displeasure is more dreadfull to him then smart Good is the adequate object of his love which he duly proportions according to the degrees of its eminence affecting the chiefe good not without a certaine ravishment of spirit the lesser with a wise and holy moderation Whether he do more hate sin or the evil spirit that suggests it is a question Earthly contentments are too mean grounds whereon to raise his joy these as hee baulks not whē they meet him in his way so he doth not too eagerly pursue he may taste of them but so as he had rather fast then surset He is not insensible of those losses w ch casualty or enmity may inflict but that w ch lyes most heavily upon his heart is his sin This makes his sleep short troublesome his meals stomacklesse his recreations listlesse his every thing tedious till he finde his soul acquitted by his great Surety in heaven which done he feels more peace and pleasure in his calm then he found horrour in the tempest His heart is the store-house of most precious graces That faith whereby his soul is established triumphs over the world wvether it allure or threaten and bids defiance to all the powers of darknesse not fearing to be foiled by any opposition His hope cannot be discouraged with the greatest difficulties but bears up against naturall impossibilities and knows how to reconcile contradictions His charity is both extensive and fervent barring out no one that bears the face of a man but pouring out it self upon the houshold of faith that studies good constructions of men and actions and keeps it self free both from suspicion and censure Grace doth not more exalt him then his humility depresses him Were it not for that Christ who dwels in him he could think himself the meanest of all creatures now he knows he may not disparage the Deity of him by whom he is so gloriously inhabited in whose only right he can be as great in his own thoughts as he is despicable in the eyes of the world He is wise to God-ward however it be with him for the world and well knowing he cannot serve two masters he cleaves to the better making choice of that good part which can never be taken from him not so much regarding to get that which he cannot keep as to possesse himself of that good which he cannot lose He is just in all his dealings with men hating to thrive by injury and oppression and will rather leave behinde something of his own then silch from anothers heap Hee is not close-fisted where there is just occasion of his distribution willingly parting with those metals which he regards onely for use not caring for either their colour or substance earth is to him no other then it self in what hiew so ever it appeareth In every good cause hee is bold as a Lion and can neither fear faces nor shrink at dangers and is rather heartned with opposition pressing so much the more where he findes a large door open and many adversaries and when he must suffer doth as resolutely stoop as he did before valiantly resist He is holily temperate in the use of all Gods blessings as knowing by whom they are given and to what end neither dares either to mis-lay them or to mis-spend them lavishly as duly weighing upon what tearms he receives them and fore-expecting an account Such an hand doth he carry upon his pleasures and delights that they run not away with him he knows how to slacken the reins without a debauched kind of dissolutenesse and how to straiten them without a sullen rigour He lives as a man that hath borrowed his time and challenges not to be an owner of it caring to spend the day in a gracious and well-governed thrift His first mornings task after he hath lifted up his heart to that God who gives his beloved sleep shall be to put himself into a due posture wherein to entertain himself and the whole day which shall be done if he shall effectually work his thoughts to a right apprehension of his God of himself of all that may concern him The true posture of a Christian then is this He sees still heaven open to him and beholds
admires the light inaccessible he sees the all-glorious God ever before him the Angels of God about him the evill spirits aloofe off enviously groyning and repining at him the world under his feet willing to rebell but forced to be subject the good creatures ready to render their service to him and is accordingly affected to all these he sees heaven open with joy and desire of fruition he sees God with an adoring awfulnesse he sees the Angels with a thankfull acknowledgement and care not to offend them he sees the evill spirits with hatred and watchfull indignation he sees the world with an holy imperiousnesse commanding it for use and scorning to stoop to it for observance Lastly he sees the good creatures with gratulation and care to improve them to the advantage of him that lent them Having thus gathered up his thoughts and found where he is he may now be fit for his constant devotion which he fals upon not without a trembling veneration of that infinite and incomprehensible Majesty before whom he is prostraâ—e now he climbes up into that heaven which he before did but behold and solemnly pours out his soul in hearty thanksgivings and humble supplications into the bosome of the Almighty wherein his awe is so tempered with his faith that whiles he labours under the sense of his own vilenesse he is raised up in the confidence of an infinite mercy now he renues his feeling interest in the Lord Jesus Christ his blessed Redeemer and labours to get in every breath new pledges of his gracious entirenesse so seasoning his heart with these earely thoughts of piety as that they stick by him all the day after Having thus begun with his God and begg'd his blessing he now finds time to addresse himself to the works of his calling To live without any vocation to live in an unwarrantable vocation not to labour in the vocation wherein he lives are things which his soul hateth These businesses of his calling therefore he follows with a willing and contented industry not as forced to it by the necessary of human Laws or as urged by the Law of necessity out of the sense or fear of want nor yet contrarily out of an eager desire of enriching himself in his estate but in a conscionable obedience to that God who hath made man to labour as the sparks to flye upward and hath laid it upon him both as a punishment and charge In the sweat of thy browes shalt thou eat thy bread In an humble alacrity he walks on in the way wherein his God hath set him yet not the while so intent upon his hands as not to tend his heart which he lifts up in frequent ejaculations to that God to whom he desires to be approved in all his endevours ascribing all the thanks both of his ability and successe to that omnipotent hand If he meet with any rubs of difficulty in his way hee knows who sent them and who can remove them not neglecting any prudentiall means of remedy he is not to seek for an higher redresse If he have occasion of trading with others his will may not be the rule of his gain but his conscience neither dares he strive for what he can get but what he ought Equity is here the Clerk of the Market and the measure w ch he would have others mete out to himself is the standard whereby he desires to be tryed in his mensurations to all other He hates to hoise prices upon occasion of his neighbours need to take the advantage of forfaits by the clock He is not such a slave to his trade as not to spare an hour to his soul neither dares be so lavish as utterly to neglect his charge upon whatever pretence of pleasure or devotion Shortly he takes his work at the hand of God and leaves it with him humbly offering up his services to his great Master in heaven and after all his labour sits comfortably down in the conscience of having faithfully done his task though not without the intervention of many infirmities His recreations for even these humane frailty will sometimes call for are such as may be meet relaxations to a minde over-bent and a body tired with honest and holy employments safe inoffensive and for time and measure fitly proportioned to the occasion like unto soft musick betwixt two long and stirring Acts like unto some quick and savory sauce to a listlesse and cloyed stomach like unto a sweet nap after an over-watching He is farre from those delights that may effeminate or corrupt the minde abhorring to sit by those pleasures from which he shall not rise better He hates to turn pastime into trade not abiding to spend more time in whetting then till his edge be sharp In the height of his delectations he knows to enjoy God from whom as he fetches his allowance so he craves and expects a gracious acceptation even when he lets himself most loose And if at any time he have gone beyond his measure he chides himself for the excesse and is so much the more carefull ever after to keep within compasse He can onely make a kinde of use of those contentments with light mindes are transported and can manage his disports without passion and leave a loser without regret A smile to him is as much as a loud laughter to the worldling neither doth he entertain mirth as his ordinary attendant but as his retainer to wait upon his serious occasions and finally so rejoyceth as if he rejoyced not His meals are such as nature requires and grace moderates not pinching himself with a penurious riggardlinesse nor pampering his flesh with a wanton excesse His palate is the least part of his care so as his fare may be wholesome he stands not upon delicacy He dares not put his hand to the dish till he have lookt up to the owner and hates to put one morsell into his mouth unblessed and knows it his duty to give thanks for what he hath paid for as well considering that neither the meat that he eats nor the hand and mouth that receives it nor the mawe that digests it nor the metall that buyes it is of his own making And now having fed his belly not his eye he rises from his board satisfied not glutted and so bestirs himself upon his calling as a man not more unwieldy by his repast but more chearfull and as one that would be loth his gut should be any hindrance to his brain or to his hand If he shall have occasion to entertain himself and his friends more liberally he dares not lose himself in his feast he can be soberly merry and wisely free onely in this he is willing not to be his own man in that he gives himself for the time to his guests His Cator is friendly thrift and Temperance keeps the boards end and carves to every one the best measure of enough As for his own diet when he is invited to a
CHRIST MYSTICALL OR The blessed union of Christ and his Members Also AN HOLY RAPTVRE OR A Patheticall Meditation of the Love of Christ. Also The Christian laid forth in his whole Disposition and Carriage By J. H. D. D. B. N. LONDON Printed by M. Flesher and are to be sold by William Hope Gabriel Beadle and Nathaniel Webbe 1647. TO The only Honour and Glory of his blessed Saviour and Redeemer And to the comfort and benefit of all those members of his Mysticall Body which are still labouring and warfaring upon earth I. H. their unworthiest servant humbly dedicates this fruit of his old age The CONTENTS § 1. HOw to be happy in the apprehending of Christ. § 2. The honour and happinesse of being united to Christ. § 3. The kinde and manner of our union with Christ. § 4. The resemblance of this union by the head and members of the body § 5. This union set forth by the resemblance of the husband and wife § 6. This union resembled by the nourishment the body § 7. The resemblance of this union by the branch and the stock the foundation and the building § 8. The certainty and indissolublenesse of this union § 9. The priviledges and benefits of this union The first of them life § 10. A complaint of our insensiblenesse of this mercy and an excitation to a chearfull recognition of it § 11. An incitement to a joy and thankfulnesse for Christ our life § 12. The duties we owe to God for his mercy to us in this life which we have from Christ. § 13. The improvement of this life in that Christ is made our Wisdome § 14. Christ made our Righteousnesse § 15. Christ made our Sanctification § 16. Christ made our Redemption § 17. The externall priviledges of this union a right to the blessings of earth and of heaven § 18. The means by which this union is wrought § 19. The union of Christs members with themselves First those in heaven § 20. The union of Christs members upon earth First in matter of judgement § 21. The union of Christians in matter of affection § 22. A complaint of Divisions and notwithstanding them an assertion of unity § 23. The necessary effects and fruits of this union of Christian hearts § 24. The union of the Saints on earth with those in heaven § 25. A recapitulation and sum of the whole Treatise I Have with much comfort and contentment perused these divine and holy Meditations entituled Christ Mysticall An holy Rapture and The Christian laid forth or characterised in his whole disposition and carriage and relishing in them much profitable sweetnesse and heavenly raptures of spirituall devotion I doe license them to be Printed and published JOHN DOVVNAME CHRIST MYSTICALL OR THE BLESSED Union of CHRIST and his Members THERE is not so much need of Learning as of Grace to apprehend those things which concern our everlasting peace neither is it our brain that must be set on work here but our heart for true happinesse doth not consist in a meer speculation but a fruition of good However therefore there is excellent use of Scholar-ship in all the sacred imployments of Divinity yet in the main act which imports salvation skill must give place to affection Happy is the soul that is possessed of Christ how poor so ever in all inferiour endowments Ye are wide O ye great wits whiles you spend your selves in curious questions and learned extravagancies ye shal find one touch of Christ more worth to your souls then all your deep and laboursome disquisitions one dram of faith more precious then a pound of knowledge In vain shall ye seek for this in your books if you misse it in your bosomes If you know all things and cannot truly say I know whom I have beleeved you have but knowledge enough to know your selves truly miserable Wouldst thou therefore my son finde true and solid comfort in the houre of temptation in the agony of death make sure work for thy soul in the days of thy peace Finde Christ thine and in despight of hell thou art both safe and blessed Look not so much to an absolute Deity infinitely and incomprehensibly glorious alas that Majesty because perfectly and essentially good is out of Christ no other then an enemy to thee thy sinne hath offended his justice which is himself what hast thou to doe with that dreadfull power which thou hast provoked Look to that mercifull and all-sufficient Mediator betwixt God and man who is both God and man Jesus Christ the righteous It is his charge and our duty Ye beleeve in God beleeve also in me Yet look not meerly to the Lord Jesus as considered in the notion of his own eternall beeing as the Son of God co-equall and co-essentiall to God the Father but look upon him as he stands in reference to the sons of men and herein also look not to him so much as a Law-giver and a Judge there is terror in such apprehension but look upon him as a gracious Saviour and Advocate and lastly look not upon him as in the generality of his mercy the common Saviour of mankind what comfort were it to thee that all the world except thy selfe were saved but look upon him as the dear Redeemer of thy soul as thine Advocate at the right hand of Majesty as one with whom thou art â—hrough his wonderfull mâ—rcy inseparably united Tâ—us thus look upon him firmly and fixedly so as he may never be out of thine eiâ—s and what ever secular objects interpose themselves betwixt thee and him look through them as some slight mists and terminate thy sight still in this blessed prospect Let neither earth nor heaven hide him from thee in whatsoever condition And whiles thou art thus taken up see if thou canst without wonder and a kinde of ecstaticall amazement behold the infinite goodness of thy God that hath exalted thy wretchednesse to no lesse then a blessed and indivisible Union with the Lord of glory so as thou who in the sense of thy miserable mortality maist say to corruption Thou art my father and to the worm Thou art my mother and my sister canst now through the priviledge of thy faith hear the Son of God say unto thee Thou art bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh Surely as we are too much subject to pride our selves in these earthly glories so we are too apt through ignorance or pusillanimity to undervalue our selves in respect of our spirituall condition wee are far more noble and excellent then we account our selves It is our faith that must raise our thoughts to a due estimation of our greatnesse and must shew us how highly we are descended how royally we are allied how gloriously estated that onely is it that must advance us to heaven and bring heaven down to us Through the want of the exercise whereof it comes to passe that to the great prejudice