violence against a mans will he hath Christ in him and hee is himselfe in Christ For Christ is in no man as a Sauiour but in him who as a man saued is in Christ And hee is a Sauiour to none but such as entertain him for their Lord and will be ruled by him as obedient and louing Subiects Further He that belieueth in me hath euerlasting life Therefore by true faith in Christ a man belieuing may see his vnion and fellowship with Christ For no man hath eternall life but he that is in Christ and hath Christ For Christ is the life euen eternall life life euen euerlasting is in him and floweth from him Yea Christ expressely saith Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him But qui credit edit he eateth that belieueth Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy belly saith Saint Austin Belieue and thou hast eaten Crede manducasti He eateth him which belieueth in him Noli parare fauces sed cor make not ready thy chaps for the matter but thine heart For a good soule is a good stomach a good minde is mouth inough it is no matter tho the teeth be rotten and the gummes be naught if the faith bee sound or tho the mouth be shut if the heart be open Moreouer he that dwelleth in God God in him dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him For Christ is in God and God in him I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfit in one Now we may know that God dwells in vs and we in God by obedience to his precepts by mutuall loue one towards another and by his holy spirit 1 By obedience For who so keepeth his word in him verily is the loue of God perfited hereby know we that we are in him Hee that keepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him 2 By mutuall loue if we loue one another God dwelleth in vs and his loue is perfit in vs. God is loue and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and God in him 3 By his holy Spirit Hereby we know that he abideth in vs by the Spirit which he hath giuen vs. And againe Hereby know we that we dwell in him and hee in vs because hee hath giuen vs his spirit True it is that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus But who are they Euen they that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit Certain it is if any man haue Christ the same hath the spirit of Christ For if any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And the spirit is knowne by his works as a strong wind by his effects as a tree by her fruits or the soule by her actions in the bodie But the fruit of the spirit is loue ioy peace longanimity gentlenesse goodnes fidelity meekenes temperance And as the body is dead without the spirit so is the soule without the spirit of Christ a mans faith godlines without good works which doth manifest it as the light doth the sunne or as the heat doth the truth of fire Many men abuse themselues with their owne fansies thinking they haue the spirit of Christ in them whereas in truth they liue in the flesh follow the flesh daunce after the Deuils pipe run when the world whoops liuing in ignorance and pride in presumption security of the flesh delighting in one knowne euill or other and will not be separated from it but cleaue vnto it let Iohn Baptist say what he will as Herod to Herodias his brothers wife But the truth is the spirit of God dwells in none but those that are not in the flesh but in the Spirit in none but those that are led by the spirit and not by the flesh And they that are Christs haue crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof It is no such difficulty for a man to distinguish his friend from his foe for a Woman to know her owne husband from a stranger or for a man to know his owne head from another mans Neyther is it indeed so hard a matter for a true Christian to know Christ to be his and himselfe to be Christs Indeede Epicures Atheists Mammonists malicious Idiots Hypocrites and Christians onely in name finde it not onely difficult but impossible or else like melancholy fooles and franticke men they feed fill themselues with foolish fantasies For he that would know himselfe to be in Christ must needs first bee in Christ as shee that would know her selfe to be such a mans wife must first bee his wife or as a man must haue wealth or health before hee know hee hath it and must bee aliue before hee knowes hee is aliue and can tell another that he is aliue In vaine doe they say that they are in Christ which doe not the works of Christ and haue not his holy Spirit but a spirit of vncleannesse in them And in vaine doe they imagine or tell folkes that they haue the spirit of Christ when they adhere vnto Antichrist or while they follow and fulfill the lusts of the flesh as adultery fornication vncleannesse lasciuiousnesse idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies enuyings murders drunkennesse reuellings and such like which whosoeuer doth shall not inherit the kingdome of God and therefore plainely declare that they are not in Christ and Christ in them The course that men should take to become partakers of Christ and his benefits is this First duely to consider and bitterly to lament their wretchednesse out of Christ and to hunger and thirst eagerly after him For vnlesse we see and feele our miserable and fearefull estate without him wee shall make no reckoning of him Vnlesse we know and acknowledge our indigence of him and that hee is aboundantly able to supply our wants wee shall not esteeme and desire him What should hee doe with a friend or surety that sees no need of him Or what should shee doe with a husband that knowes not what a husband meanes Or what should they do with money that knowes not what to doe with it or with cloathes that know not how to put them on or what they should doe with them like the wilde Virginians that count them cumbersome vnto them choosing to goe naked A full stomacke loathes an honny-combe contemnes all sorts of delicates but true hunger makes a man desire and seeke for meate The sence of sickenesse and nakednesse makes a man desire health and cloathing The feeling of pouerty and lacke mooues a man to seeke riches and supply The pinching of could weather makes a man runne to the fire and leaue the open ayre The smart of paines causeth a man to seeke ease The miseries of warres make men seeke peace and pursue it Oh that we could see our vnrighteousnes that wee might
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
them cannot be absent from the other no distance of place nor crossenesse of winde and weather nor any perturbations of minde being able to diuide or diuell them as they may doe a man and his wife An husband may bee in Italy and his wife in England and when hee is there hee is not with her here And while shee is here she is not with him there but one of them both being definite and circumscriptible is absent from the other But Christus est totus in toto corpore Ecclesiae totus in qualibet eius parte Christ is whole with the whole Church and whole with euery part of the Church as touching his person which can no way diuide it selfe or be possest by degrees or portions Christ is no where neuer absent from any godly Christian but is present with him in all places with his light he sees with his grace he is adorned with his Spirit hee is reuiued and comforted which Spirit resideth in him alwaies and worketh in him really though not alwaies sensibly Hee worketh in him I say yet not as an instrument but as an artizan not as a seruant but as a master nor as the Sunne or Moone which are naturall Agents but as a voluntary Motor or workeman according to his will in which he is one with Christ who sends him There is many a true soule which puts her trust in her husband and relies vpon his honesty and faith but being absent from him is deceiued iniured mis-vsed by reason of his vnfaithfull and insatiate spirit and sometimes is left in scorne and turned of at sixe and seauens But Christ is fast and faithfull constant and true plaies not fast and loose as incontinent and goatish Carnalists and being still present with his Church is a wall of fire round about her a shaddow against the heat a fountaine against her thirst an antidote against poyson friend in trouble a treasure of all good thinges against want an impenetrable Buckler to all those that put their confidence in him He that belieueth in him shall not bee ashamed Whereas many a poore woman is ashamed of her husband and confounded in her selfe being euen at her wits end not knowing which way to turne her selfe We haue a By-word Out of sight and out of minde And indeede it falls out often twixt man and wife that absence and distance make them forget each other or not so mindfull as they should bee But the Church is neuer out of Christs sight neuer out of his hand neuer out of his heart Can a woman trow ye forget her childe can she forget or not haue compassion on the sonne of her wombe but say she should yet will not Christ for get his Church Why she is set as a seale on his heart as a signet vpon his arme Behold saith he I haue grauenthee vpon the palme of mine hands thy walls are euer in my sight Men must needes rest themselues and sleep Quod caret alternâ requie durabile non est and so shut their wiues out of their eyes tho not out of their breasts and in sleepe much crueltie as Stories declare haue been shewed sometimes against both them their wiues But the Lord Iesus Christ the great Keeper of Israell and husband of his people needs no such refreshment Hee that keepeth thee that is the Church will not slumber Behold hee that keepeth Israell shall neither slumber nor sleepe Yea such is his power and prouidence ouer her that hee will preserue her night and day continually from all euill and so order all thinges that nothing shall hurt her but work-together for her good and the good of all her children which she beares him But this is quite out of mans power He is vnable to turne all things to his wiues good or to the good of his children by her Hee can say vnto her with all my worldly goods I thee endow Though they be his onely in discretion to dispose yet they are all hers in participation to vse all which sometimes are so few as that they are scarce able to discharge the Churches rites and buy a wedding Dinner and a bed to lye in But how many soeuer and how glorious yet are they very vncertaine and loue to change their Masters often yes and she too vnhappy man doth somtimes proue as vncertaine her selfe as any thing hee hath shewing her selfe a mooueable euer a gadding euen the same that Salomon speakes of whose feet cannot abide in her house but now she is without now in the street and lies in wait at euery corner But be his goods what they may be and be his Wife another Sara Rabel Anna Penelope or Lucretia yet hee is not able to say to her because she is his Wife that therefore all things in the world are hers The greatest Prince on earth cannot say so and speake the truth vnto his Wife But the spouse of Christ is Lady of the whole world Christ hath giuen her of his owne riches his owne ornaments and honour and bought her such a Crowne such a massie Crowne set with such rich Pearles and Iewels as doth as farre surpasse the Crownes all the Crownes of all the Kings and Emperours in the World as Heauen doth Earth as the fayrest Diamond doth the poorest stone One looking on a Crowne when it was offered him sayd vnto it before he would accept and take it Oh Oh if men knew the miserie that comes with thee there is no man would stoope to the ground to take thee vp For as Seneca well sayd Great seruice followes vpon a great estate The waking of the Prince defendeth the sleepes of all men his labour maintaines their leysure his industry their delights his occupation their vocation Crownes are full of care and feare and bee they what they may be they are subiect to alteration and destruction But the Churches Crowne is incorruptible eternall neuer to bee won from her by deceits nor taken away from her by force and fury And when once she is actually inuested with it shee shall enioy it alwaies without feare or doubt Yea euen in this life we haue such riches as the world cannot affoord vnto her followers For wee haue the grace of God pardon of our sinnes the freedome and peace of a good conscience hope and comfort Yea the kingdome of God is in vs all things are cleane vnto vs al things in the world are ours if we be Christs if Christ be in vs and we vnited to him All things are yours saith the Holy Ghost Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come All are yours And if all things be ours then nothing shall hurt vs but all things shall further vs. For seeing all things are ours it is meet that all things shold co operate for our good Yea the Diuels themselues are ours if wee be not theirs
but Christs Christ will so order the matter that they shall but wreath garlands of immortality for vs though sore against their wils and increase our glory And whereas many men forget the honour of their wiues and are regardlesse of their decency as Sergus that Scottish King who so basely neglected his Wife and held her so penurious that shee was driuen to serue other Noble women for her liuing Christ Iesus is so carefull ouer his Spouse who stands at his right hand in gould of Ophir that rather then shee shall want attendance and honour he will moue euen Kings to be her nourishers Queens her nurses who shall bow downe vnto her with their faces towards the earth and licke vp the dust of her feete The coniunction of Man and Wife doth not necessarily cause eyther or both of them to bee piously disposed For as hee that toucheth pitch is vsually defiled with it and as sweet riuers running through fennish grounds are thereby corrupted so the company of a wicked man doth oftentimes corrupt the manners of a good natured woman And although a man may take a woman to his wife yet it is not in his hands to make her eyther a good Woman or a good Wife if he finde her naught But our coniunction with Christ doth chaunge vs all ouer and turnes vs vpside downe hee contaminates and infects no man hee cannot but he purifies and makes good al that come vnto him and bestow themselues vpon him And albeit the Wife doth in some sort depend vpon her Husband seeing she is vnited to him and is his yet if that knot were dissolued either by iust diuorce or death it might fall out that shee might liue still as well and bee as godly as she was before For neither her Vertues nor her life depends on him nor vpon his life neither yet her happinesse alway nor her good successe it 'h world She may find better friends then her Husband was or shee may be married to a second Husband in whom shee may be happier by far then in her first But the Church and all her children doe so depend on Christ that without him they cannot continue a moment for by him we liue moue and haue our being and all our well-being both as wee be men and as wee are Christian men From him we haue our selues our iustice holinesse and all our happinesse In him wee are elected in him created by him redeemed and preserued Without me saith Christ ye can doe nothing and so also without Christ wee can be nothing If something yet that something that 's worse then nothing for nothing cannot sinne and nothing cannot suffer for sinne Nothing can doe no wrong and nothing can feele no paine It were more profitable for a man not to bee then to be a man out of Christ Though hee were married to the best woman in the world though hee were coupled with the best friends i' th world though he were ioyned in bloud or alliance to the cheefest Monarchs in the world though hee were possessed with the greatest and richest kinngdomes of the world yet if hee were not vnited to Christ Iesus if hee were not possest of him he were nothing he had nothing hee were more miserable then the dust he treads on For Christ is all things he that hath Christ lacks nothing he that wants Christ hath nothing A man were better be nothing then something hauing nothing Who is able to expresse the worthinesse of Christ Iesus He is our life and our light our comfort and our crowne our grace our glory he is our all things he that hath him hath life saies Saint Iohn but hee that hath not him hath not life But had I the tongues of Men and Angels I could not declare the praises due to Christ Iesus my Lord and Sauiour If all the water in the Maine were incke yet all that incke were not enough to write downe his worthy praises Common experience teacheth that women feed their children yea out of their owne bodies as Sarah did Isaak with her owne milke And I haue read of a woman who gaue her owne mother sucke of her owne body when she being in prison was kept from meat and after such a sort a woman may preserue the life of her husband a while at least but did I neuer eyther see heare or read of a man that fedde and nourished his wife of himselfe He may bring her meat but he is no meat hee makes not himselfe a dish to feede on he giues his wife his heart but not as Hawkes-meat to prey on not rosted to liue on But Christ Iesus the Husband of the Church is also the very food of our soules I am that bread of life saith Christ I am the liuing bread The bread which I will giue is my flesh He which eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in mee and I in him Here is a louer indeed the globe we tread on beares not a husband halfe so kinde nor all the Markets in the world can afford such meat as here If there were but a Baker which could make such bread for the body to keep it from death men would to him if he were in the farthest angle of the earth Countries would goe together by the eares to get and enioy him I suppose that if he had his choyce hee would rather chuse to dye then to liue For sure men would weare his flesh to the bones with labour and would scarce suffer him eyther to eate or sleepe But what gaines a man by long life without this Bread of Life Christ Iesus The Iudgement will come at length and shall not bee put off and the longer a sinner hath liued the more sinnes hee hath committed the greater accounts he must make the greater torments hee must indure And what pleasure thinke wee will the soule then take to be kept in the body like a Prisoner in a strong Goale vnder much pain want and sorrow against her will and not to be able to get out through she would begge it with flouds of teares continually streaming from the eyes and would giue euen all the world if shee had it if shee could but die and come to nothing Our Lord our Husband is better bread then so He is the bread of eternall life to all that are vnited to him and which feede vpon him They whom he feeds vpon himselfe are safe from staruing sure enough from destruction And. whereas other Bread is turned and concocted in vs the truth is This bread of life is not turned in vs not turned into the substance of our soule or body but it turnes and transforms vs rather into it For Christ doth so metamorphise and alter a man whom he couples to himselfe that he doth put a new life into him hee giues him another kinde of spirit and doth so furnish him with his owne things that