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
Christ which is his word and true following of him which consists in obedience subiection and conformity to him and finally true Christian charitie are true markes and characters and infallible arguments by which a man indued with them may demonstrate proue himselfe to be a sincere Christian or true disciple and sheepe of Christ lesus who is that good Shepheard euen the Shepheard and Byshop of our souls the great and chiefe Shepheard who gaue his life for his sheepe that they might not die but haue euerlasting life throughhim This true Christian and Christ Iesus God and Man are vnited and coupled together by God so as that they are now no more two but one yet not one flesh but one Spirit or spirituall bodie Before a man bee ioyned to Christ that is before a mans effectuall vocation a man and Christ are at oddes are two are diuided are enemies Te were at that time saith Saint Paul that is in your daies of ignorance and paganisme without Christ and were aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel and were strangers from the couenants of promise and had no hope and were without God in the world But after they bee conioyned and knit together after they haue giuen themselues each to other and haue taken and entertained each other they are now like man and wife no more to be reputed two but one Neither is a man to thinke that he is a true Christian and adorned with true Christian faith and charity before hee be vnited vnto Christ But then when he is first truely coupled vnto Christ euen then and not before he is indued with those Christian vertues and is become indeede a Christian For there must be an vnion with Christ before there bee communion or fellowship Wee are knit to Christ before wee draw any vertue from him Before I say not in time but in nature So that faith hope charitie obedience are not vertues had before this vnion is made but then when it is made and after wards They go not before the vnion but they are giuen at the making of the vnion and shew him that is vnited Then when Christ is pleased to come vnto a man and to vnite himselfe actually to him euen then and not before hee breathes into him the breath of life to wit his holy Spirit who creates in him faith and loue and moues him to giue himselfe vnto Christ and workes in him a certaine spirituall hunger and thirst after him and learnes him to feede vpon him as a childe on 's Nurse or as a hungrie man on the meat that 's set before him But more of this hereafter This Coniunction is not imaginary and deceitfull but reall and true The glory which thou gauest me saith Christ I haue giuen them that they may be one euen as we are one I in them and thou in mee that they may be made perfect in one And I haue declared vnto them thy name and will declare it that the loue wherewith thou hast loued mee may be in them and I in them And againe At that day shall ye know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you And yet more If any man loue me my Father will loue him and we will come vnto him and will dwell with him There are some that dreame they eat and drinke yet indeede they neither eate nor drinke but awaking they rise vp hungrie and a thirst Some haue imagined in their dreames they haue beene married and yet in truth were not These marriages are but dreames and phansies but the vnion of Christ and his members is true certaine and demonstrable Indeede as some phrantique men haue thought many things theirs which were not so Hypocrites who are like the flower Granadelle which is very faire to the eye but hath no smell as Ioseph Acosta writeth and other wicked and false hearted Christians who are like the wilde Tunalls in the westerne Indies the which doe cary no fruite or else that which is very pricking and vnprofitable may through a certaine phrensie of spirit imagine and perswade themselues that they are true Christians wedded and vnited vnto Christ and possessed of his grace being in trueth cleane voide of Christ and wedded to their owne Idolls which they dote on and embrace for Christ as Ixion did the cloud for Iuno There is a true Vnion or Coniunction of loue among true friends as betweene Dauid and Ionathan For Amicus est alter ego a man and his friend are both as one either one or none If diuided then no friends But this is the vnion of amity the coniunction of consent Such a like coniunction is vnderstood where it is said the multitude of them that belieued were of one heart and of one soule And behold the communion issuing of this vnion behold the goodly fruit of this their godly coniunction by their Christian charitie an effect indeed of their vnion with Christ himselfe Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his owne but they had all things common For true loue rauishes the louer and transports him out of himselfe into his loue and makes him to communicate and distribute himselfe and his vnto his beloued for his good whence it is truely said that among true friends and louers all things are in common Now sure it is that there is a league of loue and friendship between Christ and all true Christian people I haue called you friends saith Christ and ye are my friends if yee doe whatsoeuer I commaund you And by reason of Christs loue to them and of their loue to Christ springing from him as water from a fountaine Christ and they are vnited and ioyned together in one like louing friends one of them inamored with the other he delighting in them and they in him he seeking their glorie and they his For as hatred parts those that are vnited so true loue vnites them that were diuided it conioyneth soules and causeth true contentment and delight among those that it hath vnited and makes them to seeke one another and not themselues or their owne thinges onely But yet this is not all the Coniunction that is betwixt Christ and his Church and the true members of it A friend cannot do that for his friend that Christ doth for vs who giues vs his very Spirit the Spirit of truth who dwelleth with vs and abideth in vs who himselfe also is in vs as an helper and vpholder and from whose aide and presence no distance of place or fury of the enemie can disioyne vs and from whose very sacred body also we sucke that nurriture which doth not onely refresh and comfort vs as meat doth a mans body but as a true caelestiall and lise-giuing cordiall repaires and preserues the supernaturall sappe of the soule the radicall humour of grace infused into our hearts in our conuersion that tho there
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
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
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
then the Temples of Venus Flora Cupid mounting vp into the highest heauens where are perfect pleasures pure delights immortall ioyes and euerlasting contentment But Christ loueth his Church truely expressing his loue to her by laying downe his life for her He was so desirous to clense her that he spared not his owne bloud his best bloud his heart bloud but washt her in it Here was loue indeed Hee did not loue her because she was faire or rich for she was of her selfe till he came preuented her with his grace and made loue to her poore naked polluted wretched and inglorious but by his loue he hath made her louely and louing by his ornaments hee hath made her shining by his purity he hath made her cleane by his beautie he hath made her gracious and with his blessednesse shee is made an happy woman She was once as blacke as pitch but shee is now as white as the driuen snow The Kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of broydred gold She is so faire and louely in his eye as that his loue will suffer him to spie no blemish in her as it is written He seeth no iniquitie in Iacob nor transgression in Israell For indeed he hath couered all her sinnes and washt her from all her foulenes ridding her of all her wrinckles freckles and deformities by the merit and vertue of his owne blood Behold his owne speeches of her praises which he speakes vnto her and mockes her not Thou art all faire my Loue and there is no spot in thee Who is she that looketh foorth in the morning faire as the Moone and pure as the Sun How beautifull are thy goings with shooes thou Princes daughter How faire are thou and how pleasant art thou O my loue in pleasures Yea to expresse his full contentment in her hee speakes somewhere to her like a man rapt out of himselfe and ouercome of loue My Sister my Spouse thou hast wounded mine heart thou hast wounded mine heart with one of thine eies and with a chaine of thy necke My Sister my Spouse how faire is thy loue How much better is thy loue then wine and the sauour of thine ointments then all spices Thy lips my Spouse drop as hony-combes hony and milke are vnder thy tongue and the sauour of thy garments is as the sauour of Lebanon It is certaine that the power of ruling appertaines vnto the Husband but yet sometimes hee wants wit to rule himselfe and some wiues are now and then sicke of the vnruly euill being very thwart and foolish But Christ being the Wisedome of God and the very fountaine of goodnesse and commiserations performes the office of a wise and tender-hearted Husband alwaies to his Church his Spouse which is not morose scornefull and vnruly but humble gentle and obedient And therefore the Apostle exhorting women to be submissiue to their Husbands propoundes vnto them the example of the Spouse of Christ Therefore saith hee as the Church is subiect vnto Christ so let the wiues bee to their owne husbands euery thing And when he would perswade the men to loue their wiues and to vse them tenderly hee prouokes them to it by the practise of Christ who loues the Church and nourishes and cherishes it as a man his owne flesh It is allowed to one man to haue one wife at once and no more then one For God gaue Adam but one Though he had abundance of spirit yet he made but one but one woman of one ribbe for the helpe comfort and contentment of one man Therefore he saith by his Prophet keepe your selues in your spirit that is bridle your affections and keepe your selues within your compasse and let none trespasse against the wife of his youth Our Lord likewise hath but one wife or Spouse our Head hath but one Body For though euery godly man bee vnited vnto Christ and bee a member of his body yet all the godly in the world that either haue beene are or shal be being all ioyntly considered together doe make that one and onely Spouse or wife of Christ who shall raigne at his right hand with him in all honour and glory for euer and euer This is she that is his and his onely and no others with him This is his Doue his Loue his louing Hinde and pleasant Roe Her eies doe hold him her breasts doe satisfie him her loue contents him in her and in her loue hee delights continually Yet truely may euery true Belieuer say Christ is my Head Christ is my Husband for he is vnited to him But yet is Christ husband and head to one so as he is Head and Husband to the rest as Iacob was a father equally to all his sonnes as a mans head is the head of all his members the feet as well as the hands or as a King is head and husband ciuill vnto all his Subiects indifferently without respect of persons But Christ doth much more to the Church then the Husband can vnto his Wife A man may as our Seruice-booke speakes worship his wife with his body that is hee may honour her with his body which hee doth in that hee doth appropriate it to her making her the Mistris of it for as the Apostle sheweth the Husband hath not the power of his owne bodie but the wife But no man is able to giue his wife his spirit or soule Though a man and his wife may liue so louingly and peaceably together specially a time as that a body would almost thinke and say there were but one soule in both their bodies yet in truth each of them haue their owne priuate spirits the mans soule is not in the woman nor the womans in the man His animates and possesses him and hers animates and possesses her one of them truely differing from the other not in kinde but in number not in substance but in accidents But our Lord Iesus Christ hath bestowed his Spirit on his Church She liues not by her owne life but by his life She is not ruled by her owne spirit but by his Spirit Yes euery man vnited to Christ hath the Spirit of Christ The very soule of man is not more common to all his members then the holy Ghost is to all the godly And whereas some mens wiues haue beene and I would none were now possessed with an euill Spirit being very torments and trouble houses the Spouse of Christ is possessed with the good Spirit of God which is the Spirit of peace gentlenesse and loue who susteines comforts instructs leades her and dwelleth with all those that can truly call her Mother There is a certaine transcendent and strong coherence betwixt Christ and his Church He cleaueth to her as an husband to his wife and shee to him as a wife to her husband but yet so as that one of them cannot be broken from the other one of