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
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
Coniunction throughout all ages and generations of men In so much that no stint or limit can be set to the value vertue and merite of his sacrificed body it knoweth no bounds of efficacie vnto life but is also it selfe infinitely able to purge and saue all in any place or age on whom Christ is pleased to conferre it Wee are then vnited by the vnion of grace to our blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ being locked and ioyned to him by the vnion of a singular and most blessed Dependance as hee is both God and Man For our very being as we are Christians true members of the Church his body doth wholly depend vpon him Our new life and pardon our iustice and holinesse and all our spirituall and celestiall gifts and comforts flow from him as water from a fountaine or as light from the Sunne and altogether depend vpon him so as that if any thing could come betwixt vs and him that could seuer vs from him or from the gracious operations of his Godhead or from the Cooperation and merits of his Manhead we could not wee should not continue new creatures Saints or liuing members of his mysticall body one moment of time but must needes presently become nothing dead cursed slaues fire-brands of hell and perishable I say againe the Godhead of Christ is in vs dwells in vs and we in it not onely because it fills vs as it fills all things else and is present with vs as it is throughout all the world but because cause it worketh mightily in vs and very graciously powring foorth and giuing vs all our new being life ioyes and vertues which we haue and for that it doth also susteine and keepe vs in this good estate it sets vs in In which respect we may truely say that God is absent from the reprobate and that they are separated from him And therefore also Saint Gregorie saith that All we which belieue in Christ are out of doubt his body And because he is become the head of his members by a maruellous dispensation of pietie therefore he is also onely with vs the rout of Reprobates being repulsed The Church of Christ is the chosen inheritance of Christ as Rabanus truely speaketh and therefore the Godhead of Christ visits and tends her onely with the visitation and presence of grace and mercy to saluation passing ouer the vast and drie Desarts and craggy rockes and sterilous mountaines of wicked Cast-awayes which are the heritage of Satan and confusion I say further the very flesh of Christ is in vs and we in it And that not onely Propter identitatem naturee because he hath a true humane soule and body as we haue but without sin like as the head and the body and the vine and her branches haue one kinde of substance or nature nor yet onely Propter conformitatem affectuum for conformity of affections or similitude of vertues or for because hee is in our hearts by loue and we in his which may be among faithfull louers and louing couples but also because wee are his worke and creation his fruite and edifice His very flesh doth sanctifie vs his bloud doth clense vs by the meanes and vertue whereof being the flesh and bloud of God our soules are quickned our hearts are purified our sinnes are washed away and wee nourished refreshed strengthened and preserued to life and glory From this sacred flesh of his our very bodies doe receiue that life which shall make them glorious at the latter day and for the which they are now reputed parcels of his blessed body These corruptible bodies of ours could neuer liue the life they shall liue but that they are here ioyned with his body which is incorruptible and that his is in ours as a cause of immortality a cause by remouing through the inualuable death and merite of his owne flesh that which hindered the life of ours And if a man may say the fire is in a man when the heat and vertue of the fire is in him as when he is hot burnt scorcht or scalded well then may a man truely say that Christ is in a man who partakes of his merit vertue and operations and who hath his very spirit dwelling and abiding in him who moulds him turnes him fashions him mortifies him quickens him and repaires him scorching drying consuming and burning vp the petulant and luxurious lusts and humors of sin within him Christ then both as God and Man is in vs within vs and is our Head in whom we are compleat And as from the head is conueied sense and motion into all the parts of the body And as the same soule which is in the head is in all the members of the body quickning mouing and directing them Euen so the holy Spirit of Christ is from Christ deriued into all the members of his spirituall body and from him as God and Man wee receiue our godly life and being and all those perfections wherein our godlinesse and happinesse standeth The Godhead indeed is the fountain of all grace and comforts but the manhead is the conduit-pipe by which they are from that fountain or spring-head conueyed and brought vnto vs euen as bloud is diffused by veines throughout the body from the liuer or as the sinewes do minister sense and motion from the braine But whereas sinewes veines and pipes of wood lead or other matter lacke reason iudgement and will the flesh of Christ is furnished with them in all perfections so that indeed neither the Deity without the Humanity nor the Humanity without the Deity but both do work together for our good and worke-out our life and glorie So then we participate whole Christ and the whole of Christ We participate Christ God and Man agent and patient liuing and dying descending ascending abased and exalted Hee that hath the tree hath the fruits he that hath the field hath the corne he to whom the sheep belongs is owner also of the fleece and fruite We participate Christ partly by imputation his obedience holinesse and sufferings being imputed to vs and iudged to be ours For the Suretie being ours his mony is also ours to pay our debts hauing freely vndertaken vpon him so to doe This mony is the iustice of Christ imputed to vs wherewith we buy out our iustification and liberty which we haue in Christ Iesus This as Salomon speakes of mony doth answere all things By it we obteine accesse to God pardon of our sinnes redemption from our enemies and euerlasting saluation And partly also we participate him by habituall and reall infusion as when grace is really wrought within vs and inhereth inwardly in vs true holinesse being ingrauen vpon our hearts by the finger of God whiles we liue on earth and hereafter more fully when both our bodies and our soules shall bee made like vnto his in perfit glory And because Christ worketh by his Spirit therefore hee bestowes his Spirit
great courtesie to bee taken into some Corporation or Society amongst men in some Towne City or Colledge and esteeme it a great aduancement when a poore Mayden is married to a Prince or to some mighty rich man what fauour then hath God shewen vs how highly hath hee graced vs how great is our happinesse seeing hee hath giuen vs vnto his one eternall and only Sonne to whom wee are fast vnited with whom wee are clothed whose spirit grace and merits we do participate and from whom nothing shall be able to disioyne and part vs no not the gates of hell What shall wee render vnto the Lord for his loue vnto vs what praises shall wee sing vnto him O Lord what is man that thou shouldst so regard him or the son of man that thou shouldst so aduance him Man is a worme the son of man is a worme dust and ashes sin shame and confusion What are we all euen the best of vs all but vapors shadowes dreames glasses and very vanity yet as base as wee be the great God of heauen hath lookt downe vpon vs and not scorn'd vs. O Lord how shall we praise thee where shall wee beginne or how shall we make an end The Angels which transgressed thou hast passed by and wouldst not giue thy Son vnto them Thou dost punish their pride against thee and their enuie at our felicity They fell without a Tempter and they perish without a Sauiour But man poore man distressed wretch who being fallen by Sathans subtiltie had no strength left him to rise againe and with himselfe ouerthrew all his issue thou hast out of pure pity relieued and raised vp againe and a many also of his children euen as many as thy grace made choyce of On him thou didst bestow thy Son thy deare and onely childe Thou hast espoused and knit vs to him His we are who once were Satans hee is our life our crowne our hope our happinesse In him we haue all things and he is all things in and to vs. Wee poore wretches are sicke and wounded but he is our phisique and Phisician in him we find perfit health and soundnesse We are weake and feeble but he is our fortitude and strength We are naked hauing nothing on vs but rotten ragges and stinking patches but he is rayment for vs and doth aray vs and preserue vs from cold and nakednesse We are hungry and thirsty empty and hollow yea euen famished for lacke of meate but hee is meate and drinke Pabulum Pastor our food and feeder our nurriture and our nurse Esca mentis non ventris meate indeed for the soule not for the belly Meates are for the belly and the belly for meates and God will destroy both it and them but this foode is for the soule and the soule for it and the soule shall besaued by it if it doe receiue it and shall not be destroyed All refections are in him if we haue him we can lacke no meat to strengthen vs no drinke to coole vs no wine to cheere vs no dainties to content vs no waters to reuiue and comfort vs. All the aqua vitae aqua caelestis aurum potabile all the waters wines drinks in the world cannot quicken a dead man or preserue a liuing man that he see not death much lesse then are they able to reuiue a dead soule and to saue soule and body from hell fire and raise a dead body from his dust But our Lord Iesus Christ in whom we are and he in vs whose flesh wee eate whose bloud we drinke he he is able fully able to do all this for vs. He is the Fountaine of the gardens the well of liuing waters the Leader of captiuity captiue the death of death the destruction of the graue and the Author of life grace and immortalitie to all his body When we were cast forth in our nakednes and bloud and lay as forlorne and dead he I say he came to vs took pity vpon vs and clothed vs and said vnto vs liue and we are become aliue He hath crucified our sinnes washed our soules reconciled vs to God quieted our mindes saued vs from hel giuen vs his Spirit the Spirit of life and comfort of grace and holinesse and when the fulnesse of time is come he will raise vp our dead bodies and make vs triumph ouer death and hell and sin and all our infernall enemies in eternall and euer-blessed glory with him his holy Name be praised for euer and for euer Amen The Time wherein we are first ioyned vnto Christ actually the time I say in which he is first actually in vs so as hath been said and wee actually in him is at our effectuall calling and turning vnto God then when wee are first actually incorporated by the Spirit into his body As concerning Gods eternall counsell and fore-knowledge and purpose of adoption and incorporation wee were in Christ and Christ in vs before the foundations of the world were laide but we are not actually knit vnto him he is not actually giuen to vs and we to him vntill we be actually regenerated or called Euen as Eue was not actually vnited to Adam till God made her and gaue her to him and hee receiued her And our being in Christ by eternall foreknowledge saues vs not without our actuall calling and adoption and our reall incorporation in time into his body which is perfit in him the head whence all the body by ioints and bands hauing nourishment ministred and knit together increaseth with the increase of God The time when our Vnion and Contract with Christ shall be solemnly celebrated is at the latter day then when our dead bodies are restored aliue and glorious vnto vs and when all our enemies shall bee actually troden vnder our feete and for euer Against which day hee prepare and fit vs for himselfe who hath prepared it for himselfe and vs. Come ô Lord Lord Iesus come quickly take vs to thee The man that is vnited vnto Christ and is partaker of him and of his benefits that man I say may discerne this his blessed vnion with Christ and Christs abode within him by these notes ensuing Our blessed Lord and Sauiour saith if a man loue me he will keepe my wordes and my father will loue him and wee will come vnto him and make our abode with him He therefore that loueth Christ and keepeth his word hath Christ in him and is in Christ Againe behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come into him and sup with him and he with me He therefore that heares Christ speaking to him in the ministery of the word and good motions of the Spirit and opens the doore of his heart that this glorious King may come into him for hee will not breake in like a Theife or Murderer by