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
may part how good or deare so euer vnto him hee may yet bee depriued of them and separated from them flat and full against his will or may loose some one of them or spoile it through negligence or forgetfulnes or may throw them by as being wearied with the vse or bearing of them no such mischance and accident can come to Christ against his will hee cannot loose vs against his will neither is hee weary of vs or carelesse of our good Those which are his he loues cherishes delights in preserues and keepes fast and safe for euer But this is not all There is also a certaine Coniunction betweene brothers and sisters and such as are Coheires or Partners in some office but this is either naturall or else legall and politicall or ciuill But our Coniunction with Christ is not naturall or ciuill nor of humane institution but ghostly heauenly inuisible and aboue nature either as it was created or as it is corrupted And Though wee be the Heires of God and heires annexed with Christ and be called his Brethren and therefore must needes be coupled together and haue fellowship with him yet we must not imagine our vnion or communion to be the same that naturall brothers in bloud haue or which are partners of the same office or inheritance For he is a naturall Heire we are adopted by grace Indeed as he is man he is heire by the grace of hypostaticall vnion And that we are heires we are beholding vnto him For wee are Heires in him and by him and not without him nor by our owne personall merits Yea whatsoeuer we either are or haue which is spirituall celestiall supernaturall and Christian or hereafter shall haue we are and haue it all and wholly by Iesus Christ our Lord. Adoption vocation iustification sanctification peace hope victorie ouer death and the purchase of eternall life are all of them by the merits and grace of Christ as the holy Scriptures shew vs. And albeit wee haue an office and high calling for Christ hath made vs Kings and Priests vnto God his Father yet are we no such Kings and Priests as he is but as wee haue receiued our honour from him so we should returne it to him and glorifie him with it and not bee like those captious spirits who because they heare they bee Kings and Priests heires of GOD and heires annexed with Christ their Brother thinke it a disparagement forsooth of their honour as some of them scribble and other of them babble and weakning in shew of their fellowship with him if they shall receiue the blessed Sacrament vpon their knees bended to him either as it seemes forgetting or not knowing that they are the Heires of God through Christ by whose onely merits they doe receiue all their honours and happinesse their life and lustre their grace and goodnesse Brothers and sisters may die shall die heires may fall out and vndoe one another or others may spoile their inheritance and where many are heires their portions are the lesse some of them may lacke and complaine of neede But Christ and his brethren cannot be parted their portions cannot be destroied nor taken from them their inheritance cannot faile nor discontent them but euery one of them shall haue enough and shall enioy it for euer But there is yet a neerer coniunction then this of Brothers or Partners which is the holy honourable and inuiolable coniunction of man and wife By this matrimoniall coniunction they that were two before are now become One They are no longer twaine but one flesh saith our Master And they are tuely one and not two because GOD the Author of man and marriage hath sayde it For this cause shall a man leaue his father and his mother and shall cleaue vnto his wife and they two shall bee one flesh So that though all men should say that they are not one but two yea though they themselues should say so too yet they are not therefore two because man sayes so but one because God hath sayd it For Non nostrum dicere dat veritatem rebus sed conforinit as eius cum mente diuinâ things are not so and so because men say they are so but because they are so with God in Gods ordinance and appoyntment Though all men should say golde were not golde yet it is golde And though all the Gold-smiths in the world should say copper is gold yet it is not golde for all their saying but copper still because it agrees not with the diuine minde God hath not sayd it is gold it is not gold in his decree and iudgement and therfore it is not gold Well then man and wife are but one and not two Yes they are two distinct persons and not one They haue two soules and not one two bodies and not one two distinct wils and not only one They are of two different sexes and haue their owne personall vertues and infirmities He his and She hers Yet neuerthelesse these two are made one matrimoniall creature the man being as head and the woman as the body or if you will he being as the Soule and she the Body For as Christ is the head of the man so man is the head of the woman And this is in respect of authority and dominion in which regard Christ is not the wiues head but the husbands neither is shee the image of Christ but he onely As Christ is the head of the Church so the husband is the head of his wife And as the soule and body though things greatly differing in themselues are yet coupled together by God and doe liue and worke together and as two distinct riuers meeting together doe now mingle and blend themselues and become as one common water or riuer so man and wife are indeede not confounded but vnited together liue together vnder one roofe draw together in one yoke take care mutually of one another and become by Gods ordinance one foundation and fountaine of generation So that here is more then a coniunction of affections as vses to bee among friends as was betwixt Damon and Pythias there is also a coniunction of bodies for the propagation and perpetuation of mankinde and that there might also be a way made for the fulfilling of the number of Christs mysticall members Gods adopted sonnes and daughters For generation must goe before regeneration and nature before grace Yes sanctification must follow sinne For Christ came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance neither did hee die for the iust but for the vniust There must first bee a man and then a Christian first a sinner and then a Saint filius soli before there be filius poli one of Adams planting before there be one of Christs transplanting one of Eues breeding before there be one of the Churches bearing Now without doubt our Lord God and Sauiour the Lord Iesus Christ
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
the Body a compleate bodie without the head But being both vnited and no part wanting they become one entire and perfit body Euen so Christ and his Church instructed with all her true parts and members make together one compleate body or as it were one perfit spirituall man It pleaseth him in his mercy to count himselfe incompleat and maimed without his Church which is his Body the Fulnesse of him that filleth all in all And we for our parts are most certaine that without him we are iust nothing but that we all receiue of his fulnesse because hee is Iustification to vs and is also in vs as a most free mouing and working cause whence many blessed effects doe come all of them tending to eternall life and glory as all waters vnto the Maine I say Christ is the head the sole head of the catholique church which is his onely body For the Father hath put all things vnder his feete and hath giuen him to be the Head ouer all things to the Church So by way of supereminencie and praedominancie he is our Head alone There is no other man but this man Christ Iesus who is head and Husband to the Church which is his and his alone Truely saith Saint Gregorie Peter the Apostle is the chiefest member of the the Holy Catholique Church Paul Andrew and Iohn what are they else but heads of seuerall or particular people But yet they are all members of the Church vnder one Head Hee saith S. Ambrose is the Bridegroome that hath the Bride that is Hee alone is the Churches Husband The Apostles and other Pastors of the Church Bishops and Presbyters are the seruants or friends of the Bridegroome but none of them haue her for their Spouse none of them is her Husband Saint Bernard thus speakes to Pope Eugenius If thou beest saith he the friend of the Bridegroome doe not call his Beloued thy Princesse but Princesse challenging nothing for thine in her saue onely that thou oughtest to giue thy life for her if it were behoouefull Wee doe therefore all of vs say with Saint Paul Wee preach not our selues but Christ Iesus the Lord and our selues your seruants for Iesus sake Weacknowledge Christ for our Lord and our selues his seruants called and sent by him to wait vpon his Church and children to prepare them for Christ as a Virgin for her Husband to giue them all their portion of meat in due season and to present euery man in Christ Iesus This is our proper office this is our strife and study and this is the voice of vs all all all I say further that the Catholique Church alone is the mysticall Body of Christ The Saints before the Law saith Saint Gregorie the Saints vnder the Law and the Saints vnder Grace All these perfecting the Lords Body are members of the Church Not some of the members but all that are constituent and essentiall venerable Beda speakes the like when he saith All Churches throughout the world make one Catholique This Catholique and mysticall Body of Christ consists of true beleeuers and such as are truely sanctified For the Church of Christ and all her proper members are made clean and holy not hauing spot or wrinkle The Church of Christ is Christs Doue and Faire one but Doues are not Kytes Crowes Vultures Snakes Adders Dragons Lions Beares Leopards His Church is faire and beautifull washed with Water and annointed with Oyle and is very beautifull and perfect through the beauty which God hath put vpon her Yes She is the fairest among Women And therefore neyther shee nor any of her naturall and louing children ought to be reputed foule vile and vgly The members of the Church are Christs sheepe and he is their carefull and good Sheepheard who maketh them to rest in greene Pastures and leadeth them by the still Waters But Sheepe are not Wolues and Foxes Goates and Tygers Dogges Swine nor fatte Buls of Basan To make any such to be members of the Catholicke Church were to make Christ a Neateheard which were a transcendent indignity but let vs heare the Fathers and Doctors of the Church which shined like Lampes in the house of God in ages long agoe They saith Saint Origen which haue not spot or wrinckle or any such thing about them are the true Church And in another place hee shewes the reason why the Church is said to be holy without spot namely because she is reputed pure and sincere In the Church saith S. Chrysostome there is no earthen or wodden vessell but all are of siluer and gold For there is the body of Christ a chast Virgin not hauing spot or wrinckle When we say the Church faith S. Cyrill of Alexandria we meane the most holy multitude of the godly The Church saith Saint Ambrose is the mother of those that are aliue Surely the good Father neuer thought then that men dead in sinnes and inwardly vicious and irreformed though they should make a faire outward profession were to be reputed true members of the Catholique Church The Church of Christ saith S. Hierome is glorious not hauing spot or wrinckle nor any such therefore he which is a sinner or defiled with any filthinesse cannot bee sayd to bee of the Church of Christ nor subiect vnto Christ Prosper accordingly saith that the Catholique Church consists in the Elect foreknowne of God the children of the promise the members of Christs body Rupertus in like manner affirmeth that the vniuersall Church is cleansed in the bloud of Christ from all fault And Bernard What is the Spouse but the congregation of iust ones And what is this congregation but the generation of them that seeke the Lord of them that seeke the face of the bridegroome As for haeretiques hypocrites and other wicked and vngodly men they pertaine not to the holy Church of God as Saint Augustine speaketh although they may seeme to be within it But as Christ is the Head of the Church which is his Body and shall raigne with him in euerlasting glory euen so the Deuill is the Head and Heards-man of the wicked who are after a sort his Bodie as the said holy Father sheweth who shall be punished with him in aternall fire As concerning these three points of Popery to wit That the Bishop of Rome is the Head of the Vniuersall Church on earth to whom euery soule of man must be subiect or else he cannot but be damned Secondiy that the Church of Rome is the vniuersall Church of Christ the onely Catholique Church of Christ. Thirdly that no inward vertue is required to make a part of the Catholique Church but onely an exteriour profession of the faith and followship in Sacraments These three points of Doctrin haue in these latter times crept out of the Alpes like Mise or Rats Rome hath set
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
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
may bee a separation made of soule and body yet there shall bee no totall separation of the soule from God Friends may dye must die They are but men and men must die Dust we are and to dust we must returne Wee and our friendships too must perish We are seene a while and after a while wee are seene no more but fall like drops of raine into the sea and are knowne no more And oftentimes friends fall flat out and end their friendshippes before they end themselues But Christ and his faithfull friends doe neuer part the graue cannot part them neither can any such vnkindnesse happen betweene them but that they may and shall bee reconciled And whereas many men will shake of their friends and acquaintance if they grow poore and needy the Lord Iesus tho now at the right hand of the Father farre aboue all Powers and Maiesties doth take great delight in all those whom he hath vnited to him how poore or meane soeuer and is a Cherisher of them in all their wants yes is troubled with them in all their troubles afflicted in all their afflictions and accounts himselfe the receiuer when any of his poore friends are relieued entertained honored But I passe on further The Soule and body of a man are ioyned together to make a true and perfit man For neither the soule alone nor the body alone but the soule and body together doe make a perfit man as neither the King alone by himselfe nor the people alone by themselues doe make the Kingdome but the King and the people ioyntly together But the coniunction of Christ and of Christians is not of the same kinde For the vnion of soule and body is naturall but our vnion with Christ is supernaturall The soule is not giuen a man in the very act or instant of generation but afterwards when there is some organ or organs fitted for it but Christ is giuen a man in the very act and article of regeneration The soule is created by God in the body and to euery particular body there is a particular soule For though all mens soules are one in kinde yet they are not one in number but haue their numericall and particular differences But there are not so many Christs as men There is but one Christ in all belieuers And although Christ may truely in the Apostles sense be said to be formed in vs which is when we are reformed and made conformable to him yet we must beware we do not thinke him to be formed in vs as the soule is which is formed wholy at once and not by degrees and is so formed in vs as that it is not out of vs nor in any other body and did not subsist out of vs before it was created in vs. The soule now framed and being by nature immortal is vnited to a fraile and corruptible body and enters vppon it with condition to depart againe and leaue it when God shall please but Christ comes not into vs vpon the same tearmes but taries with vs and abides in vs for euer Hee takes the soule into an heauenly mansion where it forsakes her earthly Tabernacle and forgets not our dust our lesse then dust which we leaue behinde vs but sees it alwaies is mindfull of it and can distinguish it from the dust of beasts of Reprobates and will againe one day blow vpon it and make it liue againe And whereas the soule and body being knit together make one and the selfe same person so that the soule is not one person and the body another person For in a man there is aliud aliud but not alius alius diuersitie of natures but no distinction or diuision of person Our Lord Christ Iesus is a distinct compleat and absolute person subsisting by himselfe and there are as many distinct and particular persons of Christians as there are Christians euery man being a distinct and perfit person by himselfe as Christ is by himselfe Indeed he and they altogether make but one entire mysticall bodie and wheras euery man susteines himselfe I confesse that Christ doth vp-beare vs all with his grace power as a goodly Oake or Cedar doth her branches or as a foundation and pillars do the building of stones timber and other materialls that are laide vpon them Christ as the Apostles S. Paul and S. Iohn doe teach vs is very God God ouer all blessed for ever Now to Christ as God the great Creator and Vpholder of all things by whom all things were made who vpholdeth all things with the word of his power All things created are vnited vnione depēdantia with the vnion of dependance without the which nothing that is created can last a moment But as the light depends vpon the Sunne and is after a sort ioyned to it so that if any thing should come betweene the light and the Sunne which is the fountaine of light the light would instantly vanish and there would bee nothing but very darkenesse and as in this Microcosme of man the liuer is the source of bloud and the spring by which it is disfused by veines throughout the body and the heart is the fountaine of the vitall spirits which are thence by arteries carried into the body as neede requireth or as the head is the originall of the nerues or sinewes by the which motion is caused so that if any thing should come betweene the liuer and the veines the heart and the arteries the head and the sinewes that they should bee parted of necessitie bloud spirits motion and life it selfe must presently decay and faile euen so all creatures in the world depend on Christ as God and are so vnited to him that they cannot be without him so that if any thing could come betwixt him and them which might hinder their dependance on him and coherence with him they could not but vanish as light and bee brought to nothing The very dust of dead men would not be dust but would presently perish were it not vpheld by the power of his word But the godly are vnited to Christ more blessedly then thus only For euen beasts yea and the Diuels themselues and all damned soules are thus coupled with him and depend vpon him Without this kinde of vnion they were not able to subsist the twinckling of an eye but must needes perish vanish and come to nothing This therefore is not the vnion wee treat of which makes a man that is to be well it presupposes being but causes blessednesse it findes nature but giues grace it meets with a man but it makes a Saint it finds him on earth but brings him to heauen it findes him poore naked wounded sicke and succourlesse but it giues him riches garments soundnesse health and comfort which shall not bee taken away from him whether hee will or no as his body goods good name life liberty and such transitory and glassie things ouer which fire water earth ayre beasts men and
it may be truly said Hee is a man translated and transformed into Christ he is not in the flesh but in the spirit not Satan but Christ Iesus doth dwell and raigne within him O happy men that are in Christ Iesus that haue Christ Iesus for their Husband who is the staffe of their liues the breath of their nostrills and their Hope Many a man is saued and his wife damned Two shall be in a bed one of them shall bee taken the other forsaken But whoseeuer shall be found coupled to Christ shall bee saued For he is the bread of life and life eternall to all that haue and hold him There are some men or I wot not well what in the shapes of men that waxe weary of their wiues with a little acquaintance contemne them in their decaying dayes and whether young or olde will not bee pleased in them without a deale of artificiall brauery and borrowed fauour But the Lord Iesus esteemes the hart of a man and not his Art he delights in substance not in naked shewes counterfeit vertue which is true hypocrisie is accounted with him for double iniquity It is not outward beauty that he stands vpon but inward Vertue inward Trueth and not outward trappings Painting of the face with him is as the guilding of a nutmegge or the colouring of a statue and as pleasing to wise men when they spie it as a painted Sepulchre when they smell it or as counterfeit coyne when they discerne it But grace true grace which is accidentall to a man or woman is essentiall to a true Christian This is that which pleaseth Christ which hee with his owne finger hath painted and engrauen in the soule This this is the tincture and the lustre that hee delights in And as for old age hee will cast no man off for that but the longer he hath beene acquainted with any the longer any man hath liued in his seruice the longer that any haue beene coupled with him the more account he vses to make of them Old friends old seruants old followers old consorts if sincere and trusty are of all others most gracious and shall haue their rewards with the chiefest I said before that the Husband and his Wife are appointed by God to bee one common fountaine and foundation or Originall of Posterity by generation of children For neither is the Man without the Woman and efficient nor the Woman without the Man And neyther Man nor Woman without the benignity of the Sunne For it is true that Sol homo generant hominem the Sunne and Man beget a Man Our Lord the Lord Iesus Christ hath children and no children but those which he gets himselfe But the Sunne which is a naturall agent hath no hand helpeth nothing in Regeneration which is supernaturall as it doth to Generation which is naturall And though a Man cannot beget without a Woman yet is Christ God and Man able to regenerate a Man without the cooperation of any Creature by himselfe alone But yet ordinarily if not euer he doth beget men to himselfe by the Church For my part I am perswaded that hee that cannot call her Mother hath no right to call him Father For Ierusalem the City of God whose Originall is from Heauen aboue and not from the earth below is the Mother of vs all But whereas the Mother nourishes her childe with food from her owne bodie the Church feedes her children with the milk and meat of Gods word For the two Testaments are the Churches two Breasts And as Parents beget children according to their owne image that is men and sinfull and doe sometimes also lend them their owne diseases as Leprosie Palsey Gowt so the Lord Iesus begets his children according to his image substantiall I meane not but accidentall consisting in light iustice holinesse and true Christian Vertues Indeede our Parents beget vs when before we werenot but Christ begets vs being men before though in truth but dead men dead in sinnes and trespasses and the children of wrath And as they giue vs their sinne which hath beene deriued to them from Adam so Christ giues vs his Iustice and Merits to couer our sinnes as I shall afterwards shew more fully A Woman may be a Wife and yet no Mother and some are Mothers and yet no Wiues Or she may be a Mother and yet an adultresse But this is a mans affliction when either his wife is barren or vnchaste And it is a womans shame when either shee is a mother before shee bee a wife or is vnfaithfull when shee is a wife But the Church can haue no children but by Christ her husband without whose gracious influence and intention no man can make a Christian The Catholique Church as Fulgentius well obserueth is a Spouse because she is vnited and adhereth vnto Christ a mother because she is made fruitfull by Christ and a virgine because shee doth purely perseuere in Christ Shee is indeed a singular wife of rare endowments and full of honour For shee is the great kings Daughter and coupled with him that is God and Man Shee is not subiect to violence as the daughters and wiues of men are as Lucretia the wife of Collatinus Dinah the daughteer of Iacob and they that were rauisht by Brias Rodericus Nouellus Cararius Osbright and such like monsters in the shapes of men Neither brings shee any children to God by any adulterous mixture as some wanton wiues but onely by the grace of her husband Iesus Christ As for Heretiques and Infidels they bee not the fruits of her wombe but Bastards of the Diuels getting and the worlds conceiuing and bringing foorth Shee is an high and honourable mother For shee is Mother and Nurse no cruell step-mother but a louing mother and tender-hearted nurse to all Gods adopted children They that haue not her for mother haue not him for Father Shee is mother to all the true members of Christ to all his brethren They that haue not her for mother haue not him for their head and elder brother She is our spirituall mother Eue the mother of all the liuing that either liue a spirituiall life in this world or shall liue a celestall life in the world to come Shee is the mother to all true Israelites according to the faith as Sarah was to all Israelites according to the flesh And as God made Sarah a mother and gaue her a sonne out of his owne good will so God makes his Church a mother and giues her children as he pleaseth I read of a certaine Romane Lady by name Paulina a very chaste and honest matron who by no meanes would yeelde to the Iust of Mundus a Gentleman of Rome who attempted to haue corrupt her who yet being couzened by certaine Priests lay with him like a supersticious foole in the Temple of Isis vnder the name of Anubis the God of Aegypt who desired her company as those varlets tolde her And in those
whom hee doth himselfe beget by the power of his Spirit There is none ioyned to God but he that is borne of God The Spirit which regenerates vs and giues vs a new life is the same by which we are coupled vnto Christ and by whose holy inspirations faith and loue are created in vs whereby we belieue in Christ embrace him and are transformed into him The soule is the life of the body and Christ is the true life of the soule euen the soules Soule take away the soule from the body and the bodie dies euen so take away the soule from Christ or Christ from the soule and the soule will die In this case the body is but a liuing and breathing Sepulchre of a dead soule a breathlesse soule the breath whereof is the very breath of Christ Eue may be some light herein vnto vs. For Eue was made of Adam who seeing her said This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh and so also we are of Christ of his flesh and of his bones as the Apostle speaketh God hath framed his Church out of the very flesh the very wounded and bleeding side of the son of man To all thinges liuing Christ is life and to men light as hee is the sonne of God to the Church both light and life eternall by being made the son of man for vs by being our Surety and Sauiour whether we respect him as God or as Man His body crucified and his bloudshed for the life of the world are the true elements of our Christian and heauenly being which maketh vs truely aliue and holy as he is of whom wee come And as by nature we are in our first parents Adam and Eue so by grace we are euery one of vs that are truely spirituall in Christ and in his Church As men we are all originally in Adam as Christians or new men we are all originally in Christ As men wee haue the nature and bloud of Eue as new men or Saints wee are partakers of the Spirit of the Church in her ministery by the gift of Christ As we are men Adam and Eue were our Parents but as we are regenerate so Christ is our father and the Church which sprang out of his holy side opened vpon the crosse is our holy and honorable mother And as Eue made not her selfe neither was made or begotten by a man but by the hand of God euen by the hand of Christ by whom all things were created so the Church is not the workemanshippe of any creature nor of her owne making and moulding but is made and fashioned by God whose workemanship wee are created in Christ Iesus vnto good workes which God hath before ordained that we should walke in them Indeed Adam had no stroke in Eues making she was made out of him but yet without his helpe of him not by him of his ribbe not by his hand But Christ hath a great stroke in the framing of the Church Shee is both taken out of him and made vp by him and without him shee could not be formed For by his will she is by his holy breath shee 's quickned his finger fram'd her and his merits are her making Nay not her selfe alone but all she hath that is good she hath receiued from him of his fulnesse There is not an ornament about her but is a fauour shee hath had of him There is not a pinne of her sleeue but hee hath giuen it her And tho God made Eue neither witting nor willing yet he quickens vs restores and reformes vs both witting and willing He made vs without vs but hee doth not sanctifie and saue vs without vs. But it is hee that makes vs willing and obedient being without his grace vnwilling inough of our selues dead in our sinnes and trespasses voide of a true spirituall life and being He both giues vs feete and makes vs runne He giues vs hearing eares and seeing eyes and makes vs heare and see He opens our mouthes and makes vs speake Hee vnties our bands and makes vs moue We worke and worke willingly but he giues vs hands to worke and makes vs worke Hee workes all our workes for vs. Hee giues vs both the will and the worke and that of his owne good will without our deserts But whereas not the soule of Adam but her owne did quicken susteine and gouerne Eue and whereas neither of their soules in number doe inhabit or animate any of their children but that very personall soule that euery one of them hath receiued of God who is the Father of spirits and who giues vnto euery man his owne proper spirit the truth is that Christ bestowes his Spirit vpon his Church which holy Spirit is deriued from Christ into euery true Christian man and woman who are his seede and children the issues of his Ioynes Who are not borne as meere naturall and sinfull men of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God who of his owne will begets them not of corruptible seede but of incorruptible with the word of truth as the holy Scriptures shew vs. And therfore also the holy A postle saith expresly that if any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And againe because yee are sonnes God sent foorth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts Which Spirit no sooner comes into the heart and inhabits it but hee giueth life spirituall euen as the soule no sooner is in the body and is vnited to it and dwelleth in it but it affordeth the life that is naturall or corporall And as the soule worketh in the body and mainteines the naturall life thereof and makes a man shew himselfe to be a man and indeede to bee a man and not a beast or some senseles or liuelesse lumpe of flesh so the spirit of Christ worketh in the soule of a Christian and preserues the spirituall life thereof and makes him to be and to shew himselfe to be a Christian and not a meere carnall or naturall man and childe of the Diuell And whereas many Parents are grieued to see their children increase so thicke vpon them and some more vnnaturall through diffidence in the prouidence of God are euen glad when they are rid of them by death or almost any way else the Lord Iesus Christ and the Catholique Church his Spouse our Mother take great delight and pleasure in their children are neuer grieued for the numbers of them or troubled with their fellowshippe But she rather takes it kindly and with all thankefulnesse of heart when her Lord doth visit her and giue her children both sonnes and daughters of all sorts and nations and is very carefull in their breeding when she hath them that they may be fit Instruments of his glory may doeseruice to his name in all ages and places of the world wherein and whilst they liue But that
it were by lime pins nayles and sawder through the holy Ghost who heweth frameth and setteth euery stone in order in Christ In whom all the Building fitly framed together groweth vnto an holy Temple to the Lord. This is a rare and singular house for they that are heereof are Stones and Kings and Priests So then the Church is a liuing Temple a spirituall House and a Royall Priesthood a kingdome of Priests and a Priestlie kingdome And no maruell it is if Christians be stones seeing Christ Iesus out of whom they are cut and grow bee a Rocke or though they haue a certaine Kingdome and Priesthood seeing they be members of him who is a King and Priest They are Christians it is enough they are annoiuted with the oyle of gladnesse that they may be able to ouercome the Deuiil the World and the Flesh as Kings that raigne by Christ and may also haue grace like Priests to offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ with whose holy oyle they are annointed For as the precious oyntment that was powred vpon Aarons head ranne downe vpon his beard and went down on the border of his garments So the holy oyle the most sweete and sauing oyle which was powred vpon our head Christ Iesus hath runne downe ouer all his body into all his members and be-deawes them all as the deaw of Hermon which falleth vpon the mountaines of Zion And which is no small fauour this precious and holy oyntment tarrieth on vs and dwelleth in vs as St. Iohn doth assure vs. In a word this Temple this House hath a priuiledge aboue all the temples and houses in the world For no winde can driue it downe no water can wash it downe no fire can burne it downe no canon can beat it downe no weight can weigh it downe no might can cast it downe no witchcraft can worke it downe no vnderminer can vndermine it downe no thunder or lightning can teare or fire it downe neither men nor Diuels haue power ouer it For Christ vpholds it against all assaults of enemies whatsoeuer It is built by Christ vpon himselfe who hath also sayd that the gates of hell shall not ouercome it Christ hath spoken this concerning no house that is materiall and earthly but onely of this his owne spirituall Temple and beeing Truth it selfe we may well beleeue him Whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and reioycing of hope to the end as the Apostle speakes vnto the Hebrewes Thus haue we seene our Coniunction with Christ who is in vs and wee in him He is in vs as a cause in the effect wee are in him as the effect is in the cause He is in vs as a worke-man is in his worke we are in him as a worke is in the worke-man We are in him as Eue was in Adam he is in vs as Adams rib and nature was in Eue. Hee is in vs as the Sunne is in the aire or house to illuminate and warme it we are in him as the aire or an house is in the Sunne which is lightned and warmed of it He is in vs as a kernell or seede and the earth it growes in is in the plant we are in him as the plant is in the kernel or seede of which it comes and in the ground in which it is set and by which it is fed He is in vs and we in him as Adam is in his children and his children in him or as the fountaine is in the riuer and the riuer in it or as a roote is in the boughes and they in the root But who is able sufficiently to expresse these things who can declare how hee is fashioned in his mothers wombe or tell how his soule and body are knit together This is a great mystery saith Saint Paul but I speake concerning Christ and the Church I doubt not but that many a poore soule is the Spouse of Christ and one of his true members tho hee be not able to say much about his vnion and incorporation which is by the Spirit of Christ And though a man sayd neuer so much hereof and could speake of heauen as if hee had beene there yet all were but dreames vnlesse hee bee ioyned to Christ and haue his spirit really to possesse and leade him That which quickneth vs is the spirit of Christ and his flesh that wherewith he quickneth vs. That which sanctified our nature in Christ that which made it a sacrifice of reconciliation is the same which quickneth it raised it from the graue and exalted it to glory And therefore if a man haue not the Spirit or God-head of Christ and be partaker of his flesh hee is but a dead man a miserable man a man vnmortified vnsanctified and without hope of glory I am the liuing bread saith Christ which came downe from heauen If any man eat of this bread hee shall liue for euer and the bread that I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the life of the world Except yee eat the flesh of the Son of man and drinke his blood yee haue no life in you But how can a man eat bread if hee haue it not How can wee eat his flesh and drinke his blood vnlesse wee haue it The truth is hee that giues vs this meat to eat must also giue vs hands to take it and mouthes to taste and eat it and a stomacke to craue and holde it We must needes therefore be vnited to Christ and be truely possessed of him and of his grace or else we cannot liue by him And because no man eats him but by grace and for that no grace is but by the holy Ghost who diuideth to euery man seuerally as he will and seeing by this eating of Christ hee is not turned into vs as bodily food but wee receiue nurriture and confirmation from him and are transmuted into him and grow vp in him and he in vs which neither can bee wrought but by the Holy Ghost it is of absolute necessity that we bee partakers of the holy Ghost and haue him dwelling in vs. So then whatsoeuer men talke of the Spirit all is nothing they doe but beat the aire and make a dinne they are most miserable wretches viler then the dust on their shooe-soles vnlesse they be endued with him Hee it is which annoynted the blessed soule of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and which doth fashion vnite animate and actuate all that spring from him in all the ages and places of the world as if both he and they together were so many members or parts compacted into one body being all possessed and indued with one and the selfe samesoule This Coniunction is most sweet and comfortable and indeed that wherein our blessednesse consisteth whiles we liue on earth and giues vs right vnto the perfect blessednesse of the life to come We count it a
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
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