euen the holy Ghost who is breathed from him vpon his whole body and euery particular member thereof This Spirit is that odoriferous North-winde and Southwinde which blowes vpon the Garden of Christ Iesus which is the Church that the spices thereof may flow out These wholesome and sweete windes do nip and kill the naughty swelling humours of our spirits and doe also mollifie supple refresh and comfort vs. So that if any man would haue these windes to blow vpon him let him abide in this Garden If any man would inioy this Spirit let him abide in Christs body For as Irenaeus saies well Where the Church is there is the Spirit and where the Spirit of God is there is the Church and euery grace And the spirit is truth So then a godly Christian is more than a man and farre better then a sinner He is become a new Creature a new man a Saint on earth a tree transplanted out of an ill ground out of the world the Diuels territorie and translated into the kingdome of Christ a brand taken out of the fire a Lamb plucked out of the Lions mouth a man taken out of Adam and incorporated into Christ a man baptized that is regenerated and ingrafted into that One Body whereof Christ is Head euen the head of the whole Church Militant Triumphant throughout the World From whom the whole Body fitly ioyned together and compacted by that which euery ioynt supplieth according to the effectuall working in the measure of euery part maketh increase of the Body vnto the edifying of it selfe in loue Euery true Christian therefore is a liue-man a liuing limme of Christs body a man reuiued reformed and as it were transformed into Christ and may say with Saint Paul I am crucified with Christ Neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the Faith of the Sonne of God who loued mee and gave himselfe for me Who now would not be a member of this Body who hath so glorious an head and is indued with such an excellent Spirit Behold all the heads of the world naturall heads politicall heads oeconomicall heads Ecclesiasticall heads what are they all euen dust earth and ashes A learned head is but learned earth a wise head is but wise earth a great head is but a great clot of earth a noble head is but noble earth Emperors and Kings the great commanders and swayers of the world they are but earth imperiall earth royall earth Earth and ashes will one day lay them euen with their Subiects The finest heads it 'h world what are they else but handfuls of dust make the best of them They are but fine dust and ashes For all flesh is grasse all flesh is not one manner of flesh But there is one manner of flesh of men another of beasts another of birds another of fishes But the flesh of all men as well as of all beasts birds and fishes is but grasse very grasse lesse then grasse Yet behold how we admire the persons of men of great men rich men Princes Heads who are but clay but dust but dreames aliue in the morning and dead at night But Christ our head our royall head is aliue and giues life liues and will liue for euer Dust Death Diuels Men and Angels Earth and Heauen and all things are at his becke If hee say to the dead Liue they shall liue If he say to Death it selfe die be not death must die it cannot longer be What he will haue done shall be done there is no resistance Vouchsafe O Lord to looke vpon me as thou vsest to looke on those that are enamoured with thee and doe desire thee My soule thirsteth after thee Come vnto me bring me to thee and let me finde thee and enioy thee Lord Iesus come quickly and let mee feele thy grace and the ioyes of thy Spirit in me But the contemplation of our thrice excellent and most blessed head hath made mee tarry a little longer then I thought I am come at last though long first to the last similitude which I propounded for the illustration of our Vnion with Christ which is of an House of Temple wherein I promise to be plaine and breefe The Catholick Church is the Temple or House of the liuing God Christ is the Foundation thereof He is the Principall and energeticall foundation and chiefe-corner-stone thereof The holy Prophets and Apostles are ministeriall foundations and Pillars thereof For by their ministery and doctrine this house is builded and confirmed Christ also is the chiefest Architect of this building The Apostles and other Pastors of the Church are his Ministers with and by whom hee worketh and with whom hee is present to ayde and prosper them to the ende of the world They are in this House as Seruants and vnder-officers and stewards but he is in it and ouer it as a Maister being the onely begotten Sonne of God and Heyre of all things He also is the light and beauty of it This house of Christ groweth out of Christ and is ruled by the Faith of Christ The rule of the Faith is the holy Scripture The Church is the ground and Pillar of the Truth and the trueth is the ground and Pillar of the Church yea therefore shee is the ground of the trueth because the truth is the ground of her and for because the spirit of Truth inhabits and directs her which spirit because hee spake in the holy men of God is therefore best able to giue the sence of the Scripture accordingly doth teach the Church all truths therein contained needfull to saluation This house is a spirituall house a liuing Temple and Christ is the Life thereof and his Spirit possesses and keepes it All the stones of this Temple are liuing stones growing out of the liuing and life-giuing Rocke on which the Temple standeth They are all made aliue and kept aliue by the Spirit of Christ who is resident alwaies president in them There are in these diuersities of gifts and operations but the same Spirit which worketh all in all Who is seauen yea seauenty times seauen fould not in person for so hee is but one but in variety of gifts and gracious operations Now as the foundation beares vp all the house that is layd vpon it so Christ holds vp and confirmes the Church beeing rooted and built in him and stablished in the Faith And this he doth partly by his prouidence and circumspection and partly by his merits and efficacy through his Spirit And as all the parts of an house are compact together and ioyned to the foundation so are all true beleeuers all deuout and sincere Christians knit together in one ioyned vnto Christ by Faith and Charity as
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
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
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
hath contracted and vnited himselfe vnto his people and is their head and louing husband And therefore the Apostle tels the Corinths that hee prepared them for one husband to present them as a pure virgine vnto Christ Wherfore also Saint Austen is bold to say that Omnis anima aut Christs sponsa aut diaboli adultera est Euery soule of man is either the spouse of Christ or Diuels adultresse And as in simple contract or marriage there is a mutuall reciprocall giuing taking made between man wife of each other so in this holy happy and spirituall contract and coniunction betwixt Christ and all true beleeuers there is a mutuall giuing and taking of each other God giues his sonne to vs the sonne also giues himselfe freely to vs and God giues vs also vnto his sonne as hee did Eue to Adam and wee also by his grace preuenting assisting and co-working with vs doe giue our selues willingly vnto his sonne Willingly I say God hauing giuen vs the will who willingly and of his owne accord sent vs his Son And if the promise made by a woman to her husband in the day of her Marriage or Espousals be worthily called The Couenant of her God as it is indeed so called by the Holy Ghost well then and worthily may our vow and promise made vnto Christ in our Baptisme by which wee are engrafted into him and coupled with him bee called the Couenant of our God beeing made not onely according to Gods appointment and in his name and presence but vnto him also who himselfe is God euen our God who hath vpon his thigh and vpon his garment a name written The King of Kings and Lord of Lords And therefore also as the wife is called by the name of her husband and no longer of her father for to this new estate belongs a new name so when a man hath separated his soule from the world and hath put himselfe into the power of Christ and hath ioyned himselfe vnto him as a woman vnto her husband a new title belongs vnto him the name of Christ is now called vpon him and he is now no more to follow the world nor the carnall affections and commands of olde Adam but as a wife must forsake father and mother and all and cleaue vnto her husband For thy desire saith God shall bee subiect to thy husband and he shall rule ouer thee so a man that is wedded and vnited vnto Christ must deny himselfe his owne reason and will and worth and forsake the world euen whatsoeuer is opposite to the will of Christ Hee should fashion himselfe vnto his pleasure and cleaue vnto him continuing constant as Penelope and should so chastely beare himselfe so discreetly that no other name might be iustly cast vpon him but that hee might bee called onely by the name of Christ whose hee is and to whom alone hee espoused himselfe For no greater shame can befall a wife then to be called in contempt and disgrace by another mans name and not her husbands which comes to passe when she forsaketh the Guide of her youth and forgetteth and violateth the couenant of her God Such goodly huswiues were Messelina the wife of Emperor Claudius and Marie of Arragon wife to Otho the third but wee neede not goe so farre to seeke such weedes they thriue too well in euery Climate But let vs returne Albeit a woman bee allowed to change her fathers name when shee is married and to cleaue vnto her husbands yet shee may in no case change her Christian name that shee must hold fast vnto death Neither indeede see wee any woman change or forsake her name in Baptisme vnlesse such as turne Turkes and Apostataes thereby being instructed to bee faithfull vnto Christ her heauenly husband and to weare his name as a garland of honour vnto death For she is not married vnto Christ as shee is to her Christian Husband till death her doe part For death hath no power ouer Christ our Lord as it hath ouer vs his seruants who are but bubbles and breathes of aire And therefore though hee should change as many husbands as She did who had as Saint Hierome writeth three and twenty and so likewise be called by as many names yet shee must euer remember to keepe fast the Name and Faith of Christ and beware shee make no change of him for Idols like Glaucus that changed golden armour with Diomedes for brazen that so Christ may delight in her and in her vertue which as Saint Chrysostome faith is the true beauty of the Soule For he is her Lord God and most louing husband in opposition to whom she must call no man husband nor acknowledge any man nor any thing els in the whole world By reason of this sweet contract and vnion of Christ and his Church there passe from them many louing kindnesses and embraces expressed by either to other really as is euident by those patheticall passages of loue that are set downe in the Booke of the Canticles the Churches Loue song wherin their loue to each other is most liuely described But yet the Coniunction of man and wife in holy matrimonie comes far short of the coniunction of Christ and his Church and doth not sufficiently expresse vnfold it to vs. For by wedlock the man his wife are made one flesh two faith the Scripture shall be one flesh But he that is ioyned to the Lord is one spirit as the Apostle teacheth Now all flesh is grasse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and all the glory of man and woman as flesh and blood is as the flower of the grasse which fades and fals away before the grasse itselfe doth die The strongest men are but sturdie grasse the goodliest women are but goodly grasse dust and ashes wormes and wormes meat Death separateth the most louing and faithfull couples that either are or euer were vnited and wed together as Abraham and Sarah Iacob and Racheb Vlysses and Penelope Seneca and Paulina Mausolus and Artimisia Pompey and lulia But death cannot separate Christ Iesus and his Church Who shall seuer vs from the loue of Christ shall tribulation or anguish or persecution or famine or nakednesse or perill or sword As it is written for thy sake are we killed all day long We are counted as sheepe for the slaughter Neuerthelesse in all these things wee are more then Conquerours through him that loued vs. For I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor Principallities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall bee able to seuer vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Wee say of many men that they marry they Executours but so doe not Christ who hath vanquisht death in his owne denne and liues for euer Yes many men haue married their owue Executioners as did Domitian the
but Christs Christ will so order the matter that they shall but wreath garlands of immortality for vs though sore against their wils and increase our glory And whereas many men forget the honour of their wiues and are regardlesse of their decency as Sergus that Scottish King who so basely neglected his Wife and held her so penurious that shee was driuen to serue other Noble women for her liuing Christ Iesus is so carefull ouer his Spouse who stands at his right hand in gould of Ophir that rather then shee shall want attendance and honour he will moue euen Kings to be her nourishers Queens her nurses who shall bow downe vnto her with their faces towards the earth and licke vp the dust of her feete The coniunction of Man and Wife doth not necessarily cause eyther or both of them to bee piously disposed For as hee that toucheth pitch is vsually defiled with it and as sweet riuers running through fennish grounds are thereby corrupted so the company of a wicked man doth oftentimes corrupt the manners of a good natured woman And although a man may take a woman to his wife yet it is not in his hands to make her eyther a good Woman or a good Wife if he finde her naught But our coniunction with Christ doth chaunge vs all ouer and turnes vs vpside downe hee contaminates and infects no man hee cannot but he purifies and makes good al that come vnto him and bestow themselues vpon him And albeit the Wife doth in some sort depend vpon her Husband seeing she is vnited to him and is his yet if that knot were dissolued either by iust diuorce or death it might fall out that shee might liue still as well and bee as godly as she was before For neither her Vertues nor her life depends on him nor vpon his life neither yet her happinesse alway nor her good successe it 'h world She may find better friends then her Husband was or shee may be married to a second Husband in whom shee may be happier by far then in her first But the Church and all her children doe so depend on Christ that without him they cannot continue a moment for by him we liue moue and haue our being and all our well-being both as wee be men and as wee are Christian men From him we haue our selues our iustice holinesse and all our happinesse In him wee are elected in him created by him redeemed and preserued Without me saith Christ ye can doe nothing and so also without Christ wee can be nothing If something yet that something that 's worse then nothing for nothing cannot sinne and nothing cannot suffer for sinne Nothing can doe no wrong and nothing can feele no paine It were more profitable for a man not to bee then to be a man out of Christ Though hee were married to the best woman in the world though hee were coupled with the best friends i' th world though he were ioyned in bloud or alliance to the cheefest Monarchs in the world though hee were possessed with the greatest and richest kinngdomes of the world yet if hee were not vnited to Christ Iesus if hee were not possest of him he were nothing he had nothing hee were more miserable then the dust he treads on For Christ is all things he that hath Christ lacks nothing he that wants Christ hath nothing A man were better be nothing then something hauing nothing Who is able to expresse the worthinesse of Christ Iesus He is our life and our light our comfort and our crowne our grace our glory he is our all things he that hath him hath life saies Saint Iohn but hee that hath not him hath not life But had I the tongues of Men and Angels I could not declare the praises due to Christ Iesus my Lord and Sauiour If all the water in the Maine were incke yet all that incke were not enough to write downe his worthy praises Common experience teacheth that women feed their children yea out of their owne bodies as Sarah did Isaak with her owne milke And I haue read of a woman who gaue her owne mother sucke of her owne body when she being in prison was kept from meat and after such a sort a woman may preserue the life of her husband a while at least but did I neuer eyther see heare or read of a man that fedde and nourished his wife of himselfe He may bring her meat but he is no meat hee makes not himselfe a dish to feede on he giues his wife his heart but not as Hawkes-meat to prey on not rosted to liue on But Christ Iesus the Husband of the Church is also the very food of our soules I am that bread of life saith Christ I am the liuing bread The bread which I will giue is my flesh He which eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in mee and I in him Here is a louer indeed the globe we tread on beares not a husband halfe so kinde nor all the Markets in the world can afford such meat as here If there were but a Baker which could make such bread for the body to keep it from death men would to him if he were in the farthest angle of the earth Countries would goe together by the eares to get and enioy him I suppose that if he had his choyce hee would rather chuse to dye then to liue For sure men would weare his flesh to the bones with labour and would scarce suffer him eyther to eate or sleepe But what gaines a man by long life without this Bread of Life Christ Iesus The Iudgement will come at length and shall not bee put off and the longer a sinner hath liued the more sinnes hee hath committed the greater accounts he must make the greater torments hee must indure And what pleasure thinke wee will the soule then take to be kept in the body like a Prisoner in a strong Goale vnder much pain want and sorrow against her will and not to be able to get out through she would begge it with flouds of teares continually streaming from the eyes and would giue euen all the world if shee had it if shee could but die and come to nothing Our Lord our Husband is better bread then so He is the bread of eternall life to all that are vnited to him and which feede vpon him They whom he feeds vpon himselfe are safe from staruing sure enough from destruction And. whereas other Bread is turned and concocted in vs the truth is This bread of life is not turned in vs not turned into the substance of our soule or body but it turnes and transforms vs rather into it For Christ doth so metamorphise and alter a man whom he couples to himselfe that he doth put a new life into him hee giues him another kinde of spirit and doth so furnish him with his owne things that
wee may yet further our knowledge of the Coniunction that is betwixt Christ and vs it will not be amisse to consider of three other similitudes vsed in the holy Scriptures to set it foorth vnto vs. The first is of a Vine the second of a Body the third of a Building And this I will do with the help of Christ I am faith Christ the Vine yee are the Branches Now wee know that the Vine and her Branches are ioyned fast together by nature and not as boards are in a shippe with pinnes and nayles by Arte but a great deale closer For the branches shoot forth of the Vine are animated with the spirit of the vine liue the life of the vine are fed nourished and susteined of the vine and abiding in the vine bring foorth fruits according to the nature of the vine out of which they grow and in which they liue Euen so are we coupled and ioyned vnto Christ and so fast that wee cannot be rent or broken in peeces from him by violence as branches may be from a vine We grow out of Christ as an heauenly root from whom by the fauour of God and influence of his grace we doe all as new creatures or heauenly branches arise and spring foorth Adam is the root of all men as men and when God created Adam he created vs. And as many as are sprung from Adam haue in themselues the root out of which they spring Euen so the children of God haue Christ as a second Adam from heauen for a certaine celestiall and blessed root whose progenie and branches they are by regeneration or heauenly birth And the good Spirit of Christ is from Christ deriued to them all who doth animate consolate and susteine them And from Christ they receiue food and nourishment by the which they are refresht and cheered and preserued from death by the worke of the Spirit True it is that life and all good gifts and graces are from the father as from the originall or beginning of them all but they come not to vs but by the Sonne in whom Life is and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge who is the Sunne of righteousnesse with healing in his wings and hath gold rayment and eye-salue and all other medicines to enrich vs cloth vs and cure vs of all our soule-diseases But yet none of all these things come vnto any of vs in particular but by the holy Ghost and therefore the Apostle saith The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the loue of God and the fellowshippe of the holy Ghost And being now indued with the holy Spirit of Christ they liue a spirituall and Christian life They liue indeed and yet not they but Christ and his Spirit liue within them Christ is in his Spirit and his Spirit is in him And where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty They liue then and liue free deliuered and out of feare And for because Christ is in them and they in him and for that the spirit of Christ is not idle in them euen as the soule is not idle in the body or as a vigilant Prince is not idle in his kingdome but is busie as a Bee working like a carefull and prudent husbandman his holy workes within them therefore also they are not barren and take vp roome in vaine but beare and bring forth fruite as God by the influence of his grace doth giue increase For neither is he that planteth any thing neither that watereth but God that giueth the increase Whence it is that our Sauiour spaith Abide in me and I in you As the branch cannot beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth foorth much fruite And the fruits they yeeld are such as become the vine Christ Iesus whose branches they are and whose spirit makes them beare For vine-branches bring foorth vine-fruites vine-berries grapes and not soure slowes crabbes or hawes Euery tree brings foorth fruit according to his owne kind euen as euery man beast bird and fish begetteth and produceth according to his owne species kinde and image But although the faithfull bee in Christ and Christ in them yet they do not all equally draw vertue from Christ but as one branch receiueth more from the vine then another and as some are stronger fairer and fuller of fruits then some others are euen so one Belieuer receiues more grace and vertue from Christ then another and as Christ doth more or lesse impart himselfe vnto vs so we sucke more or lesse vertue from him and so also are more or lesse fruitfull in good workes Sure it is that God doth giue all his children his spirit and that this spirit resideth in them but this spirit worketh not equally in them all nor alike at all seasons but in some more and in some lesse and at one time more sensibly then at an other as the Sun doth in the heauens or a workeman in his shoppe God dwelleth in all his children they in him and they are all truely one as well as another partakers of the diuine nature but yet God doth not manifest and expresse himselfe in the same degree vnto all as neither Parents to their children not that hee could not but because he will not for causes iust but best knowne vnto himselfe and hereupon it comes to passe that one is more vertuous and better then another fuller of good workes and more like vnto himselfe as that childe is vnto his father into whom his father hath more fully and more happily powred foorth of himselfe into him in generation tending him like wife afterwards with a more carefull ingenuous education Whence is it saith S. Austin that some bee holier then others are but because that God doth dwell in some more plenteously then in others Christ is the Sunne the light that giueth light of nature grace and glory vnto the world Euery Christian man is a starre receiuing light from Christ who shineth into his soule now as one starre is brighter then another according as it receiueth more light from the Sunne then another euen so one Christian excells another in the light of grace and good workes according as hee receiues more plentifully from Christ and is more neerely ioyned with him and partaker of his light and spirit And thus of the first similitude I come to the second Christ and the Catholique Church are a certaine Mysticall or spirituall bodie Christ himselfe is the Head of that bodie And euery true Belieuer is a member of it Wee are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones saith S. Paul And this is a great mysterie The Head is not a perfit body of it selfe alone For no mans body is all head Neither is
faile him Nature springs from Adam as Gods liuing instrument And sin also comes from Adam and from sinne death Euen so also grace is from Christ iustice and holinesse imputatiue and inhesiue true life and liberty victory ouer death at last victory ouer the world in this life and all future felicity proceede from Christ as from their Authour or Spring-head from whence they flow There is much liberty in the world there is a peace of worldlings many honours and outward fauours giuen them by GOD but not through Christ Many men haue had victories from God as Nebuchadnezzar Caesar Pompey Tamerlane the great Turkes and many moe vnbeleeuers but not through Iesus Christ But spirituall peace liberty life health ioy victory and saluation no man hath but by Iesus Christ or Lord. So then if we were not of Adam and had not Adams nature in vs and sinne which doth defile it we should neither be men nor sinnefull men and so not men subiect vnto death Euen so if we were not members of Christ sprung from him as our head and had him not in vs and with vs we could not bee Christian men we could not bee spirituall and holy we could not bee vnder grace but vnder the Law we could not bee free but bond-men wee could not be iustified we could not be saued A man therefore that would haue life light grace and glory and so become a true blessed man must needes haue Christ his head hee must needes be his member he must needs be coupled with him and issue from him as well as sinners to make them men and sinners haue their father Adams nature in them and that which doth infect and poyson it Now Christ is the head of the Church as hee is both God and Man Euen so wee who are his members are vnited to him as hee is both God and Man Christ God and Man dwelleth in vs and we dwell in Christ who is God and man We are partakers of both his natures diuine and humane Christ is in vs as touching both and wee are in him as touching both hee in vs and wee in him and both fast knit together But this must be wisely vnderstood and for the cleering heereof I will speake a little yet more fully and punctually by the helpe of Christ who is abundantly able beyond all to vnfolde and define what this vnion is and to answer all the questions that may bee put about it First it is readily granted that the diuine nature of Christ filleth heauen earth and is essentially all the world ouer present whole in all places and at all times Secondly that very Man Iesus Christ the Virgins Sonne hath the diuine nature by hypostaticall vnion so that in the person of the eternall Sonne of God which is not double but single the two natures diuine and humane are vnited fast together and for euer the humane beeing receiued into God hauing neuer had any personall subsistence out of the person of the Sonne of God A certaine similitude thereof is in the Misselto which as Pliny writeth growes not but in a Plant of another kinde Indeed wheras the Misselto may be pluckt by force or stubbed vp out of the plant it grows in the humane nature of Christ cannot be seuered from the Word Thirdly the Coniunction of the flesh with the Deity is extended as far as the Deity it selfe For the Deity is no where seuered from the Man-head but yet the actuall Position of the flesh is restrained and tied to a certaine place Doubt not sith Saint Austin but that the man Christ Iesus is now in that very place from whence hee shall come in the same for me and substance of flesh which he carried thither and from which he hath not taken nature but giuen thereunto immortality According to this forme hee spreddeth not out himselfe into all places For it behooueth vs to take great heede lest while wee goe about to maintaine the glorious Deity of him which is man wee leaue not the true bodily substance of man So then tho the flesh bee actually seated there or there not euery where yet it is euery where ioyned to the Godhead which filleth the whole world and no place no not hell it selfe doth hinder that Coniunction But though wee cannot say that the Man-head of Christ is euery where present yet we may truely say that the man Christ is euery where present because that person is euery where present from whose God-head the Man-head is no where separated or because this man is very God and so by his Deity he is omni-present tho in his humanity hee bee but in one particular space or place at once So by reason of the hypostaticall vnion wee may say the man Iesus is eternall is omnipotent is God is Mediatour betweene God and Man But wee cannot so speake of his mans nature Fourthly the flesh or humane nature of Christ or Christ as he is a true man consisting of soule and body now knit together may bee rightly sayd to hee euery where present as touching co-operation with the God-head and that in all things For the diuine nature of Christ which before his incarnation wrought all things without the man-head doth now worke nothing wherein the man-head which he hath assumed is either absent from it or idle He which came downe from heauen and descended into hell is ascended into heauen that sitting at the right hand of God inuested with all maiesty might power honour and glory hee might from thence gouerne and dispose all things and fill his Church with the gracious and blessed fruites of his sauing presence His humane nature before his glorious Ascension and Session was not without the possession of this power but the full vse and exercise thereof was suspended till his humiliation which had before vailed Maiesty was ended and laide aside For the Session at the right hand of his Father is the actuall exercise of that power and regency wherein his Man-head was ioyned and matched with his Godhead This regencie and dominion hee now exerciseth both as God and man as God by essentiall presence with all things as Man by cooperation with his Godhead which is essentially all the world ouer I say then that the Manhead of Christ cooperates with his Godhead to which it is personally ioyned For the humane will of Christ assenteth to althings which his diuine will affecteth and willeth what the diuine dislikes And from his humane vnderstanding nothing which his Deity worketh is concealed so that by knowledge and assent the soule of Christ is present with all things which his Deiry worketh And as concerning his very bodie of flesh seeing it is the Body of God and personally vnited to the Godhead of the Sonne of God by whom it was also made a propitiatorie Sacrifice for the sinnes of the whole world it therefore receiueth a Presence of force and efficacie by reason of the said
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