a Mother for fruitfulness this the Kingdom of Heaven this the Body of Christ this the Church Universal the Church Catholick which is invisible the object of Faith and not of Sense and therefore we say in our Creed I believe the holy Catholick Church Which holy Catholick Church ◠Tim ◠15 Cant. 6.8 as by S. Paul it is said to be Columna Veritatis the Pillar of Truth so by Solomon Columna Unitatis the Dove of Unity Indeed the Church can be but one because Christ her Head is but one who is the same yesterday to day Heb. 1◠8 and for ever The same 1. Objectivè in his Word yesterday shadowed in the Law to day shewed in the Gospel the New Testament being claspt up in the Old and the Old laid open in the New The Old Testament and the New like two concentrick circles they differ in their circumference yet agree in one center and that center Christ 2. As Christ is the same objectivè in his Word so is he the same subjectivè in his Attributes his Wisdom Goodness Power yea dignity and authority one and the same Shepherd of his Flock one and the same King of his people one and the same Head of his Church 3. The same effective in the gifts and graces of his Spirit in the power and efficacy of his Word and of his Sacraments Now the light of the Gentiles Luke 2.32 as before the glory of his people Israel as yesterday to Abraham Isaac and Jacob so to day he is to as many as believe on him Jesus a Saviour And if thus but one Head then necessarily but one Body if but one Christ then but one Church But one Church however it receives its divers names of distinction according to its different degrees of communion as being either militant or triumphant The Church militant in tempore peregrinationis in the time of her sojourning here in fear and the Church triumphant in aeternitate mansionis Aug. Enchi◠c 56. in the eternity of her dwelling with Christ in glory so S. Augustine Militant is that part of the Church which is on earth still fighting in a continued warfare against the flesh the world and the devil Triumphant is that part of the Church which now rest from their labours Rev. 14.13 who by the power of Christ have vanquish'd the powers of darkness and therefore with victorious palms in their hands clothed with the robes of glory they stand continually before the throne of God Rev. 7.9 15. and serve him in his temple Both these the Militant and Triumphant make up one Church Catholick Aug. ibid. one now in vinculo charitatis in the bond of charity and shall be for ever one in consortio aeternitatis in the fellowship of eternity But further this Catholick Church with which we have communion with Christ as she is Columba Unitatis the Dove of Unity so Columba Puritatis too the Dove of Purity she is the holy Catholick Church Though on Earth indeed she be incompassed with many infirmities Psal 45.13 overshadowed with many afflictions yet is she the Kings daughter all glorious within indued she is with Christs holy Spirit adorned she is with his holy Graces clothed she is with his perfect Righteousness Holy the Church is 1 In Christ her Head who is perfectly holy even holiness it self 2 Holy she is in her Triumphant part Eph. 5.27 which is made compleat in Holiness sine ruga aut macula without either wrincle or spot without either wrincle of imperfection or spot of uncleanness 3 Holy she is in her Militant part also holy by sanctification partially and by imputation of Christs Righteousness perfectly so sanctified she is not as to be free from all abiding of sin Rom. 6.12 that 's for the estate of glory but so as to be free from the reigning of sin that 's for the state of grace Our holiness in this life it is but inchoative and in part in fieri not in facto our perfection of holiness shall not be till our consummation in happiness and when we shall be made compleatly happy then shall we be made also perfectly holy Thus you have seen what is the Church of Christ in its larger acception and in its nearer relation In its larger acception as the Church of the Elect the Elect Angels and Elect Saints in its nearer relation as the Church of the redeemed redeemed in an effectual communication of Christs fulness as he is the Head The Head of the Body the Church c. 3. What the Church is of which Christ is said to be the Head in its different adjuncts as visible and invisible The Church Catholick or Universal not being genericè but integraliter Universale the Universal Church as we say the Universal World as it is aptly distinguished according to its different states into the Church Militant and Triumphant so is it distinguished no less aptly according to its divers adjuncts into the Church visible and invisible Which distinction being observed to be not a distribution of the Genu◠into its Species nor of the whole into its parts as if either one Church or one part of the Church were visible and another invisible but a distinction of adjuncts to the same subject This being observed we may the better answer and retort the Arguments of the Romish adversary in the great contest concerning the visibility of the Church To be invisible is an affection of the Catholick Church in respect of its internal and essential form To be visible is an affection of the same Catholick Church according to its form external and accidental The internal and essential form of the Church consists in union with Christ through the Spirit the object of Faith and not of Sense in which regard the Church must needs be invisible But now the external and accidental form of the Church is the Ministry of the Word and Sacraments with a publick profession of the true Faith of Christ and in this the Church must needs be visible yea by how much that profession and Ministry is the more publick and pure by so much is the Church the more conspicuous and glorious The Church then as it is visible may be thus defined to be The whole company of men and women professing the Faith of Christ in the sincere preaching of the Word and right administration of the Sacraments And this is the definition of the Church according to its external and accidental form that definition before given being according to its form Internal and Essential and by this we may understand how men are said to be of the Church and to be in Christ either by outward profession or by inward sanctification that an external this an internal communion by the outward profession of an external communion onely so the Formal Hypocrite by the inward sanctification of an internal as well as the outward profession of an external communion so the Truly Regenerate
Many there are then who bear the name of Christians ay and of Catholicks too who yet are in Christ John 15.2 6 but as withered branches in the Vine yea they are in the Church as Wens in the Body not in a vital and internal communion but in a formal and external profession Thus speaking of the Authors of Heresie and Heads of Faction which separated themselves from the communion of the Church They went out from us says the Apostle but they were not of us 1 John 2.19 for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us They went out from us as to the external and accidental form of the Church as it is the visible company of Professors but they were not of us as to the internal and essential form of the Church as it is the invisible Body of Christ Very fitly then is the visible Church compared in Scripture unto a field in which there grows up together Wheat and Tares Matth. 13.29 30. Matth 3.12 Matth. 13 47. to a floor on which there lies together Corn and Chaff to a draw not in which are contained good Fish and bad for that in the Church as it is visible there are Hypocrites mixt with true Believers the wicked with the godly And therefore the Apostle compares the visible Church to a great house 2 Tim. 2.20 where there are not onely Vessels of Gold and of Silver but also of Wood and of Earth yea Some to honor and some to dishonor Thus in the visible Church there are not onely strong Believers but also weak Christians not onely those who are more eminent in the gifts and graces of the Spirit but also those who are weaklings and of less spiritual abilities then others Yea further as there are some to honor that is some who through the Election of Grace shall at last inherit eternal glory so some to dishonor Rom. 2.5 that is some who through their impenitence and hardness of heart treasure up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath and shall be plunged in eternal misery And thus ye have seen in its several particulars What the Church is of which Christ is said to be the Head 3. How the Church of which Christ is the Head is said to be a Body viz. Especially from the communion of the faithful as Members Eph. 4.4 a communion so near that they are all said to have but one Spirit Acts 4.32 yea one heart and one soul and all this from the efficacy of love Col. 3.14 that bond of perfectness and knot of unity A Sacramental representation of this Mystical Communion 1 Cor 10.17 is given us in the holy Eucharist according to that of the Apostle We being many are one Bread and one Body for we are all partakers of that one Bread That Bread which exhibites to us the flesh of Christ our quickning and enlivening Food Food not which we convert by any carnal digestion into the nature of our body but which converts us by a spiritual operation into the nature of Christs Body making us to be heavenly and spiritual as he is spiritual and heavenly We change not it but it changeth us for so is the powerful operation of spiritual Food to convert into the nature of its self action still following the stronger force and spirituals are more powerful then corporals grace more active then nature By vertue of this communion of the Faithful the Church is said to be Corpus compactum connexum Eph. 4.16 a Body fitly joyned together and compacted no rents of Schism but every member hath its proper place Vers 13. and its peculiar connexion in the whole and this Till we all meet in the unity of the Faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ Unto a perfect man this does intimate the near and full communion of Christs Church all the Faithful being as one political person in Christ Gal. 3.28 according to that There is neither Jew nor Greek there is neither bond nor free there is neither male nor female but all are one in Christ Jesus and it is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not one Body but one Person Now to grow up to a perfect man according to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ is the increase of the Church till consummate in its communion of Members and fulness of perfection which shall be at the last day when the whole number of the Elect is gathered and so Christ in the Church and the Church in Christ have mutually their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their compleat growth like that of the Head in the Body and the Body in the Head and all in one political person and perfect man To close then such is the communion of the Faithful one with another as Members and all in Christ as their Head that he who by Schism separates from the Church though never so seeming a Saint he cuts himself off from Christ and in the prosecution of this separation though he should zealously give up his life unto death his goods unto the spoil his body unto the fire 1 Cor. 13.2 3. yet all this would not be fidei corona Cypr. de Unit Eccles n. 12. but paena perfidia as St. Cyprian speaks not a crown of Faith but a punishment of unfaithfulness the suffering not of a Martyr but of a Malefactor For let the cause be what it will to die in Schism without the Pale of the Church is to perish in sin without the Gate of Heaven Indeed as the Branch withers which is broken off from the Root the River dries up which is cut off from the Fountain so the Soul shall perish which is divided from Christ And that Soul is certainly divided from Christ the Head which separates from the Church which is his Body His Body in a communion of the faithful as Members Here it will be a seasonable service to resolve you these four Questions 1. Whether the Church of Christ on Earth may totally fall away 2. What is meant by that common saying That out of the Church there is no Salvation 3. What have we to answer those who say We have no Church 4. Seeing we are to hold communion with the Church how may we know which is a true Church with which we may hold communion First Whether the Church of Christ on Earth may totally fall Quest 1 away We see in the World such a general defection from truth and holiness that some may haply propose this Question as well worthy our present resolution Indeed Polutheism a worshipping many gods hath ever been an argument for Atheism a not worshipping any God And in these our days whilst men see so many
Religions they not knowing which to chuse think it best to be of no Religion and whilst they behold the eager opposition of Churches all professing Christ they are ready to question whether indeed Christ hath now any Church But to stop the mouths of Atheists and confirm the Faith of true Christians I shall resolve unto you this Quare Whether the Church of Christ on Earth may totally fall away To which I answer Answ Some particular and visible Churches of Christ have and still may fall away but the universal and invisible Church the Body of Christ cannot And this stability of Christs Church is founded upon the immutability of Gods Covenant his promise cannot fail and therefore his Church cannot perish In all her variety of states and conditions Non mutat voluntatem sed vult mutationem so the Schools from the Master of the Sentences and he from St. Augustine When God alters his work he changeth not his will but wills those changes so as to establish his promises Amongst which promises to his Church Matth 16.18 observe that The Gates of Hell shall not prevail against her And again Lo I am with you saith our Saviour what onely for a short time Matth. 28.20 No it is for a long date alway even unto the end of the world Indeed to suppose the Church to fall totally from grace were to separate Christ from being Head and to divide him from the Body Eph. 1.23 and so make him who is the fulness of perfection to be himself imperfect Of particular visible Churches indeed we say That they have and may fall away so did the Church of Israel in the time of Elijah so hath the Church of Ephesus of Antioch of Jerusalem and many other particular Churches they have faln away yet the Universal hath not But still in the height of Heresie there have been some to profess the truth in the deepest Apostacy some to hold fast unto Christ and the purity of his worship Thus in the time of Arianism when as St. Hierom tells us Ingemuit totus orbis se Arianum esse miratus est The whole World groaned and wondered to see it self become Arian yet then there was an Athanasius to be Arianorum Malleus the Hammer and Hammerer of the Arians yea there were stout Professors of the Truth in the several parts of the Earth true Propugnatores fidei the Churches Champions for the Faiths defence Rev. 13.5 Yea see when the whole World wonders after the Beast even the Princes of the Earth dread his power court his friendship adore his greatness yet even then God hath a remnant left A remnant which worship him in Spirit and in Truth But further yet I observe The old Adversaries of the Protestant Faith the Papists they take advantage of our present distractions and whilst our Church labors under an Eclipse they seek to gain Proselytes by this Argument viz. Necessary it is to be of some Church for it is a truth received on all hands That out of the Church there is no Salvation and now as for the Church of England say they where is it or what is it That hath ceased to be but the Church of Rome that continues in her ancient glory So that unless now you will be Roman Catholicks you can be of no Church and if you be of no Church you can expect no Salvation Wherefore to discover the subtlety and overthrow the strength of Quest 2 this Argument I shall resolve this Second Quaere What is meant by this ancient truth and common saying That out of the Church there is no Salvation Answ Answer It is meant of the Church Universal not of this or that or any other particular Church There is no particular Church on Earth but may under a cloud of persecution cease to be any longer visible in respect of the outward Ministry of the Word and Sacraments and yet continue to be of the Church Universal the Body of Christ in the inward sanctification of the Spirit and Grace So that when we say Out of the Church there is no Salvation it is not spoken of the Church of Rome any more then of the Church of France or of the Church of England or of any other particular and National Church on Earth But it is spoken of that Una Sancta Catholica Ecclesia That one holy and Catholick Church the Body of Christ for that out of it indeed there is no Salvation And therefore do the Ancients make Noahs Ark Gen. 6.16 17 18. a Type of the Church for that as all within the Ark so all within this Church are saved and as all without the Ark so all without the Church are destroyed Per portam Ecclesiae intramus in portam Paradisi so St. Augustine through the door of the Church we enter the Gate of Paradise and as the same St. Augustine observes well He that hath not the Church for his Mother cannot have God for his Father and he that hath not God for his Father cannot have Christ for his Saviour and without Christ there is no Salvation For as that which is not of the Body does not receive life Natural from the Head so he that is not of the Church does not receive life Spiritual from Christ We proceed then to the resolution of our Third Quaere Quest 3 What we have to answer those who say we have no Church viz. That a Church does not then cease to be Answ when she ceaseth to be glorious but is visible in her constant sufferings when not visible in her publick Ministry Be it so then that we cannot shew the rich Plate on the Cubbard yet we can shew it cast into the Furnace and do but wait the Artists time and it shall come out more refined and beautiful The Church is the Kings Daughter Psal 45 13. though clothed in Raggs though covered with contempt yet all glorious within Tell me is not the Church then most truly eminent when most eminently suffering for the Truth Innocency is more illustrious upon a Dunghil then injustice on the Throne Fa th and Truth more honorable in a Dungeon then Schism and Superstit on in the Temple wherefore theâ—e Christ hath his Church where Truth hath her Martyrs And let not then any insulting Romanist say Where is your Church in contempt and scorn whilst we can point him to those who give Testimony to the Faith by their innocency and sufferings To close with the Fourth Quaere Seeing we are to hold Communion Quest 4 with the Church how may we know which is a true Church with which we may hold communion Answ Answer By these inseparable and infallible Notes a sincere Preaching of the Word a right Administration of the Sacraments and a firm Profession of the Faith All which by how much they are the more or the less perfect by so much is the Church the more or the less pure And now blessed be God even for ever
fulness here set open in this Ordinance Psal 36.8 9. may satisfie and fill them here behold the promises of life sealed here feel the riches of grace communicated here see the earnest of salvation and glory confirmed yea here shall the soul find Davids double petition of prayer accepted and his twofold argument of faith approved O let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in thee Let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait on thee Vers ult Redeem Israel O God out of all his troubles § 1. AS there is no greater incentive of divine wrath then sin so nor is there any greater obstructive of devout prayer in removing that wrath then impenitence impenitence clogs yea clips the wing of devotion so that it cannot mount aloft it cannot reach the Throne of Grace and of this David himself gives us his profession from his experience saying Psal 66 18. If I regard iniquity in my heart the Lord will not hear me Quantum à praeceptis tantum ab auribus Dei longè summ So Tertul. Look how far our lives are from Gods precepts to obey them so far are Gods ears from our prayers to hearken to them The person then must be accepted before the petition and so a sincere penitent is the best suppliant for that our Lord Jesus Christ being the Priest that offers Heb. 4.14.15.16 and the Altar that sanctifies all our services there can be no acceptation without his mediation and sure I am he will not be our Advocate unless he be our Lord he will not be our Priest unless he be our King he will not present God our prayers unless we present him our persons and whom faith and repentance consecrates through the spirit him grace and mercy accepts through Christ § 2. Very aptly then doth David in his penitence as put up supplications for himself so make intercession for the Church the guilt of his transgressions he knew well did add to the heap of the Churches afflictions and therefore when he bewails his sin with penitent tears he remembers her trouble in a compassionate sorrow And that he might make the Church some amends whereas his guilt did help to the heightenâ—ng her distress his prayers shall contribute to the hastening her deliverance and for this reason doth he close this penitential Psalm with this pathetical petition Deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles Which words are Davids intercession for Gods Church And in them we have first the subject matter of his intercession Israels deliverance deliver Israel which deliv rance is set forth in its Author and its extent its Author God and its extent out of all trouble Redeem or deliver Israel O God out of all his troubles § 3. 1. The subject matter Israels deliverance deliver Israel God in a gracious vouchsafement of love will have hâ—s Saints to be his Remembrancers Isa 62.6 7. by the importunity of their prayers minding him of his promises Not giving him rest till he establish and till he make Jerusalem even his Church a praise in the earth And therefore hear the Prophets zealous devotion well worthy our devoutest imitation For Zions sake will I not hold my peace Isa 62.1 and for Jerusalems sake I will not rest untill the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth even made visible and glorious in the sight of mâ—n and of Angels § 4. But what in the Churches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in her fixt season and determined method of deliverance is not the decree past Dan. 8.19 Hab. 2.3 Psal 102.13 and the time set And so as that we cannot hasten the time nor alter the decree by our prayers and if so to what purpose is it to importune God for the Churches deliverance I answer True it is that Gods will being immutable in its determinations his providence must needs be infallible in its administrations yet neither the deliberations of councels the industry of endeavours nor the importunity of prayers are taken away or made void but rather confirmed and made good by the infallibility of God providence in the determinations of his will For that God determining the end doth also order the means means proportionable and agreeable to that end which maketh much for the strengthning our faith quickening our obedience and confirming our hope hope of obtaining the end as determined by Gods will when we observe the means as appointed in Gods word § 5. So that to establish the means and deny the providence of God determining the end is a part of Atheism to establish the providence of God determining the end and despise the means is great prophaneness but to use the means so as withall to trust and attend Gods providence for obtaning the end Hab. 2.3 this this is the way of truth and a work of righteousness knowing this that prayers and councels and endevours they are appointed of God not whereby we should alter his Will but perform it not whereby we should change his Decree but fulfill it and in what we as yet obtain not our desires we testifie our obedience Wherefore God having past the Decree and given the promise of his Churches deliverance through his will be unchangeable and his Decrees immutable Heb. 6.17 18. yet are not our prayers fruitless our supplications needless for that the Decrees of Gods counsel and the Prayers of Gods chosen they are subordinate and we say Subordinata non inter se pugnant Things subordinate in their being oppose not each other in their working The wâ—mb of all Gods blessings to his Church it is his gracious Decree and the Midwife to bring them forth is the Prayer of the faithful § 6. Further yet whereas God hath given many promises of deliverance to his Church we must know that his promises to us they are the very ground of our prayers to him Thus Dan. 9. and thus Psal 102. Yea God having given the Promise it is an implied Condition that we ask by Prayer thereby testifying that his Promises are of free grace not of due debt of mercy in him not of merit in us Yea as we subscribe to the acknowledgment of his mercy and goodness in giving the Promise so we submit to the dispose of his wisdom and power in ordering the performance And thus whatsoever blessing it is of life of grace or of glory of supply of support or of deliverance upon our selves in particular or upon the Church in general whatsoever blessing I say it is which we receive from Gods hand it must be on our knees as an effect of his Promise so a fruit of our Prayer § 7. Thus God having promised to build the ruin'd places Ezek. 36.36.37 and to plant the desolate he tels the house of Israel that for this he will be enquired of to do it for them And again hear the promise God makes unto Israel by the Prophet Jeremy Thus saith
Redeemer and this in a Prosopographia a personal character of Christ both from his intrinsecal relation to the Father and from his extrinsecal relation to the creature and that to the creature either as made and form'd or as redeemed and repaired 1. v. 15. According to his intrinsecal relation to the Father so Christ is the image of the invisible God the natural and essential image by eternal generation And if we may draw the Sun with a pencil if illustrate this mystery by a similitude take this as our aptest illustration That as a man beholding himself in a Looking-glass doth produce an image in nothing different from himself in lineaments of body or proportion of parts so God the Father beholding himself in the glass of his Divinity with the eye of his understanding doth beget his Son Heb. 1.3 the express image of his person no ways different from himself in the essence of his Deity or excellency of his Attributes but coessential and coequal But indeed as for the manner of Christs eternal generation in which he is the essential image of the invisible God Naz. orat with Nazianzen I say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is hidden in a cloud and therefore 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be reverenc'd with silence We may we must make it in humility an article of our Creed not think it in curiosity an object of our knowledge From the Apostles description then of Christ in his intrinsecal relation to the Father pass we to the second part his description of Christ in his extrinsecal relation to the Creator and to the creature 1. As made and form'd in which relation he is call'd the first-born of every creature v 15. At which the Arian readily catcheth to prove Christ Deus factus made God but S Chrysostom and the Antients repell his argument and confute his blasphemy from the propriety and emphasis of the Apostles expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not the first made or the first created but the first begotten or the first-born and therefore primogenitus non primo-creatus ut genitus pro natura Ambr. de fid â— 1. c. 4. primus pro aeternitate credatur Christ is therefore said to be the fiâ—st begotten not the first created that his being begotten may make us believe the essence of his nature and first begotten the eternity of his essence If with the Modern Expositors especially of the Protestant Church we interpret the Apostle as speaking of Christs humane nature then by first-born is meant Lord and Soveraign according to the law and right of Primogeniture Thus in the Prophecie of David concerning Solomon as a Type of Christ I will make him my first-born Ps 89.27 higher then the Kings of the earth But if with the Antient Writers especially of the Grecian Church we interpret the Apostle as speaking of Christs divine nature then by the first-born of every creature is meant that Christ was begotten before any thing created so primogenitus the first begotten as that he is also unigenitus the only begotten And needs must he be before the creatures v. 16. by whom all things were created even all things that are in heaven and that are in earth visible and invisible whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers even the whole heavenly hoast and celestial hierarchy all things were created by him and for him by him in his omnipotent power and for him in his incomprehensible glory He the efficient and the final cause of all the Creatures And he by whom are all things must needs be before all things v. 17. before dignitate tempore in order of dignity and of time And the same Efficient which creates conserves The whole world as at first it had none other hand to frame it so nor now hath it any other pillar to support it then the power of Christs word as he is God And therefore says our Apostle that by him all things consist Even as water whilst contained in the vessel it hath a consistencie in it self which when the vessel is broken it presently flows out and wastes away in its own fluidity Thus the creatures whilst encompassed by Christs conserving power they consist in their being but that power withdrawn they faint and perish in their own mortality Or as the Air when the Sun withdraws his enlightening beams then ceaseth to have any light Thus the creatures should Christ withdraw his sustaining power they would cease to have any being This sustaining power of Gods providence the Schools call manutenentia Dei which is thus illustrated As a man holding a Globe in his hand if he withdraw his hand the Globe presently falls to the ground Thus Christ sustaining the whole Fabrick of the Universe with the supporting power of his providence should he withdraw that power and support needs must the creatures though ne'r so perfect in their kind needs must they fall away and dissolve to their first nothing Even those very perfections of Nature ay and of Grace too which were in Lucifer and Adam what were they when abused and they left to themselves what were they but as Gerson's expression is Gerson apud Ep. Sar. in Col. 1.17 pondera plura ad ruinam more weight to press them down to their greater ruine Now our Apostle having given us the description of Christ in his extrinsecal relation to the creatures as made and form'd he proceeds in the words of my Text to give the further description of him in that his extrinsecal relation to the creatures as redeem'd and repair'd Which relation he brings in with this Copulative and And he is the head of the body the Church who is the beginning the first born from the dead c. Division From the dependance we proceed to the division Observe a single description rais'd from a twofold relation and argued from a threefold reason 1. The single description it is of Christ in the dignity and office of Mediator as the Head of the body the Church 2. The twofold relation from whence this description is raised that of Creator and that of Redeemer That of Creator in which he is the Beginning of all things and that of Redeemer in which he is the first-born from the dead 3. The threefold reason from whence this description of Christ is argued One drawn from the final moving cause that in all things he might have the preeminence A second drawn from the efficient ordmaining cause the good will and pleasure of the Father And the third is drawn from the formal constituting cause the perfection of all fulness dwelling in Christ Thus Christ he is the head of the body the Church who is the begining the first-born from the dead that in all things he might have the preeminence for it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell Explicat 1. The description of Christ in the dignity and office