he hath made her worthy of his Love from the very first moment he began to love her and more powerful then those Bridegrooms who can onely advantage those they love in riches or honours he hath adorned her with all the graces her dignity could require or her condition suffer For if she be not yet glorious in all her Members if she sigh in the Poor be a captive in the Prisoner 't is because the Land of dying mortals where she lives is not capable of all the priviledges of her Bridegroom yet may she boast that she possesseth in her Head what she wants in her Body tastes that in the Blessed which she cannot taste in the Faithful and if she be Militant upon Earth is Triumphant in Heaven But nothing so much advanceth the Graces she hath received from Jesus Christ as the offences she committed during her Infidelity For she broke her word in the first of her children she listened to the promises of the Serpent by the ear of our first mother she erected Altars to devils by the hands of Idolaters she uttered blasphemies by the mouth of Libertines she had committed as many Adulteries as she had adored False Deities and her crimes emboss'd one upon another had branded her with the ignominious titles of Perfidiousness Adultery and Impudence In the mean time her Beloved forgave her all these faults wip'd away all her spots in the Laver of Baptism and making her a Bath of his own Blood returned her at the same time Holiness Innocence and Beauty But as his Power is equal to his Love he undertook a thing that Nature never durst attempt For finding her saith S. Augustine in her prostitution he restored her her Purity of an Adultress he made her a Virgin and repeating that miracle which he never wrought for any but his Mother and his Spouse Nuptiae Spirituales in quibus nobis magna castitate vivendum est sunt Christi Ecclesiae quia Ecclesiae concessit Deus in Spiritu quod mater ejus habuit in corpore ut Mater Virgo sit Aug. he bestowed Virginity with Pregnancy that being pure she might not complain that she was barren and being fruitfull she might not bee reproached as impure Thus the Church is treated by Christ her Beloved as he treated Humane Nature he hath honoured her with all the priviledges he bestowed upon his own Body and letting us see an Image of the Hypostaticall Union in the Mysticall Union he contracted with his Spouse he hath shewed us the dignity of a Christian that being a member of Iesus Christ he may aspire to the Glory of his Head and promise himself that having suffered with him upon Earth he shall one day reign with him in the Heavens The Fifth DISCOURSE That Jesus Christ treats his Mysticall Body with as much Charity as his Naturall Body THere is no Christian so little acquainted with the Mysteries of our Religion but knows that the Son of God hath two Bodies the one Naturall the other Mysticall the former he had from his Mother who yeelding her consent to the Angel furnished blood whereof the Holy Chost formed the Body of her only Son The second he hath from the Church which springing from his wounds upon Mount Calvary gives him as many Members as she bears Beleevers in her chaste Bosome Nonne in figura Mariae typum videmus Sanctae Ecclefiae ad hanc utique â—â—scen lit Sanctus Spâ—ritus huic virtus altissimi obumbravit binc Christus potens vi tute egrâ—ditur Ecclesia viro immaculata concubitu foecunda partu conc pit non viro sed Spiritu Aug. ser 10. de Temp. and makes him Head of all that acknowledge her for their Mother and whom shee owns for her Children These two Bodies have so much affinity that 't is hard to judge which of them Jesus Christ loves best and their priviledges so like that 't is easily perceived they belong both to one God For besides that they are both formed by the Holy Ghost and the Mothers that conceived them cease not to be pure notwithstanding they are pregnant they enjoy the same favours and are equally precious to the Son of God His Naturall Body by time received its full growth though he were perfect at the moment of conception he was so little that nothing but Faith could comprehend him to be the Temple of the Eternall Word his Members were fashioned in the space of nine moneths the naturall heat enlarged and fortified them and the nourishment they received gave them that just proportion Children ought to have at their Birth It was no small proof of the Humility of Iesus Christ saith Saint Augustine that he was willing to condescend to the Laws of Nature and waving his absolute power expect with patience till his members were fashioned to be born in the fulnesse of time Statim lucem lacrymis auspicatus molestus uberibus diu infans vix puer tarde homo Tert. He handles his Mysticall Body after the same manner expects its perfection with gracious tendernesse waits for those members his Father pleases to adde in the continuance of years he sees his Spouse grow up with joy and from heaven above is ravished when the Church by Baptism or by Repentance bestows upon him new Subjects to the compleatment of this Mysticall Body Sometimes he sees the Sauls become part of that whole they have endeavoured to destroy Sometimes he receives Augustines and drawing them from Errour to Truth makes them his Disciples and his Members Sometimes he converts other sinners and associating them to his Person with himself compleats his Church 'T is true as this Body is much greater then the Naturall there is required much more time to give it its ultimate perfection The Naturall was accomplished in twenty five years it had all its bignesse when ' rwas nailed to the Crosse neither was any thing wanting to that Master-piece of the Holy Ghost but Glory which was deferred till the Resurrection because it had hindered the work of our Salvation But the Mysticall commenced with the world nor shall end but with that Fabrick Adam and Abel were the first parts the Patriarchs and Prophets the Apostles and the Faithfull continue it and the last predestinated shall accomplish it at the end of the world It s full measure shall not be till the generall Resurrection and there will something still bee wanting to its perfection till the number of the Elect be compleated The Naturall Body could not grow but all the members must grow with it For there is such a Harmony in mans body that nature travels at the same time to perfect the whole Compositum The nourishment turned into blood passeth through the veins to the remotest parts one and the same matter takes a thousand different forms and the same aliment changeth the qualities that it may equally supply the needs of all the members Jesus Christ was subject to these Laws whilest he lived
mistrust their merit They neither apprehended the greatness of the danger that was threatned nor the cruelty of the Tyrant that condemned them to death nor the fury of the Executioners that searched them out to massacre them their happiness was as unknown to them as their misery they were ignorant that they suffered for Jesus Christ that in their person they sought for Him and that receiving the stabs of the ponyard thrust at their heart they had this double honour to die for their Saviour and by yeelding up their own life to secure his Neverthelesse all the Fathers of the Church confess that their Martyrdome was true that the power of God supplyed their weakness that his grace prevented their will and that their sacrifice fayl'd not to be meritorious though it was not voluntary Amongst all those that have been their Advocates there is none hath pleaded their cause with more Eloquence then St Bernard his Reasons and his Words are equally powerfull and it seems that preserving the glory of their Martyrdom his designe was to preserve that of their Baptism Si quaeric corum apud Deum merita ut coronarentur quaere apud Herodem crimina ut occiderentur An forte minor Christi Pietas quà m Herodis impietas ut ille quidem potuit innoxios neci dare Christus non potuerit propter se occisos coronare Bern. de natal Inn. If you ask saith he what desert they had in the sight of God to merit a Crown ask what their crime was against Herod that deserved such a butchery shall the Piety of the Son of God be less powerful then the Impiety of Herod Shall the Tyrant be able to massacre Innocents and their Saviour not able to crown their sufferings Their Martyrdom exalteth the mercy of Jesus Christ and their example teacheth us that as good desires without works are sometimes recompensed in men works without desires may be recompensed in children If we doubt of their Martyrdom Ille pro Christo trucidatos Infantes dubitet inter Martyres coronari qui regeneratos in Christo non credit inter adoptionis silios numerari Idem ibid. as the same Father goes on we must doubt of the salvation of all those that are baptized and if we beleeve that Baptism sanctifies Infants though they cannot speak we must beleeve that Martyrdom consecrates these though they cannot expresse themselves After this example we need not think it strange that the Eternal Father acknowledgeth those for his Children whom the Son acknowledgeth for his Brethren nor doubt that imitating his Justice he saves by borrowed merits those he had condemned for accessory crimes But one of the most remarkable resemblances between our Recovery and our Fall is that both of them began by the Body For though this be lesse guilty then the soul neither did the corporal revolt sollicite our first Father to sin yet is it the pipe through which his offence passeth into the essence of his posterity Certum tenemus quia caro contracta de carne per legem concupiscentiae quam cito vivificatur originalis culpae vinculo premitur cjusque affectionibus anima quae carnem vivificat aggravatur sub hoc peccati vinculo demerguntur parvuli qui sine remedio baptismi moriuntur Habent enim originale peccatum non per animam sed per carnem utique contractum animaeque infusum carni namque ita unitur anima ut cum carne fit una persona Aug. lib. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. if they were not a part of his flesh they should inherit neither his sin nor his punishment and if concupiscence were fully extinguished by grace Generation would not be criminal Man is not faulty in his conception but because he is cloathed with Adam's flesh 't is by means of it that sin overspreads the soul for issuing from the hands of God 't is stain'd with no impurity but no sooner is it united to the body but it becomes guilty their marriage begets sin and having quickned that unhappy moity it enters into its imperfections and disorders it begins to affect terrestriall things it dwels upon perishable goods and is at a distance from eternall ones lest it should sad the Body it readily complyes with all its desires and as if it were become corporeal it longs for those objects that please and entertain the senses Though it be not carried yet by deliberation this way 't is by inclination and though it offend not willingly we may say it does naturally and that the privation of Grace joyned to its union with the body is the source of its transgression and misery In this point the Regeneration of the Christian holds so full a proportion with the Generation of the Man that the one is as well the proof as the Image of the other Quaeris in parvulis culpam invenis ex carne traductam Quaeris in eis gratiam invenis à Deo collatam Aug. de Spir. Anim. c. 41. For Grace though spiritual enters not into the soul but by the mediation of the body The Sacraments that dispense it communicate not their vertue to the Spirit till they have first imparted it to the flesh God is pleased to imitate his enemie and following his steps he cures the noblest part of man by the more ignoble Caro abluitur ut anima emaculetur caro ungitur ut anima consecretur caro corpore sanguine Christi vescitur ut anima saginetur Tert. de resurâ—ect carnis The spirit of the Christian Champions is not strengthened in Confirmation till the holy oyl is sprinkled on their fore-head Their soul to use Tertullian's expressions is not fatted with the Eucharist till it receives the body and bloud of Christ by their mouth nor is their spirit purified in Baptism but when their body is dipt in water The Remedy is symbolicall to the nature of the disease 't is affix'd to the prime delinquent and this maxime admits of no contradiction that the soul is uncapable of being healed assoon as it is separated from the flesh It seems the divine Justice will have Grace enter by the same passage into the soul that Sin did Nulla omnino anima salutem potest adipisci ni dum in carne est Id. Ib. and that the flesh should be the Christians ligament to Jesus Christ as well as the sinners to his first Progenitor Neither truly is it harder to conceive one then the other for as grace is insinuated into the soul by Baptisme of an offendor making an Innocent despoiling us of Adam and putting us on Jesus Christ ' Anima in corpore tanquam in vitiato vase corrumpitur ubi occulta justitia divinae legis includitur Aug. and finally passeth from our body into the Essence of that part that inanimates us so also may we easily comprehend that concupiscence is the conduit of sin that the miseries of the flesh make an Impression upon the spirit that this is
a very noble Allyance yet we may say it relates not to God in his Persons but in his Essence For all the perfections Man received in his Creation are but the droppings of the perfections of God His Power expresseth that of his Creator his Liberty is an emanation of that Being which is as free as it is necessary his Reason is a product of the first primitive Reason and all the other qualities that raise him above the rest of Creatures are rather images of the Unity of God then of the Plurality of his Persons Nay the very Angels which are of nobler extraction then Man seem not allyed to the divine Persons Every one of their * Cernere est in Seraphin quomodo amet qui unde amet non habet cernere est in Cherubin Deum scientiarum qui solam nesciat ignorantiam cernere est in Thronis judicantis aequitatem nec vacat sessio tranquillitatis insigne est Bern. lib. 5. de Consid cap. 4. Orders respect some one of the perfections of their Creator The Seraphims express his Love the Cherubins his Light the Thrones his Rest The Hierarchies lead us not to the Trinity or if they give us some umbrages thereof they deliver no exact knowledge We see nothing in these blessed Spirits that discovers to us the Generation of the Word or the Procession of the Holy Ghost and having well considered them there is nothing we admire in them but the Goodness or the Power the Greatness or the Majesty of him that created them All their Allyances as wel as those of Men are terminated in the divine Essence and pass not to the Trinity of the Persons They are rather Servants then Sons or if they are Sons their Adoption is not * Nusquam enim Angelos apprchendis sed semen Abrahae apprehendit Heb. 2. founded upon the Mystery of the Incarnation This glory was reserved for Christians who at the moment of their Nativity have the honour to be allyed to all the Persons of the Trinity The Son loves them as his Brethren the Father adopts them as his children and the Holy Ghost quickens them as his Temples therefore are they baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Their Birth consecrates them to this ineffable mystery and from the time they receive the Being of Grace they bear the Character of the Trinity The Son began this Allyance by the Mystery of the Incarnation he was made Man to make us his Members he hath united us in his Person by such a neer combination that his advantages become ours and our transgressions become his Every thing is common to us with him and giving his Person to our Nature there is no Greatness he hath not communicated to us our Grace is an effusion flowing from his our Birth is an image of his eternall Generation Gratia nihil est aliud quà m participatio divinae filiationis secundùm Divum Thomam and if we beleeve the Master of the School our Adoption is a copy of his divine filiation Finally to express so high a Verity in a more noble Elogie Every Christian seems to be a second Jesus Christ every beleever is a son of God and as they are happily blended with the Word Incarnate they may boast themselves as he is Men-Gods 'T is on this occasion Love makes his power appear that of many persons mutually affecting one another he makes but one that he makes greatness bow and sets humility on high that he transforms God into Man to transform Man into God and surmounting all obstacles that oppose this Union constitutes Jesus Christ the Head of Christians and Christians the Members of Jesus Christ Now 't is in Baptism that they obtain this honour for albeit the Son of God is united to our Nature in the Mystery of the Incarnation and that there this eternal affinity was contracted which death cannot dissolve we are not engraffed upon his Person but by Baptism till we are bathed in this Laver we have nothing but the miseries of Adam nor any part in the merits of Jesus Christ 'T is by the vertue of this †Nemo fit membrum Christi nisi aut Baptismate in Christo aut morte pro Christo Aug. lib. 1. de anima Sacrament that we enter into society with him 't is there that putting off the old man we put on the new and beginning to be united to the Son of God we participate of his divine qualities From this time the Christian is a new creature he receives the Spirit of Jesus Christ without changing his nature he changeth his condition though he hath yet but the seeds of glory he hath notwithstanding the rights of a Son and looks upon the Kingdom of heaven as his inheritance The grace of Jesus Christ blots out all his sins of a slave he becoms a child of an object of wrath he becoms an object of love and big with the merits of his Head he hopes one day to reign with him in glory By a necessary consequence he enters into an Allyance with the Father Everlasting not considering the meanness of his Extraction nor the misery of his Original he treats with God as with his own Father he makes use of those amorous terms the Church puts in his mouth and without losing the respect of a servant he enters into the liberty of a child Grace fastens so strict a union betwixt them that nothing but sin can divide them as it is an emanation of the divine Sonship it is not a bare Adoption and if it bear this name 't is because we have no other to expresse its excellence by But to comprehend rightly this Allyance is as true as that which flesh and blood entitles us to with our Fathers and Mothers if this be founded in Nature that is founded in Grace if this be sensible that is spiritual if this be close that is more intimate neither is the quality of children in Christians a meer denomination as 't is in those that humanely are adopted We are the images of our Father in the donation of Grace we participate of his nature and as it is true according to the saying of St Peter that by grace we are God's so is it certain that by the same grace we are the children of God All the trouble in this Alliance is that it depends upon our Liberty for its preservation we have the power to dissolve it there needs but one act of our will to break the Association and though the chains that entertain it are stronger and more precious then those of Diamond one mortall sin is able to dash them all in pieces there is nothing but Glory that unites us inseparably with God as long as we live upon the earth we are divided between hope and fear and if the greatness of Allyance makes us joyful it 's frailty causeth us to be apprehensive and fearful As long as it lasts it
for all the world that according to the saying of our Saviour ill interpreted it may be carried by violence and without passing thorow the Church a man may scale heaven The desire of their Salvation is the source of these unjust desires They chuse not this side nor embrace this opinion but because they believe it favours their hopes Vanity is mixt with Interest being the children of Adam they imitate the pride of their Father they are guilty of his crime before they are aware nor do they consider that whilst they go about to subject Grace to their Liberty they follow his steps who had a minde to be god for no other end but that he might live an Independent in respect of his Soveraign But were they far enough from the vain oftentation of their first father they would certainly fall into his misfortune whilst they think to avoid it For all Theologie assures us that Men and Angels were lost because their Grace being subjected to their Liberty made them not constant in good they made ill use of their advantage because they were masters of it nor did they fall into sin but because their salvation was put into their own hands Their Fall teacheth us that we can have no weaker support then our selves that the Grace which relies onely upon our own Will is very frail and that sinners that ground their hope upon the certainty of their resolution are very blinde or very proud The Angels were much more illuminated then we their light was much purer then ours their strength was not mixt with weakness These pure spirits were not embodied in flesh and blood and Nature being happily united with Grace in their person banished all disorders that are in the creature by reason of sin In the mean time all these advantages hindered them not from falling the first temptation shook their Liberty because not submitted to Grace The beauty of Lucifer dazled them and struck them in love his promises made them forget those of God and the hope they fancied of raigning with that proud Angel made them side with him in his rebellion All these misfortunes have no other Cause but the weakness of Liberty and he that should ask these wretched spirits in the midst of their torments would receive no other answer but that their Grace was unprofitable because it depended upon their Will Neither are you to object that the faithful Angels were saved by the same succour the other neglected because all Divines are not agreed and 't is disputed in the Schools of the assistance they received to oppose the rebellion of Lucifer The greatest part of the Fathers were of opinion that the mystery of the Incarnation was revealed to them at that instant that they drew force from Jesus Christ that they fought under his banner that they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and that they owe their triumphs to the Sacrifice of his death S. Augustine is of this belief and though according to his Principles Si utrique boni squaliter creati sunt istis mala voluntate cadentibus illi amplius adjuti ad eam beatitudinis plenitudinem unde se nunquā casuros certissimi fierent pervenerunt Aug. l. 12. de Civ Dei c. 9. it seems we must conclude that the good Angels were not recompensed but because their Will made good use of their Grace he unsays it in other places and confesseth ingenuously that they received new assistances and that they were victorious because they were better seconded then the others I know what may be said in answer to this passage but I finde it so clear and uttered in such strong expressions that those that explain it will pardon me if I remain in my opinion and if with S. Augustine I believe that the good Angels owe not their salvation to Grace Sufficient but to that Christian Grace the Word Incarnate merited for them by his travels Though Man was not advantaged equal to the Angels neither in Nature nor in Grace because they were Hierarchies and one was the rule of the other yet every one confesseth Mans Will was created right his Understanding cleared his Senses faithful and his Passions obedient He felt not those revolts which now trouble our rest the Flesh warred not against the Spirit and those two parts notwithstanding their difference were not as yet enemies original righteousness composed their quarrels and living in good intelligence under the dominion of this prerogative they conspired together mans felicity Sufficient Grace was always offered him whatever enterprise he took in hand this faithful companion never left him she came to his aid as often as he called upon her or rather preventing his desires and his necessities waited his orders and directions Nevertheless amidst all these priviledges miserable man lost himself the first temptation made him forget his duty though he knew that his Soul was taken out of Nothing and his body formed of the slime of the earth he suffered himself to be perswaded that in violating the Laws of God he could make himself immortal Whence think you proceeded this misfortune and what was the cause of so dismal a disgrace 'T was not the strength of the temptation for that was ridiculous and we cannot yet conceive how it could make any impression upon the minde of a Rational creature 'T was not Concupiscence for this infamous daughter was not born before her Father nor had Sin as yet given her a Being 'T was not the refusal of Grace for it was due to man in this state or at least was never denied him 'T was then his Liberty which was the cause of his misfortune his Will which without being forced by temptation corrupted by the Senses or sollicited by the Passions made no use of Grace and so fell headlong into sin If it be true that Free-will was so impotent in the state of Innocence What can we expect in the state of sin And if Sufficient Grace supported by original righteousness hindered not Man from falling What assistance can we promise our selves thence now that it is assaulted by Concupiscence Let us rest our Salvation upon a surer Foundation let us implore some more vigorous Grace let us give our Liberty leave to be over-born by its motions let us grow wise by our Fathers losses and not pitch our hope upon a succout which ruined him onely because he was subject to his Will Grace is changed with Nature as this is not in her primitive purity neither is the other in her primitive weakness JESUS CHRIST is come to be the Founder of a New Order in the world and because he findes men in infirmities which they had during the state of Innocence he furnisheth them with stronger Graces that the Remedie surpassing the Disease may afford them a perfect Cure When he had to do with Adam whose vigour was natural because his Forces were not yet divided he left his Salvation at his own disposal and giving him a Grace
being trodden in the same Press sends forth that juice which is exhibited in this oblation So that the Son of God prepares the heart of the Faithful by a sensible union to a spiritual one and teacheth them that he will unite them with him in a Sacrament whose outward appearances breathe nothing but unity The Flesh which the outward species cover is so one that its multiplication cannot divide it it is produced in a thousand places to re-unite those that receive it and contrary to that of Adam is one in its substance Omne bellum oritur ex carne homo enim si carnalis non esset nunquam cum alio homine pugnaret Aug. as well as in its effects For the flesh of our first Father is a fruitful and unhappy spring of division it is parted into as many bodies as there are children and we may say that all men are the wretched portions of this guilty flesh The souls are divided with it to inanimate it and acting by its Organs contract its bad qualities whence arise quarrels and disputes that distract States and Fam lies But the most Tragical division is that being the channel of sin it makes the souls guilty assoon as they touch it and separate them from God by an offence which was free in the first man and natural in all his posterity For 't is enough that they are blended with the flesh of Adam to make them become guilty 'T is from this unhappy mixture that those fatal rents issue and proceed which occasion all our disasters and if we did not communicate in flesh with Adam we should not partake of his sin nor be liable to his punishment But this of Jesus Christ more happy and more innocent then his heals our division and leads us to unity it is one in substance and though a part of Adams is exempt from all sin because the work of the Holy Ghost and the Word that sustains it renders it impeccable He that communicates life to it communicates innocence in so high a degree that he imparts it to those that receive it It s multiplication dissolves not the unity the same Word that produceth it upon our Altars gives it the impress of its qualities and contrary to all the rules of nature which cannot multiply things without dividing them finds a secret to give it a Beeing in a thousand places without impairing its unity There is this difference between Nature and a Word the former is fruitful only by division 't is wonderful how from a grain of corn she extracts a whole Harvest pays the labour of the Husbandman with usury recompenseth his pains with plenty and imitating the power of her Creator which makes all things of nothing makes a great deal of a very little But she cannot accord multiplication with unity she must divide whatever she produceth and her liberality is founded upon the fraction of her Presents A Word more powerful then nature is brought forth without partition it is communicated through the fullest Auditory without wronging its Unity and though always one fils the ears of all those that are within the sound of it It seems that the Body of the Son of God which produced by the Word Vnusquisque accepit partem suam unde ipsa Gratia partes vocantur per partes manducantur manet integer totus per partes manducatur in Sacramento manet integer totus in coelo manet integer toâ—us in corde tuo Aug. Serm. de Verb. Evang. hath borrowed this Vertue from its cause is multiplied in the world and is not divided it is received into the heart of all the Faithful and this kind of Immensity that multiplies its presence alters not its unity It is whole and entire under every part of the Hoast though they break it they cannot divide it but preserving its unity in the fraction of the species remains always the Numerical body of Jesus Christ Thence it comes to pass that it unites all the faithful that receive it For though they be as different in conditions as generations as contrary in humours as interests as great strangers in their inclinations as climates they doe notwithstanding make up one body because they are nourished with one bread and all eat the same meat which having the power to assimilate the feeder into the food communicates unto them a wonderful unity which composeth all their differences But to comprehend this last miracle we must remember that this viand being of another nature then common meat is not disgested by the natural heat nor converted into the substance of those that take it only the accidents that cover it resent that injury and yielding to that fire that animates and consumes us becomes a part of our selves Being impassible and glorified 't is free from corruption acting upon those that eat it and having the same effect upon them they have upon other nutriments converts them miraculously into it self Thus every Christian if he bring not resistance with him becomes another Jesus Christ he parts with the bad qualities of Adam to assume the glorious ones of the Son of God if he share not in his impassibility he does in his innocence if he become not immortal he becomes in some sort glorified and if he change not nature he alters at least his inclination Therefore is it that all the Fathers of the Church admiring the holy stratagems Jesus Christ makes use of to unite us to himself Qui vult vivere habet unde vivat accedat credat incorporetur vivificectur inhaereat corpori vivat Deo de Deo nunc laboret in terra ut postea vivat in caeâ—o Aug. call this Sacrament a Divine Transformation wherein man losing what he had of corruptible and criminal gains the advantages of the Blessed and is happily changed into him that nourisheth him Indeed experience teacheth us that nature and love have found out no better invention to convert Essences then Nutrition Every day the meat we eat is assimilated into our substance the wine altering its qualities by a natural Chymistry is turned into our bloud bread without any other additional supplement then the natural heat becomes our flesh and all the nourishments we take by a wonderful metamorphosis pass into our nature The union they contract with us is so great nothing can break it all the endeavours of men cannot dissolve it and it is easier for the cruelty of the Executioner to bray the chains that fasten the soul to the body then to unravel those links that doe consubstantiate the food with him that hath disgested it Being changed into his substance and blended with all the parts that compose him the inquisition must search for it in his Arteries and break his very bones to extract it with the marrow Love also that takes pleasure to imitate nature hath found out no more powerful means to unite lovers together when one of them hath bid farewel to the world then in making the