Selected quad for the lemma: nature_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	flesh_n	person_n	unite_v	2,359	5	9.4576	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A09472	The true gaine more in worth then all the goods in the world.	Perkins, William, 1558-1602.	1601 (1601)	STC 19757; ESTC S103440	50,518	134

and angels And from this holinesse of his our holinesse is deriued and springs as a fruit as the corruption in Adams posteritie is deriued from the corruption of Adam Christ saith For their sakes sanctifie I my selfe that they also may be sanctified through the truth Cyril saith As God he giues himselfe the spirit as man he receiues it which he doth not for himselfe but for vs that the grace of sanctification out of him and in him first receiued might passe to all mankind Againe he saith that the bodie of our Lord being sanctified by the vertue of the Word ioyned to it is made so effectuall for mystical benediction that it can send forth his sanctification into vs. Lastly Christ is our Redemption or life on this manner In the person of the Mediatour beeing one and the same there is a double life one vncreated and essentiall agreeing to Christ as he is God And this life is not giuē to vs at all saue in respect of the efficacie thereof For in god we liue mooue and haue our beeing The other is the created life of the manhood and it is either naturall or spiritual Naturall is that wherewith he liued in the estate of humiliation by ordinary means as all other men doe Spirituall is that whereby he nowe especially liueth in the estate of exaltation and glorie And this life he liueth not onely for himselfe but also for vs that we beeing partakers thereof may liue togither with him Thus the ancient church hath taught the flesh of Christ vnited to the Word is made quickening flesh that it might further quicken them with spirituall life that are vnited to it The next question is in what estate Christ is our Gaine The estate of Christ is twofolde the estate of humiliation from his birth to his death and the estate of exaltation in his resurrection ascension and his sitting at the right hand of god In the first estate he works and procures our gaine Christ lying basely in the manger and crucified ignominiously on the crosse gained our deliuerance from hell and a right to life euerlasting In the second estate he communicats to vs the gaine before named and by degrees puts vs in prossession of it And for this ende he nowe sits at the right hand of God and makes request for vs. The vse of this doctrine that Christ is our gaine is manifold First it sheweth that we in our selues are poore and altogither destitute of all spirituall good things For to this ende is Christ our gaine that he may supplie our want fill them with graces that are otherwise emptie and euen hunger starued Secondly it teacheth that men doe in vaine seeke for so much as the least droppe of goodnes out of Christ who alone is the storehouse of all good things Heauen and earth men and angels and all things are but as nothing to vs if by them we seeke to inioy any thing out to Christ yea God is no god to vs without Christ. Thirdly we learne to detest the Treasurie which the Church of Rome maintaines and magnifies It is as it were a chest in which is contained not onely the ouerplus of the merits of Christ but also of martyrs and Saints to be dispensed in pardons at the Popes pleasure But Christ is alone our full and perfect gaine and therefore in himselfe there is an al-sufficient Treasurie of the church and as Paul saith in him we are complete As for the merits of martyrs and Saints they bring no aduantage to the people of God but are indeed matter for the dounghill Fourthly if Christ be our treasure and gain our hearts must be set on him Our mindes vse to be vpon our pennie and we hunger after gaine let vs therefore hunger after Christ he is out pennie and he is our gaine Nay we must aboue all pleasures honours profits loue him and reioice in him yea we should be swallowed vp with loue of him Lastly here is matter of cōfort In the losse of goods and friendes and all calamities of this life we may not be dismayed all the losses of this life are but pettie losses so long as we haue Christ for our gaine Nothing can be wanting vnto vs in the middest of all our losses and miseries so long as we receiue of his fulnesse who is the fountaine of goodnes neuer dried vp To proceed further the second part of the comparison Christ is my gaine is amplified by a gradatiō on this manner I esteeme the knowledge of Christ Iesus my Lord an excellent thing I desire to gaine Christ I desire to be foūd in Christ. Of these in order By the knowledge of Christ we are to vnderstand the doctrine of the gospell or the doctrine of the person offices of Christ cōceiued known of vs. To this knowledge an excellency is ascribed of which I will speake a little This excellencie appeares partly in the matter and contents partly in the effects thereof Touching the matter it is ful of excellent mysteries which Paul reduceth to fixe heads in his epistle to Timothie The first is the Incarnation of the sonne of God in these wordes God made manifest in the flesh And here two wōders offer themselues to be considered the first whereas Adams flesh and Adams sinne are inseparably ioyned togither in respect of all that nature can doe yet did the sonne of God take vnto him mans nature and flesh without mans sinne because he was conceiued of a virgin by the operation of the holy ghost whereas if he had beene cōceiued by naturall generation he had with Adams flesh taken Adams corruption The other wonder in the Incarnation of Christ is that the flesh of man is vnited to the person of the sonne of God thence hath his subsistance otherwise hauing no subsistance of his owne The like example is not to be found in the world againe sauing that we haue some resemblance thereof in the plant called Miscelto which hath no roote of his own but grows as a branch of the oake or some other tree and hath his life and sappe from the roote thereof The second mysterie in the knowledge of Christ is the Iustification of Christ in these wordes iustified in the spirit and it was on this manner Christ made man became our Suretie and was subiect to the law for vs. Hereupon our sinnes were imputed to him and the punishment due thereto laid vpon him that is the first death with the paines of the secōd yea further death in the graue had dominion ouer him After all this by his spirit or power of the godhead he raised himselfe from death and therby acquit himselfe of our sinnes and this acquitall or absolution is his iustification whereby he declareth himselfe to be a Sauiour perfectly righteous For if he had not satisfied the wrath of God to the full and brought perfect righteousnes he had neuer risen againe considering he was iudged and

the whole person of him that beleeueth is vnited to the whole person of Christ. For the Redeemer and they which are redeemed are vnited togither and Christ God and mā redeemed vs not onely in soule but also in bodie We therefore beleeuers haue 〈◊〉 our whole persons vnited to the whole person of Christ. And S. Paul saith that our verie bodies are the members of Christ. And Christ himselfe saith that we must eate his flesh and drinke his blood that we may be in him and he in vs. The second rule is touching the order of this vnion That we are first ioyned to the flesh of Christ and by his flesh to his godhead For that which brings vs to haue fellowship with God ioynes vs to God Now by the flesh of Christ we haue our fellowship with God It is as the vaile of the temple whereby the high priest entred into the Holie of holies and into the presence of God Againe it serues as a pipe or conduit to deriue the efficacie and operation of the godhead vnto vs. The third rule is that this vnion standes not in imagination but is a true and reall coniunction Neither doth the distance of place we beeing on earth and the flesh of Christ in heauen hinder this vnion The minde is vnited after a sort to the thing it mindeth After the contract of marriage two distinct persons being a thousand miles asunder remaine one flesh If nature affoard thus much why may not the like be found in the coniuction that is aboue nature The last rule is That the bond of this coniunction is one and the same spirit beeing both in Christ and vs first in Christ and then in vs. This teacheth S. Iohn saying that Christ dwels in vs by his spirit giuen vnto vs. Againe this spirit worketh in vs faith which also knits vs to Christ who as Paul saith dwels in our hearts by faith And by this we further see that distance of place hinders not this vnion The spirit of God beeing infinit may dwell both in Christ and vs our faith though it be seated within our hearts yet can it reach foorth it selfe and apprehend Christ in heauen The second desire of Paul is that he may be found of God to be in Christ that is that God would respect him as a member of Christ and accept him into his fauour eternally for Christ. For the better vnderstanding of this the order that God vseth in shewing his loue must be obserued First of all he begins his loue in Christ whome he loues simply for himselfe then from Christ he descends to them that are vnited to Christ considering them euen as parts of Christ whome also he loueth yet not simply but respectiuely in and for Christ. He that lookes vpon things of diuers kinds through a greene glasse beholdes them all to be greene euen so whome God respecteth in and for Christ they are loued of God as he is loued and righteous as he is righteous And this is the thing which Paul desireth that in the daie of iudgement he may be thus respected Hence we learn that God will make an examination of all our hearts liues and works in the day of iudgement For this Finding which Paul mentioneth presupposeth that God sees and obserues our waies and will one daie certenly discouer them knowing euē now certainly whether we be in Christ or no. For this cause we are to call our selues to an account yea to a strait account for God will find out whatsoeuer is amisse though we haue skill to make faire shewes before men And we are withall to amend our selues Salomon vpon this ground disswades the young man from fornication why shouldest thou my sonne saith he take delite in a straunge woman seeing the waies of men are before the cies of God and he pondereth all their pathes To this purpose the Iewes haue a saying worth our marking write say they three things in thy heart and thou shalt neuer sinne There is an eie that seeth thee an eare that heareth thee and a hand that writeth all thy sayings doings in a booke And the cause of our manifold sinnes is that men falsely thinke that God neither sees nor heares them Thus saith Dauid of his enemies They bragge in their talke and swordes are in their lippes for say they who heareth vs. Againe here we see Pauls care yea the pitch of all his desires and his principall forecast that he might be found of God in the day of iudgement to be a member of Christ. The like must be our care and forecast nowe in the time of this life yea this must be the care of all cares that we may be knit to Christ and so accepted of God when we shall rise to iudgement Christ bids vs watch and praie that we may stand before the sonne of man and this we cannot doe vnlesse we be incorporate into Christ. We are bidden first to seeke the kingdome of heauen and that is indeed to be in Christ. To be wise and circumspect in many matters and yet to want forecast to compasse our maine and principall good is the greatest follie of all What is the fault of the foolish virgins virgins they were as the wise they carried the burning lamps of Christian profession likewise they had oyle that is the oyle of grace but alas they had not oyle enough to furnish their lampes Their fault was that they wanted forecast to furnish themselues with oyle sufficient And there is neuer sufficiencie of oyle till we be true and liuely members of Christ. And this was their damnable follie that they contented themselues with the name and profession of Christ and had not a serious and speciall care indeed to be members of Christ. Therfore let vs now diligently indeauour to be that in this life which we desire to be found of God in the day of iudgement There be three iudgements which we are to vndergoe the iudgement of men of our selues and of God The two first we may falsifie the third we cānot For men we may deceiue and our selues we may deceiue but God we can not It is the foundation of all good things to be ingraffed into Christ and for this cause all the forecast of our heads all other cares and studies should giue place that this be might accōplished Som mā may hereupon demand what he should doe that he might be in Christ. I answer two things first he must breake off all his sinnes and turne vnto God secondly he must pray earnestly euen vnto the death that his heart may be knitte to Christ. Againe it may be demanded how it may be knowne of vs that we are in Christ. S. Iohn answereth Hereby we know that he dwelleth in vs by the spirit which he hath giuen vs. And we may know that we haue the spirit of Christ if the same mind inclination and disposition the like loue to God and man the like