in the soule not because thy are substantially one but notionally Yet this notion is realnesse in her kinde Man and Wife are one flesh no more two but one how by vertue of divine institution this union is reall and true yet not meerely Physicall and naturall onenesse but in the kind of it a matrimoniall union The like may be sayd of all civill unions of the family which by vertue of the ordinance of God assisted by law and order become bodies united I doe not allude to these as if they did hold in all points but for two causes First to shew the power of divine ordinance to unite and make things one Secondly to shew that the disproportioÌ„ of the natures of things united eyther for kind or distance is no let to reallnesse of union in a word it s the ordinance of Christ which hath an indeleble and irreversible power of the conjoyning of the Lord Iesus to the Elements in a reall and sacramentall kinde so farre as serves the turne not to subject Christ to a base creature but to subject the creature in her property to be a close and neare uniter of the soule with Christ to whom else through the incapablenesse of flesh it could not so easily have beene knit and made one withall All vnions serve to make God and the soule one This point will the better appeare if we goe a little further and shew that even the greatest and deepest unions that are serve to make way for the union and communion of the soule with her first originall hereafter in glory and here in grace The very personal union of the Trinity how should it be better conceived than by the mystery of redemption wherein God could not possibly have satisfied God nor man bee brought and united to God except there had beene a personall union that is a samenes of deity in the differing of persons The like is true in the union of Christs Godhead with the nature and flesh of man why was it but to serve Gods holy purpose to reconcile and unite flesh to God by the person of Emanuel So also that spirituall union of the whole body and soule of a beleever with Christ why is it but to prepare it for eternall union with him The union or communion rather of the members of Christ into one body and being to what serves it but that the whole Church may be one with Christ and her head that by him shee might be one with God himselfe who shall be all in all in glory wholly possessing and possessed So also wonder not if this inferior union of Sacraments be so reall and close seeing its cleare the Lord in this condescending so low to the Capacity of man unites himselfe no otherwise to the Elements than that in and by them as channels of conveyance he might when and where he sees it good to use them derive himselfe into the poore beleeving soule in a fuller assurance of Communion with her So that our Saviour saith Mervaile not that I said unto you he that eates and drinkes my flesh and blood Ioh. 6 43. shall abide in me and live for ever To man such a union is impossible betweene a creature and the Creator betweene basenesse and glory But it is the Word and ordinance that causeth it and which hath setled this Sacramentall union indissolubly that our soules might fare much the better and the union of the soule with Christ himselfe might bee more familiarly conceived Rule 1 To adde somewhat for the better opening of this union let us first understand what it must be and then what it cannot be First of necessity it must be such an union as the nature of the things united will admit Then secondly such as the ends of a Sacrament will suffer For the former A further opening of this by two things The nature of the things united will not admit either a locall or a Physicall union They will and may admit a spirituall one First not a locall viz. That as the Bread and Wine are locally present so that the Body and Blood of the Lord Iesus be also locally present this I say the nature of the Lord Iesus his Body will not admit 1. What they admit not viz. a locall or naturall For although it be a glorified body yet it is a true naturall body and therefore limited and so cannot Consubstantiate with the Elements in all places where they at one and the same instant are present to the sence of the receiver Which confutes the Lutheran error of locall Presence as if of necessity there must be a corporall Presence or else those words This is my body cannot bee verified No wee deny it because it râ—sists the Nature of the things united and present Secondly neither will their nature admit a physicall Presence or union that is such an union as by which the proper formes and beings of the things united are lost and become under a new forme of mixture or composition For the Natures of Christ and the Bread are incompatible in point of mixture or compounding because the one is a spirituall the other a corporall thing which admit no such mixture as corporall things of like nature doe as wine and water So then if this union bee not mixt it is much lesse Transubstantiate for in that the one doth not mixe with but evacuate and disanull the other leaving nothing of substance behinde But the nature of these Elements admit a spirituall union 2. What they wil admit viz. spirituall union nothing hinders why the things which are furthest distant or remote in place may not yet bee present in truth and realnesse for the sound of a Canon-shot 40. miles off from my eare yet is present by the meane of the ayre bringing it home to mee and the body of the Sunne of light and warmth distant farre from mee yet by the ayre which carryeth the beames of it is present and made one with my bodily touch and feeling And againe nothing hinders why two things physically disjoyned may not yet spiritually be one and joyned together by vertue of the power of the ordainer In a word the Nature of the things united will admit a reall union although no corporall unnion eyther locall or mixt and much lesse transubstantiall therefore the things united in the Sacraments are onely spiritually and really united Rule 2 Secondly the union of a Sacrament must be such as the scope and end of a Sacrament will suffer and no other It s such an union as the end of a Sacrament will suffer But the end and purpose of a Sacrament cannot admit any other union betwixt the signes and things signified save spiritually reall For then must we destroy the scope of a Sacrament in a double respect 1. Of relation 1 Relation for except there bee maintained in the Sacrament distinctnesse of Termes and Relation of one to another so that a bodily thing may
than no where what better proofe of the Lord Iesus at his best than this that he is offered to thee in no lesse mysticall union for the end of a more mysticall one I meane as united to poore bread and wine that he might also unite himselfe in the whole grace of his Sacrifice to thy soule and body What better und easier conveiance couldst thou wish than this for so feeble and weake a spirit as thine is When once that people which followed Christ sitting upon an Asse Colt and riding as a King to Ierusalem cryed Hosanna and sayd Blessed be he that commeth in the name of the Lord Thinke we not that they saw Christ at the best Why did they else except they had beheld his spiritual Kingdome cut downe Palmes and strew them in the way stripping themselves of their garments to set him thereon Surely they were not so offended at the meanenesse of his palfrey and basenesse of the outside but they saw in this his riding a cleere representation of his glorious grace and the Maiesty of his person So shouldst thou in this union of Christ with base crummes of bread or drops of wine behold a more spirituall presence of Christ who careth not for such creatures but for thy soule and being farre from stumbling at the basenesse of the Asse or Elements raise up thy soule to a more heavenly sense of the Lord Iesus comming into thy heart and spirit bringing thee to God and uniting thee to the fountaine of thy blessednesse in a farre closer manner than ever Adam was And is not this union the Lord Iesus at his best yes verily From this Sacramentall union proceeds that exhibitive nature of Sacraments carrying the Lord Iesus into the soule of all the elect that communicate For to what end is union Sacramentall save that the Sacraments being thus possessed of the Lord Iesus mystically in them might exhibite to all and effectually carry into the bosomes of the elect the power of this Lord Iesus and convey as Vessells channelles and Pipes that grace which they containe I doe not meane that by vertue of the worke wrought or by the force of Divine institution there is any naturall holinesse put into them or magicall power of inchantment to take hold of the soule No in no wise for how many thousands are there both young and old who after the enjoying of the Sacraments doe put most woefull barres in their owne way that the power of Sacramentall union might never come at them So that when the Covenant comes to bee dispenced unto them they fare as persons utterly disabled to receive it Nay neither dare I thinke that by vertue hereof it s of absolute necessity that all Elect Infants must receive conversion of grace just in the act of their Baptizing for what were this but to ascribe more to the Seale than to the Covenant yea to invert their order and to ascribe greater power to an ordinance under which they walke 20 30 40. yeeres carelesly without discovery of any grace at all rather than to the lively power of the Covenant preached and working from that time forth an apparant change So that although in charity I am bound to thinke no other save that all such as receive Sacraments duely concurre with the grace of the Spirit for future improvement Yet to tye the Lords hands behind him and to make the Lord of Sacraments to become their underling as if hee had put himselfe out of Authority and office wholly to be subject to his Sacrament what indignity were it for the ordainer No not so But so farre so often and where it shall seeme good to himselfe to make use of his Sacrament for the good of his Elect for whose good they serve there doubtlesse these Ordinances doe both present and conferre the grace which is put into them Else to what end should they have it except they might convey it Now summe up all and answere Is not the exhibitive power of the Sacrament the Lord Iesus at his best Is not a reall tender better than a bare signe or a promise onely without performance He that promiseth an hundred pounds to lend or give to his poore friend and presently tenders the money that he might be before hand doth he not lend or give at the best Nay more than this not the Sacraments onely are thus exhibitive of Christ to the soule But by vertue of the union I have spoken of the Lord Iesus himselfe is there present where his institution is duely observed to be the Baptizer of his members and to be the steward and nourisher of his family that is to bestow himselfe upon the soule Touching Baptisme first true it is That our Lord Iesus himselfe never baptised any outwardly howbeit as then so much more now being ascended he it is who in the outward Baptisme of the Minister doth give gifts unto men and doth still baptise all his with the holy Ghost and fire A poore sinfull man doth what he can doe but further he cannot goe He dives the infant into holdes it in and receives it out againe from the water baptising it in the name of the sacred Trinity But this our great Baptist he is all in all for the doing of the worke It is he who casts in the salt of his divine healing power into corrupt and of themselves accursed creatures and Element and element he removes the curse death and barrennes of the waters utterly unable to engender he takes off their base uncomelinesse he darts and plants in them the efficacy of his owne death and resurrection both for merit of pardon and of holines he sanctifies clenses them that they may become hallowed and purging instruments And as a planter takes the sien of the Apple-tree and pitches it into a Crabtree stock so the Lord Iesus takes the pretious sien of his owne Righteousnesse the Power of his owne death and grave the strength of his resurrection and exalting and pitches both into water so that water becomes Christ-water Christs death and life so that the soule is washt with the one as the body with the other The soule by faith in the covenant feele her descent into the water to become a spirit of diving her into the laver and blood and grave of the Lord Iesus her being under the water to become the spirit brooding and fructifying the water to become a seede of life abiding in the wombe of the soule to regenerate it to the life of Christ Her arising up from the water to become a spirit of Resurrection as Peter excellently speakes 1 Epist cap. 3. verse 21. and a baptising of the soule with the activity and raising of her up with Christ from her death grave basenesse and misery unto immortality and glory Yea in all three the soule feeles the power of a new and omnipotent creation of her to God ingrafting her in God never to be pulled from him any more as at first And as the
thing to such an apt use is the very life bloud and marrow of a Sacrament There is no doubt but as the Scripture teacheth a Christian wise man will picke out holines out of each resemblance an housewife that is godly will not boult out her flower from the bran but her heart will carrie her to our Saviours words Satan hath desired to winnow you Luke 22 31. c. An Husbandman will not use his Fanne or Floore to dresse or cast his corne in but he will muse of that finall separation of the drosse from the Wheate But there is great odds betweene a voluntary act of our owne devotion and an obedience to a Sacramentall charge As the Text saith Luke 4. Luke 4.27 There were many Leapers in Elisha's time and many Widdowes but not many to whom hee was sent So the world yea the world is full of resemblances but not of such as Christ hath set his stampe upon to bee Sacramentall The setting of a young child before the Disciples and the washing of their feete with his owne hands were Christs acts still at this day apishly followed by the Pope but neither appointed to be Sacramentall but onely naturall resemblances to an holy heart which hath a gift to make use thereof of a spirituall grace of humility Appropriation then especially stands in â—â—is determining of the Elements to such an use by the word and ordinance Vse 1 Ere we proceede this first point may be of speciall use 1. To blesse the Lord as for the releefe of our stupor by outward Elements so especially for the aptnes thereof chusing such as without any more adoe might easily acquaint us with such holy things of which before And to teach us to beg of his Majesty heavenly hearts which might be capable of his meaning herein Vse 2 Secondly this must keepe us within holy bounds as concerning our devising and setting up to our selves resemblances of holy things as Crucifixes the Image of the blessed humility of Christ to behold and worship Who allowed us these The Sacraments serve as a Supersedeas from all such inventions All Popish trash of forged Sacraments heere falles to ground Vse 3 Lastly let us learne to familiarize with Gods Sacraments in the point of the institution of Resembling the Lord Iesus Let us not be dull and blockish in appropriating them to their use but learne still to climbe up by them to heaven If the minde be at Yorke instantly at the naming of the Citty when yet the body is an 100. miles distant and no sooner doth a woman heare her husbands name but shee is present with him though he be in a farre Countrey by the velocity speed of the Apprehension stirred up by such a relation Oh! how dull and slow of heart are they who in the midst not of artificiall humane or naturall but divine appropriations are so carnall and heavy that scarsely the Sacrament will ingender one lively representation of the Lord Iesus to nourish us cheere us But as we come so wee sit and so depart as Strangers and Idiots as if Christ and we were devided as farre as heaven and earth The causes of which are these 2 Causes of our dulnesse herein eyther that wee are not those new Creatures in whom God hath renewed the powers of understanding and affection and therefore want the discourse and the spirit of relation in a word want the operation of a new Creature which is faith stirring the soule to a lively meditation of Christ by the word the ordinance and promise of God and then what wonder if Sacraments which should bee the most active meanes become all a-mort dead and dumbe with us and wee being held and taken in all our lims at once like numbâ—â—alsie-ones can neyther stirre hand or foote towards Christ or else wee abuse the gift of faith and the power of the new creature by disabling our selves and disinuring our soules from this worke and disguising that image of God in us which serves to carry us to God by setting it upon trash world profit pleasure ease and sensuality till it seeme tedious unto us to set it upon holy thoughts in the Sacrament Caveat thereto To prevent this it were good counsell to trade our spirits to heavenly things even by earthly occasions as well without as within the Sacraments He shall not finde his spirits so flat loy and lazy in meeting with Sacramentall Christ who inures his dead heart daily to an holy nimblenesse in comparing earthly things with heavenly Hee that cannot see a Pismire but hee will thinke of providence Prov. 6.6 not a garish harlot dressing herselfe for an adulterous wretch but will taxe himselfe for his lesse loving Christ shee that cannot lay a leaven Matth. 13.33 but thinkes of the kingdome of Christ and in a word hath a gift to be heavenly and to turne ordinary properties of the creature or common occasions to holy meditation he shall not have his heart in another world when the Lord presents unto him the Lord Iesus by Sacramentall resemblances And thus much for the first The second part of the forme of Sacraments is union The second part of forme Vnion Which yet comes nearer than the former as more closely conveying exhibiting the Lord Iesus to the soule Yet wee must know the former makes way to this the aptnesse and speciall application of signes to this use helpes much the minde to conceive but this is the more immediate object of faith to fasten upon Christ that the Sacraments are no longer the bread of the Lord but bread the Lord wine the Lord and water the Lord. And this Sacramentall union is an act of Gods ordeining Spirit and Authority by vertue whereof the Lord Iesus in all his merits and efficacy is not onely resembled and presented by apt likenesse to the minde but really made one with the Elements that by them and with them he might be carried into the soule inseparably for assurance of union and Communion with God Hence it is that the Scripture speakes in such a phrase This is my body This is my blood of the New Testament Luk. 22 19. 1 Cor. 5 7. Ioh. 6 32. yea in the Old Testament Christ is our Passeover The Rocke was Christ I am that Manna which descended c. All which phrases denote a realnesse and union with the Elements true and unfaigned And indeede all divine unions are Reall All unions reall although they differ in their severall kinds yet by vertue of the ordinance and the power of him that hath so made them they are no shaddowes of empty things no dumbe Pageants as we may see in other unions Sorts of them There is an intellectuall union in nature betweene the mind and object in which respect we say the mind is all things meaning in and by this comprehension and union The object and the mind are one by vertue of this power of God
signifie and intimate a spirituall and a spirituall be represented by a carnall yet each distinct in their nature the Sacramentalnesse perishes simbolicalnesse and resemblance being wholly extinct by mixture and confusion of things united Then secondly of materialnesse 2. Materialnesse For if we admit such an union as is transubstantiate which indeed is no union of two in one but an excluding and swallowing up of one by another what shall remaine of the Element behind If they answer the accidents of them This being premised that its impossible accidents can subsist without their subject I answer meerenesse of accidents take away materialnesse or corporalnesse and therefore disanull as much the substance of a Sacrament as if wee should hould that the Elements could swallow up the things signified But secondly the end of a Sacrament will easily admit such an union of things as whereby the Lord Iesus and all his good things may bee conveyed to the soule really this being as much as a Sacrament serves for and concurring equally and fully with the scope and purpose of it whatsoever is more is superfluous And therefore resisting that end must needs be a false and erronious union not from God Vse 3 The use of this whole doctrine is manifold It is first instruction to teach us what must discerne and judge of this Sacramentall union what nature it is of Surely not Popery not flesh and blood for they being destitute of the Spirit of this union cannot comprehend it It s a Riddle which onely hee can conceive who plougheth with the Lords Heifer Rom. 8. 1 Cor. 2. which onely conceives it Carnall men cannot judge of spirituall things because spiritually discerned If wee would know eyther what this union is not to wit popish and carnall and locall or what it is to wit reall yet spirituall then judge what eyther the nature of the things united or the scope of a Sacrament will admit and there rest goe no further If then it seeme strange how a thing may be as truly reall spiritually as carnally seeke the Spirit of God who is the knitter of this knot and that will teach thee that the power of the word which appointed light to be and it was and the evening and the morning to be a day and it was and man to be and he was did also ordaine the Body and Blood of Christ to be really one with the Elements without locallnesse or mixture and therefore so they are Vse 2 Secondly looke what difference there is in the things united in the point of their Sacramentall union the same difference and distance must bee observed by the Communicants in point of partaking them To wit that still the severall nature of these things be preserved entire and yet by the one carnall thing the other which is spirituall be bettered and enlarged Touching the first the soule the spirit the faith of the receiver looke at the spirit of the Sacrament the Lord Iesus crucified The hand the eye the mouth of the receiver looke at the Elements onely Doe not thinke then that the carnall part can meddle with the spirituall nor the spirituall with the carnal as it is so but the outward man sees touches tasts and digests the outward the spirituall beholds tastes and enjoyes the spirituall each must keepe his owne bounds If I would discerne an outward thing in the Sacrament I must use my sence my touch my tast and if these convince it to bee carnall so it is Againe if I would discerne a spirituall thing there I must consult with my inward man and the inner sence of faith and thereby I must pronounce an inner thing to be present If I want eyes and sence I can perceive no outward thing If I want faith in my soule I can perceive no spirituall thing each thing or object must bee perceived by the proper instrument belonging to it To the end I may perceive there bee true Materialls in the Sacrament and not onely bare accidents without a substance the outward sense is triall sufficient sight touch and taste will not easily erre about their owne objects as our Saviour tells his Disciples Looke upon and handle me for a spirit hath no object of Touch Luke 24 39. flesh blood and bones as ye see me have Againe if the question be of a spirituall being or body and blood of Christ let sense and teeth goe there faith and the Spirit of Christ must convince it if that feele the beames warmth and see the light and tast the influence issuing therefrom then certainly they are there for the Spirit cannot bee deceived about her owne object Onely this I adde Neither of these can be severed from other for by the externall the Lord hath appointed to convey the spirituall and not without them and in that relation of each to other even the meanest ought to be honoured and the outward sense ought to bee so busied about the objects of sence as thereby to helpe succour and strengthen the weakenesse of faith in the object that is spirituall More of this in the Act of Receiving Vse 3 Thirdly therefore this Doctrine of Sacramentall Vnion confutes this Dotage of Popish Transubstantiation The Papists not content with the vnion we speake off cast oyle into the flame and maintaine a conversion and confusion of Christ and the Elements by a corporall presence and realnesse And as one once demanded by Boner whether Christ was not blood and bone in the Sacrament made him a merry answere let me so disgrace Popery that yet I may speake with reverence yes my Lord I thinke not so only but that there he is boots and spurs and all Meaning that such is Popish excesse and ridiculousnesse in this that it deserves to be esteemed in the Church as a laughing stocke And sure it is as themselves also say they receive not from God a Sacrament of Vnion but offer up to him a sacrifice of their owne for propitiation I say the Papists by this foppery under colour of magnifying the Sacrament doe quite destroy it Marke then what I sayd before Vnion still must be conceived according to her kind not corporall but mysticall and by ordinance As then its a truth except the Elements and the Lord Iesus were one no bad receiver could be guilty of eating his owne condemnation so yet if this vnion be conceived as transubstantiall it is impossible it should be Sacramentall For Sacramentall union still is symbolicall which its impossible to conceive in things changed into a naturall samenesse and substance As wee know in common speech we say No like thing is the same because a like thing is like to another Identity then in Christ and the Elements disanulls Sacramentall union and therefore the Sacrament it selfe This error of theirs as it came from the forge of carnall reason first and the savor of the kitchin How popish errour grew so it received varnish from the erronious conceiving of
the Lord Iesus that so it might never faile nor wanze away any more Then surely it behooves that the Lord Iesus be as well the keeper of this life and the nourishment thereof as hee was the first the breeder thereof Answere 4 Fourthly the Father to this end must really convey into the person of Christ all such power and vertue as may enable him to be the life and nourishment of his members and therefore he must fill him with himselfe bodily and make him the treasury of all graces wisedome righteousnesse 1 Cor. 1.30 sanctification and redemption all good things necessary for the making of such as are not his to become his and such as are his to be more his or his in a more full and assured manner to prosper grow and thrive in him unto perfection Answere 5 Fiftly he must also qualifie the Lord Iesus with the gift of conveying this holy nature of his and this blessed nourishment of his unto his people and this he doth not onely by the union of flesh with God but especially by the death and satisfaction of Christ by which as by a wide dore he opened the treasure of life and nourishment which was in him and merited that the life of grace in forgivenesse and holinesse might be theirs and that himselfe in his flesh and blood broken and powred out might bee a most effectuall seede of life and foode of life to support them Answere 6 Sixtly to this end hee hath the authority to send forth the word of reconciliation and of nourishment unto his people and as by the power of vocation to call them from death to life that all who heare the voyce of God might live so also to create in their soules by that word of his Esay 57.17 the gift of faith to pull them to himselfe to unite them to himselfe and to convey his owne spirituall life by this union of faith unto them causing his blessed Spirit to concurre so with the word as to settle it upon them and having so done to give them this priviledge that they shall as truely bee maintained at his cost Iohn 17.11 be kept in his name be upheld in grace prosper in it be defended against all enemies within or without which might impeach this their welfare growth fruitfulnesse and perseverance as ever he bred life in them at the first Answere 7 Seventhly and lastly they receive by this priviledge as true right to claime plead for and expect the Lord Iesus to be their nourishment as the poore dumbe creature by the instinct of nature being brought forth runnes to the Damme for milke Or as the Infant comming forth of that wombe which gave it life cryes for the brest of the same mother and pleades to be nourished by her By these steps it may be conceived in generall how the Lord Iesus is made of the Father the true foode of his members The second question viz. How Christ is so in the Supper But as yet here is nothing of Christ our Sacramentall nourishmen Vnderstand therefore the Sacrament to stand in relation to the word of promise wherein Christ is made the poore soules owne to feede her As I noted in Baptisme so heere againe observe Christ in promise and Christ in the Supper differ not save in the manner and degree of exhibiting him out nourishment Looke then what the Spirit of the promise workes for the soule that it much more worketh by the Sacrament First persents the promises Take some instances First it presents the soule of every one truely bred with those choise promises of Christ her nourishment searching them out of each corner Tells her Esay 25. Esay 25.7 That the Lord makes her a feast upon the mountaines of fat things of wines refined and pure and the dishes of the feast are Christ in his graces plucking away the veile of darkenesse remooving death and feare bringing joy and peace Esay 55.1 Esay 55.2 he offers him in all kinds of things usefull and nourishing wine honey oyle bids her eate good things and delight her selfe in fatnesse In Pro. 7. Prov. 7.1 he invites her to his feast and provision of all choice dainties not for necessity onely but for fulnesse for delicacy for variety and delight for safety for durablenesse In Psal 23. Psal 23.3 hee leades her as a shepheard into his pastures streames folds guards her against dangers and death annoints her head with balme Cant. 4.13 and fills full her cup. In the Canticles he makes himselfe her husband to marry himselfe to her and bestow all at once upon her his garments smell of mirrhe Cinnamon and Cassia In Psal 84. Psal 84.11 he denies her nothing that is good for her either for light or defence in those Parables he makes her a feast Luk. 15.23 brings out the Calfe In Iohn 6. Iohn 6.55 tells her his flesh is not onely life but meate indeede and his blood drinke indeede And plainely saith They that live in him shall abide in him and out of their belly shall spring up waters of life they that eate him shall not dye but live for ever In Revel 3. Revel 3.18 he offers himselfe to her in all respects Attire for nakednesse Gold for poverty eye-salve for blindnesse himselfe a supply of all necessities How much more then doth hee leade her to this great Sacramentall promise mentioned in the Text This is my body given for you this is the Cup of the New Testament in my blood 2. Brings the fulnesse of Christ into the promise Againe the Spirit of the promise brings the Lord Iesus and all his fulnesse of nourishment into that promise the spirit of nature doth not so prepare the nourishment of the infant and seale it in the brest for more easie fastning than the Spirit doth settle all the fulnesse of Christ in a promise so that it offers it selfe to the hungry soule Besides 3. Puts the truth of the promiser into it it put the faithfulnesse of the promiser into the promise all the tendernesse and compassion of Christ to the wants of the Church and the truth of his meaning not to faile her in any good thing he can helpe her with Furthermore it strips her of all her owne strength 3. Strips the soule of her selfe tells her that although shee be borne of God yet except hee cleave to her as a feeder as a father a nurse a supply she cannot subsist shee will goe to worke else with her owne tooles and compasse her selfe with her owne sparkles Esa 50. ult and deceive her selfe with her owne trash shee cannot doe any duty get out of any temptation beare any trouble of her selfe without Christ shee can doe nothing Moreover hee sheweth her 4. Leads her to the sufficiency of Christ all her sufficiency is from Christ The worke and life of grace requires his daily hourely acting power in her to set it on