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A80745 The saints fulnesse of joy in their fellowship with God presented in a sermon preached July 21. 1646. before the Honorable House of Commons in Margarets Westminster, being the day appointed for thankesgiving for the surrender of Oxford. By the least of saints, and the meanest of the ministers of the Gospel, W. Cradock. Cradock, Walter, 1606?-1659. 1646 (1646) Wing C6765; ESTC R231691 24,702 43

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doe with such things but this is that I only ayme at whereas divers conceive that it is their spiritualnesse the excellency of their grace that they are carried on in Pulpits and Presses so vehemently in wrangling and striving about external things it is to be feared that much of that zeale violence and labour is fleshly and were wee more spirituall hundreds I beleive of those Questions would be removed that lie now like stumbling blocks in our way according to that in the 2. of this Epist ver 10. He that loves his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him And were wee filled with the knowledge of God the love of Christ humility and selfe-deniall preferring each other before our selves certainely a world of these controversies would soone vanish away As those that are spirituall can speake by experience A second thing I would have you to observe is this The best way to bring either a Sinner to God or to build up a Saint in any grace or in any point of godlinesse whatsoever Obser 2 is the spirituall promulgation manifestation or declaration of Jesus Christ in his person excellencies and Priviledges doings and sufferings c. This is the best meanes therefore John useth onely that he layes down Jesus Christ as one that had beene seene heard felt as it were to be the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the eternall word that brought eternal life and he expects that this should worke in the soule faith joy c. I beseech you beare with mee beloved I feare we spend a great deale of our time almost in vaine and waste much of our labour when we would bring our owne hearts or others to a duty or stir up a grace we use and urge so many morall Motives and Meanes not that I say but wee may use motives and meanes spirituall and morall but if we did study to open Iesus Christ fully to the soule Iohn 3. 14. if we did lift up the Brazen Serpent so as poore people might behold him we should not need the tenth part of those meanes exhortations and paines that we now take For in the Gospel wee shall see and it is our wisdome to follow the scripture the neerer that the better the Apostles when they went forth to preach they told them a story if I may so speake with reverence of one Jesus Christ that was the word of God and that was become man and how he was crucified at Jerusalem and how he was raised from the dead and all this in a plaine simple spirituall way and manner and while they were telling these blessed stories the Spirit fell upon people and they beleived and had faith wrought in them Faith is not wrought so much in a rationall way I meane in a way of ratiocination as by the Spirit of God comming upon the soules of people by the relation or representation of Christ to the soule and this our Lord himselfe hintes As Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wildernesse even so must the Sonne of Iohn 3. 14. man be lifted up that whosoever beleiveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life You know the very beholding of the brazen Serpent when people were stung God so ordered it that the very beholding should bring help though we know not how to those that were wounded and stung by those Serpents so God hath ordained in his blessed wisdome that the discovery of Jesus Christ the beholding of him the eying of him by faith should be that which shall transforme us into his image and so conforme us to any duty as the Apostle saith wee are transformed while wee behold him with open face to his glory Hence it is that in Scripture 2 Cor. 3. 18. all godlinesse and every point of godlinesse is often called the knowledge of Christ For instance justification in Scripture is called the knowledge of Christ By his knowlede shall my righteous servant justifie many So also sanctification Esay 53. 2 Pet. 3. 18. Grow in grace in the knowledge of Christ After that by the knowledge of Jesus Christ they were cleansed from their sins c. Truly Beloved every grace is 2 Pet. 2. comprehended in the knowledge of Jesus Christ did we know Jesus Christ aright savingly spiritually effectually we should be full of faith full of godly feare full of humility full of self-deniall full of diligence and readines to every good word and worke so that our maine defect is in that but I passe by that also A third thing be pleased to observe from the coherence of these words that Divine objects seene by faith if it be a saving and right faith carries with them as much evidence certainty and assurance as any naturall thing that wee apprehend by any or all our naturall senses We have seen heard and tasted the more of our senses are imployed to apprehend a thing the more assurance confidence and evidence it carries with it Put the five senses together to discover any naturall object whatsoever that cannot be more sure and certaine to us then all spirituall objects apprehended by a spirituall Christian through a lively faith are to him therefore it is said that faith is the evidence of things not seen Heb. 11. 1. of things invisible he doth not say that faith is an opinion a probability a conjecture or a wild guesse but faith saith he is the evidence of things not seen that is of things that by naturall reason you cannot see yet making them as reall and as evident as any thing wee doe see by reason sense and all And thence Beloved you see that godly men in all ages have been so free to part with their credit to renounce their profit to lay downe their lives for spirituall things sake now did they not apprehend a reality and certainty in them surely they were no lesse then mad men to forgoe substances for shadowes It were no lesse then madnesse for a man to give himselfe up to be a prisener when he might be free to be a foole when he might be accounted wife to be poore when he might be rich if he did not see a reality in spirituall things for which he willingly forsakes and leaves all these other The Saints in all ages have done so wee read in the Epistle to the Hebrew of Moses and Abraham how Heb. 11. they forsooke all Abraham forsooke his countrey Moses forsooke Pharaohs house and they were no children for Moses was forty yeares old saith the Scripture when he refused the pleasures of Pharaohs house to imbrace afflictions with the poore Saints Whence was this thinke you Moses saw him that was invisible how by faith for all that chapter hath reference to and is but an illustration of the first verse Faith is the Heb. 11. evidence of things not seen and all the rest are examples of the same He saw him that is invisible and by the same
Epistle writes to Saints though he doth not describe or decipher them by their names condition or the places of their habitation as Paul and Peter and other Apostles doe yet he styles them by a glorious title viz. Beleivers as you may see 1 John 5. 13. These things have I written unto you that beleive on the name of the Sonne of God c. And in writing thus to beleivers his scope as I conceive was twofold or he aimes principally at two things as you may clearely see if you peruse the whole Epistle First to build them up in their holy faith to raise their faith to an higher pitch or degree whereby they might have and injoy more fellowship with God the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ and so by consequence be more joyfull holy and obedient This you shall see if you compare 1 John 5. 13. with this 1 John 1. The other thing that the Apostle aimes at is to increase Christian and spirituall love betweene one beleiver and another And this he speakes much of throughout the Epistle especially in the 3. and 4. chap. I shall not at all at this time meddle with this latter my businesse lieth wholly in the former Now the only meanes and way that the Apostle here takes to attaine to this his aime is by discovering or laying open Jesus Christ clearely and fully unto them as we see ver 1 2 3. That which was from the beginning which wee have heard which wee have seen with our eyes which wee have looked upon and our hands have handled of the word of life c. He takes this as the chiefe meanes to build them up in faith joy love and holinesse a discovery I say or laying open of Jesus Christ unto them and that not simply or carnally but in his spirituality and glory And therefore he useth an elogie for his person which of all other is the most comprehensive that I know in Scripture he calls him the Word and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 withall he sets him out with his graces and the priviledges we have by him comprehending them all in the word Eternall life For as of all the titles that doe expresse the personall excellencies of the Lord Christ that is the most glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word so of all that hold forth the priviledges that wee have by him there is not one word that expresseth them so fully as this of Eternall life for it containes and comprehends all the grace and glory wee have with him This is the course and meanes that he takes to wind up the Saints to a higher pitch of faith holinesse c. Neither doeth he propose Christ to them though in his glory as a thing uncertaine but he sets him forth with a great deale of evidence and assurance therefore he saith That which was from the begininng which we have HEARD which we have SEEN with our eyes which we have looked upon c. The meaning is not properly that John having been an Apostle with Christ did sometimes handle him sometimes lay in his bosome and so this to be understood in a corporall way but the meaning I conceive is this we have knowne Jesus Christ he hath been so revealed to us with that fulnesse of assurance with that perspicuity and clearenesse that as in naturall things you have many senses concur together to discover them as eyes eares hands c. these things are very sure and certaine so Brethren saith John that I may build you up in faith c. I would lay open Jesus the word of God that hath eternall life with him as a thing that is as sure and certaine as if yee had seene him and tasted him heard him and handled him as wee our selves have done for as Jesus Christ by the Spirit of God had been made knowne in that cleare manner with that certainty to John so he goeth about to cleare him with the same assurance also to other beleivers that they also might have fellowship with the Father and with Iesus Christ as he had I will detaine you no longer in the coherence of the words In the words themselves there are three things to be observed First an Assertion our fellowship is with the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ It is a glorious one as any I know in this blessed booke Secondly an Asseveration if I may so call it to this blessed Assertion TRVLY saith he and truly our fellowship is with the Father c. though I confesse the Greeke word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not so emphaticall as our word truly in English yet as it stands here in its coherence comparing it with the beginning of the chapter and observing the vehemency of his expression we have seen and tasted and handled the word of life we may well call truly a kind of Asseveration to this Assertion Thirdly the end that the Apostle hath to speake thus highly of this his fellowship is not out of pride or vaine-glory as the Pharisee Luke 18. I thanke God I fast twice in the weeke I am not as other men John did not speake thus out of pride of spirit when he saith Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Sonne Jesus Christ as if he should meane all others are punyes or carnall people in comparison of himself no but with humility and love out of a desire to doe my brethren good these things I write unto you that your joy may be full I write not these things to boast of and make a shew but I am forced to write these things because I see with so much certainty the excellency that is in Jesus Christ and doe taste so much sweetnesse in communion and fellowship with him that I cannot chuse but write thus unto you that you also may have fellowship with him I will stand no longer upon the explication and division of the words there is enough already said to lead us to many wholsome blessed truthes that lie in and about these words if God give us his Spirit and we had time to looke into them there are many truthes I say that well become Iohn the Divine as he is called they are all divine transcendently divine and spirituall I will only touch 3. or 4. Observations and then pitch upon one The first is this The more spirituall or divine Christians are the more Obser 1 they wil be taken up and imployed about spirituall worke John is called John the Divine not as wee call Divines from Office but from the excellency of Grace and the clearenesse of divine manifestations therefore the Ancients compare him to an Eagle now John in his whole Epistle medleth not with controversies especially about outward and externall things but being wholly spirituall he writes altogether spiritually about spirituall substantiall things from the beginning to the end Mistake me not I doe not say that it is not lawfull and sometime convenient for Ministers and others to have to
be full Understand this Scripture briefly thus Our Lord Christ was now going to Heaven from his Disciples and here in these chapters 14. 15. and 16. he takes a great deale of paines to comfort them to make them as chearefull as he could in parting with him and he gives them many blessed words of comfort chap. 16. 23. chap. 14. 13. to feed on as that their prayers should be all answered And though he did goe to Heaven it should further their prayers and they should have the Spirit the sooner the Comforter And among the rest he tells them I am the vine and yee are the branches there is a world of chap. 16. 7. comfort and joy in that though wee goe asunder and are now to part yet yee are branches graffed into me nothing can separate us I am the vine and my Father is the husbandman he will have a care that I nourish these branches to everlasting life and the reason wherefore I tell you all this is that your joy may be full that when I am gone to Heaven you may for ever remember the union that is betweene us which Heaven and earth and hell shall never breake or dissolve this is one Scripture for the confirmation of this doctrine The other is in Joh. 17. 11. compared with ver 13. our Saviour prayeth there Holy Father keep them through thine owne Name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one as wee are one Christ Jesus now prayes for his in Heaven though they know it not but by faith But here he prayes in their very hearing to comfort them And as Christ preached to them that he was one with them so he prayed to his Father in their hearing that they might be one and kept one as he is one with his Father whereto is all this These things I speake in the world why so he might have done it in Heaven but I doe it in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves as if he had said I know it is an exceeding great joy to my poore disciples to heare me preach that I they are one but it is more to heare me pray thus for them for they know that thou never denyest me any thing Iohn 11. 42. and I pray that they and I may be kept one for ever as thou and I are one So much for the proofe of the doctrine Now I shall indeavour to open and explicate this a little to you which that I might doe there are two or three Questions though I shall not be able to reach them all that would be necessary to be resolved The first is this What is meant by fulnesse of Quest 1 joy The second is What kind of union or onenesse is this Quest 2 that beleivers have with Jesus Christ The third is Wherein doth this union stand whereof Quest 3 doth it consist And I hope by that time I have opened the first and second I shall not need to speake to the other The first Question then is this what is meant by fulnesse Quest 1 of joy in this place You must understand that joy ariseth alway from Sol. 1 the apprehension of some good either presently injoyed or hoped for Good is the object of joy whether that good be really good or seemingly good whether wee injoy it for present or hope to injoy it hereafter it workes joy in us There are 4. sorts of good and but foure in the world worth mentioning I meane of generall good things which may cause men to rejoyce and of those 4 the three first will not bring in fulnesse of joy they have but a little short scanty joy with them the fourth doth the deed The first is outward mercies as health wealth prosperity victories peace deliverances c. Beloved these are outward mercies temporall mercies as we call them and these I confesse bring in some joy to the soule but not full joy which is true both of the having of them or being instrumentall in them 1. The having of them it is comfortable to have peace after warre and to have plenty and trading our shops and high-wayes open c. wee may rejoyce in these things For godlinesse doth not unman 1 Cor. 7 30. us it doth not hinder the course of any true naturall affection in us neither doth God blame us for rejoyceing in these things But surely the having of these things doth not bring in full joy because it is possible these things may be curses as well as blessings and at the best they are but externall temporall blessings they sinke not to the bottome of the heart and they last but for a season 2. No nor being instrumentall in procuring them I confesse that as the Apostle saith citing the words of Act. 20. 35. our Lord it is a more blessed thing to give then to receive so it is a great deale more happy and a far more comfortable thing to be instrumentall to procure peace and welfare to others then the injoyment of those things our selves And this is for your comfort without flatterie be it spoken I meane our Parliament and our Armyes it is much I say for your comfort and it may bring a great deale of joy to you that not onely you have outward mercies as peace c. but that you have been the chiefe instruments to procure all our mercies And as I said it is a great deale more comfortable to doe good then to receive it to be instrumentall in procuring these things then the meere having or injoying of them For in Scripture you shall finde Cyrus though else it Esa 44. 28. may be he was a carnall naturall man yet he is called the Shepherd of God his Anoynted because he was an instrument whereby the Saints injoyed peace and Esa 44. 28. deliverance You shall never reade in Scripture that Esa 45. 1 men are called Gods Anoynted simply for having worldly things nay there is sonmewhat like the contrary they are called the men of the world that have their portion in this life and woe to you that are full But although Psal 17. 14. Luk. 6. 24. 25. this latter may bring more joy then the other yet truly Beloved it will not bring in full joy why because as Paul speakes of preaching a man may be a meanes to save others and he himselfe a castaway a 1 Cor. 9. ult man may be as Noahs Carpenters that helped to build an Arke for him and themselves drowned therefore though it may bring thee joy yet if Christ be not in thy soule if thou have not union and communion with the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ it will be but a poore comfort to thee to say I have saved a Towne I have wonne a City I have subdued such an enemy reduced such a Garrison broken such an Army this may bring joy but not full joy A second good that men looke on as that which
good things without measure and wee by ours in measure as it pleaseth him to distribute But excepting these things Jesus Christ and wee are fellowes for so God calls us Therefore Beloved did but the Lord by his holy Spirit unvaile all your eyes and give you but one glance of what the estate of a Saint is that is united to Jesus Christ who in this place would not be a Saint who would not be a Christian who would be a drunkard a swearer a persecuter of godlinesse who I say would be such a one that knowes the treasure riches and happinesse of a Saint in Christ our ignorance of this makes men refuse Christ and goe on in sin For every man naturally bargaines as he apprehends for his gaine and never for his losse that is the reason I say that we bargaine not for Heaven and for Christ because wee thinke it is for our losse and this because God hath not opened our eyes to see the unsearchable riches and treasures that are in Jesus Christ Besides were the happinesse of a Saint rightly understood and seriously considered who would be a backslider you heare what a Saint is he can goe and say to his soule and his fellow Saints our fellowship is with the Father and with Jesus Christ Who would relinquish Christ and all in him for some base lust O saith the Author of the Epist to the Hebrewes let there not be a Heb. 12. 16. prophane man c. Esau was a prophane man he had godly parents and was religiously educated yet the Apostle calls him prophane why because for a little morsell he sold his birth-right and there is a farre greater disproportion betweene the riches of Christ and the base lusts that wee hanker after then betweene Esaus inheritance and Jacobs pottage therefore looke to your selves in these things you that are ancient Professors who begin to backslide apace and take this as a meanes to help thee when thou goest to get such a ones favour to make such a one thy friend to get such an office and the like wherein thou must yeild to sin and joyne with sinners in their wicked designes see what a bargaine thou makest Thou relinquishest Christ Jesus and all thy portion in him to purchase these vaine frivolous things Another Use I will touch but briefely this is the reason why the Lord takes it so well or ill at our hands Vse 2 that wee use his people kindly or unkindly why should the Lord be so much offended to see his poore Saints that are ready to beg at your doores oppressed and wronged persecuted c because even they are one with Jesus Christ That is the reason why on the other side he takes it so kindly that wee doe any thing for them that wee be tender and carefull of the good of his poore Saints because it is to me saith Christ He that bestowes a cup of cold water to one of his little ons in the Mat. 10. 42. name of a disciple shall not lose his reward Why so he that receiveth you receiveth me that is the reason so in Mat. 25. I was hungry and you fed me naked and you cloathed me thirsty and you gave me drinke When did we see thee Mat. 25. hungry or thirsty or naked In as much as yee have done it to the least of my members yee did it to me See on the contrary he that toucheth a Saint toucheth the apple of Gods eye And the reason he is so angry is Zach. 2. 8. because now the Father and Jesus Christ and the poorest Saint are really and totally one each with other strike at one strike at all Therefore I beseech you make this use of it be kind to the poore Saints notwithstanding their meannesse outward weaknesses and frailties though they bee poore base and vile yet they have a glorious head and Husband Thou thinkest it is an easie thing to suppresse a poore Saint to overthrow him and overcome him and indeed it were so but that he hath a great partie in Heaven greater then all the world therefore there is no inchantment Mr. Wilkinsons Sermon against Israel as you heard from the Lord this morning Thirdly I would give you in these times when every body speakes of reformation of Religion Vse 3 and the like one word of direction in point of Church fellowship or communion one with another i. Take heed you doe not make any outward externall thing the maine pillar and foundation of your Church-fellowship of your Christian Communion As v. g. if any should conceive the way to constitute a Church to be by an externall Covenant a formall confession baptizing this way or that way I meane by dipping or sprinkling or by conjunction of opinion in some controverted point I doe not at this time condemne or commend any of these things for the matter of them but only this I drive at if you build your Christian fellowship and communion upon any one of these things or such like making them the maine pillar of Christian communion it will be more like a carnall faction then a spirituall communion Take therefore the Apostles rule in the text we have fellowship with the Father and his Sonne Jesus Christ And what followes these things wee write tbat you may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and his Sonne Iesus Christ That is the maine and principall ground of all Church fellowship of Christian fellowship of the Saints one with another Therefore when I have communion with a Saint I must not looke so much whether he be of such an opinion or whether he have taken the Covenant or have been baptized * I speake not this as if my opinion were for rebaptization or against the baptizing of the infants of beleevers the contrary appeares by my practise but only that such difference of opinion should not hinder their mutuall receiving each other to fellowship and communion who are in fellowship with God and Iesus Christ once or twice or ten times but see if he have fellowship with the Father and with Jesus Christ if he hath he is one of the body and a fellow-member and wee must fall in immediately with him though withall I am to use all meanes in love and meeknesse to recall him from his error according to the rules of Scripture But you will say how shall it be knowne that he is such a one I will name but two generall rules the best and the clearest that I know in the whole Scriptures to satisfie you in that In the first place consult with that in Coloss 2. 19. not holding the head saith the Apostle That is when a man sees a Christian for matter of doctrine judgement or opinion to hold the head Jesus Christ to be the Sonne of God and justification by him sanctification from him according to the Scriptures c. though in externall things it may be he doth not as yet
to other see how neere the Father and the Child are how neere the Husband and Wife are one to another see what union is betweene the branches and the vine the members and the head nay one thing more see what the soule is to the body such is Christ and so neere is he and neerer to the person of every true beleiver as Paul saith I live not but Christ liveth in me as if he should say Jesus Christ is to my soule and Gal. 2. 20. body as the soule is to the body of a naturall man that acts quickens it naturally Beloved there is a marvellous neerenesse in this union Secondly it is the most reall union these things make for our joy for it was not in vaine that Christ spake of these things before he went to Heaven that their joy might be full I say it is a most reall union As there is a greater neerenesse so there is a greater reality in our union with Christ then is betweene any naturall things whatsoever they are but shadowes of spirituall things It is not a notionall union as some conceive that Christ and wee are united as the object is united to the understanding for when a man conceives of any thing that thing is united in an abstracted metaphysicall way to the understanding so hypocrites may have a great deale of union with Christ they may goe far and have much knowledge and light in the apprehension of spirituall things You may see the difference of this union by comparing that union an husband hath with his wife and that union which his minde and understanding hath with any other person it is not as when a mans understanding conceiveth of another woman by meere imagination and thought of her there is a kind of union betweene her and his understanding But this is another kind of union that is betweene a man and his wife by the bond and tye of Matrimony that is a reall union that is conceived by some to be the meaning of that place Hos 2. I will marry thee in faithfulnes judgement or in truth as some read it I will marry thee in truth I would not have you think the union betweene Christ and the Saints is nothing but a poore empty Notion or imagination but I will marry thee in truth i. thou shalt be my wise in reality as much or rather more really then man and wife are united by Marriage Thirdly It is a totall union that is betweene Jesus Christ and his poore Saints Oh this is full of comfort if you looke on it spiritually that is whole Christ is united to the whole beleever soule and body Thou hast all Christ whatsoever thou canst conceive to be in the Father or in Jesus Christ 't is really and wholly thine as I could give instances had I time out of Scripture Thou art one with him in his Nature in his Name thou hast the same Image and grace and Spirit in thee as he hath the same precious promises the same accesse to God by prayer as he thou hast the same love of the Father all that he did or suffered thou hast a share in it all is thine thou hast his life and death as the Apostle saith so on thy part he hath thee wholly thy Cor. 4. nature thy sinnes the punishment of thy sinnes thy wrath thy curse thy shame so he would have thee all thy wit thy wealth thy strength all that thou art or hast and canst doe for him so thou hast Jesus Christ It is a totall union My Beloved is mine and I am his whole Christ from top to toe is mine and all that I am have or can doe for evermore is his it is totall Lastly it is an inseparable union it can never be broken I will make saith God an everlasting Covenant with them that I will not turne away from them to doe them good I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Jeremiah 32. This is a glorious word but the poore Christian will say T is true thou wilt not turne away from me I know thou wilt not but I shall turne away from thee I turne every day towards sin and Satan Why saith God I will put my feare in thy heart tbat thou shalt not turne away from me we shall be kept together for evermore and never separated Thence Paul triumphantly challenges al enemies in heaven or rather in Hell to doe their worst to breake this knot Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ shall tribulation Rom. 8. distresse famine c come all that can together and see if that blessed union betwene me Christ shall ever be broken or dissolved by all that you can doe Now Beloved a word or two of Use I will wave the other Question that happily would be necessary for the further opening of this Doctrine because I will not weary you you see what fulnesse of joy is and what this union is and by what you have heard already you may easily convince your selves that fellowship and union with Jesus Christ will bring fulnesse of joy to the soule The uses are these briefly The first is this you may hence behold if the Lord Vse 1 open your eyes for so it must be what a glorious state and condition God hath placed a Christian in a poore Saint be he never so meane or miserable otherwise in the eye of the world his condition what is it He is one with Jesus Christ as Christ is one with the Father There is a blessed place in Zachary where Jesus Christ is called Gods fellow Awake oh sword against my shepheard Zach. 13. 7. against the man my fellow Christ is one with the Father he is his fellow and every Saint is Christ's fellow he is anointed with the oyle of gladnesse above his Psal 45. 7. fellowes Christ is Gods fellow and wee are Christ's fellowes There is a kind of analogicall proportion not Geometricall of equalitie as they call it betweene Christ and Saints in every thing run them over in your thoughts and take a view of all Christ what he is in his Person in his glory in his Spirit in his graces in his Fathers love and in the accesse he hath to the Father in all these with what more you can imagine in Christ wee are in a sort fellowes with him Only with this difference that you may not stumble Christ hath the preheminence in all things every Col. 1. thing in its owne order The Father is above all and wee by him all comes from the Father first to Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 15. and all wee have is by Marriage with Iesus Christ and wee must abide in our union with Christ as he doth abide with his Father Moreover betweene him and the person of the Father there is an Essentiall union and ours is virtuall by the power of the Spirit of God he by his union hath all