then the Temples of Venus Flora Cupid mounting vp into the highest heauens where are perfect pleasures pure delights immortall ioyes and euerlasting contentment But Christ loueth his Church truely expressing his loue to her by laying downe his life for her He was so desirous to clense her that he spared not his owne bloud his best bloud his heart bloud but washt her in it Here was loue indeed Hee did not loue her because she was faire or rich for she was of her selfe till he came preuented her with his grace and made loue to her poore naked polluted wretched and inglorious but by his loue he hath made her louely and louing by his ornaments hee hath made her shining by his purity he hath made her cleane by his beautie he hath made her gracious and with his blessednesse shee is made an happy woman She was once as blacke as pitch but shee is now as white as the driuen snow The Kings daughter is all glorious within her clothing is of broydred gold She is so faire and louely in his eye as that his loue will suffer him to spie no blemish in her as it is written He seeth no iniquitie in Iacob nor transgression in Israell For indeed he hath couered all her sinnes and washt her from all her foulenes ridding her of all her wrinckles freckles and deformities by the merit and vertue of his owne blood Behold his owne speeches of her praises which he speakes vnto her and mockes her not Thou art all faire my Loue and there is no spot in thee Who is she that looketh foorth in the morning faire as the Moone and pure as the Sun How beautifull are thy goings with shooes thou Princes daughter How faire are thou and how pleasant art thou O my loue in pleasures Yea to expresse his full contentment in her hee speakes somewhere to her like a man rapt out of himselfe and ouercome of loue My Sister my Spouse thou hast wounded mine heart thou hast wounded mine heart with one of thine eies and with a chaine of thy necke My Sister my Spouse how faire is thy loue How much better is thy loue then wine and the sauour of thine ointments then all spices Thy lips my Spouse drop as hony-combes hony and milke are vnder thy tongue and the sauour of thy garments is as the sauour of Lebanon It is certaine that the power of ruling appertaines vnto the Husband but yet sometimes hee wants wit to rule himselfe and some wiues are now and then sicke of the vnruly euill being very thwart and foolish But Christ being the Wisedome of God and the very fountaine of goodnesse and commiserations performes the office of a wise and tender-hearted Husband alwaies to his Church his Spouse which is not morose scornefull and vnruly but humble gentle and obedient And therefore the Apostle exhorting women to be submissiue to their Husbands propoundes vnto them the example of the Spouse of Christ Therefore saith hee as the Church is subiect vnto Christ so let the wiues bee to their owne husbands euery thing And when he would perswade the men to loue their wiues and to vse them tenderly hee prouokes them to it by the practise of Christ who loues the Church and nourishes and cherishes it as a man his owne flesh It is allowed to one man to haue one wife at once and no more then one For God gaue Adam but one Though he had abundance of spirit yet he made but one but one woman of one ribbe for the helpe comfort and contentment of one man Therefore he saith by his Prophet keepe your selues in your spirit that is bridle your affections and keepe your selues within your compasse and let none trespasse against the wife of his youth Our Lord likewise hath but one wife or Spouse our Head hath but one Body For though euery godly man bee vnited vnto Christ and bee a member of his body yet all the godly in the world that either haue beene are or shal be being all ioyntly considered together doe make that one and onely Spouse or wife of Christ who shall raigne at his right hand with him in all honour and glory for euer and euer This is she that is his and his onely and no others with him This is his Doue his Loue his louing Hinde and pleasant Roe Her eies doe hold him her breasts doe satisfie him her loue contents him in her and in her loue hee delights continually Yet truely may euery true Belieuer say Christ is my Head Christ is my Husband for he is vnited to him But yet is Christ husband and head to one so as he is Head and Husband to the rest as Iacob was a father equally to all his sonnes as a mans head is the head of all his members the feet as well as the hands or as a King is head and husband ciuill vnto all his Subiects indifferently without respect of persons But Christ doth much more to the Church then the Husband can vnto his Wife A man may as our Seruice-booke speakes worship his wife with his body that is hee may honour her with his body which hee doth in that hee doth appropriate it to her making her the Mistris of it for as the Apostle sheweth the Husband hath not the power of his owne bodie but the wife But no man is able to giue his wife his spirit or soule Though a man and his wife may liue so louingly and peaceably together specially a time as that a body would almost thinke and say there were but one soule in both their bodies yet in truth each of them haue their owne priuate spirits the mans soule is not in the woman nor the womans in the man His animates and possesses him and hers animates and possesses her one of them truely differing from the other not in kinde but in number not in substance but in accidents But our Lord Iesus Christ hath bestowed his Spirit on his Church She liues not by her owne life but by his life She is not ruled by her owne spirit but by his Spirit Yes euery man vnited to Christ hath the Spirit of Christ The very soule of man is not more common to all his members then the holy Ghost is to all the godly And whereas some mens wiues haue beene and I would none were now possessed with an euill Spirit being very torments and trouble houses the Spouse of Christ is possessed with the good Spirit of God which is the Spirit of peace gentlenesse and loue who susteines comforts instructs leades her and dwelleth with all those that can truly call her Mother There is a certaine transcendent and strong coherence betwixt Christ and his Church He cleaueth to her as an husband to his wife and shee to him as a wife to her husband but yet so as that one of them cannot be broken from the other one of
wee may yet further our knowledge of the Coniunction that is betwixt Christ and vs it will not be amisse to consider of three other similitudes vsed in the holy Scriptures to set it foorth vnto vs. The first is of a Vine the second of a Body the third of a Building And this I will do with the help of Christ I am faith Christ the Vine yee are the Branches Now wee know that the Vine and her Branches are ioyned fast together by nature and not as boards are in a shippe with pinnes and nayles by Arte but a great deale closer For the branches shoot forth of the Vine are animated with the spirit of the vine liue the life of the vine are fed nourished and susteined of the vine and abiding in the vine bring foorth fruits according to the nature of the vine out of which they grow and in which they liue Euen so are we coupled and ioyned vnto Christ and so fast that wee cannot be rent or broken in peeces from him by violence as branches may be from a vine We grow out of Christ as an heauenly root from whom by the fauour of God and influence of his grace we doe all as new creatures or heauenly branches arise and spring foorth Adam is the root of all men as men and when God created Adam he created vs. And as many as are sprung from Adam haue in themselues the root out of which they spring Euen so the children of God haue Christ as a second Adam from heauen for a certaine celestiall and blessed root whose progenie and branches they are by regeneration or heauenly birth And the good Spirit of Christ is from Christ deriued to them all who doth animate consolate and susteine them And from Christ they receiue food and nourishment by the which they are refresht and cheered and preserued from death by the worke of the Spirit True it is that life and all good gifts and graces are from the father as from the originall or beginning of them all but they come not to vs but by the Sonne in whom Life is and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge who is the Sunne of righteousnesse with healing in his wings and hath gold rayment and eye-salue and all other medicines to enrich vs cloth vs and cure vs of all our soule-diseases But yet none of all these things come vnto any of vs in particular but by the holy Ghost and therefore the Apostle saith The grace of our Lord Iesus Christ and the loue of God and the fellowshippe of the holy Ghost And being now indued with the holy Spirit of Christ they liue a spirituall and Christian life They liue indeed and yet not they but Christ and his Spirit liue within them Christ is in his Spirit and his Spirit is in him And where the Spirit of Christ is there is liberty They liue then and liue free deliuered and out of feare And for because Christ is in them and they in him and for that the spirit of Christ is not idle in them euen as the soule is not idle in the body or as a vigilant Prince is not idle in his kingdome but is busie as a Bee working like a carefull and prudent husbandman his holy workes within them therefore also they are not barren and take vp roome in vaine but beare and bring forth fruite as God by the influence of his grace doth giue increase For neither is he that planteth any thing neither that watereth but God that giueth the increase Whence it is that our Sauiour spaith Abide in me and I in you As the branch cannot beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the vine no more can ye except ye abide in me He that abideth in me and I in him the same bringeth foorth much fruite And the fruits they yeeld are such as become the vine Christ Iesus whose branches they are and whose spirit makes them beare For vine-branches bring foorth vine-fruites vine-berries grapes and not soure slowes crabbes or hawes Euery tree brings foorth fruit according to his owne kind euen as euery man beast bird and fish begetteth and produceth according to his owne species kinde and image But although the faithfull bee in Christ and Christ in them yet they do not all equally draw vertue from Christ but as one branch receiueth more from the vine then another and as some are stronger fairer and fuller of fruits then some others are euen so one Belieuer receiues more grace and vertue from Christ then another and as Christ doth more or lesse impart himselfe vnto vs so we sucke more or lesse vertue from him and so also are more or lesse fruitfull in good workes Sure it is that God doth giue all his children his spirit and that this spirit resideth in them but this spirit worketh not equally in them all nor alike at all seasons but in some more and in some lesse and at one time more sensibly then at an other as the Sun doth in the heauens or a workeman in his shoppe God dwelleth in all his children they in him and they are all truely one as well as another partakers of the diuine nature but yet God doth not manifest and expresse himselfe in the same degree vnto all as neither Parents to their children not that hee could not but because he will not for causes iust but best knowne vnto himselfe and hereupon it comes to passe that one is more vertuous and better then another fuller of good workes and more like vnto himselfe as that childe is vnto his father into whom his father hath more fully and more happily powred foorth of himselfe into him in generation tending him like wife afterwards with a more carefull ingenuous education Whence is it saith S. Austin that some bee holier then others are but because that God doth dwell in some more plenteously then in others Christ is the Sunne the light that giueth light of nature grace and glory vnto the world Euery Christian man is a starre receiuing light from Christ who shineth into his soule now as one starre is brighter then another according as it receiueth more light from the Sunne then another euen so one Christian excells another in the light of grace and good workes according as hee receiues more plentifully from Christ and is more neerely ioyned with him and partaker of his light and spirit And thus of the first similitude I come to the second Christ and the Catholique Church are a certaine Mysticall or spirituall bodie Christ himselfe is the Head of that bodie And euery true Belieuer is a member of it Wee are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones saith S. Paul And this is a great mysterie The Head is not a perfit body of it selfe alone For no mans body is all head Neither is
her marke vpon them and allowed them but the Catholique Church of Christ neyther did nor doth nor will euer owne them for her owne beeing indeed meere Counterfets and Bastard Plants And so I leaue them to them that coyned them and so proceede This Body this Catholique congregation of Saints and all the true naturall and essentiall parts and members thereof are all of them vnited and coupled to their Head and one vnto another euen as we see a naturall body and all the parts thereof to be ioyned and knit vnto their naturall head But whereas the head and body of a man may be pul'd torne or cut asunder as it fared with S. Iohn Baptist who was beheaded the truth is that Christ and his members cannot be parted or torneasunder The Church which is the body of our Lord perseuering firmely in the faith Nulla res separare potest a Christo Nothing is able to separate from Christ lesus as Saint Cyprian speaketh truly For why Christ shed his bloud for the Church and all her children Therefore sure Hee will not that those should perish for whom hee payed so dearely as Saint Austin somewhere speaketh Charity faileth not from the Church saith Saint Bernard The Church is founded vpon a Rocke and the Rocke is Christ And therefore wee neyther could nor can at any time heereafter be souered from the loue of Christ neither by the verbosity and babling of Philosophers nor by the cauils and Sophistry of Heretiques nor by the swords of Persecutors For indeed they that trust in the Lord shall be as mount Sion which cannot be remooued but remaineth for euer As the mountaines are about Ierusalem so is the Lord about his people from henceforth and for euer And that Annoynting which the members of the true Church haue receiued of Christ dwelleth in them and the seede of God remaineth in them whereby he hath begot them they shall remaine in that annoynting that is in the Holy Ghost Seeing therefore the Lord is alwaies about his people Guarding them by his power through faith vnto saluation seeing also the Spirit of Christ Iesus dwelleth and remaineth in them and they in him it is impossible that they should be separated or cut off from Christ or that they should drop off from him as drie and withered leaues or rotten springs and branches from a tree or fall like olde rotten teeth out of a mans head But when I say that all holy and righteous men being the naturall and onely liue-members of the Church are vnited vnto Christ my meaning is not as I haue touched before that they are holy righteous and spirituall before the vnion but then when they are vnited They are not holy without the vnion but by the vnion The coniunction doth not finde them iust but makes them iust They are not holy till they be conioyned For all our holinesse iustice wisedome and goodnesse is from the Lord Iesus partly by imputation and partly by inspiration which we would not haue vnlesse first we haue Christ himselfe and be vnited to him euen as a man cannot haue comfort from his clothes vnlesse hee put them on and buckle them about him or as the hungry and sicke or wounded person cannot haue the vertue of meates and medicines salues vnlesse he haue the very things themselues first and that they he applied to him And therefore Saint Iohn hauing sayde that Life is in the Sonne inferreth thence that he that hath the Sonne hath life and he that hath not the Son hath not life Now who hath the Son but he that is vnited to him who hath the Husbands fellowship but the Wife Who inioyes the loue of a friend and his loue tokens but his friend What hath sense or motion from the head but that which is vnited to the Head as are the members of the body Who hath the payment of a surety euen he that hath the surety himselfe And who hath the surety but he whose person the surety is pleased to vndertake and put on vpon himselfe and with and for whom hee stands in bands or couenants to see the debt discharged Now the Lord Iesus Christ is our friend our surety our head and husband when once we are vnited to him but not before except in predestination then we come to enioy him his benefits and graces which are more worth then the grace of all Princes the gifts of all rich men and the prizes of all things that can bee prized in the world They say of Venice shee must bee seene before shee can bee prized But though a man cannot tell what shee is worth yet he may tell what shee is not worth Shee is not worth all the Cities of Italy She is not worth all the towns in Europe Shee is not worth all the earth besides is shee But the Citie of God the Citie of the great King Hierusalem which is aboue the spirituall body of Christ the Mother of vs all is worth all the Cities in the world is woorth all the world besides Her foundations are in heauen her wals are Iasper her building gold pure golde her streete such also her gates pearle and her shining like abstone most precious Shee is wonderfully rich glorious Christ is her King and her Temple and her Sunne shee sees by She may well say Come see mee and then esteeme mee But who can see her yet who can prize her I see her not I cannot see her but I doe beleeue her being and her beauty and I count it aboue all earthly happinesse to be her sonne If I forget thee ô Ierusalem let my right hand forget her dexterity If I doe not remember thee let my tongue cleaue to the roofe of my mouth if I preferre not Hierusalem to my cheefest ioy But I haue beene ouer carried Adam is the Head of men of all men both good and euill saints and sinners so farre as either nature or vice of nature reacheth euen as Gehezi was head of all his issue as touching their humane their sinnefull and their leprous nature and disposition but with some difference For hee was but a subordinate and secondary Head to them as they were men and sinners guilty of originall corruption for heere Adam hath the primacie But he was indeede the first head and originall of their leprosie For he was by the singular and sudden iudgment of God first himselfe a leper then they afterwards by him So Christ Iesus is the head of godly Christians of all godly Christians and of none but such of all blessed men in the world and but of such Adam is to he found yea and felt in euery man euen so Christ is to bee found in euery Saint There are prints of Adams setting in euery mortall man and there are likewise certaine markes of Christs imptinting in the soule of euery godly man who is immortall in hope which shall not
euen the holy Ghost who is breathed from him vpon his whole body and euery particular member thereof This Spirit is that odoriferous North-winde and Southwinde which blowes vpon the Garden of Christ Iesus which is the Church that the spices thereof may flow out These wholesome and sweete windes do nip and kill the naughty swelling humours of our spirits and doe also mollifie supple refresh and comfort vs. So that if any man would haue these windes to blow vpon him let him abide in this Garden If any man would inioy this Spirit let him abide in Christs body For as Irenaeus saies well Where the Church is there is the Spirit and where the Spirit of God is there is the Church and euery grace And the spirit is truth So then a godly Christian is more than a man and farre better then a sinner He is become a new Creature a new man a Saint on earth a tree transplanted out of an ill ground out of the world the Diuels territorie and translated into the kingdome of Christ a brand taken out of the fire a Lamb plucked out of the Lions mouth a man taken out of Adam and incorporated into Christ a man baptized that is regenerated and ingrafted into that One Body whereof Christ is Head euen the head of the whole Church Militant Triumphant throughout the World From whom the whole Body fitly ioyned together and compacted by that which euery ioynt supplieth according to the effectuall working in the measure of euery part maketh increase of the Body vnto the edifying of it selfe in loue Euery true Christian therefore is a liue-man a liuing limme of Christs body a man reuiued reformed and as it were transformed into Christ and may say with Saint Paul I am crucified with Christ Neuerthelesse I liue yet not I but Christ liueth in mee and the life which I now liue in the flesh I liue by the Faith of the Sonne of God who loued mee and gave himselfe for me Who now would not be a member of this Body who hath so glorious an head and is indued with such an excellent Spirit Behold all the heads of the world naturall heads politicall heads oeconomicall heads Ecclesiasticall heads what are they all euen dust earth and ashes A learned head is but learned earth a wise head is but wise earth a great head is but a great clot of earth a noble head is but noble earth Emperors and Kings the great commanders and swayers of the world they are but earth imperiall earth royall earth Earth and ashes will one day lay them euen with their Subiects The finest heads it 'h world what are they else but handfuls of dust make the best of them They are but fine dust and ashes For all flesh is grasse all flesh is not one manner of flesh But there is one manner of flesh of men another of beasts another of birds another of fishes But the flesh of all men as well as of all beasts birds and fishes is but grasse very grasse lesse then grasse Yet behold how we admire the persons of men of great men rich men Princes Heads who are but clay but dust but dreames aliue in the morning and dead at night But Christ our head our royall head is aliue and giues life liues and will liue for euer Dust Death Diuels Men and Angels Earth and Heauen and all things are at his becke If hee say to the dead Liue they shall liue If he say to Death it selfe die be not death must die it cannot longer be What he will haue done shall be done there is no resistance Vouchsafe O Lord to looke vpon me as thou vsest to looke on those that are enamoured with thee and doe desire thee My soule thirsteth after thee Come vnto me bring me to thee and let me finde thee and enioy thee Lord Iesus come quickly and let mee feele thy grace and the ioyes of thy Spirit in me But the contemplation of our thrice excellent and most blessed head hath made mee tarry a little longer then I thought I am come at last though long first to the last similitude which I propounded for the illustration of our Vnion with Christ which is of an House of Temple wherein I promise to be plaine and breefe The Catholick Church is the Temple or House of the liuing God Christ is the Foundation thereof He is the Principall and energeticall foundation and chiefe-corner-stone thereof The holy Prophets and Apostles are ministeriall foundations and Pillars thereof For by their ministery and doctrine this house is builded and confirmed Christ also is the chiefest Architect of this building The Apostles and other Pastors of the Church are his Ministers with and by whom hee worketh and with whom hee is present to ayde and prosper them to the ende of the world They are in this House as Seruants and vnder-officers and stewards but he is in it and ouer it as a Maister being the onely begotten Sonne of God and Heyre of all things He also is the light and beauty of it This house of Christ groweth out of Christ and is ruled by the Faith of Christ The rule of the Faith is the holy Scripture The Church is the ground and Pillar of the Truth and the trueth is the ground and Pillar of the Church yea therefore shee is the ground of the trueth because the truth is the ground of her and for because the spirit of Truth inhabits and directs her which spirit because hee spake in the holy men of God is therefore best able to giue the sence of the Scripture accordingly doth teach the Church all truths therein contained needfull to saluation This house is a spirituall house a liuing Temple and Christ is the Life thereof and his Spirit possesses and keepes it All the stones of this Temple are liuing stones growing out of the liuing and life-giuing Rocke on which the Temple standeth They are all made aliue and kept aliue by the Spirit of Christ who is resident alwaies president in them There are in these diuersities of gifts and operations but the same Spirit which worketh all in all Who is seauen yea seauenty times seauen fould not in person for so hee is but one but in variety of gifts and gracious operations Now as the foundation beares vp all the house that is layd vpon it so Christ holds vp and confirmes the Church beeing rooted and built in him and stablished in the Faith And this he doth partly by his prouidence and circumspection and partly by his merits and efficacy through his Spirit And as all the parts of an house are compact together and ioyned to the foundation so are all true beleeuers all deuout and sincere Christians knit together in one ioyned vnto Christ by Faith and Charity as
it were by lime pins nayles and sawder through the holy Ghost who heweth frameth and setteth euery stone in order in Christ In whom all the Building fitly framed together groweth vnto an holy Temple to the Lord. This is a rare and singular house for they that are heereof are Stones and Kings and Priests So then the Church is a liuing Temple a spirituall House and a Royall Priesthood a kingdome of Priests and a Priestlie kingdome And no maruell it is if Christians be stones seeing Christ Iesus out of whom they are cut and grow bee a Rocke or though they haue a certaine Kingdome and Priesthood seeing they be members of him who is a King and Priest They are Christians it is enough they are annoiuted with the oyle of gladnesse that they may be able to ouercome the Deuiil the World and the Flesh as Kings that raigne by Christ and may also haue grace like Priests to offer vp spirituall sacrifices acceptable to God by Christ with whose holy oyle they are annointed For as the precious oyntment that was powred vpon Aarons head ranne downe vpon his beard and went down on the border of his garments So the holy oyle the most sweete and sauing oyle which was powred vpon our head Christ Iesus hath runne downe ouer all his body into all his members and be-deawes them all as the deaw of Hermon which falleth vpon the mountaines of Zion And which is no small fauour this precious and holy oyntment tarrieth on vs and dwelleth in vs as St. Iohn doth assure vs. In a word this Temple this House hath a priuiledge aboue all the temples and houses in the world For no winde can driue it downe no water can wash it downe no fire can burne it downe no canon can beat it downe no weight can weigh it downe no might can cast it downe no witchcraft can worke it downe no vnderminer can vndermine it downe no thunder or lightning can teare or fire it downe neither men nor Diuels haue power ouer it For Christ vpholds it against all assaults of enemies whatsoeuer It is built by Christ vpon himselfe who hath also sayd that the gates of hell shall not ouercome it Christ hath spoken this concerning no house that is materiall and earthly but onely of this his owne spirituall Temple and beeing Truth it selfe we may well beleeue him Whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and reioycing of hope to the end as the Apostle speakes vnto the Hebrewes Thus haue we seene our Coniunction with Christ who is in vs and wee in him He is in vs as a cause in the effect wee are in him as the effect is in the cause He is in vs as a worke-man is in his worke we are in him as a worke is in the worke-man We are in him as Eue was in Adam he is in vs as Adams rib and nature was in Eue. Hee is in vs as the Sunne is in the aire or house to illuminate and warme it we are in him as the aire or an house is in the Sunne which is lightned and warmed of it He is in vs as a kernell or seede and the earth it growes in is in the plant we are in him as the plant is in the kernel or seede of which it comes and in the ground in which it is set and by which it is fed He is in vs and we in him as Adam is in his children and his children in him or as the fountaine is in the riuer and the riuer in it or as a roote is in the boughes and they in the root But who is able sufficiently to expresse these things who can declare how hee is fashioned in his mothers wombe or tell how his soule and body are knit together This is a great mystery saith Saint Paul but I speake concerning Christ and the Church I doubt not but that many a poore soule is the Spouse of Christ and one of his true members tho hee be not able to say much about his vnion and incorporation which is by the Spirit of Christ And though a man sayd neuer so much hereof and could speake of heauen as if hee had beene there yet all were but dreames vnlesse hee bee ioyned to Christ and haue his spirit really to possesse and leade him That which quickneth vs is the spirit of Christ and his flesh that wherewith he quickneth vs. That which sanctified our nature in Christ that which made it a sacrifice of reconciliation is the same which quickneth it raised it from the graue and exalted it to glory And therefore if a man haue not the Spirit or God-head of Christ and be partaker of his flesh hee is but a dead man a miserable man a man vnmortified vnsanctified and without hope of glory I am the liuing bread saith Christ which came downe from heauen If any man eat of this bread hee shall liue for euer and the bread that I will giue is my flesh which I will giue for the life of the world Except yee eat the flesh of the Son of man and drinke his blood yee haue no life in you But how can a man eat bread if hee haue it not How can wee eat his flesh and drinke his blood vnlesse wee haue it The truth is hee that giues vs this meat to eat must also giue vs hands to take it and mouthes to taste and eat it and a stomacke to craue and holde it We must needes therefore be vnited to Christ and be truely possessed of him and of his grace or else we cannot liue by him And because no man eats him but by grace and for that no grace is but by the holy Ghost who diuideth to euery man seuerally as he will and seeing by this eating of Christ hee is not turned into vs as bodily food but wee receiue nurriture and confirmation from him and are transmuted into him and grow vp in him and he in vs which neither can bee wrought but by the Holy Ghost it is of absolute necessity that we bee partakers of the holy Ghost and haue him dwelling in vs. So then whatsoeuer men talke of the Spirit all is nothing they doe but beat the aire and make a dinne they are most miserable wretches viler then the dust on their shooe-soles vnlesse they be endued with him Hee it is which annoynted the blessed soule of our Sauiour Iesus Christ and which doth fashion vnite animate and actuate all that spring from him in all the ages and places of the world as if both he and they together were so many members or parts compacted into one body being all possessed and indued with one and the selfe samesoule This Coniunction is most sweet and comfortable and indeed that wherein our blessednesse consisteth whiles we liue on earth and giues vs right vnto the perfect blessednesse of the life to come We count it a
it may be truly said Hee is a man translated and transformed into Christ he is not in the flesh but in the spirit not Satan but Christ Iesus doth dwell and raigne within him O happy men that are in Christ Iesus that haue Christ Iesus for their Husband who is the staffe of their liues the breath of their nostrills and their Hope Many a man is saued and his wife damned Two shall be in a bed one of them shall bee taken the other forsaken But whoseeuer shall be found coupled to Christ shall bee saued For he is the bread of life and life eternall to all that haue and hold him There are some men or I wot not well what in the shapes of men that waxe weary of their wiues with a little acquaintance contemne them in their decaying dayes and whether young or olde will not bee pleased in them without a deale of artificiall brauery and borrowed fauour But the Lord Iesus esteemes the hart of a man and not his Art he delights in substance not in naked shewes counterfeit vertue which is true hypocrisie is accounted with him for double iniquity It is not outward beauty that he stands vpon but inward Vertue inward Trueth and not outward trappings Painting of the face with him is as the guilding of a nutmegge or the colouring of a statue and as pleasing to wise men when they spie it as a painted Sepulchre when they smell it or as counterfeit coyne when they discerne it But grace true grace which is accidentall to a man or woman is essentiall to a true Christian This is that which pleaseth Christ which hee with his owne finger hath painted and engrauen in the soule This this is the tincture and the lustre that hee delights in And as for old age hee will cast no man off for that but the longer he hath beene acquainted with any the longer any man hath liued in his seruice the longer that any haue beene coupled with him the more account he vses to make of them Old friends old seruants old followers old consorts if sincere and trusty are of all others most gracious and shall haue their rewards with the chiefest I said before that the Husband and his Wife are appointed by God to bee one common fountaine and foundation or Originall of Posterity by generation of children For neither is the Man without the Woman and efficient nor the Woman without the Man And neyther Man nor Woman without the benignity of the Sunne For it is true that Sol homo generant hominem the Sunne and Man beget a Man Our Lord the Lord Iesus Christ hath children and no children but those which he gets himselfe But the Sunne which is a naturall agent hath no hand helpeth nothing in Regeneration which is supernaturall as it doth to Generation which is naturall And though a Man cannot beget without a Woman yet is Christ God and Man able to regenerate a Man without the cooperation of any Creature by himselfe alone But yet ordinarily if not euer he doth beget men to himselfe by the Church For my part I am perswaded that hee that cannot call her Mother hath no right to call him Father For Ierusalem the City of God whose Originall is from Heauen aboue and not from the earth below is the Mother of vs all But whereas the Mother nourishes her childe with food from her owne bodie the Church feedes her children with the milk and meat of Gods word For the two Testaments are the Churches two Breasts And as Parents beget children according to their owne image that is men and sinfull and doe sometimes also lend them their owne diseases as Leprosie Palsey Gowt so the Lord Iesus begets his children according to his image substantiall I meane not but accidentall consisting in light iustice holinesse and true Christian Vertues Indeede our Parents beget vs when before we werenot but Christ begets vs being men before though in truth but dead men dead in sinnes and trespasses and the children of wrath And as they giue vs their sinne which hath beene deriued to them from Adam so Christ giues vs his Iustice and Merits to couer our sinnes as I shall afterwards shew more fully A Woman may be a Wife and yet no Mother and some are Mothers and yet no Wiues Or she may be a Mother and yet an adultresse But this is a mans affliction when either his wife is barren or vnchaste And it is a womans shame when either shee is a mother before shee bee a wife or is vnfaithfull when shee is a wife But the Church can haue no children but by Christ her husband without whose gracious influence and intention no man can make a Christian The Catholique Church as Fulgentius well obserueth is a Spouse because she is vnited and adhereth vnto Christ a mother because she is made fruitfull by Christ and a virgine because shee doth purely perseuere in Christ Shee is indeed a singular wife of rare endowments and full of honour For shee is the great kings Daughter and coupled with him that is God and Man Shee is not subiect to violence as the daughters and wiues of men are as Lucretia the wife of Collatinus Dinah the daughteer of Iacob and they that were rauisht by Brias Rodericus Nouellus Cararius Osbright and such like monsters in the shapes of men Neither brings shee any children to God by any adulterous mixture as some wanton wiues but onely by the grace of her husband Iesus Christ As for Heretiques and Infidels they bee not the fruits of her wombe but Bastards of the Diuels getting and the worlds conceiuing and bringing foorth Shee is an high and honourable mother For shee is Mother and Nurse no cruell step-mother but a louing mother and tender-hearted nurse to all Gods adopted children They that haue not her for mother haue not him for Father Shee is mother to all the true members of Christ to all his brethren They that haue not her for mother haue not him for their head and elder brother She is our spirituall mother Eue the mother of all the liuing that either liue a spirituiall life in this world or shall liue a celestall life in the world to come Shee is the mother to all true Israelites according to the faith as Sarah was to all Israelites according to the flesh And as God made Sarah a mother and gaue her a sonne out of his owne good will so God makes his Church a mother and giues her children as he pleaseth I read of a certaine Romane Lady by name Paulina a very chaste and honest matron who by no meanes would yeelde to the Iust of Mundus a Gentleman of Rome who attempted to haue corrupt her who yet being couzened by certaine Priests lay with him like a supersticious foole in the Temple of Isis vnder the name of Anubis the God of Aegypt who desired her company as those varlets tolde her And in those
violence against a mans will he hath Christ in him and hee is himselfe in Christ For Christ is in no man as a Sauiour but in him who as a man saued is in Christ And hee is a Sauiour to none but such as entertain him for their Lord and will be ruled by him as obedient and louing Subiects Further He that belieueth in me hath euerlasting life Therefore by true faith in Christ a man belieuing may see his vnion and fellowship with Christ For no man hath eternall life but he that is in Christ and hath Christ For Christ is the life euen eternall life life euen euerlasting is in him and floweth from him Yea Christ expressely saith Hee that eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud dwelleth in me and I in him But qui credit edit he eateth that belieueth Why preparest thou thy teeth and thy belly saith Saint Austin Belieue and thou hast eaten Crede manducasti He eateth him which belieueth in him Noli parare fauces sed cor make not ready thy chaps for the matter but thine heart For a good soule is a good stomach a good minde is mouth inough it is no matter tho the teeth be rotten and the gummes be naught if the faith bee sound or tho the mouth be shut if the heart be open Moreouer he that dwelleth in God God in him dwelleth in Christ and Christ in him For Christ is in God and God in him I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfit in one Now we may know that God dwells in vs and we in God by obedience to his precepts by mutuall loue one towards another and by his holy spirit 1 By obedience For who so keepeth his word in him verily is the loue of God perfited hereby know we that we are in him Hee that keepeth his commandements dwelleth in him and he in him 2 By mutuall loue if we loue one another God dwelleth in vs and his loue is perfit in vs. God is loue and he that dwelleth in loue dwelleth in God and God in him 3 By his holy Spirit Hereby we know that he abideth in vs by the Spirit which he hath giuen vs. And againe Hereby know we that we dwell in him and hee in vs because hee hath giuen vs his spirit True it is that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus But who are they Euen they that walke not after the flesh but after the spirit Certain it is if any man haue Christ the same hath the spirit of Christ For if any man haue not the spirit of Christ the same is none of his And the spirit is knowne by his works as a strong wind by his effects as a tree by her fruits or the soule by her actions in the bodie But the fruit of the spirit is loue ioy peace longanimity gentlenesse goodnes fidelity meekenes temperance And as the body is dead without the spirit so is the soule without the spirit of Christ a mans faith godlines without good works which doth manifest it as the light doth the sunne or as the heat doth the truth of fire Many men abuse themselues with their owne fansies thinking they haue the spirit of Christ in them whereas in truth they liue in the flesh follow the flesh daunce after the Deuils pipe run when the world whoops liuing in ignorance and pride in presumption security of the flesh delighting in one knowne euill or other and will not be separated from it but cleaue vnto it let Iohn Baptist say what he will as Herod to Herodias his brothers wife But the truth is the spirit of God dwells in none but those that are not in the flesh but in the Spirit in none but those that are led by the spirit and not by the flesh And they that are Christs haue crucified the flesh with the lusts thereof It is no such difficulty for a man to distinguish his friend from his foe for a Woman to know her owne husband from a stranger or for a man to know his owne head from another mans Neyther is it indeed so hard a matter for a true Christian to know Christ to be his and himselfe to be Christs Indeede Epicures Atheists Mammonists malicious Idiots Hypocrites and Christians onely in name finde it not onely difficult but impossible or else like melancholy fooles and franticke men they feed fill themselues with foolish fantasies For he that would know himselfe to be in Christ must needs first bee in Christ as shee that would know her selfe to be such a mans wife must first bee his wife or as a man must haue wealth or health before hee know hee hath it and must bee aliue before hee knowes hee is aliue and can tell another that he is aliue In vaine doe they say that they are in Christ which doe not the works of Christ and haue not his holy Spirit but a spirit of vncleannesse in them And in vaine doe they imagine or tell folkes that they haue the spirit of Christ when they adhere vnto Antichrist or while they follow and fulfill the lusts of the flesh as adultery fornication vncleannesse lasciuiousnesse idolatry witchcraft hatred variance emulations wrath strife seditions heresies enuyings murders drunkennesse reuellings and such like which whosoeuer doth shall not inherit the kingdome of God and therefore plainely declare that they are not in Christ and Christ in them The course that men should take to become partakers of Christ and his benefits is this First duely to consider and bitterly to lament their wretchednesse out of Christ and to hunger and thirst eagerly after him For vnlesse we see and feele our miserable and fearefull estate without him wee shall make no reckoning of him Vnlesse we know and acknowledge our indigence of him and that hee is aboundantly able to supply our wants wee shall not esteeme and desire him What should hee doe with a friend or surety that sees no need of him Or what should shee doe with a husband that knowes not what a husband meanes Or what should they do with money that knowes not what to doe with it or with cloathes that know not how to put them on or what they should doe with them like the wilde Virginians that count them cumbersome vnto them choosing to goe naked A full stomacke loathes an honny-combe contemnes all sorts of delicates but true hunger makes a man desire and seeke for meate The sence of sickenesse and nakednesse makes a man desire health and cloathing The feeling of pouerty and lacke mooues a man to seeke riches and supply The pinching of could weather makes a man runne to the fire and leaue the open ayre The smart of paines causeth a man to seeke ease The miseries of warres make men seeke peace and pursue it Oh that we could see our vnrighteousnes that wee might
affect the righteousnesse of Christ Oh that we could feele our heauy sinnes our sinnes that oppresse our soules and haue swallowed vs vp that Christ might deliuer vs from them and giue vs ease Oh that we could feare that we might come to hope and sorrow that wee might reioyce in Christ They that would haue much ioy must first haue much sorrow there is no way to sound ioyes but by bitter sorrow and a little sorrow will sustaine but a little ioy Of short sorrow arises but short ioy of counterfet sorrowes but counterfet ioyes He that would hope must feare the true way to hope is by true feare and they that would hope much must fear much they that would build high must digge low the tallest trees haue the deepest roots a little feare will support but a little hope a little distrust but a little confidence Oh that we could and at last would distrust our selues that wee might repose all trust in Christ He that beleeueth in him shall not be ashamed Oh that wee could sorrow lament and howle for our vilenesse and weepe bitterly for our sinnes with Peter and euen wash our Sauiours feete with our teares as that poore penitent woman did Oh that the fountaines of sorrow were broken vp within vs that whole flouds of teares might gush out from vs then all our sorrowes should be turned into ioyes our mourning into merriment and our teares into songs O that we could goe downe into the deepes the deepest deepes and cry out as Ionah did out of the belly of hell Then our feares would be chang'd inhope and our sighes would end in solace Oh that our soules did faint within vs and that wee were euen brought vnto true despaire of our own strength and valour that wee might onely trust in Christ and seeke to him for succour For all other helpes are but as a sliding foote a rotten tooth and a silly reede And they that waite vpon lying vanities forsake their owne mercie Behold we the spirit of S. Paul who was able to say for himselfe as much as another yet seeing his owne necessities and the perfections of Christ hee was content to cast off himselfe to put on Christ to cast downe himselfe to build vp himselfe in Christ to vilifie himselfe to be made glorious in Christ to become nothing in himselfe to bee something euen that whole thing which he is in Christ and euen to lose himselfe in himselfe that hee might finde himselfe safe in Christ What things saith hee were gaine to me those I counted losse for Christ Yea doubtlesse and I count all things but losse for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ my Lord. For whom I haue suffered the losse of all things and doe count them but dung that I may winne Christ and be found in him not hauing mine owne righteousnesse which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith that I may know him and the power of his Resurrection and the fellow-ship of his sufferings being made conformable vnto his death if by any meanes I might attaine vnto the resurrection of the dead Secondly to gaine Christ Iesus and his graces and gracious blessings wee ought to apply our selues to the Ministery of the Word and Sacraments For these are the golden pipes through which the oyle of the spirit is conuayed and brought vnto vs and by which we become enriched with the merits and vertues of our Sauiour For as concerning the Word it is the word of truth by which we are begotten in Christ to God by the Spirit who worketh by it It is the good word of God a word that conuerteth the soule and giueth wisdome to the simple It is the word of grace the word of life the word of faith an wholesome word the word of peace the word of saluation able to saue the soule in which it is engrafted It is a word that shewes vs our poornesse nakednesse blindnesse and wretchednesse and is withall that happy organ of grace and glory in the which God shewes vs his Sonne in whom we may haue remedy and holds him out vnto vs willing vs to take him of him and by receiuing of which word we may come to enioy that substantiall and thrice-blessed Word who is our life and glory And as touching the Sacraments they are not onely memorials signes and testimonies but effectuall meanes and instruments not naturall but morall not humane but diuine by the which God when wee take the Sacraments deliuereth vnto vs Christ Iesus and his merits and that grace that is needefull to saluation By these wee are put into possession of Christ of his spirit and grace both imputatiue and inhesiue In these our Lord Iesus Christ God and Man comes vnto our soules and applyes himselfe vnto vs and worketh in vs as he pleaseth Yet to speake properly by Baptisme wee receiue but the beginning of those graces the increase and confirmation whereof wee receiue afterwards by the often receiuing of the Lords Supper Wee receiue Christ Iesus in Baptisme once as the Author and first Beginner in the Communion often as being by continuall degrees the Finisher and Perfecter of our life When wee receiue this Sacrament the spirit is sent a new into vs not as if he mooued place for he is euery where whole all the world ouer but because he is now to beginne some new grace or to confirme and augment some formerly begun or to raise vp some languishing or to giue some ioy some comfort where either none was or was scarcely felt or is decayed So then that healing and sauing grace which Christ originally is or hath as the fountaine of life and grace for the good of the whole Church hee doth seuerally by Sacraments diuide and deriue into euery particular member thereof Neither doth hee ordinarily bestow the grace of Sacraments on any but by Sacraments But yet this grace which wee receiue by the Sacraments organically wee receiue not from them energetically but from him as they that looked vpon the brazen serpent were not healed by that they saw but by the Lord their Sauiour But yet it is very iust and more then probable that they which contemne or neglect the Sacraments should bee without the grace of the Sacraments Christ is the kernell of the word and Sacraments they that would eat the kernell must cracke the shell These are the vestiments in which hee comes vnto vs. They are worthy to goe without him that will not vse the meanes to get and keepe him Without doubt it is either ignorance or worldlinesse or wantonnes and presumption or something that is naught that makes men contemne and passe by these holy ordinances of Christ I assure my selfe their stomackes are full their hearts a sleepe and their mouths out of taste something doubtlesse is amisse that they haue so small desire to them and feele so
but Christs Christ will so order the matter that they shall but wreath garlands of immortality for vs though sore against their wils and increase our glory And whereas many men forget the honour of their wiues and are regardlesse of their decency as Sergus that Scottish King who so basely neglected his Wife and held her so penurious that shee was driuen to serue other Noble women for her liuing Christ Iesus is so carefull ouer his Spouse who stands at his right hand in gould of Ophir that rather then shee shall want attendance and honour he will moue euen Kings to be her nourishers Queens her nurses who shall bow downe vnto her with their faces towards the earth and licke vp the dust of her feete The coniunction of Man and Wife doth not necessarily cause eyther or both of them to bee piously disposed For as hee that toucheth pitch is vsually defiled with it and as sweet riuers running through fennish grounds are thereby corrupted so the company of a wicked man doth oftentimes corrupt the manners of a good natured woman And although a man may take a woman to his wife yet it is not in his hands to make her eyther a good Woman or a good Wife if he finde her naught But our coniunction with Christ doth chaunge vs all ouer and turnes vs vpside downe hee contaminates and infects no man hee cannot but he purifies and makes good al that come vnto him and bestow themselues vpon him And albeit the Wife doth in some sort depend vpon her Husband seeing she is vnited to him and is his yet if that knot were dissolued either by iust diuorce or death it might fall out that shee might liue still as well and bee as godly as she was before For neither her Vertues nor her life depends on him nor vpon his life neither yet her happinesse alway nor her good successe it 'h world She may find better friends then her Husband was or shee may be married to a second Husband in whom shee may be happier by far then in her first But the Church and all her children doe so depend on Christ that without him they cannot continue a moment for by him we liue moue and haue our being and all our well-being both as wee be men and as wee are Christian men From him we haue our selues our iustice holinesse and all our happinesse In him wee are elected in him created by him redeemed and preserued Without me saith Christ ye can doe nothing and so also without Christ wee can be nothing If something yet that something that 's worse then nothing for nothing cannot sinne and nothing cannot suffer for sinne Nothing can doe no wrong and nothing can feele no paine It were more profitable for a man not to bee then to be a man out of Christ Though hee were married to the best woman in the world though hee were coupled with the best friends i' th world though he were ioyned in bloud or alliance to the cheefest Monarchs in the world though hee were possessed with the greatest and richest kinngdomes of the world yet if hee were not vnited to Christ Iesus if hee were not possest of him he were nothing he had nothing hee were more miserable then the dust he treads on For Christ is all things he that hath Christ lacks nothing he that wants Christ hath nothing A man were better be nothing then something hauing nothing Who is able to expresse the worthinesse of Christ Iesus He is our life and our light our comfort and our crowne our grace our glory he is our all things he that hath him hath life saies Saint Iohn but hee that hath not him hath not life But had I the tongues of Men and Angels I could not declare the praises due to Christ Iesus my Lord and Sauiour If all the water in the Maine were incke yet all that incke were not enough to write downe his worthy praises Common experience teacheth that women feed their children yea out of their owne bodies as Sarah did Isaak with her owne milke And I haue read of a woman who gaue her owne mother sucke of her owne body when she being in prison was kept from meat and after such a sort a woman may preserue the life of her husband a while at least but did I neuer eyther see heare or read of a man that fedde and nourished his wife of himselfe He may bring her meat but he is no meat hee makes not himselfe a dish to feede on he giues his wife his heart but not as Hawkes-meat to prey on not rosted to liue on But Christ Iesus the Husband of the Church is also the very food of our soules I am that bread of life saith Christ I am the liuing bread The bread which I will giue is my flesh He which eateth my flesh and drinketh my bloud abideth in mee and I in him Here is a louer indeed the globe we tread on beares not a husband halfe so kinde nor all the Markets in the world can afford such meat as here If there were but a Baker which could make such bread for the body to keep it from death men would to him if he were in the farthest angle of the earth Countries would goe together by the eares to get and enioy him I suppose that if he had his choyce hee would rather chuse to dye then to liue For sure men would weare his flesh to the bones with labour and would scarce suffer him eyther to eate or sleepe But what gaines a man by long life without this Bread of Life Christ Iesus The Iudgement will come at length and shall not bee put off and the longer a sinner hath liued the more sinnes hee hath committed the greater accounts he must make the greater torments hee must indure And what pleasure thinke wee will the soule then take to be kept in the body like a Prisoner in a strong Goale vnder much pain want and sorrow against her will and not to be able to get out through she would begge it with flouds of teares continually streaming from the eyes and would giue euen all the world if shee had it if shee could but die and come to nothing Our Lord our Husband is better bread then so He is the bread of eternall life to all that are vnited to him and which feede vpon him They whom he feeds vpon himselfe are safe from staruing sure enough from destruction And. whereas other Bread is turned and concocted in vs the truth is This bread of life is not turned in vs not turned into the substance of our soule or body but it turnes and transforms vs rather into it For Christ doth so metamorphise and alter a man whom he couples to himselfe that he doth put a new life into him hee giues him another kinde of spirit and doth so furnish him with his owne things that
Coniunction throughout all ages and generations of men In so much that no stint or limit can be set to the value vertue and merite of his sacrificed body it knoweth no bounds of efficacie vnto life but is also it selfe infinitely able to purge and saue all in any place or age on whom Christ is pleased to conferre it Wee are then vnited by the vnion of grace to our blessed Lord and Sauiour Iesus Christ being locked and ioyned to him by the vnion of a singular and most blessed Dependance as hee is both God and Man For our very being as we are Christians true members of the Church his body doth wholly depend vpon him Our new life and pardon our iustice and holinesse and all our spirituall and celestiall gifts and comforts flow from him as water from a fountaine or as light from the Sunne and altogether depend vpon him so as that if any thing could come betwixt vs and him that could seuer vs from him or from the gracious operations of his Godhead or from the Cooperation and merits of his Manhead we could not wee should not continue new creatures Saints or liuing members of his mysticall body one moment of time but must needes presently become nothing dead cursed slaues fire-brands of hell and perishable I say againe the Godhead of Christ is in vs dwells in vs and we in it not onely because it fills vs as it fills all things else and is present with vs as it is throughout all the world but because cause it worketh mightily in vs and very graciously powring foorth and giuing vs all our new being life ioyes and vertues which we haue and for that it doth also susteine and keepe vs in this good estate it sets vs in In which respect we may truely say that God is absent from the reprobate and that they are separated from him And therefore also Saint Gregorie saith that All we which belieue in Christ are out of doubt his body And because he is become the head of his members by a maruellous dispensation of pietie therefore he is also onely with vs the rout of Reprobates being repulsed The Church of Christ is the chosen inheritance of Christ as Rabanus truely speaketh and therefore the Godhead of Christ visits and tends her onely with the visitation and presence of grace and mercy to saluation passing ouer the vast and drie Desarts and craggy rockes and sterilous mountaines of wicked Cast-awayes which are the heritage of Satan and confusion I say further the very flesh of Christ is in vs and we in it And that not onely Propter identitatem naturee because he hath a true humane soule and body as we haue but without sin like as the head and the body and the vine and her branches haue one kinde of substance or nature nor yet onely Propter conformitatem affectuum for conformity of affections or similitude of vertues or for because hee is in our hearts by loue and we in his which may be among faithfull louers and louing couples but also because wee are his worke and creation his fruite and edifice His very flesh doth sanctifie vs his bloud doth clense vs by the meanes and vertue whereof being the flesh and bloud of God our soules are quickned our hearts are purified our sinnes are washed away and wee nourished refreshed strengthened and preserued to life and glory From this sacred flesh of his our very bodies doe receiue that life which shall make them glorious at the latter day and for the which they are now reputed parcels of his blessed body These corruptible bodies of ours could neuer liue the life they shall liue but that they are here ioyned with his body which is incorruptible and that his is in ours as a cause of immortality a cause by remouing through the inualuable death and merite of his owne flesh that which hindered the life of ours And if a man may say the fire is in a man when the heat and vertue of the fire is in him as when he is hot burnt scorcht or scalded well then may a man truely say that Christ is in a man who partakes of his merit vertue and operations and who hath his very spirit dwelling and abiding in him who moulds him turnes him fashions him mortifies him quickens him and repaires him scorching drying consuming and burning vp the petulant and luxurious lusts and humors of sin within him Christ then both as God and Man is in vs within vs and is our Head in whom we are compleat And as from the head is conueied sense and motion into all the parts of the body And as the same soule which is in the head is in all the members of the body quickning mouing and directing them Euen so the holy Spirit of Christ is from Christ deriued into all the members of his spirituall body and from him as God and Man wee receiue our godly life and being and all those perfections wherein our godlinesse and happinesse standeth The Godhead indeed is the fountain of all grace and comforts but the manhead is the conduit-pipe by which they are from that fountain or spring-head conueyed and brought vnto vs euen as bloud is diffused by veines throughout the body from the liuer or as the sinewes do minister sense and motion from the braine But whereas sinewes veines and pipes of wood lead or other matter lacke reason iudgement and will the flesh of Christ is furnished with them in all perfections so that indeed neither the Deity without the Humanity nor the Humanity without the Deity but both do work together for our good and worke-out our life and glorie So then we participate whole Christ and the whole of Christ We participate Christ God and Man agent and patient liuing and dying descending ascending abased and exalted Hee that hath the tree hath the fruits he that hath the field hath the corne he to whom the sheep belongs is owner also of the fleece and fruite We participate Christ partly by imputation his obedience holinesse and sufferings being imputed to vs and iudged to be ours For the Suretie being ours his mony is also ours to pay our debts hauing freely vndertaken vpon him so to doe This mony is the iustice of Christ imputed to vs wherewith we buy out our iustification and liberty which we haue in Christ Iesus This as Salomon speakes of mony doth answere all things By it we obteine accesse to God pardon of our sinnes redemption from our enemies and euerlasting saluation And partly also we participate him by habituall and reall infusion as when grace is really wrought within vs and inhereth inwardly in vs true holinesse being ingrauen vpon our hearts by the finger of God whiles we liue on earth and hereafter more fully when both our bodies and our soules shall bee made like vnto his in perfit glory And because Christ worketh by his Spirit therefore hee bestowes his Spirit