527 / 808
Vea.
16.
ephefanr,Chap.4.
.
5o7
ceiving
of
it,
five
things mutt
lee
premifed.
I.
When
the Scripture calleth
Chrift
a
Head,
and
us
a
Body;
we
muff not conceive
of
is
as
properly fpoken,
as
if
Chrift
and his
mem-
bers were naturally
without
diftance
of
place
,
coupled
together
:
Chrift
is
in
the higheft Heavens,
wee
on earth; but
it is
a borrowed
fpeech,
byway of
refemblance
:
for
as
the
Head
is
firft in
order,
and
the
body
is
a
multitude
of
members couched under the
head,
fo
Chrift
is
in
all
things,
having
the
preeminence, and we are
a
multitude
of
petfons ordered
under him ; and
therefore
it
is
fitly
refembled by
a
King and his
Nobles
and
Commons,he
being
the Head, they the bo-
dy; by
a
Matter
of
a
Colledge,with
Fellowes
and
Schollers,the more
and
leffe
noble members
of
the Colledge under him the Head.
,
eff.
Why
then doth the Apoftle
ufe
the
comparifon
of
a
naturall
head
e
Anfw. Becaufe
that
as
from the
naturall head floweth fenfe
and
motion into the
body
:
So there
is
an
internall influence
of
gracefrom
Chriff into everyone
of
us,
which
in politick heads and bodies
is
not
refembled.
2,
It
mutt be marked
that
according to Scripture
and foundeft
reafon, the
head
is
as
the tower
in
which
the
foule principally
refi-
deth
:
So
Chrift
is
fuch
a
Head ,
who
is
not
man
only
in
our nature,
but
God,
and therefore
a
quickning
Spirit,
and the foule
of
his
body.
3. You
muff
know that
in
the
naturall
body,
no member receiveth
any
thing from the head,
which
is
not bybenefit
of
joynts
and
bonds,
(which
ferve
for conveyance from
the head to the members) coupled
with the
head
and the
cell
of
the body So wee get nothing from
Chrift,
till we by faith
are
coupled with him, and by love
are knit one
with another;
there are
the joynts
and
bonds, Ci1.2.z. wherethey
are
raid
to
be knit together in love.
q..
You
muff
know that
the
foule
(for the
prefcrving and periet
Ling
of
our bodies)
doth
put
forth
a
vitali
faculty which
nourifheth and
augmenteth
the body;
for
if
there
fhould
not be
a furnifhing
of
matter
for
fupply
of
that
expence which nature
is
at uncelfantly, (even
or
ten
dayes would be
all
we could indure.
2.
For
perfecting
of
the
body
it
putteth
forth
a quickning vertue
that doth
increafe us, and make us
grow
till we
come to the
full and due
ftature which nature bath de-
termined
:
and wherefoever
this
faculty
is,
there the
nutritive
is alfo,
though
not
on
the contrary,
as
we whenfoever
we
arc
increafed
,
we
are nourifhed,
though
after thirty five yeares
of
age, when our
increa-
fing
faileth,our nourifhing
is
Will
continued.
5.
Concerning this
vertue
of
the
foule
which augmenteth the
body, you
muff
know
twothings.
Firft
,that k
worketh proportio-
nably
to
the parr
in
which
it
worketh;
as
forexample,
the
fame pow-
er
of
the foule giveth
the headhis
increafe,
that giveththe
finger his,
yet
intthe finger it
worketh not beyond the
meafure
of
a finger.
Se-
condly,
this
powerlaffeth but
till every member
be
at
his
perfection,
then
it ceafeth
:
Thus Chriff
putteth forth
his
vital' forcewhieh doth
How Chrift
is
called
an
head,
and the faíth-
fullmembers.
The
sem-
blance be-
tween
Chrift
and the
natu-
rall
head and
the
Coale.