The ?'ryal( of Firft, if no more but that there'might be a conformity of the head and members,it was meet we ail' members fhould grow,for we are predeflinated to be conformable to the Image ofhm .Bonne, Rom, 8. NowChtift did grow in wifdome, Luke z, ult. and z. 40, and 42. and therefore fo mutt we: But fccond ly,as he is our Head, he hath received allfulnefire, to that every end that we might grow even tofill all in all,Ephef. t.ult. Now we are empty creatures, at his firft takingof us, roh. 10.10. Icame, (ayes Chrift, that they might have life, (and not on- ly fo much as will keep body and foul together, as we fay, but) that they might have it more abundantly. Why is grace called life, and of lives the molt excellent, but becaufe it containeth all theeffentiall properties of life in it ? Now the main proper- ties of life are to move andgrow. The Stars they have a moving life, but theygrow not ; the Sun increafeth not, for all its tum- bling up and down, as fnow-balls doe : Plants they have a grow- ing life, but they move not out of their place ; but in Grace there is both. It is an aE7ive thing, and it is agrowing thing alto; and becaufe the more it is aged the more it grows, therefore its growth is expreíl'ed by its motion. Yea thirdly, as his fulneffe is for our growth, fo our growth makesup hisfulneffe, even thefulneffe ofChrifl myflicall, though Chrill perfonall is full without us:therefore the nature that every Chriflian grows up to, is called, Ephef. q. 13. The flature ofthe fulneffe`ofChrig. In like fpeech to this, Eph.i.z3. it is faid, that his body is hisfulneffe : and eph. 4. i 3. thegrowthof thefe mem- bers is Paid to be thefulneffe ofChrift fo that as Chrifl fhould be an head without a body, if he had no members, and his body a lame body, ifhe wanted any of thofe his members : fo it would be found a difproportioned body, as it were, ifany of thefe members fhould not grow to that nature God hath appointed them : So that as there will be plenituditopardon, a fulneffe of parts, no member lacking ; fo allo plenitudegraduum, no degree of growth wanting in any part , that fo Chrfi Who filleth all iti all, may befullyfull. And as there would be a deformity if any one fhould not grow, (as to have a witheredmember were adifhonour so the head) fo to have any one grow in immenfum, to too great a Etature, would breed as great adeformity on the other
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