462, f 'I he Life of Chrift. .Aquin. part ; .q 8 art.! Ean,zuent.ds(i. ; q. i t. de gra- tia capitl.f. cipatron of natures, a concurre#ce to the making up oft the fame bodie ; fo that Chrid accounteth Himfeife in- complete without his Church. This union ofthe faithful] toChrift, being one ofthofc deepe things of God, which are not difcernable without the Spirit is yet let forth unto us in the Scriptures under sundry vulgar and obvi- ous firrulitudes, which I will but touch upon. It is firlt feu forth by_the expreffion of a Rodie , confi- ding of divers members. Rom. i 2.4,5 , I Cor. t 2, 12, t 3. Eph, t . 2 2 2 3 . In which places the purpofe of the Apo - ide is to fhew how that the proportion that is betweene Chris} and His Church , anfwereth to that relation which is betweene the members of a body and the Head. For as in the naturali Body all the members are joyned by nerves and vitall !ligatures unto the Head, from whence they receive their ftrength and fenfation , and doe, by vertue of that union to the Head, retaine a fellowfhip and communion amongft themfelves : So is it betweene Chrid and His Church. Every member of the true and myfticall body of Chrifl is by a fecree knot of his Spirit fò fadned unto him, and fo compaaed with the other members by that which every joynt fupplyeth, as that the whole world of Elea, from Chrif} the Head and Ed borne of the Creatures, unto the lowed and meaneft o`'all his members , doe make up but one Body, unto which Child, by being the Head, bath rhefeprin- cipall relations. Firft he is the principle of all Spiritual] nfluences, as the Head of natural!. All the grace in us is but an overflowing and meafure from His fulnLffe. Secondly hee is the principle of all governement and di- reaion ; all the wifedome and prudence ofthe Church is from him. H;: is the everlading Counfell, or the Light that inlightneth every man that comech into the world, the power and the wifedome of God unto us. Thirdly, bee is conformable to the members (for Chrifts Church is no monder) and maketh them conformable unto him; he
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