Christus in corde, or, The mystical union between Christ and believers considered in its…

First, In Marriage, which though founded in nature, is a voluntary act; there must be a consent; the conjunction of Brutes is like themselves, out of an impetus of nature; but the conjunction of Man and Woman is, as becomes rational creatures, out of counsel and choice; a consent is necessary; Marriage is a contract, and that cannot be without a consent; he that wants reason, which is the root of liberty, cannot consent. If there be error personae, a mistake of the person, there is no consent; errantis voluntas nulla est, he that errs, consents not; if there be metus gravis ac violentus, a weighty and violent fear ⟨p. 48⟩extorting a consent, the consent not being free is as none at all: In all such cases, the Rule is, Ubi non est consensus non potest esse matrimonium, where there is no consent, there can be no marriage. Consensus facit matrimonium, the consent makes the marriage. Answerably, in the spiritual marriage between Christ and Believers there is a mutual consent, there are arrhae sponsalitiae, earnests and pledges given on both hands.¹ Christ hath carried the earnest of our flesh to Heaven, and from thence sent down the earnest of his Spirit to us; the consent is mutual: on Christs part there is a consent, though it be to espouse not Angels but men; not men in their primitive beauty and integrity, but men under a stain of sin and corruption; yet he consents to it, and that not out of error or mistake, but out of choice and transcendent love, which as early as eternity it self delighted in the sons of men, and in time calls and draws them into conjunction with himself: all the sweet wooings, pathetical expostulations, precious promises, and free offers in the Gospel, are as so many sure testimonies given to his consent. On the Believers part there is also a consent; they breathe after him, rest upon him, resign to him, and accept of him upon the terms of ⟨p. 49⟩the Gospel: In their consent two or three things may be noted.

First, In Marriage, which though founded in nature, is a voluntary act; there must be a consent; the conjunction of Bruits is like themselves, out of an impetus of nature; but the conjunction of Man and Woman is, as becomes rational creatures, out of counsel and choice; a consent is necessary; Marriage is a contract, and that cannot be without a consent; he that wants reason, which is the root of liberty, cannot consent. If there be error personae, a mistake of the person, there is no consent; errantis voluntas nulla est, he that errs, consents not; if there be metus gravis ac violentus, a weighty and violent fear