Christ's Care for His Church

The Lord nourishes and cherishes his church…When he first created man, he provided beforehand all things needful to nourish him…When he was moved deeply to destroy the earth…he had care of his church and provided an ark to keep her out of the water and stored up in the ark all things needful for her. When he purposed to bring a famine on the world, he sent a man beforehand to lay up a provision for his church. When his church was in a barren and dry wilderness, he gave them bread from heaven, water out of the rock…After this he brought his church into a land flowing with milk and honey…Neither has he merely nourished her with temporal blessings, but also with needful spiritual blessings–his Word and sacraments, his Spirit and grace… With his own flesh and blood he has fed her, and with his own righteousness he clothed her.
–William Gouge