that he gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word Eph. 5. 25 26. Upon which account we may well be called the Members of his Body of his Flesh and of his Bones vers 30. the Church being as it were taken out of his crucified Body as the Woman was taken out of the Man as Christ is said to have reconciled the Gentiles that is taken them into his Church in the body of his flesh through death Col. 1. 21 22. because the Covenant of Grace which is the Foundation of the Christian Church and receives Gentiles as well as Jews was sealed with the blood of Christ so that the Church is taken out of the crucified body of Christ which in the mystical sense answers to the Womans being taken out of the Man which seems to be the Apostles meaning in that place For the same reason Christ ownes himself our Friend Ioh. 15. 14. Ye are my friends if you do what soever I command you which does not signifie such an equality betwixt Christ and us as there is betwixt friends nor encourage any rudeness and unbecoming familiarity in our addresses to him but acquaints us with the nature of his government that he will rule his Church with the same care and tenderness which one friend expresseth to another So that all this is a description of the state of the Gospel in which our Lord and Master is our Shepherd our Head and Husband our Friend and Saviour who hath redeemed and purchased us with his own blood who laid the Foundation of his spiritual Kingdom in the most surprising and astonishing goodness and exerciseth his authority in all the methods of love and compassion Upon which account God also hath now laid aside in a great measure that severe name of a King and calls himself our Father to assure us of his fatherly care and government and to signifie that liberty of Sons we now enjoy under the Gospel in opposition to the bondage and servitude of the Law of Moses But then we must observe farther that though Christ be our Lord and Governour he doth not govern us immediately by himself for He is ascended up into Heaven where he powerfully intercedes for his Church and by a vigilant Providence superintends all the affairs of it but hath left the visible and external conduct and government of his Church to Bishops and Pastors who preside in his name and by his authority in the first Ages of Christianity Christ conferred such extraordinary gifts on men as qualified them for so great an office Eph. 4. 8. c. But though these miraculous gifts ceased when the Gospel was fully published and sufficiently confirmed yet the offices still continue for the instruction and government of the Church though managed in more ordinary and humane ways Christ now governs his Church by men who are invested with his authority which is a plain demonstration of what I discoursed above that the Union of particular Christians to Christ is by their Union with the Christian Church which consists in their regular subjection to their spiritual Guides and Rulers and in concord and unity among themselves For if our Union to Christ consists in our subjection to him as our Lord and Master our Head and Husband and this authority is not immediately exercised by Christ himself but by the Bishops and Pastors of the Church it necessarily follows that we cannot be united to Christ that is cannot owne his authority and government till we unite our selves to the publick Societies of Christians and submit to the publick Instructions Authority and Discipline of the Church as no man can be said to submit himself to his Prince who denies subjection to those subordinate Magistrates who act by his Princes Commission for the Union of Bodies Politick such as the Christian Church is consists in Order and Government when all the Members keep their proper places and are knit to each other by a faithful discharge of their several offices and trusts Schismaticks are in the Church just as Rebels are in the Kingdom not as part of it but as open and profest Enemies but the Apostle tells us wherein the Unity of the Church consists in Eph. 4. 16. Christ is the Head from whom the whole body fitly joyned together and compacted by that which every joynt supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part maketh increase of the body to the edifying of it self in love That is the supreme power is invested in Christ as Head to whom the Church is obedient and subject but to make this Union firm and lasting there must be a regular subordination of the several Members and a mutual discharge of all Christian offices which is the most effectual way to advance their spiritual growth in all Christian graces and especially to increase that love and friendship which is the very life and soul of the Church This indeed supposes a visible Society of Christians professing the Faith of Christ and living in communion with each other for if there be no such visible Society as it may happen in times of persecution or some great degeneracy of the Church it must of necessity alter the case our Union to Christ then consists in an acknowledgment of his Authority and Subjection to his Laws which makes us Members of the Universal Church though there be no particular Church to communicate with but when there is a visible Church we are under the necessary obligations of a visible Communion because herein our subjection to the Authority of Christ and consequently our Union to him consists And this by the way gives a plain account of the only cause that can justifie our separation from any Society of Christians for our Union with the Christian Church being the Medium of our Union to Christ while the Church we live in acknowledges the Authority and submits to the Laws of Christ we are bound to live in Communion with it because this unites us to Christ. When nothing is made the condition of our Communion which is expresly forbid by the Laws of our supreme Lord we acknowledge his Authority in our subjection to our spiritual Guides and we disowne his Authority in disowning and affronting theirs as our Saviour tells his Apostles He that heareth you heareth me and he that despiseth you despiseth me and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me Luk. 10. 16. But when any Church prevaricates in the Laws of Christ corrupts his Religion and undermines the fundamental design of it which is to make men good and vertuous when we cannot obey our spiritual Rulers without disobeying the express Laws of Christ the reason of our Communion with such a Church ceases because it doth not answer nay contradicts the end of Christian Society which is to have fellâ—wship with the Father and with his Son Iesus Christ. For in this case we cannot owne their authority but we must
him that bear not fruit hence to distinguish all true Christians from such Hypocritical Professors he adds and I in you that is my words abide in you Ver. 7. if my Doctrines and Precepts take fast hold of your wills and affections they will make you fruitful in good works Thus you see that the Union of particular Christians to Christ consists in their Union to the Christian Church And hence it is that the Ancient Fathers interpret all those Metaphors which decypher the Union between Christ and Christians to signifie the entire love and Unity of Christians among themselves Thus St. Chrysost. expounds Eph. 2. 19 20 21. where the Apostle speaks of that spiritual building which is erected on the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Iesus Christ being the chief Corner Stone to signifie the Unity of the Church in all Ages that both the Jewish and Christian Church are united in Christ as the several parts of the building are kept together by the Corner Stone and St. Ambrose to the same purpose tells us duos populos in se suscepit salvator secit unum in Domino sicut lapis angularis duos parietes continet in unitate domûs sirmatos i. e. That Christ united two people in himself the Iew and Gentile and made them one in the Lord as the Corner Stone unites two Walls in a building and makes it but one House Which is the plain design of the place to prove that Christ hath taken away the enmity and distance which was between the Jew and Gentile and hath reconciled them both to God in one body by the Cross Ver. 16. Thus St. Chrysost. observes on 1 Cor. 3. 9. that the Apostle to disswade them from Schisms and Factions tells them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. That they were Gods building and if they were Gods building they must not be torn asunder for then they are no longer a building and if they were Gods Husbandry they must not be divided from each other but they must be one enclosure hedged and walled in by Unity and agreement And adds let us therefore be built on Christ and cleave to him as to a foundation and as a branch to the Vine that there may be no distance between Christ and us to interrupt this Union for if there be we immediately perish for the branch draws nourishment and fatness from the Vine by its Union to it and the building stands firm by the strong adhesion of its parts Which plainly signifies that our Union to Christ consists in our Union to the Christian Church and when we divide and separate from the Church we are broken off from Christ as a branch is from the Vine we are then like a building whose stones fall asunder and destroy the whole fabrick Thus the same Father argues on Iohn 14. 21. to perswade Christians to Peace and Unity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. for he Christ unites us to each other by many examples and patterns of the closest Union He is the Head and we the body and the whole body by the Union of its several parts must be firmly united to the head He is the foundation we the building He the Vine We the branches He the Husband We his Spouse He the Shepherd We his Sheep He the way we those who are to walk in that way We are a Spiritual Temple and He it is who dwells in us He is the first born we his Brethren He the Heir we fellow Heirs with him He the life we those who live by him He the Resurrection we those who rise with him He the light and we are all enlightned by him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All these metaphors describe the nearest and closest Union of Christians to each other and of all to Christ which will not admit of the least distance and separation so that according to the sense of this Holy man particular Christians are united to Christ by means of their Union to the Christian Church otherwise I cannot understand how our Union to Christ can be an argument to Unity and Concord among ourselves if we are immediately united to the Person of Christ without being first united to his Church Which I wish those men would seriously consider who boast so much of their Union to Christ and yet rend his Church into a thousand little factions tear the members of his body from each other and yet pretend to be united to the head make new enclosures in the Husbandry and Vineyard of God and when Christ hath broken down the middle Wall of Partition and made Jews and Gentiles but one Church do now erect more Partition Walls in the Christian than ever were in the Iewish Temple But we need not depend on Authority for the confirmation of this notion that the Union of particular Christians with Christ consists in their Union with the Christian Church for those Sacraments our Saviour hath Instituted as Symbols of our Union with him are a plain demonstration of it Our first undertaking of Christianity is represented in our Baptism wherein we make a publick profession of our Faith in Christ and it is sufficiently known that Baptism is the Sacrament of our admission into the Christian Church and if any one should deny this we have the Authority of St. Paul for the proof of it 1 Cor. 12 13. For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body In which the Apostle seems to allude to Baptism which confers the same holy Spirit on us all and thereby makes us all members of that one body of Christ which is his Church but more expresly in Eph. 4. 4 5. There is one Body and one Spirit as you are called in one hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism that is the Christian Baptism is but one and is a Sacrament of Union making us all the members of that one body of Christ this is called being Baptized into Christ i. e. admitted into the Christian Church by a publick profession of our Faith in Christ. Thus the Lords Supper is a Sacrament of Union and signifies that near Conjunction between Christ and the Christian Church and the mutual fellowship of one Christian with another hence the Apostle calls the Cup of Blessing the Communion of the blood of Christ and the Bread the Communion of the body of Christ for we being many are one bread and one body one body represented by this one bread for we are all partakers of that one bread 1 Cor. 10. 16 17. For the Intention of our Lord and Saviour in what he did and suffer'd for us was not meerly to reform and save some single Persons but to erect a Church and to combine all his Disciples into a publick Society to unite them by holy Mysteries and to engage them to a mutual discharge of all Christian offices whereby the whole body may edifie it self in love and therefore our Saviour does not owne any relation to particular men as
Scripture mentions whereby our fellowship with God and Christ in this World is exprest hence it is called the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or the Communion and fellowship 1 Cor. 10. 16. The Cup of blessing which we bless is it not the Communion of the blood of Christ The Bread which we break is it not the Communion of the body of Christ And why he calls it the Communion appears from the following verses First because it signifies the Communion and fellowship of Christians with each other that they are all Members of the Body of Christ that they are all the Children of the same Father as being entertained by him at the same Table vers 17. And Secondly It is a Communion also as it signifies our fellowship with God Vers. 18. Behold Israel after the flesh are not they which eat of the Sacrifice partakers of the Altar The meaning of which is that the Sacrifice which was offered upon the Altar was reckoned as Gods meat as the Temple was his house and therefore those that eat of the Sacrifice were entertained at Gods Table which was a signification of their fellowship with him that he was their God and they his people Thus the Lords Supper is a Feast upon a Sacrifice even that great and stupendious Sacrifice of the Body of Christ which was offered upon the Cross and therefore to eat the consecrated Bread and drink the Wine which are the figures of his Body and Blood is to eat of that Sacrifice that spiritual food God hath provided for us Thus God entertains us at his Table as his own Children who are of his houshold and family as the Members of Christ who have a right to all the blessings of the new Covenant which was sealed with his blood This is the true Interpretation of all Feasts upon Sacrifice such as the Lords Supper in an eminent manner is that it is to eat of Gods food and to be entertained at his Table which is such an argument of our fellowship with God as eating and drinking together is among men always allowing for that infinite distance which is between God and us This is the only Act of Religion which in Scripture signifies Communion and Fellowship because it is the most proper signification of our fellowship with God and with each other but prayer and meditation and such like Acts of Devotion are no where called Communion with God though a prevailing custom hath in our days almost wholly appropriated that name to them fellowship with God doth not consist in transient Acts but is a state of life that relation we stand in to God and Christ and there is no Act of Religion which doth properly signifie this fellowship with God but only eating at his Table for you will not say that a poor man enjoys communion and fellowship with his Prince when he puts up a Petition to him to beg his charity or praiseth him for his clemency and bounty to pray to God is an Act of Homage which we owe him as he is our Maker and Father it is a duty which results from our relation to and fellowship with God but it is not in its own nature an act of fellowship and communion which expression I purposely avoid not only because it is improper and hath thrust out the true notion of our fellowship with God and not only the notion but the practice of it too for certainly did men understand what our fellowship with God is they would not so much neglect the Lords Supper which is the only Act whereby our Communion is exprest but also because men have abused it to great irreverence and familiarity with God in their addresses to him while they fancy that they are now acting the part of Gods Fellows and therefore may talk to him with such freedom as they use in common conversation I have discoursed these things at large because they are too commonly mistaken our Union to Christ hath been represented as a Riddle and Mystery which no body can understand the perfect knowledge of which must be reserved for the next World or the coming of Elias and the mistakes about it have had a bad influence upon all Religion not only to confound the notions but to debauch the practice of it The sum of what I have already said is this that those Phrases and Metaphors which represent our Union to Christ signifie our visible Society with the Christian Church and our sincere practice of the Christian Religion when we joyn in Communion with the Church of Christ and live in a regular subjection to our spiritual Governours and a mutual discharge of all Christian offices when we profess to believe the Gospel and to obey the Laws of our common Saviour then we are visibly united to Christ as Subjects to their Prince and Members to their Head and when this profession is sincere and hearty when we really are what we pretend to be then our Union to Christ is real and spiritual too A visible and real Union to Christ differ as a visible Professor and sincere Christian the one is a Christian only in show the other is what he pretends to be and this Union to Christ entitles us to his peculiar care and providence to the influences of his Grace to the power of his Intercession transforms us into his nature and likeness and makes us the Temple of God wherein he delights to dwell All this may be understood on this side Heaven and without sending for Elias to unriddle it and this is all the Scripture tells us of our Union to Christ. SECT II. Of our Union to the Person of Christ. I Know not whence it comes to pass that men love to make plain things obscure and like nothing in Religion but Riddles and Mysteries God indeed was pleased to institute a great many Ceremonies and many of them of very obscure signification in the Jewish Worship to awe their childish minds into a greater veneration of his Divine Majesty But in these last days God hath sent his own Son into the World to make a plain and easie and perfect Revelation of his Will to publish such a Religion as may approve it self to our reason and captivate our affections by its natural charms and beauties and there cannot be a greater injury to the Christian Religion than to render it obscure and unintelligible and yet too many there are who despise every thing which they understand and think nothing a sufficient tryal of their Faith but what contradicts the sense and reason of mankind I might give you too many instances of this but our present Argument may serve instead of many There is nothing more easie to be understood than our Union and Communion with Christ and it had certainly continued so had not some men undertook to explain it who have now made it more than mystical that is an unintelligible Union though indeed that is the least fault that it cannot be understood for as they have