might unite us to him being God-man in one Person that the same Spirit which sanctified his humane nature might sanctifie us members of him It may yet further be observed that that very Spirit which as St. Austin speaks Spiritus Sanctus ineffabilis est quaedam Patris Filiique communio Aust de Trin. lib. 5. cap. 11. Insinuatur nobis in Patre authoritas in Filio nativitas in Spiritu Sancto Patris Filiique communitas in tribus aequalitas quod ergò commune est Patri Filio per hoc nos voluerunt babere communionem inter nos secum per illud donum nos colligere in unun quod ambo habent unum hoc est per Spiritum Sanctum Deum Dei donum Aust de Verb. Domini in Math. Ser. 11. is the communion of the Father and the Son doth unite us to Christ If we put all together we shall see the Spirit to be a most excellent bond In the Trinity it is the communion of the Father and the Son in Christ it is that which united the two natures and sanctified the humane in us it is that which unites us to Christ This is the primary Bond between Christ and Believers Touching this bond it is first to be noted that in Scripture not only the graces of the Spirit but the Spirit it self is said to be communicated to Believers To quote some places for this The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5.5 He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you Rom. 8.11 As many as are led by the spirit of God they are the sons of God verse 14. The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God verse 16. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you 1 Cor. 6.19 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Gal. 4.6 In these Texts two things may be observed The one is this the Spirit it self is meant it is the Spirit it self which sheds abroad the love of God in the heart which quickens the mortal body which leads the sons of God which beareth witness with our spirit the Text is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Spirit it self in express terms it is also the Spirit it self which hath a Temple in us which makes us cry Abba Father The other is this The Spirit it self is communicated it is given to us it dwelleth in us it leads and acts us it bears witness with our spirit it is in us as in its Temple it is sent forth into our hearts all which do import communication Also we may note as much in that Apostolical Prayer The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Amen 2 Cor. 13.14 Here are all the persons in the Sacred Trinity named here the Holy Ghost must needs be the Spirit it self none other but he is capable of being ranked with the Father and the Son yet there is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communication of him Also we may gather the same thing from the Promises of the Spirit made by our Saviour in the 14 15 16 Chapters of St. John there it is the Spirit it self which is promised it is the comforter the spirit of truth it is that spirit which proceedeth from the Father which teacheth all things and bringeth all things to remembrance which convinceth of sin and glorifies Christ which takes the things of Christ and shews them unto men all which shew that it is the Spirit it self Also there it is promised to be communicated it was to be sent to them to guide them into all truth to dwell in them to be in them to abide with them for ever all which do shew a communication of it When the Greeks erroneously held That the Spirit did proceed not from the Father and the Son but from the Father only one argument used against them was this If the Spirit was sent from the Father and the Son then it did proceed from both To this the Greeks replied That this sending meerly concerned the gifts of the Spirit not himself but this is directly contrary to the scope of those chapters in St. John if the Spirit be sent meerly because we have his gifts then the Father which we no where read may be said to be sent because we have his gifts when the Scripture saith that the Son was sent it was himself not meerly his benefits in like manner when it saith that the Spirit is sent it is himself not meerly his gifts I may here add somewhat out of the Fathers Ignatius tells them that they were blessed being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Epist ad Ephes such as carried God the Spirit a Temple within them St. Ambrose saith that the Holy Spirit dwells in us as in his Temple Non quasi Minister De Spir. Sancto lib. 3.13 sed quasi Deus inhabitat he dwells in us not as a Minister but as a God St. Austin speaking of the gift of the Spirit saith De fide sym cap. 9. that God doth not give seipso inferius donum a gift less than himself And again Euch. cap. 37. that the Spirit is donum aequale donanti a gift equal to the giver And in another place That the Spirit seipsum dat sicut Deus De Trin. lib. 15. cap. 19. In Oct. Pasc Serm. 1. gives himself as God St. Bernard hath this passage Est enim Spiritus ipse indissolubile vinculum Trinitatis per quem sicut pater filius unum sunt sic nos unum sumus in ipsis the Spirit it self is that indissoluble bond by which as the Father and the Son are one so also are we one in them I might add much more out of the Schoolmen but this may suffice It seems by these things to be clear that the Spirit it self is communicated to Believers neverthelss it is a Quaere how or in what sense the Spirit it self is communicated to them In answer to this I shall first take notice of three memorable expressions in Scripture That is the sending of the Spirit the giving of the Spirit the dwelling or inhabiting of the Spirit in us The first expression is the sending of the Spirit It may seem strange that an Almighty Alwise Alpresent Spirit should be sent but this mission is not per imperium as from one more potent than himself commanding him he is as high in power and majesty as the other two persons are it is not per consilium as from one more wise than himself counselling him he is one of the Domus judicii as some Rabbins call the Trinity one of the Three who fit in counsel together in Heaven Here is no local motion which cannot be
Believer in this posture is sure to hear of him he shall be more and more led into holy Truths his ear is opened and his mind in a readiness for further instruction The Spirit will make deeper impressions and seal divine Truths upon his heart The rich Mines of Precepts and Promises shall lye more open before his eyes Again Christ is a great King higher than the Kings of the Earth he was anointed with the Holy Ghost he hath all the power in Heaven and Earth his Laws are all rectitude and grace his Throne must be set up in the hearts and spirits of men Unto this Faith answers by that obediential temper which is in it It owns his Soveraignty it kisses his Scepter it chuses him as a Lord â—t loves to live in his Dominions if he come forth in his Royal Command it opens the everlasting doors that he may reign within This is a fit posture it is called receiving Christ Jesus the Lord Col. 2.6 Christ will own such as his Subjects he will more and more lift up his Throne in their hearts he will let them see more of his power and glory he will make them taste the fruits of his Government in protection and excellent rewards This is the second step of union between Christ and Believers There is that in Faith which answers to all his Offices there is satisfaction in him and recumbency in them instruction in him and docibleness in them Royalty in him and obedientialness in them 3ly There is by faith a right unto Christ God did not only send his Son in the flesh to satisfie and merit for us but he hath let down from Heaven a Charter of Promises that we might see upon what terms we may have a title to Christ By that Charter sealed with his blood the believer who also seals to it by faith hath a clear right unto him My beloved is mine saith the Church Cant. 2.16 Believers have a right to claim him as their own though he be an infinite person one who is a center of Perfections a treasury of merits having in himself enough to satisfie the heart of God and supply the wants of men yet may they claim him as their own His blood is theirs it is the blood of their Sponsor and Head it was shed on purpose to justifie them as to the Law to cleanse away their sins His Spirit is theirs it is upon him as an Head and Trustee accordingly it is to be communicated to them it is to flow in their hearts in rivers of living graces They have also a right to become the sons of God It 's true they are not as he is natural Sons but they are adopted ones In their adoptive Sonship there is as Aquinas observes a shadow of the Eternal One. He is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sum. 3. part q. 23. Ar. 2. or brightness of his Father and in them there is a splendor of grace resembling God in a measure at last they shall as sons enter into his joy and sit down with him in his Throne and there not only behold his glory but have a share in the blessed region and all this is made good by the Gospel one jot or tittle of which can no more fail than God can forfeit his truth and faithfulness This is another step there is by faith a true right unto Christ 4thly There is by faith more than a meer right to Christ there is an intimate union with him believers are built upon him as a foundation inserted into him as a Vine incorporated with him as an Head To understand which of a meer right is utterly to evacuate these Metaphors which were planted in Scripture on purpose to signifie a very near union with him It is said in Scripture That we are in him and he is in us We dwell in him and he dwells in us We abide in him and he abides in us To interpret these phrases of a meer right as if all the meaning were but this We have a right to him and he hath a right to us is to dispirit those expressions which do as Emphatically speak a very near union as any words can possibly do No man ever used such words to express a right no man can use higher to express an union In those phrases therefore we have an intimate union set forth unto us so also we have in that of the Apostle We are made partakers of Christ Heb. 3.14 Not meerly of his benefits but of himself When the same Apostle would set forth the Hypostatical union of our nature to Christ he saith That 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he did partake of our flesh and blood Heb. 2.14 When in this place he would set forth the Mystical union of believers to him he saith That we are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 partakers of him we do in a sort possess him we partake of him as members do of their head His satisfaction reaches down to us to make us stand before God his Spirit is communicated to us to make us a fit Temple for himself By faith we come to be in intimate union with him and in a spiritual manner possessed of him Thus much touching Faith as a bond of union with Christ The other bond is the holy Spirit The Scripture speaks of it negatively and positively Negatively If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 The Spirit of Christ is that which just before is called the Spirit of God which quickens our mortal bodies ver 11. which leads the sons of God ver 14. which makes them cry Abba Father ver 15. which bears witness with their spirit ver 16. He that hath not this Spirit in such measure as is necessary to Salvation he is none of Christs he is not united to him as a member none of his members are void of the Spirit Positively He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.17 Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he is in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 The same holy Spirit which is upon Christ the Head falls down upon believers as members of him though Christ an infinite person assumed an humane nature though his humane nature was in the same person with his Divine yet which is admirable to consider the holy Spirit had a special hand in uniting the humane nature to his person and in sanctifying it the holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Luk. 1.35 The holy Spirit descended like a Dove and lighted upon him Mat. 3.16 His Divine Nature was alsufficient and near enough to the humane yet was he anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power Act. 10.38 The sanctifying of his humane nature is in a peculiar manner attributed to the holy Spirit The reason I take it is this God in his wise counsel would have it to be so that the same Spirit which united the two Natures in the Person of Christ
Christus in Corde OR THE MYSTICAL UNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIEVERS CONSIDERED IN ITS Resemblances Bonds Seals Priviledges and Marks By EDWARD POLHIL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three-Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks Market 1680. TO THE Christian Reader THERE are three admirable Unions noted by Divines the essential Union of the Three persons in the Sacred Trinity the Hypostatical Union of the divine and humane natures in the Person of Christ and the Mystical Union which is between Christ and Believers In the first we have salvation in the primary fountain of it in the second we have it in the channel or excellent medium of it in the third we have it in the application or actual possession of it The Deity is an Immense Ocean of mercy and goodness but it flows out to us only in and through a Mediator Jesus Christ is a Mediator of Alsufficient righteousness and merit but he communicates himself only to those that are in union with him All our righteousness Caput membra sunt quasi una persona mystica ideò satisfactio Christi ad omnes fideles pertinet Aqu. 3. pars quaest 48. Art 2. Fiant corpus Christi si volunt vivere de Spiritu Christi Aust in Joh. Tract 26. In 3. part Thom. qu. 49. grace peace salvation depends on that Union If we are in him then his satisfactory righteousness covers us his Holy Spirit dwells in us but if we are out of him then our case is as desperate as if he had never satisfied justice as if he had never merited grace and eternal life for us Most true is that of Medina Tota ratio nostrae salutis in eo consistit ut induamus Christum the total sum of our salvation stands in this That we put on Christ who as a learned man hath it is in his imputed righteousness as an artificial garment to us and in his imparted graces as a natural one This mystical union which is of such high concern to our salvation is very signally set forth in Scripture There it is said that Christ dwells in Believers and they in him he abides in them and they in him which expressions point out a mutual inexistence of him and them But because this mystery is very deep the Holy Ghost in condescension to our weakness shadows out this Union by many earthly patterns viz. by the Law-union of a King and Subjects by the Love-union of an Husband and Wife by the Artificial union of the Foundation and Building by the Natural union of the Vine and Branches the Head and Members by the intimate union and incorporation of the Food and the Body There is that in the Mystical union which answer to all these earthly patterns and withal that which as much exceeds them as a substance doth a shadow The bonds of this union are Faith and the Holy Spirit Faith sees comes to receives leans on puts on feeds upon Christ as being the universal capacity to take in Christ into the Soul the Holy Spirit is primaria commissura the primary ligature which knits us to Christ That Spirit which is as St. Austin speaks Patris filii communio brings us into union with Christ that Spirit which united the two natures in Christ unites us to Christ Hence we become mystical parts of him of his flesh and of his bone nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one spirit with him The Seals of this union are Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is called by an Ancient Christianismi investitura in it we are said to be buried with Christ and to be risen with him which is notably adumbrated by the baptismal immersion into the water and eduction out of it In the Lords Supper the body and blood of Christ are really though spiritually present to our Faith we may eat his flesh and drink his blood unto life eternal we are as St. Cyprian speaks united to him spiritali transitione by a spiritual transition or passing into him and as St. Chrysostom hath it we are united to his body as that is to the word The priviledges of this union are so great that they are worthy to attract all men into conjunction with Christ the marks of this union are so plain in Scripture that Believers reflecting on themselves may have the comfort of their being in him These are the things that the ensuing discourse offers to the Reader with this only request that he would agnoscere quod Dei est and ignoscere quod hominis est If any glory may come to Christ or comfort to his members by this Treatise it is enough and as much as is aimed at by him who is A Lover of Truth Edward Polhil THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. MIllions in the Church miscarry for want of Vnion with Christ This is cleared from the two Covenants of Works and of Grace from the two heads Adam and Christ from the two ways and periods of mankind Two Vnions with Christ one in appearance another in truth this latter is a mystery it carries a respect to the Vnion of the Sacred persons in Trinity and to the hypostatical Vnion of two natures in Christ it depends on them it resembles them it is that the hypostatical Vnion aims at it is not to be measured by human Reason but by Scripture CHAP. II. The Scripture useth Metaphors to express holy Mysteries by because the mysteries are sublime because it would make us seek the things above It sets forth the mystical union by resemblances There is an analogy between it and other unions an excellency in it above them It sets forth the mystical union by that between a King and his Subjects The mystical union exceeds in the worthiness and nearness of the persons united in the rightness of Laws and Administrations in the intimacy of the union in the benefits of government particularly in protection and rewards CHAP. III. The Mystical Vnion set forth by the Conjugal one There is a mutual consent between Christ and believers The believers consent imports a right knowledg a free choice and a present compliance with Christ Christs consent is purely gratuitous believers purely supernatural Christ and believers mutually make over themselves each to other The Emphasis of that phrase one spirit opened There is an intimate love between Christ and believers he put on an humane nature for them they put off a corrupt nature for him He died for expiation they die in mortification There is a communication of good things from Christ to the Church the Church propagates in Believers and good works The mystical Vnion set forth by that of a foundation and a building Christ laid and Believers built on him by Divine Art The double cement of faith and the holy Spirit Christ is a large and strong foundation he bears up the Church by Divine influences CHAP. IV. The Mystical Vnion set forth by the Vine and the Branches Christ
hath one nature with Believers they are as branches in him and receive juice from him The mystical union set forth by the natural head and the body Those two famous Texts Ephes 4. 16. Col. 2. 19. considered which import more than when Christ is called Head over all things Head of principality and power Head of every man Head of the Heathen or Head of the Church as an Husband Christ as an Head hath the same nature with Believers but exceeds them in order as being first and highest in perfection as being full of Grace in virtue as influencing into the Church The necessity matter and way of this influence Christ an Head above all other heads as making of no member a member and as having virtue enough for a world CHAP. V. The mystical union set forth by that between the food and the body Christ is the true food He strengthens against the cursing Law He strengthens unto all duties He is united to Believers He is food by way of eminency Several conclusions drawn from the resemblances viz. That the Vnion between Christ and Believers is not meerly a political one That it is not meerly a moral one Several reasons to prove the same That this Vnion affords support to Believers That it gives a vital influence to them That it is a very intimate Vnion That it hath a great mystery in it That it is very lasting and durable CHAP. VI. There are two Bonds of this Vnion Faith and the Holy Spirit Faith sees and presentiates Christ to the Believer it puts the soul into an apt posture for him it gives a right to him it intimately unites to him The Spirit it self is in some sort communicated to Believers he is sent to them he is given to them he dwells in them his special operative immediate presence is with them he forms Holy Graces in them he actuates and preserves those Graces he sheds abroad Gods Love in their heart In all these Operations two things are noted viz. somewhat of Vnion with Christ and somewhat of the Inhabitation of the Spirit CHAP. VII The Seals of the mystical Vnion are Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is a Seal of Vnion not to all but to Believers Some Infants are in their infancy in union with Christ some come to it afterwards some never attain to it The Lords Supper is a Seal to confirm and exhibit Christ to us The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not a corporal one The Bread and Wine are not as the Papists say turned into his Body and Blood His Body and Blood are not as the Lutherans say in with and under the Bread and Wine The presence of Christ is spiritual He is present objectively to our Faith and virtually in the communicate Spirit Also the eating of Christ is not oral but spiritual CHAP. VIII The Priviledges of those that are in Christ are great Christs righteousness is imputatively derived upon them to deliver them from wrath to intitle them to life eternal Christ is their Advocate above he pleads for them that they may have pardon the spirit access to God They are adopted in him as sons they have a freedom in holy things a continual indulgence from God an heavenly inheritance They have the Holy Spirit in them it lives breathes moves operates in them They have communion with God their services answer to his call his communications answer to their services They are happy in every condition in prosperity their mercies are pure in adversity they have God with them and admirably appearing to them Our great work is Vnion with Christ CHAP. IX The Marks of Vnion considered In general the marks are internal no meer outward thing is a mark the marks are cordial no meer notion is a mark the marks are supernatural no meer moral virtue is a mark In particular The first mark is poverty of Spirit the second is an high estimation of Christ the third is a tender respect to the Bonds of Vnion the Spirit and Faith the fourth is a conformity to Christ a conformity to him in Graces in the rise of them and in the kinds a conformity to him in Sufferings in the mortification of Sin and in bearing of the Cross a conformity to him in his resurrection in heavenliness of mind and newness of life in matter and manner The conclusion in two words of advice one to those that are not in union with him the other to those that are in union with him ERRATA PAge 8. l. 5. read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 9. l. 4. r. arcanum p. 10. l. 20. r. viventes p. 48. in Marg. r. pignus p. 70. in Marg. r. vinea p. 72. l. 17. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 75. l. 16. r. Insititious p. 78. in Marg. r. palmitibus Ibid. r. moventem in se habere Christum movere in Christo Ibid. r. Araus p. 95. l. 15. r. secundum p. 110. l. 26. r. niti p. 112. l. 19. r. Capernaitical p. 121. l. 20. r. forinsecus p. 123. l. 12. r. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 146. l. 5. r. venit p. 168. l. 16. put a at self and dele at waiting p. 176. l. 18. Marg. r. unum p. 184. l. 10. r. nisi Christus in Corde OR The Mystical Union between Christ and Believers considered CHAP. I. Millions in the Church miscarry for want of Vnion with Christ This is cleared from the two Covenants of Works and Grace from the two heads Adam and Christ from the two ways and periods of mankind Two Vnions with Christ one in appearance another in truth this latter is a mystery it carries a respect to the Vnion of the Sacred persons in Trinity and to the hypostatical Vnion of two natures in Christ it depends on them it resembles them it is that the hypostatical Vnion aims at it is not to be measured by human Reason but by Scripture GREAT preparations are made in the Gospel for the salvation of men there God proclaims himself in rich titles of grace and mercy Christ is set forth as an All-sufficient Saviour and Redeemer His blood is a Laver able to wash away all sin his treasures of grace are enough to supply all wants In his precepts we have the true way of holiness and righteousness manifested to us in his Promises we have an heaven of life and immortality opened before our eyes all things are ready on Gods part one would think they should be so on mans whose elective faculty and instinct after happiness might in all reason prompt him to accept of so great an offer Nevertheless Millions in the bosom of the Church utterly miscarry their sins are unpardoned their souls are unsanctified the pure way of holiness is forsaken Heaven the region of bliss is lost and which is the prodigy of corrupt nature they run into perdition as if it were what it is impossible to be their choice or option The reason of this is because they are not nor will be united
to Jesus Christ We find them drowning in sensual pleasures or earthing themselves in worldly profits or breathing after popular air and vain-glory but they will not come to Christ to wash in his Blood or subject to his Scepter or tread in his holy steps that they may live for ever so they perish as if there were no Sayiour or Gospel Two or three things will make this evident There are Two Covenants the one of Works which runs thus Do this and live the other of Grace which runs thus Believe and live the first in congruity to man in his primitive integrity calls for perfect sinless obedience the other in condescension to man in his fallen estate asks only faith All men as sinners being short of the first Covenant none can be saved but by the second nor by that neither unless they be united to Christ the Charter of salvation gives nothing to those who are in a separate estate from the fountain the unbeliever who is so is condemned already condemned by the first Covenant and not saved by the second There are two Heads Adam and Christ both communicate to those who are theirs Adam communicates sin and death to his posterity Christ communicates righteousness and life to his believing seed There being nothing but sin and death from the first Adam none can be saved but by the second nor by him neither unless they be in conjunction with him He is the Saviour of the body there is no condemnation to those who are in him nor nothing else to those who are out of him There are two ways and two periods of mankind those who are in Christ walk after the spirit in the pure way of holiness and so pass on to that Heaven which is the center of sanctity those who stay in the first Adam in a state of corruption walk after the flesh in a way of disobedience and so pass on to that Hell which is the center of iniquity Hence it appears That Union with Christ is the critical point upon which eternal life and death depend upon this account the Apostle exhorts us to examine our selves in this great concern Know ye not that Jesus Christ is in you except you be reprobates 2 Cor. 13.5 Which is as much as to say if Christ took our flesh and we have not his spirit if he were a propitiatory Sacrifice and we are not sprinkled with his blood if he rose again from the dead and we are dead in sins and trespasses he profits us not at all To us as an * Sunt quibus nondum natus est Christus nondum est passus non surrexit usque adhuc Bern. de Resurr Dom. Ser. 4 Ancient speaks he is not yet born he hath not yet suffered he is not yet risen That is he is of no effect to us we are no better than reprobates rejectaneous persons such as God will put away as the dross of the earth Memorable are the words of the Learned Zanchy * De Verâ Dispensat 4. Tota verae justitiae salutis vitae participatio ex hâc pernecessariâ cum Christo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pendet The whole participation of true righteousness salvation life depends on that very necessary Union with Christ Union is a very extensive term the Philosophers reckon up many kinds of it some learned men distinguish Unity Unition and Union Unity is of one individual thing Union is of more than one met in conjunction Unition is the act of the efficient which joins things together Union is the state of the united which is produced by the unitive act There may be Union without Unition between the persons in the sacred Trinity there is an Union but it being an eternal one Unition which imports a temporal act can have no place therein but in all temporal Unions an Unition cannot be wanting that being it which tacks things together and of two makes them in a sort to become one In Union both the extremes are united but both are not always changed Thus in the Union of the Divine nature in Christ with the humane the change is not in the Divine nature but only in the Humane which is taken into one person with the Divine * In 3. Part. Aq. Art 7. In Quest 2. Medina taking Union so largely as to comprehend Unition in it observes in Union three things first the action by which things are united then the Union of the things united lastly the relation which arises between the extremes from the two former the conjunction of the extremes depends upon the unitive act the relation between them results from both the unitive act and the conjunction Union with Christ is union with him who is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God and man in one person were he only God the union of a faln creature to him being immediate and without a Mediator would be impossible were he only man the union of a faln creature to him being but a creature and so uncapable to be a Mediator would be unprofitable and to no purpose God-man is the Sponsor Mediator Head God-man obeyed suffered satisfied for us with him it is that the union is A double union with Christ may be noted the one is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in appearance only Thus the meer professor is united to him living in the Church and coming to the Ordinances he looks like a member of Christ and is as our Saviour speaks Joh. 15.6 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a quasi branch in him he seems to be such but in truth is not so he hath not the Spirit of Christ and so is none of his he is in union with sin and in that state cannot be in union with Christ What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness what communion hath light with darkness Bellarmine who holds hypocrites to be members of Christ confesses that they are but membra mortua dead members which is as much as to say they are but equivocal members or rather none at all Membrum mortuum est membrum pictum saith Aristotle a dead member is but a painted one Upon this account other learned Papists as Melchior Canus will not have them to be members at all but only parts members say they cannot be without life but parts may St. Austin best of all saith * Tract 3. in Epist Joh. That they are but as evil humours in the body Aut in membris sumus aut in humoribus malis either we are among the members or among the humours hypocrites are but as corrupt humours in the Church they do not fill up the Body of Christ but corrupt and deturpate it putatively they belong to Christ but really to Satan The other is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in truth and reality thus belivers are united to him as subjects they are under him as living stones they are built on him as a dear Spouse they are joined to him as fruitful branches they are implanted into him as mystical members they
as our excellent English Annotator speaks Locutio verbi infusio doni to call her fair is to make her so her beauty was not a jewel of nature but a love-token given from him Therefore in the next verse the Church breaks out Behold thou art fair my beloved she gives back all to him her beauty was but the reflection of his she shines not of her self but radiis mariti with the beams of her Husband and to him may say I am Japha because thou art Japhe I am fair because thou art so Indeed he espoused her upon a design of grace to change her Ethiopian skin and put a Divine beauty upon her Thus his consent was meerly gratuitous The other is this The Believers consent is purely supernatural Wives consent to their Husbands out of principles of nature but Believers consent to Christ out of principles of grace They are born not of blood of humane seed not of the will of the flesh of carnal concupiscence not of the will of man of the heroical acts of moral virtue but of God Joh. 1.13 His Holy Word is the Seed his Divine Love the Mover he himself the Generator of them their faith which is their consent is not of themselves but the gift of God Eph. 2.8 No ordinary wooing can produce their consent Christ doth not as common Suitors do woo outwardly only but he speaks to the heart and that not meerly as Shechem did to Dinah in kind words but as God did to Lydia in the inward operation of his spirit which opens the heart and from thence draws out a consent In the fall of man all the faculties fell and among the rest the believing faculty fell also and as it lies in the ruines it cannot without the elevations of supernatural grace lift up it self and give a consent to Christ he is a supernatural object and a consent to him must be from a supernatural principle no less than an heavenly suada can draw it out towards him Again In Marriage Man and Wife do by consent pass over themselves each to other hence the Apostle tells us The wife hath not power of her own body but the husband the husband hath not power of his own body but the wife 1 Cor. 7.4 There is a communion of bodies between them in re sociali no one hath a plenary right each one hath a right in the other In like manner in the spiritual marriage Christ and Believers do by consent pass over themselves each to other Hence the Church saith My beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.16 each one of them hath a communion and propriety in the other Christ gives himself to Believers his atoning blood is his own yet they may wash in it his resurrection is his own yet are they raised up and made to sit together in heavenly places in him his intercession is his own in the glory and excellency of it yet is it theirs for their singular use and benefit Again Believers give themselves to Christ their minds are devoted to his holy light their wills are resigned to his sacred will their pious posture tells the world That they are not their own but his to give him all is their duty to keep back the least part from him is no less than sacriledg because all is consecrated to him Thus in both the Marriages there is a giving of themselves each to other yet still there is an excellency on the spiritual side Man and Wife make over themselves mutually so as to become one flesh but Christ and Believers make over themselves mutually so as to become one spirit It is the Apostles observation He that is joined to an harlot is one body for two saith he shall be one flesh But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6.16 17. A communion of bodies is a great thing but what is it to that union which is between Christ and his Church in which there is one and the same spirit in both Man and Wife however united in love have two different souls but in Christ and Believers there is but one spirit I know some Divines interpret this one spirit to be only this That there is one temper in Christ and Believers but this though a very great truth is not the all or full Emphasis of the Text. When the Scripture tells us that the mind of Christ is in us it may be fairly interpreted of one temper but when it tells us of one spirit it must needs import something more high and mysterious To make this appear the circumstances of the Text must be considered the Apostle in this place dehorts them from fornication not only because it is a sin against our own bodies vers 18. but from three other reasons First our bodies are the members of Christ and shall we make them the members of an Harlot vers 15. Then we are joined and one spirit with Christ and shall we be joined and one flesh with an Harlot vers 16 and 17 Lastly our bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost and shall we profane that Temple by finning against it vers 18 and 19 Here it is to be noted That these three Reasons are fundamentally but this one viz. That we have the Spirit of Christ in us this Spirit makes us Members this Spirit being in us we are one Spirit with Christ this Spirit hath a Temple in us therefore upon the account of this Spirit we should fly fornication It is also to be noted that these Reasons which are fundamentally one do depend upon one another the first is confirmed by the second and the second is explained by the third that we are members of Christ is clearly confirmed in that we are one spirit with him and that we are one spirit with him is excellently explained in that we are the Temples of the Spirit all three Reasons hang together and make one great argument against Fornication This being the scope and order of the place the phrase one spirit must be construed in such a way as may sute to the antecedents and consequents as to the antecedents it must import that spirit which makes us members of Christ as to the consequents it must import that spirit which hath a temple in us either way it must needs be meant of the holy Spirit It is that which makes us members of Christ If any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8.9 Non potest vivere corpus Christi nisi de Spiritu Christi In Joh. Tract 26. saith St. Austin The Body of Christ cannot live but by the Spirit of Christ That is no member which hath not the same spirit with the head Also it is that which hath a Temple in us Deus Templum habet De spir sancto l. 3. c. 13. creatura Templum non habet saith St. Ambrose God only hath a Temple the creature hath none Si Deus Spiritus Sanctus non esset
Jewels and attire If Adam had a world Eve did participate with him Thus it is in the earthly marriage much more is it so in the spiritual one When such an one as Christ is joined to Believers what and how great must the communications be The earthly Husband according to his state and degree doth communicate to his Wife what then doth Christ who hath a Deity and unfearchable riches in him communicate to those who are in conjunction with him Want they cannot while he hath a Deity or be without a supply till his riches be exhausted They go no longer in the rags of their own unworthiness but are covered with the robe of his pure righteousness guilt can no longer abide on them because they are sprinkled with his aroning blood while he hath an Holy Spirit they cannot want the Jewels and ornaments of Grace their love meekness obedience patience shew that he hath put some of his beauty upon them his wine-cellar of Scriptures and Ordinances stands open to them that they may taste and drink of Divine Consolations at last they shall enter into the palace of Heaven and there partake of his glory No Husband but himself can so communicate The other is this That in Marriage there is a due propagation of mankind individuals dye but mankind is preserved generation supplies what death devours Also in the spiritual marriage there is a double propagation one of Believers another of good works First in the Church there is a propagation of Believers such an one as Christ could not but have a seed his name was to be continued as long as the Sun Psal 72.17 In the original it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 his name shall be sonned or childed in a succession of Believers The Church at first was in a Believer or two but being Christs Spouse she becomes Mother of thousands a spiritual Eve to bring forth Sons unto God In the power of the Word and Spirit which are as the seed and formative virtue in this heavenly generation multitudes of Believers come forth as the dew from the womb of the morning not in the Jewish Church only but in the Gentile world also the wilderness buds and blossoms the barren sing for joy the tent is enlarged the curtains are stretched forth the Church breaks out on the right hand and on the left in an admirable fertility this is the fruit of this Divine Marriage between Christ and his Church Again In particular Believers there is a propagation of good works as we are in conjunction with Adam we are impotent and barren but as soon as we are in conjunction with Christ we have power and holy fruits To open this it will be worth while to consider the words of the Apostle Ye are become dead to the law by the body of Christ that ye should be married to another to him who is raised from the dead that we should bring forth fruit unto God For when we were in the flesh the motions of sins which were by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death But now we are delivered from the law that being dead wherein we were held that we should serve in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter Rom. 7.4 5 6. Here we have two sorts of persons the unregenerate who are in the flesh of corrupt nature and the regenerate who have a new spirit or principle in them Two sorts of Marriage one unto the Law in the unregenerate and another unto Christ in the regenerate Two sorts of fruit one unto death in sinful actions another unto God in good works The unregenerate are married to the Law they are under the curse of it as sinners they have but the naked letter of it which commands but helps not Nay their corruption is accidentally irritated by it their inward malignity swells and rises against the holy commands which stand in Scripture as so many dams and bars to their impetuous lusts Hence they bring forth nothing but fruit unto death what they seem to do in Gods service they do only in the oldness of the letter in the external work without a spirit or principle for it The regenerate are dead to the Law and married to Christ they are not under the curse of the Law but pardoned in Christ they have not the meer outward letter only but the quickning spirit they are not irritated by the command but delight in it as in their joy and treasure Hence they bring forth fruit unto God they serve him in newness of spirit in the suavity of internal holy principles their good works are not brought forth in bondage and servility but by a free spirit and in the easiness of the new creature We see here that the progeny of good works issues not out of nature or the letter of the Law but out of a conjunction and spiritual marriage with Christ who by his Holy Spirit quickens Believers to bear holy fruits The conjugal union in the earthly pattern not being enough the Holy Ghost goes on to set forth the mystical union by that which is between the foundation and the building Christ in Scripture is called a foundation upon a double account he is the foundation of Doctrine Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 Here the Apostle speaks of a foundation of Doctrine the consequent words make this appear the gold silver and precious stones are pure and solid Doctrines the wood hay and stubble are vain and frivolous ones both are called mans work which the fire shall try He is also the foundation of Believers They are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone Ephes 2.20 It 's true the Apostles and Prophets are here called a foundation but they are only a doctrinal foundation Christ is the personal one they are a foundation metonymically only Christ is so properly upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets is no other than upon Christ whom they in their Preaching laid as the foundation of the Church The Foundation and the Corner-stone are both one and the same Christ as a Foundation he bears up and sustains the Church as a Corner-stone he joins and holds together the two walls of it made up of Jews and Gentiles In this resemblance three or four things may be considered The Foundation and the Building are both framed by Art First the pattern is in the mind of the Builder and then the thing is set up In the Spiritual Foundation and Building the Art was not humane but Divine the Idea of them was not in mans mind but in Gods man falling off from his bottom of primitive integrity could not have a foundation in himself God in infinite wisdom contrived that he might have one in another the way was admirable the eternal Word was made flesh two natures met in one person an humane in
which he obeyed and suffered for us and a Divine which put an infinite value upon his obedience and sufferings in these full satisfaction was made for sin a purchase of grace and glory was obtained for sinners an incomparable pattern of sanctity and obedience is set before us and an Holy Spirit is provided to quicken us to imitate him Mercy runs freely in the channel of the Promises Proclamations of Grace are made unto men Here 's the Foundation upon which fallen man may be built up unto righteousness and life eternal Oh riches of Wisdom wonder of Love It 's true natural and carnal men while such are no more fit among persons than hay and stubble are among Doctrines to be built upon this Foundation but the same Wisdom which laid the Foundation will build the House the Holy Spirit is sent forth to work faith in men and thereby to frame them to be set upon the Foundation hence the Apostle saith that the whole Building is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitly framed together Ephes 2.21 each part of the Building is aptly and congruously united to the Foundation and to the other parts of it the Building answers to the Foundation and both to the Idea in the infinite Mind To contrive these was one of the greatest thoughts that ever entred into Gods heart and to effect them was one of the greatest works which ever was done in time Between the Foundation and Building there is somewhat that joins and cements them together between Christ and Believers the cement is not material but spiritual these are joined together by Faith and by the Holy Spirit Faith is one cement Behold I lay in Sion a chief corner-stone elect precious he that believeth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 Faith joins the Believer to the Foundation that 's the Reason that he shall not be confounded Sin Satan the World shall not confound him because he is built upon a Foundation in which is Propitiation Grace and Victory the Divine Favour the influences of Grace the Crown of eternal Life shall not fail him because he is joined to a Foundation in which the Promises of these things are Yea and Amen The Holy Spirit is another cement In whom that is in Christ the Foundation you are builded together for an habitation of God through the spirit saith the Apostle Ephes 2.22 The earthly Foundation and Building are joined together by dead matter like themselves Christus sive lapis sit in aedificio sive radix in arbore sive vitis in viveâ sive caput in corpore semper est non solum vivens sed vita vivificans Zanch. in loc but Christ who is a living Foundation and Believers who are lively stones are united together by the Holy Spirit this is a great mystery the same Holy Spirit which is in him is in them also Again The Foundation supports and bears up the Building in like manner Christ supports and bears up the Church the whole weight of it lies upon him without him all the spiritual stones would instantly sink and totter down into a chaos of emptiness and confusion To make the excellency of this supportation appear we must consider first what manner of Foundation he is and then in what manner he bears up the Church Touching the first He is a Foundation able and every way compleat to support and bear up the Church a short scanty Foundation cannot do its office but he is an ample large one multitudes of Believers in all ages have been built upon him and yet there is room for more Did all the men in the world build upon him by Faith he would bear them all up to life eternal a weak faultring Foundation cannot do its office but he is a strong one a Rock which cannot fail When St. Peter made that glorious confession Thou art Christ the son of the living God our Saviour answers him Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church Matt. 16.18 The Rock here is not confessing Peter but the confessed Christ our Saviour saith not thou art Peter and upon thee but thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my Church Peter is not the Rock but built upon it Hence St. Austin observes Tract 124. in Joh. Non a Petro petra sed Petrus a petrâ sicut non Christus a Christiano sed Christianus a Christo vocatur the Rock is not named from Peter but Peter from the Rock as Christ is not named from the Christian but the Christian from Christ All Believers are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Stones Christ only is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Rock upon which they are built they being Stones may be moved but he being a Rock is unmovable and for ever the same Peter fell greatly had he been the Foundation the whole Church must have fell with him had not Christ been a Rock to him his fall would have been final These words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 upon this Rock note that one individual Foundation upon which the whole Church is so built that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it To be such a Foundation none is capable but Christ only it is not to be imagined either that the whole Church should be built upon a meer man or if it could that being so weakly founded it should stand against the powers of darkness Christ the true Rock is not a meer man but the Son of the living God he hath the strength of a Deity which cannot fail Earthly Foundations may be eat up by time or ruined by violence but he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a founded foundation or a foundation of foundations Isa 28.16 No time can deface the eternal One no violence set its foot upon the Almighty he abideth ever to support his Church Touching the second The supportation of the Church is in a spiritual way it is bore up not as an earthly building by dead matter but as a spiritual House by the influences of Grace To whom coming as unto a living stone disallowed indeed of men but chosen of God and precious Ye also as lively stones are built a spiritual House 1 Pet. 2.4 5. He is a Living Foundation one who hath an endless life of merit and the Spirit of life above measure Hence Believers who are built upon and as it were parts of him are maintained in life his Spirit by continual influences and spirations of Grace bears them up in their spiritual being and life the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against them CHAP. IV. The Mystical Vnion set forth by the Vine and the Branches Christ hath one nature with Believers they are as branches in him and receive juice from him The mystical union set forth by the natural head and the body Those two famous Texts Ephes 4. 16. Col. 2.19 considered which import more than when Christ is called Head over all things Head of principality and power Head of every man Head of the
together increaseth with the increase of God Col. 2.19 Here Christ is the head and Believers the body here the body is fitly joined together and compacted there is in all the members a congruity and a close conjunction unto the Head and unto one another here are joints and bands the primary ligature is the Holy Spirit which makes Christ and Believers to be as it were continuous and to touch one another Under the Spirit are the bonds of Faith and Love Faith unites and incorporates Believers into Christ Love glues and cements them one to another here 's an effectual working in the measure of every part the holy Spirit stirs up the principles of Grace in Believers the principles of Grace stir up the Soul the Soul in the virtue of those principles stirs up it self all is set into motion from Christ the Head Lastly Here 's an edifying of the body an increasing with the increase of God Believers grow up into Christ in all things their Faith is more radicated their Love is more inflamed their union with Christ becomes closer their likeness to him grows more lively than before in every part of the new creature there is a Divine increase and all is because they are united to the Head Between Christ and Believers there is an apt and intimate union made by excellent joints and bands through these bands there comes to be an effectual working in Believers by this working there issues forth an increase of all holy graces O what an Head is Christ how happy are Believers who are in conjunction with him the excellency of this union is much beyond what can be said or thought of it it is not for us to dive into the bottom of it or to see it in the full compass Nevertheless that we may know somewhat of it it is worth while to compare the headship of Christ in these two excellent Texts with his Headship in other Scriptures he is Head over all things Ephes 1.22 He is Head of all principality and power that is of Angels Col. 2.10 He is Head of every man 1 Cor. 11.3 He is Head of the Heathen reigning as a King over them Psal 18.43 He is Head of the Church as the Husband is head of the Wife Ephes 5.23 But his Headship in those two famous places imports much more than the other headships Christ is head over all things to the Church Ephes 1.22 That is the Churches Head hath a power over all things God hath highly exalted him saith the Apostle Phil. 2.9 In the original there is an emphatical Pleonasm 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God exalted him above all exaltation lifted him up above all altitude hence Christ hath a name above every name he sits at the right hand of Power and Majesty all creatures in Heaven in Earth under the Earth that is Angels Men Devils all must bow the knee to him every tongue must confess him to be Lord all things are put under him not only the lower world as it was to Adam but all the Creation Angels themselves who are the top of it not excepted he hath all the power in Heaven and Earth thus he is head over all things But we must observe here the Apostle doth not say that he is head unto all things but head over all things which denotes only power not union neither doth he simply say that he is head over all things but that he is head over all things to the Church which imports that though he be Lord over all yet he is a proper peculiar head to the Church he is united to it as to his body not so to all things though all things be reduced to him as an head of power over them yet all things are not his body he is united to the Church by joints and bands not so to all things he communicates his own spirit to the Church not so to all things he is head over all things that he might be a complete allsufficient head to the Church his universal power makes him meet to protect and preserve the Church which is his body and chief care all things are managed in ordine ad spiritualia in a subserviency to the Churches good Christ is head of all principality and power Col. 2.10 That is he is an head of eminency and power over the Holy Angels he is made so much better than the Angels as he hath by inheritance a more excellent name than they Heb. 1.4 Unto which of the Angels said God the Father at any time Thou art my Son or sit thou at my right hand vers 5. and 13 Angels are Sons by creation but Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the proper Son of the Father not as creatures made out of nullity but a proper Son begotten out of his substance Angels as Courtiers of Heaven stand in the presence of God but he sits at his right hand in state and majesty Angels and Authorities and Powers being made subject unto him But to Believers he is an head of union and influence the Church made up of them is his body homogeneal and of one nature with him joined to him by the bands of Faith and a regenerating Spirit and supplied from him with spiritual life and motion thus it is not with Angels It is true some worthy Divines hold That from Christ God-man there is an influence into the holy Angels not only of illumination and accidental joy which may be easily granted but of confirming and establishing grace He is say they a Mediator to them though not of redemption and reconciliation yet of preservation and confirmation in their holy estate The Apostle saith that God doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gather together as into one head in Christ all things in Heaven and Earth Ephes 1.10 And again that he doth by him reconcile all things in Heaven and Earth to himself Col. 1.20 St. Bernard speaking of Christ saith In Cantica ser 22. Qui erexit hominem lapsum dedit stanti Angelo ne laberetur he who lifted up fallen man gave that grace to the standing Angel that he should not fall But here I crave leave to dissent and to offer some things by way of answer 1st The distinction between a Mediator of Redemption and a Mediator of Confirmation only is not I think to be found in Scripture we read of a Mediator between God and men not of a Mediator between God and Angels A Mediator is not a Mediator of one Gal. 3.20 but of more than one and those not in amity as God and Angels are but at variance as God and fallen man are A Mediator as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports is a middle person interposing between parties at variance but God and holy Angels are not at variance at all that any should interpose between them It is congruous that a Mediator should partake of the same nature with those for whom he mediates the one Mediator between God and man is the man
one would think there were no other world but an outward sensible one spiritual sensations are not from meer notion but from Christ the Head Further He influences motion into them Whether they be melting in repentant tears or burning in acts of holy zeal or drawing out their souls in charity or sweating in a lawful calling or bowing down under an afflicting providence all the motion is from the Head without him all their Graces would lye dormant in an habit and be as it were none at all It is the Head which awakens them and makes them go forth into act I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me saith the Apostle Phil. 4.13 The holy action is in Believers but the strength is in the Head only whatever good they do they must thank the Head for it which not by an outward command only but by an inward virtuous influence also bids them arise and do it The last thing is the way how the influence comes from Christ unto Believers We are not to think that the habits of Grace in Christs humane nature are transfused into us habits go not out of their subjects into another they produce acts in their own subjects but procreate not habits in foreign ones But this is the way Christ being full of all Grace did by his glorious satisfaction and merit procure that the same Holy Spirit which is upon himself the Head should fall down upon Believers the mystical parts and members of him Hence the Apostle saith that the Holy Spirit is shed on us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour Tit. 3.6 Had not he atoned and merited for us the Holy Spirit would not have touched upon one fallen Son of Adam but in and through him there is as St. Chrysostom speaks In Ephes cap. 4. bom 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Spirit flowing from above which touches every member of his body After this sort he is an Head of influence to his Church communicating his Spirit to all his members to unite them one to another and all of them to himself the Head There is one body and one spirit Ephes 4.4 Were there not one Spirit in Believers they being as far distant from one another in time as the morning and evening of the world and in place as the parts and quarters of the earth could not possibly be one body were not the one Spirit from Christ he could not be an Head of influence to his Church or carry himself to it as his Body but there being one Spirit in Believers they are one Body and that one Spirit being from Christ he is an Head of influence to them Thus the Apostle saith That he is head over all things to the Church which is his body the fulness of him that filleth all in all Ephes 1.22 23. Such an Head is he as filleth the Body his Church with his own Spirit It 's true the Church is his fulness in one respect though he hath all fulness in him and filleth all in all yet as he is an Head which he deigned to be to us he is not full without a body but he is the Churches fulness in a much higher resperct the Church is his outward fulness supplying him with members without which he is not compleat as an Head but is pleased to accoumt himself maimed but he is as I may so say the Churches inward fulness by his own Spirit moving and actuating it as his Body The Church is his fulness in respect of integrity of parts without which he would be as an Head without a Body but he is the Churches fulness in respect of virtue and the spirit without which the Church would not be a living Body depending on him as a living Head Thus he is an Head of influence to Believers communicating in a measure his own spirit to them Notable is that of Durandus Nullus actus vitae est in corpore qui non sit in capite In Sext. lib. 3. dist 13. quest 1 nullus actus gratiae est in totâ Ecclesiâ ad quam se non extendat gratia Christi There is no act of life in the Body which is not in the Head there is no act of Grace in the whole Church to which the Grace of Christ extendeth not it self It is further to be noted that Christ is an Head of incomparable excellency he is not only Head over all things but an Head above all other heads and for this I shall instance in two things The one is this The natural head cannot make membrum de non membro a member of that which was none before but Christ such is his excellent virtue can draw and gather men off from the old corrupt stock of Adam and transplant and incorporate them as members into himself the Head naturally they were lost but he seeks them dark but he inlightens them dead but he quickens them foul but he washes them black but he puts a beauty upon them all the members of him may admire infinite Grace and say we were not the people of God but now we are so we were not members of Christ but now we are so In Adam the first head all men were ruined but Christ the second Head hath power over all flesh Joh. 17.2 to draw and gather men into union with himself and in so doing to make his Power and Grace illustrious The other is this The natural Head hath virtue enough for its own members but Christ our Head hath virtue enough for a world did all the men on earth by Faith come into union with him there would be no defect but a supply of grace for them all his satisfaction and merit are of an immense value his Spirit is a fountain of Grace never to be drawn dry or exhausted There is in him as Bonaventure speaks not only plenitudo sufficienciae In Sent. lib. 3. dist 13. qu. 3. a fulness of sufficiency as in the Saints but plenitudo superabundantiae a fulness of superabundance enough to overflow a whole world of men in case they were by Faith united to him Oh! what an Head is Christ there is a famine of Grace in lapsed nature but in him there are stores and treasures for our supply there is a fulness of sin in us but in him there is a superabundance of Grace to overcome it in him we may see holiness not in the little Pictures of it as in the Saints but in the great Sampler and Origen thereof That beautiful thing Grace in him appears not in beams and drops but as in a Sun or Ocean Happy are those who are in union with him they live in the spring and universal principle of Grace in all the acts of spiritual life sense and motion they may feel the Power Virtue and Divine Efficacy of him the Head CHAP. V. The mystical union set forth by that between the food and the body Christ is the trùe food He strengthens against the cursing Law He
strengthens unto all duties He is united to Believers He is food by way of eminency Several conclusions drawn from the resemblances viz. That the Vnion between Christ and Believers is not meerly a political one That it is not meerly a moral one Several reasons to prove the same That this Vnion affords support to Believers That it gives a vital influence to them That it is a very intimate Vnion That it hath a great mystery in it That it is very lasting and durable AFter all these resemblances the Holy Ghost yet proceeds on to set forth the mystical union by that which is between the food and the body This resemblance we have notably opened in the Sixth chapter of St. John where our Saviour who used to spiritualize every thing raises up his discourse above earthly food to heavenly above the typical to the real Manna which is himself who came down from Heaven to give life to the world In this Discourse several things offer themselves to us 1st Christ is the true food of the Soul The Jews dream'd that at the coming of the Messiah they should have a wonderful feast of outward varieties but he tells them that he himself was the feast My flesh is meat indeed my blood is drink indeed vers 55 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is though Metaphorically yet truly such it doth what meat and drink are to do nourish and strengthen the receiver nay it hath not only an analogy to but an eminency above all corporeal food it nourishes and strengthens us in the Soul the noblest part of man and that not for a day but to all eternity Hence our Saviour tells them That they should not labour for the meat which perisheth but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life which the Son of man should give unto them vers 27. He is the food of the Soul upon a double account The one is this His flesh and blood as crucified and satisfactory to Divine justice do strengthen us against the curse and condemnation of the Law The moral Law is immortalized by its own intrinsecal rectitude the very frame of mans soul puts him under it his Reason cannot but be bound to know the supreme Truth his Will cannot but be bound to love the supreme Goodness the respects in his rational powers towards the Creator are a Law not to be altered as long as God is God and man man this Law cannot but be obligatory one jot or tittle of it cannot fall to the ground To make it the more sacred and venerable Divine Justice fenced it in with a Threatning and added a Curse against the transgressor Cursed is he that continueth not in all the points of it The wages of sin is death All men being transgressors Conscience as soon as it is awakened tells a man his own these and these things are sins thus and thus thou hast done the offended Law condemns thee the wrath threatned hangs over thy head the consequent of this is That the heart is full of inward wounds and terrors it knows not which way to look or turn it self Take a sinful man in these circumstances where doth his strength lye what plea or answer hath he to the broken Law How or which way may the Curse be avoided or the Conscience eased The only thing can be said is this Christ was made a Curse for us he is the end of the Law for righteousness he hath made a perfect atonement and satisfaction this is the Believers hope and confidence this is his great plea and answer to the charge of the Law Ostendo sidejussorem meum saith Bishop Davenant when the Law makes its demands against me I shew my Sponsor Christ who satisfied it This is lively expressed in Anselms direction for the visitation of the sick Si Dominus te voluerit judicare dic Domine mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi objicio inter me tuum judicium alitèr tecum non contendo si tibi dixerit quia peccator es dic mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi pono inter me peccata mea si dixerii tibi quod meruisti damnationem dic Domine mortem Domini nostri Jesu Christi obtendo inter me mala merita mea ipsiusque merita offero pro merito quod ego debuissem habere nec habeo That is if the Lord would judge thee say Lord I place the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and thy judgement otherwise I will not contend with thee if he say to thee that thou art a sinner say I place the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my sins if he say to thee that thou hast deserved damnation say Lord I put the death of our Lord Jesus Christ between me and my evil merits and I offer his merits for my own which I should have and have not It is not in our inherent graces to justifie us against the Law these are not our Christ these do not satisfie the Law these do not make a compensation for sin no it is Christ only that doth this his death which satisfied Gods heart must satisfie ours his precious body and blood are the food which when fed on by Faith cheer the Conscience and fill it with peace Hence the Noble Luther tells the menacing Law O Lex immergo conscientiam meam in vulnera sanguinem mortem resurrectionem victoriam Christi praeter hunc nihil planè videre audire volo O Law I drown my Conscience in the wounds blood death resurrection and victory of Christ besides him will I see and hear nothing This is the true way of peace and holy rest the oriency of this Divine Truth is such that it hath extorted a confession from its enemies The Schoolmen themselves as Bishop Andrews hath observed whatever they are in their Quodlibets and comments on the Sentences yet in their Soliloquies and devotional meditations acknowledg Jehovah justitia nostra Cardinal Contarenus saith that we must viti tanquà m re stabili justitiâ Christi nobis donatâ lean on Christs righteousness communicated to us as on a stable thing This is it which stablishes and strengthens the heart against the accusations and terrors of the Law The other is this The flesh and blood of Christ as it is procurative of the Holy Spirit doth strengthen Believers unto all the duties incumbent on them the Spirit is from Christ as an Head and it is from him as aliment his Members have it and so have the feeders on him Hence in that sixth Chapter of John after a very Divine Discourse touching eating his flesh and drinking his blood he adds It is the spirit that quickeneth vers 63. The feeders on him have of his Spirit which strengthens them in the inner man this strength notably discovers it self in them their corruptions how strong soever are subdued The Spirit of life which is in Christ makes them free from the Law of sin Satan that evil one is
overcome by them the Spirit which is in them is greater than he that is in the world they do duties as becomes them who live at so high a rate in a very lively vigorous manner the free Spirit stablishes and enlarges their hearts to run in the pure ways of holiness and obedience under crosses they do not murmur at the hand of God but in an holy silence subject to it the Spirit strengthens them unto all patience St. Paul glories in afflictions that the Power of Christ may rest upon him 2 Cor. 12.9 The Noble Potamenia being by the Persecutors threatned to be cast into a Vessel of burning Pitch begged of them That she might not be cast in all at once Spondan Annal. Anno. 310. but piece-meal that they might see how much patience the unknown Christ had given unto her The Reason of such acts of power and strength in Believers is because they live upon the Body and Blood of Christ and from thence have a Divine virtue and power to perform the same 2dly Christ as food is united unto believers there is a very close and intimate union between the food and the body and so there is between Christ and believers He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him saith our Saviour vers 56. Eating here must not be taken properly an oral manducation is capernastical and indeed a very horrible thing to be imagined Hence St. Austin saith That the command of eating his flesh and drinking his blood seems to require an horrible wickedness and then concludes De Doctr. Christ lib. 3. c. 16. Figura ergo est a thing to be done in a spiritual way Hence Averroes the Philosopher said That if Christians devoured their God he would not have his soul to be with them It is a wonder to me that those who are called Christians should hold such an eating Nay that men on earth should orally eat the body of Christ in Heaven or that his glorified body should come into our earthly mouths and stomacks is to me a thing utterly impossible he is and must for ever remain in glory The eating therefore is a spiritual one done by faith though Christ be in Heaven faith flies up and apprehends him In 1 Cor. 10. Hom. 24. St. Chrysostom would have us be as Eagles and so fly to Heaven and then adds Where the carcass is there will the eagles be Christ our aliment is gone to Heaven and faith follows after him to draw life and virtue from him Faith doth spiritually participate of his body and blood and from thence doth derive a Divine power and strength into the soul As faith ascends up so the holy Spirit comes down upon believers which compleats the union between him and them They dwell in him and he in them as our Saviour speaks they dwell in him by faith and he in them by his Spirit There is a mutual indwelling a most near and intimate union between them The learned Grotius takes this mutual indwelling to be only amore mutuo by a mutual love Amans est ubi amat quod hic tribuitur manducationi id alibi tribuitur dilectioni 1 Joh. 4.16 The lover is where his love is What here is attriouted to eating that in another place is attributed to love He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him But I take it there is a difference our union to Christ is first and more immediate and then in and through him we are united unto God It 's true God dwells in the sincere lovers but he dwells in them as in parts of Christ partakers of the atonement were they not such the spots of guilt and imperfection upon them would make the holy one wave dwelling in them Christ is united to us as aliment inlivening and strengthening us but God is not as such united to us though the fountain of life and virtue be in him yet are these derived down unto us in and through Christ of whose body and blood we do by faith participate We are saith Bishop Vsher by a mystical and supernatural union as truly conjoined with Christ as the meat and drink is with us when by the ordinary work of nature it is converted into our own substance 3ly Christ is food by way of eminency Food above all food other bread is comparatively but a shadow or meer figure but he is the true bread 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 living bread which makes men live for ever other bread comes but out of the earth but he is that bread which came down from Heaven The Son very God came down into our flesh and in it was broken upon a Cross that his body and blood might become bread for us He hath saith Bishop Vsher by his death made his flesh broken Incarnat fol. 52. and his blood poured out for us upon the Cross to be fit food for the spiritual nourishment of our souls and the very well-spring from whence by the power of his Godhead all life and grace is derived unto us Thus that excellent man Other food being inferior to the body is changed into our substance but Christ the spiritual food being infinitely more excellent than our souls turns believers who feed upon him into his own likeness Christs blood may be read in their serene consciences his death may be seen in their continual mortifications his Spirit shews it self in their holy graces as they live at an higher rate so they live in a more divine manner than other men Their humility meekness love zeal obedience patience tell us that they live upon him who turns the eater into himself the eater so participates of him as to be assimilated to him Thus much touching the resemblances of the Mystical union I shall now draw out fome Conclusions from them because as is before noted the Analogy between the Mystical union and the earthly patterns serves if genuinely taken not only for illustration but for very good proof 1. The union between Christ and believers is not meerly a Political one such as is between a King and his Subjects It 's true Christ is a King believers are his subjects there are Laws of constitution which make him a King over them and Laws of administration according to which he governs them yet the union between him and them is not meerly Political To make this appear I offer these things The manner of his Kingdom is considerable were his Kingdom such only as earthly ones are there might be some colour to say That the union is only Political But his Kingdom is not of this world Joh. 18.36 It is not mundanae indolis of an earthly but of an heavenly nature Eusebius Hist 13. When the kindred of our Saviour were asked touching his Kingdom they answered Domitian That it was not Earthly but Coelestial It cometh not in outward pomp and glory but in inward efficacy It stands not meerly without in Laws and Ordinances but
it is within in the very hearts and consciences of men He makes a willing people he inspires obedience into his subjects His own Unction doth in some measure fall down upon them Earthly Kings who yet are Politically unite to their subjects cannot rule after this sort or do any thing like it Hence it is clear that if there had been no other resemblance of the union between Christ and believers but that of a Kingdom only yet that union would not have been meerly Political because his Kingdom is what others are not spiritual and of internal efficacy In Scripture our union with Christ is not only set forth by the resemblance of a Kingdom but by many other none of which are or can be thought to be in vain all of them have their significancy and that to different purposes The conjugal union imports love the architectonical one shews supportation that of the Vine and the Head speak vital influence that of food expresses a very intimate conjunction These fignificancies are not forced or strained but natural and genuine such as run into our minds at the first sight The holy Scripture the best interpreter of its own resemblances assures us that they are used to this very end and intent that we might firmly believe that those things which are genuinely in the outward patterns are really and after an eminent manner in Christ He is an Husband for his dearest Love Ephes 5.25 a foundation for his never failing support to his Church Mat. 16.18 a Vine and an Head for his vital influence Joh. 15.4 5. Ephes 4.16 aliment for his near and intimate conjunction with believers Joh. 6.56 Such is the natural tendency of these resemblances such is the interpretation of them in Scripture but now if our union with Christ be meerly Political how can these things stand what tolerable account can be given of them It is certain that nothing in all the lower world is so apt and proper to declare that union as meerly Political as the resemblance of a Kingdom nothing is so significant and fully expressive of it as that when therefore the Holy Ghost had set it forth by a Kingdom why did not he stay his hand and rest in that resemblance why would he go on and set it forth by the love of Espousals by a building cemented to its foundation by the incision of branches into a root by the copulation of members to a vital head by the incorporation of food with the body What analogy is there in an union meerly Political to these things Which way shall the Scriptural interpretation of them be maintained a Political union cannot do it Were our union with Christ no more than so these resemblances would not be apt or true to say that Christ is an husband a foundation a root or head or incorporated food that is a Political King is not apt or true but very odd and strange because in Christ as a meer Political King there is nothing that answers to the proper genuine import of these resemblances in such a case the Holy Ghost which is blasphemy to imagine would seem to speak very unfitly nay and delusively as if he would have us believe that to be in Christ which is indeed not in him surely it becomes us much rather to conclude That our union with Christ is not meerly Political but such as bears a fit and just correspondence to all the patterns and resemblances of it in Scripture Such as the bonds of union are such is the union a meer Political union hath bonds of the same nature a spiritual union hath suitable ligatures in our union with Christ the primary bond is the holy spirit Hereby know we that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his spirit 1 Joh. 4.13 in Christs Kingdom it is the Spirit which makes a willing people such as subject themselves to him In the supernatural marriage believers who are joined to Christ become one spirit in the spiritual edifice the living stones are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit In the heavenly Vine the Spirit is the juice which makes the branches fruitful in good works in the Mystical Head the Spirit is unction which falls down upon the members and communicates sense and motion to them In the divine aliment it is the Spirit which quickneth the eater and transforms him into the holy Image of Christ the Spirit is the primary ligature in our union with him that union therefore is not meerly Political but Spiritual A meer Political union is made and continued by some outward Law Policy is the Eutaxy or good order of a common society Multitudes in government conspire into unity the bond of conjunction is Law Hence the Law is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the soul of a City without it all the parts and members of the body-politick sink and dissolve into meer confusion but to the making and continuance of our union with Christ internal influences are requisite Faith the great unitive grace is not produced by a meer proposal of the object but by a Divine efficacy there must be inward teachings and tractions to make men come and close with Christ in like manner other graces which make the believer bear the image and resemblance of Christ are by the Spirit drawn and engraven in the heart Hence they are called the fruits of the Spirit When these graces are produced they are still but creatures and depend upon their original the continual spirations of the Spirit bear them up in being in all respects there is a necessity of internal influences Hence it appears that our union with Christ is more than a Political one were it no more than so the outward Law might have sufficed that first and rudest draught of Pelagianism which made grace to consist only in libero arbitrio lege in free-will which is a thing natural and in the Law which is a thing Political might have been a truth St. Austin at large disputes against it and tells us that God operates in the hearts of men De Grat. Christi c. 24. Non lege atque doctrinâ insonante foria secùs sed internâ atque occultâ mirabili ac ineffabili potestate not only by Law and Doctrine sounding without but by an internal and occult wonderful and ineffable power yet if the meer Law might have sufficed there had been no necessity of internal operations the Pelagian heresie might have passed for a very truth As therefore we would avoid this great error we must confess that our union with Christ is more than a Political one 2dly The union between Christ and Believers is not meerly a Moral one such as consists in a reciprocal Love in an harmony of Wills and confederacy of Affections Very true it is that there is a very great Union of Love between Christ and Believers All the Loves and Friendships in the world are but Pictures and little Images
being compared with the Love and Friendship which is between Christ and Believers wonderful is his Love towards them As early as eternity it self his eyes and his heart were upon them he assumed flesh to espouse them to himself he shed his Blood to purchase them he dyed on a Cross to redeem them he draws his own Image upon them he loves and delights in them as the purchase of his Blood and the little pictures of himself he is indeed wonderfully taken and ravished in them as if they had unhearted him or carried away his heart In like manner Believers though not in equal degrees have a great Love to him they put off corrupt self for him their old earthly members are crucified with him their souls thirst and faint in holy desires after him so high a rate and value is set upon him that all other things are but as dross and dung in comparison such are the pleasures and complacencies which they have in him that they can joy in sufferings and glory in reproaches for him his Presence and Love sweetens every condition thus there is an union of Love between Christ and Believers But this is not all some of the ancient Fathers seem to hint somewhat more De Trinit lib. 8. in Joh. St. Hilary and St. Cyril of Alexandria contend that our union with Christ is not meerly per concordiam voluntatis by a Concord of will St. Chrysostome saith That we are not only united to Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in a way of Love In Joh. Hom. 45. but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the thing it self To make it appear that our union with Christ is not meerly a moral one I shall offer some Considerations The conjugal union which is the highest pattern of Love here below is not meerly a Moral one In the first Marriage there was somewhat antecedent to Love Eve was taken out of the side of sleeping Adam Hence he said That she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh In the spiritual marriage there is somewhat antecedent to the Churches Love she was taken out of the side of Christ dying on the Cross Hence the Apostle after he hath compared the Love of Husbands and Wives with that which is between Christ and the Church doth in allusion to the Primitive Marriage tell us We are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Ephes 5.30 Flesh may be considered either as to its substance or as to its sanctity as to its substance Christ is of our flesh and bone but as to its sanctity we are of his flesh and bone all the holy flesh in the world is from Christ Again in common ordinary Marriages there is not meerly Love but Man and Wife become one flesh In the spiritual Marriage there is not meerly Love but Christ and Believers become one Spirit the same holy Spirit which is upon Christ the Head falls down on his Members there are continual influences of Grace coming down from him unto them Nothing in all the world is more apt or proper to shadow forth our union with Christ as Moral than the conjugal Union is though as I said but now there is more in it than meer Love yet is it the highest Samplar of Love on Earth and on that account very apt to set forth our Moral Union with Christ but though it be so yet the Holy Ghost doth not in shewing forth our union with Christ rest in that resemblance but goes on to shew it forth by others of a different tendency as by a Foundation a Vine or Head an Aliment whose proper genuine import is not love but support or vital influence or intimate conjunction The Holy Ghost in these resemblances speaks like it self aptly and truly though there be no propriety in the words yet there is an aptitude in the things to denote Heavenly Mysteries though the terms be metaphorical yet the truths are real there is a proportion and just Analogy between the earthly shadow and heavenly mystery there is that in Christ which answers to all the resemblances he is to his Church a foundation for support a root or head for vital influence an Aliment for nourishment and intimate conjunction Hence it appears that our union with Christ is not meerly a Moral one but such as corresponds to all the resemblances not only to the conjugal one in Love but to all the other in their several imports One Christian is united to another in Affection Love is the badg of Christianity The Primitive Christians were of one heart and one soul Acts 4.32 They were as it were but one Man the very Pagans pointed at this saying Tert. Ap. Vide ut se invicem diligant see how they love one another Love is the very bond of perfection Col. 3.14 it couples all Virtues together as in a chain it conjoins all Christians in the mystical body where Love is there are all other Virtues where one Christian is there are all the rest in heart and affection Love which is a sacred fire kindled upon the heart by the Holy Spirit first ascends up to God its primary object who is to be loved for himself and then it goes on to our neighbour its secondary object who is to be loved for Gods sake this is the way of Love if it ascend to God it will go out to our Brother if it go not out to our Brother it never ascended to God Hence St. John saith He that shutteth up his bowels from his brother how dwelleth the love of God in him 1 Joh. 3.17 The Love of God can no more be severed from the Love of our Brother than the first Table of the Law can be rent off from the second All true Christians are born of the same Father in Heaven washed in the blood of the same Saviour inspired by the influences of the same Holy Spirit interested in the same Charter of the Gospel and instated in the same Inheritance above Sic muto quod doletis amore diligimus quoniam odisse non novimus sic nos quod invidetis fratres vocamus ut unius Dei parentis homines ut consortes fidei ut spei coharedes Minuc Fel. in Oct. All of them therefore must needs be united together in Love nothing is more evident than that one Christian is united to another in Love but yet he is not so united to him as he is unto Christ Who where is the Saint that will or dare say to his fellow Christians I am the foundation ye are the building born up by me I am the vine ye the branches without me ye can do nothing I am the head ye are the members from me is all that effectual working which is in you Who can or may speak after such a rate such words are proper for Christ only we are to fix our Faith upon him not upon our fellow-Christians This is his Commandment that we should believe on the Name of
that it might be but as a prostrate pinioned enemy to them that they through his Spirit communicated to them might also overcome it he did not gather them up out of the corrupt world to himself that they might return thither again their union with him is so near and strong that the world cannot take them back to it self again its flatteries cannot allure its fears cannot fright them away from him Satan overthrew Adam but he cannot do so with Believers in assaulting him he had only to do with a man but in assaulting them he sets upon those who are mystical parts and members of Christ he hath to do with Christ himself who is God as well as man his hand is too strong for Satan to pluck them away from him his Love is too great to lose his own members whom he hath purchased at no less price than his own blood It 's true they do sometimes fall under the temptation but then they do not fall as Adam did they do not as he lose the very state of Grace or all the power of a recovery no the habits or vital principles of Grace are not extinct the Spirit and Grace of Christ will raise them up again Satans conquest is not a total or final one at last he shall be bruised under their feet Christ who in his own person conquered the Tempter conquers him in his members also Thus Believers are supported because they are in union with Christ 4thly The union between Christ and Believers is such that he doth influence into them The resemblances of the Vine and the Head do naturally teach this A Vine communicates to the branches an Head influences into the members Christ could not be what the Scripture calls him a Vine or an Head unless he did influence into his branches and members There are two sorts of influences some are first and fundamental to our union with Christ others do in order of nature follow after The first fundamental influences are those which work the unitive Grace of Faith Men are not native branches or members of Christ but insititious ones Faith which implants and incorporates them into him is not from Nature but Grace The ancient Council tells us Conc. Arans Can. 6. that it is per infusionem inspirationem Spiritûs Sancti by the infusion and inspiration of the holy Spirit Christ therefore sends out the Spirit with its inward teachings and tractions to work faith in men to gather them into union with himself thus the union begins from him Faith the first Grace that touches upon him is wrought by his Spirit and upon account of his Merits To you it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christs sake to believe Phil. 1.29 Were it not for this influence there could be no union no branches or members in him The after-influences are those which serve to perfect the Believer as in the Old Creation Light was the first-born and then the other parts of the world were made so in the New the first thing is the Light of Faith and then follow those Graces which make up the new Creature Love Mercy Meekness Zeal Obedience Patience are the fruits of the influencing Spirit the Rivers of living water in the Believer all of them are derived from Christ the Head through faith which is called the Churches Neck Cant. 4.4 into the mystical body after this manner are all Graces formed without these influences there would be in Believers no Graces or Conformity to Christ no fit Temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in Again there are influences not only to form these Graces but to actuate them As natural Agents live and move in the God of Nature so Believers who are spiritual Agents live and move in Christ their Head the gracious Principles in them do not go alone but the Holy Spirit stirs them up and then the spices flow out Love and Joy and all other Graces shew forth themselves in suitable Operations St. Paul excellently describes this I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me saith he Gal. 2.20 Take a Believer burning in Zeal or melting in Charity or sweating in Obedience or doing ought in an holy manner still Christ lives in him the effectual working is from the Head in Heaven without these influences Graces do but sleep in the principle and not go forth into act Further There are not only influences to actuate Graces in Believers but to make them grow up into Christ in all things the Believer doth not stand at a stay no the first little dawn in his heart increases into a morning the small grain of mustard-seed becomes a tree the little Embrio or Babe in Christ grows to be a man of spiritual stature his humility is every day lower his holy desires rise higher than before the vitals of Faith and Love become warmer than ever and all this increase is from the effectual working it is no other than the growing up of the members into their influencing Head the flourishing and spreading of the new Creature under the dews of the Spirit Without these influences Believers would be at a stand and never arrive at any statures in Grace Thus it appears that these influences are excellent and necessary Were it not for the first influences Christ would have no members and so not be what he was ordained to be an Head to the Church Were it not for the after-influences he would not carry himself as becomes an Head neither would his members be such as they ought to be in the point of holy graces 5thly The union between Christ and believers is a very intimate one The resemblance of food doth notably set forth this food is very intimately united to the body and so is Christ to believers Our Saviour takes notice of this He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Joh. 6.56 The words import a very near union St. Cyprian speaking of this De Caenâ Domini saith Mansio nosira in ipso est manducatio potus quasi quaedam incorporatio Our eating of him is mansion our drinking a kind of incorporation we are spiritually incorporated into him Of the Sacr Hom. 1. Our Church calls it a marvellous incorporation wrought by the operation of the Holy Ghost Accipientes virtutem caelestis cibi in carnem ipsius qui caro nostra factus est transeamus Leo 1. Epist 22 ad Cler. Const we do as it were pass into his flesh who was made flesh with us we dwell in him and he in us and what can be nearer though he be not as ordinary food inferior to the body is turned into our substance yet as spiritual food more excellent than our souls he turns us into his Divine image We live by him Joh. 6.57 He is our life Col. 3.4 The very fountain and principle of it therefore he must needs be nearly and intimately united to us Nemo vivit vitâ extra se
positâ oportet habere Christum in nobis Zanch. de tribus El. Li. 4. c. 3. especially seeing he is so our life that he communicates his own Spirit to us the same holy Spirit which is upon him falls down upon us as mystical parts and members of him to quicken and actuate us in the holy ways of God And what an union is this actuation by one spirit is an union much more high and close than that which is only by continuity or a meer adhesion of parts a branch from which the juice retires rather hangs on than is properly united to the root a member however adhering if void and desolate of animal spirits is as if it were not knit unto the Head the most strict and proper union is from one Spirit Believers are so joined to Christ as to be one spirit if they had not his spirit they were none of his Rom. 8.9 They are led by the spirit of God v. 14. which is the very same with the Spirit of Christ as appears v. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are acted and moved by the Spirit of Christ Thus there is the same Spirit in Christ and believers and so the union between them must needs be very close and intimate in respect of this intimacy it is that Christ compares this union with that which is between him and the Father Joh. 17. And the Apostle calls Christ and the Church by one name As the body is one and hath many members and all the member of that one body being many are one body so also is Christ 1 Cor. 12.12 in which place the Church is called Christ the Scripture sometimes speaks of Christ and the Church the head and the body as if they were one person Hence St. Austin saith that believers are made cum homine Christo unus Christus De pecc Mer. l. 1. c. 31. One Christ with the man Christ Hence Aquinas saith That Christ and his members are una persona mystica one mystical person Not that we are Christed with Christ as some have said but that there is a very intimate union between Christ and believers 6thly The union between Christ and believers is a mystical one there is a great mystery in it Hence the Apostle saith This is a great mystery but I speak concerning Christ and the Church Ephes 5.32 It is not meerly a mystery but a great one In another place he saith The riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory Col. 1.27 He speaks of Christ not meerly as offered in the Gospel but as dwelling in the heart this he calls not barely a mystery but the riches of the glory of the mystery it is such a mystery as hath riches and glory in it Now to make it appear that this union is a mystical one I shall offer some things There is that in this union which answers to all the resemblances the Holy Ghost in setting forth this union did not stay in one or two earthly patterns but useth many going on from one thing to another from Politicks to Oeconomicks from Oeconomicks to Artificials from Artificials to Naturals of divers kinds that so from each somewhat might be borrowed to illustrate it In the Political union we have Law and Power in the Conjugal one love in the Architectonical one support in that of the Vine and Head vital influence in that of food nourishment and intimate conjunction but in the mystical union we have all these It is said of Manna that it suited to every palate it is certain of Christ the true Manna that he is All to the Church That union therefore which fully answers to so many resemblances of different import must needs be a very mysterious one There is that in this union which highly exceeds all the resemblances In them there is but a shadow but in that is the substance in them one creature is united to another but in that believers are united to God-man The Mystical union is built upon the Hypostatical in each of them there is some import but none of them can reach the perfections of Christ Never was there such a King as he he is the most excellent one his subjects are all Saints and of the seed Royal his Throne and Laws are within he inspires as well as commands his people Never such an Husband as he he took an humane nature that he might espouse us nay he died on a Cross that his Spouse might come forth out of his bleeding side Those who are joined in spiritual marriage are made one spirit with him and have admirable communications from him No foundation is like him who is laid not by humane art but divine and bears up the weight of the whole Church not as dead matter doth but by his Spirit of life He is a Vine whose juice is the holy Spirit filling every branch an Head who makes those who were no members to become members and afterwards actuates them by the influences of his Spirit He is such food as turns the eater into himself and nourishes him unto life eternal Every way he hath the preeminence over the earthly patterns That union therefore which doth not only answer unto but far exceed all the resemblances of it must needs be a mysterious one This union is such that no distance of place or time can break or dissolve it No distance of place can do it In meerly Political or Moral unions distance of place hinders not but vital influence appertains not to them In the natural Vine or Head there is a vital influence but then there must be a local conjunction the Vine doth not communicate juice to a distant branch nor an Head to a distant member but though Christ be in Heaven and believers on earth yet he influences life and strength into them The reason is because he doth it by a spirit which is infinite a finite spirit cannot at once move and actuate distant subjects yet an infinite one which is every where can do it The same holy Spirit which is in Christ above is communicated to us here below to move and actuate us the vital influence is not at all hindred by local distance When our Lord discoursed of eating his flesh and drinking his blood Joh. 6. they murmured and said This is an hard saying who can bear it Our Saviour knowing this returns them this answer Doth this offend you What if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before It is the spirit that quickneth ver 61 62 63. There was no reason to be offended at his Doctrine He would ascend up to heaven and then his flesh would be as distant from men as heaven is from earth yet this hinders not eating of or union with him The Spirit would be in and with the eater to quicken and strengthen him No local distance can interrupt this union or influence I conclude this with the
words of the Reverend Vsher Serm befor the Commons 1620. The union between Christ and believers is altogether spiritual and supernatural no Physical or Mathematical continuity or contiguity is any ways requisite thereunto it is sufficient for the making of this union that Christ and we be knit together by those spiritual ligatures the quickning spirit and a lively faith Again no distance of time can do it In all the earthly patterns the united are together in time but the ancient Saints under the Old Testament who were in time before the Incarnation of our Saviour were yet united to him saved they were and by whom but by him who is the only Saviour of the world Salvation is not in any other his name is the only name under heaven for that end A Mediator they had and who could that be but the one Mediator between God and men the man Christ Jesus no other but he could be really such A pardon they had and not without shedding of blood the blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin it was only the blood of Christ could do it At the last day they shall be raised up to life and that because they are members of Christ As in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15.22 In these words both the All 's respect members only the last All refers only to Christs members this is very evident Christ is opposed to Adam in Adam members only die in Christ members only are made alive In the next verse it is said That Christ rose as the first fruits and afterwards they that are Christs that is the members of Christ who are the sanctified lump Wicked men rise again by virtue of the threatning of eternal death but all the Saints ancient or latter rise as parts and members of Christ In the Mystical union two things may be noted the foundation of it and the bonds The foundation is the satisfactory and meritorious Passion of Christ out of which springs the Church which is his body the bonds are faith and the holy Spirit Faith ascends up to him the holy Spirit comes down upon believers If we apply these things to the ancient Saints it will appear that they were united to Christ his Death which is the foundation was for them He died as the Scripture tells us for all for every man He gave himself for the world the whole world Which phrases must needs take in those under the Old Testament as well as those under the New and which is most express he is a Mediator for the redemption of transgressions under the first Testament Heb. 9.15 The Ancients were not saved by types and shadows but by Christ Their Moral guilt was not done away by the blood of brutes but by his only sacrifice which though offered up but once in the end of the world was in virtue all one as if he had been slain from the beginning of time Thus the foundation did reach unto them Neither were the bonds of union wanting they had faith in Christ the first promise of the Messiah Gen. 3.15 did point out his humane nature in the seed of the Woman his sufferings therein in the bruise of the heel his victory over Satan in the breaking of the head there was much of Christ in that first Gospel I doubt not but Adam had his eyes opened to see him there Abel by faith offered up a Sacrifice to God Heb. 11.4 that is by a faith proper to a sacrifice such as did look through it to the great Sacrifice of the Messiah Abraham is a great pattern of believing even to us who live under the Gospel His faith and ours have not variant objects or centers but both are set upon one and the same Christ He saw Christ a coming at a very great distance we see him come in the flesh Venturus vexit De Vtilit Panit. diversa verba sunt sed idem Christus to come and come are two different words but it is the same Christ saith St. Austin It is the same faith for substance in both the Fathers in Moses's time did all eat the same spiritual meat and did all drink the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them and that rock was Christ 1 Cor. 10.3 4. The unbelievers did look only at the figure the Manna and the Rock but the believers did by faith feed upon Christ Erant ibi saith St. Austin qui quod manducabant De Vtilit Panit. intelligebant erant ibi quibus plus Christus in corde quà m Manna in ore sapiebat there were there those who understood what they eat there were those who did more relish Christ in the heart than Manna in the mouth Thus the Ancients had faith in Christ and which ever accompanies it they had the holy Spirit also What were Moses's Meekness David's Zeal Abraham's Obedience Job's Patience but the fruits of the holy Spirit communicated from Christ the head He is void of the holy Spirit who denies it to be there where such eminent graces are Gods ancient people had the good Spirit to instruct them Neh. 9.20 David prays Take not thy holy Spirit from me Psal 51.11 The holy Spirit was communicated under the Old Testament These things make it appear that the Ancients were united unto Christ But possibly it may be objected The mystical union is to Christ God-man in the time of those Ancients he was not man they therefore were not united unto him union cannot be to a non-entity De Ver Relig. l. 4. c. 3. a thing that is not quis non videt in eum qui non est credi minimè posse who seeth not that a man cannot believe in him who is not So Volkelius The like may be said of union a man cannot be united to him who is not In answer to this objection I shall offer two or three things Were that of the Socinians true That Christ was not in being till he was conceived of the Virgin this objection might be something but before the Incarnation he was a Divine person after it he was the very same person in our assumed flesh so the union of the Ancients was not to a non-entity or to one not in being Christs humane nature though not in actual being in those times was yet present in such sort that the Ancients were capable of being united to him it was present with their Faith though it had not an absolute existence as a thing put forth out of its causes yet it had a relative existence in the promise so as to be an object of their Faith which being the hypostasis or subsistence of things hoped for could not but presentiate the Messiah to them he being one of the prime things they looked for and upon that account called the hope of Israel Acts 28.20 It was also present with God in his Decree as sure to be as the eternal Rolls
could make it It s satisfactory and meritorious blood did operate before it was shed upon the account of it Pardons and the Holy Spirit were communicated unto the ancient believers That presence which made them capable of the bonds of union made them capable of the union it self There is a difference between the natural body and the mystical in the natural body the members are simultaneous but in the mystical one they are successive Some members are before others yet they are all but one body some were before Christ incarnate yet were they united unto him as their Head St. Austin elegantly sets forth this from Jacob whose hand came out first and then his head De Catech. rud cap. 3. and 19. in Psal 61. Manus a capite praemitti potest connexio tamen ejus sub capite est the hand may be first sent forth by the head yet is it united to the head all the ancient Saints were but as it were manus Christi the hand of Christ though they came forth before he the Head came in the flesh yet they were united to him and had a virtue and Divine Spirit from him though they were first in time yet he was first in dignity and power Had these not been members of him there would have been after the fall some holy flesh not in conjunction with him which to imagine is to render him useless as if the forfeited sanctity in man might have been recovered without him The sum of all is this That Union which no distance of place or time can break or dissolve must needs have a great deal of mystery in it 7thly The Union between Christ and Believers is lasting and durable were it not so very black consequences must needs ensue There might possibly be no Church at all that Article of our Creed which concerns the Holy Catholick Church and the Communion of Saints might cease and become no object of Faith the death of Christ might be in vain his precious sufferings might be without fruit the great Promises as well those which are made to Christ touching a seed as those which are made to Christians touching perseverance might utterly fail and come to nothing These are very momentous things yet passing them over it will suffice to consider what a King Husband Foundation Vine Head Food Christ is the excellency of him above all the earthly patterns will evidently prove the perpetuity of this Union He is such a King as never was his Kingdom stands upon foundations that cannot be shaken Earthly kingdoms may be dissolved by a defection of Subjects the Prince cannot command their minds and wills the outward Thrones and Laws may be too weak to keep them in due order a jealousie of yokes and burdens may blow the coal a fancy of being better under a change may kindle a fatal Rebellion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the present Government is ever grievous But it is not thus in Christs Kingdom his Subjects never fall off he inspires obedience into their wills and hearts his Throne and Law are within there are no blots or errata's in his government all is meer rectitude and Grace they cannot be better than under him in such circumstances no room is left for a revolt The kingdoms of this world may be broken by a foreign invasion one earthly power may eat up another the great Empire rowl'd about from the Chaldean to the Persian from thence to the Grecian from thence to the Roman but in the Kingdom of Christ it is not so his Kingdom shall not be left to other people Dan. 2.44 No invasion can be upon him who hath all the power in Heaven and Earth he sits at Gods right hand till his enemies be made his footstool Psal 110.1 till Sin Satan the World Death Hell be subdued under him no foreign power therefore can overturn his Kingdom who is universal Conqueror Earthly kingdoms have their periods there is a mene wrote upon each of them the Gold Silver Brass Iron Clay in the great Image must at last be all broken to pieces and become like the chaff of the Summer threshing-floor Dan. 2.35 But it is not so with Christ his Throne is as the Sun and as the faithful witness in Heaven Psal 89.36 37. Of his Kingdom there is no end Luke 1.33 It is a thing of perpetuity But if his Subjects might fall off where what would his Kingdom be A Kingdom without Subjects is but an umbra a meer shadow It may be therefore noted that in that 89th Psalm there is not only a Throne continuing but a seed enduring for ever And in that first of St. Luke there is not only an endless Kingdom but an House of Jacob a Church for him to regin over for ever without this his Kingdom would soon be at an end for want of Subjects If then his Kingdom be as it is perpetual then there must needs be a continuance of Subjects under him He is such an Husband as never was his conjunction with his Spouse is never dissolved the earthly marriage may be dissolved by Adultery but in the spiritual Marriage between Christ and Believers no such thing falls out truth and faithfulness are found on all hands he will never forsake them they will not forsake him his fear in their heart keeps them from a departure his love is towards them their love is towards him if it cool or slack his love which is the fountain and first mover will come and inflame theirs afresh nay there is not only love or a likeness of temper between them but they are so joined to him as to be one spirit two spirits may vary and go different ways but one spirit must needs keep them together here is no room for spiritual fornication or departure from Christ Further Death parts man and wife but not Christ and Believers he died but it was that he might purchase a Church that a Spouse might come out of his bleeding side they dye but their death is a sleep in Jesus their union to him continues in Death there is a separation of body and soul but as in Christ it did not break the hypostatical union so in Christians it doth not break the mystical one his body in the grave was not separate from his Divine person their bodies there are not separate from Christ the Head his Spirit will not leave them in the dust but raise them up to a glorious life as a sure token that they are in conjunction with him The perpetuity of this conjunction is excellently set forth by the Prophet I will betroth thee unto me for ever yea I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness and in judgment and in loving-kindness and in mercies I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord Hos 2.19 20. In this famous Text which as I take it respects the spiritual Marriage between Christ and the Church two or three things may be noted Here we have
all these glorious appearances operate intimately and immediately he penetrates into the inmost spirit and is more intimate to it than that is to it self he operates not only by an immediation of virtue but by an immediation of essence for his virtue is not distinct from his essence Thus there is a communication of the Spirit an excellent operative intimate presence with Believers as if he were a kind of soul to them to quicken them unto every good work But alas how short are our thoughts in this point how little a portion of it do we know The Master of the Sentences out of St. Chrysostom asserts That we cannot comprehend how God is every where much less can we comprehend how he who is every where is in a special manner in Believers I verily think that those Phrases of Scripture which express the Spirit to be communicated to them have in them a mystery much deeper than we can dive into I shall therefore make no further answer to the Quaere it is enough for me to say with Fulgentius That the inhabitation of the Holy Trinity in us De Pers Christ is non localis sed immensa non comprehensibilis cogitatione sed venerabilis fide not local but immense not comprehensible in thought but venerable in Faith I conclude with that of Zanchy De trib El. lib. 4. cap. 1. Spiritus Sanctus quia immensus est ideo ubique est maximè in omnibus fidelibus speciali quodam sed incomprehensibili modo The Holy Spirit because he is immense therefore he is every-where most of all he is in all the faithful after a certain special but incomprehensible manner The next thing which comes to be considered in this discourse is the Operations of the Spirit I touched upon this before but now I will speak a little more to it It 's true these Operations being among the opera ad extra are common to the whole Trinity yet in Scripture they are in a peculiar manner attributed to the Spirit the reason of which is because of that order which is among the persons in the Sacred Trinity the Father is of himself fons Deitatis the fountain of the Deity the Son is from the Father lumen de lumine light of light the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son he proceeds by an eternal spiration from both of them And as is the order of subsisting so is the order of operating the Father operates from himself the Son from the Father the Holy Spirit from both Hence in the three great Works of God Creation which is the first rise of things out of nothing is in a special manner attributed to the Father Redemption which helps up a poor fallen creature is in a special manner attributed to the Son Sanctification which perfects the redeemed is in a special manner attributed to the Holy Spirit Hence in the great Work of Salvation the Father laid the counsel and platform of it the Son carries on the work in a middle mediating way the Holy Spirit according to his place in order consummates it by working Faith and all other Graces But this is only by the way In treating of these Operations I shall note two things that is what is in them of respect to union with Christ and what is in them of respect to the Inhabitation of the Spirit or which is all one to the Inhabitation of the whole Sacred Trinity The first Operation of the Spirit in Believers is this He forms all holy Graces in them he draws the very Picture of Christ upon them in humility love meekness mercy goodness heavenliness patience this operation is requisite upon a double account One that Christ may have a seed the Father promised him a seed he himself merited one yet a seed he could not have unless the Spirit did work these Graces which make us to bear a resemblance of him Another that God might have a Temple under the Old Testament he had an outward Temple but even then he would have an inward one a Sanctuary in the heart under the New Testament he had a Temple in the humane nature of Christ but even in that he aimed to have a Tabernacle in men but this could not be unless the Spirit did come and turn the heart into an holy place for him As touching this Operation the holy Graces may be considered under a double notion either as they make us to have one common nature with Christ and thus they import union with him or else as they are tokens of the divine Presence and thus they import the Inhabitation of God in us These Graces make us to have one common nature with Christ and thus they import union with him there is as the learned Camero observes a double union one ab uno communi simpliciter from one common nature simply considered thus all men are united there being one humane nature in them another ab uno communicato from one nature communicated thus a Father and a Son are united the Son having the same nature communicated from the Father To apply this distinction First Believers have one common humane nature with Christ not only in that large sense in which all men have the same nature with him but in a more strict sense peculiar to believers only He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one Hebr. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one not of one God so Angels also are not of one Adam so wicked men also are but of one nature and condition Christ hath an humane nature sanctified by the Spirit and so have Believers this is one peculiar thing in which he and they meet there is no other holy flesh in all the world but what is in him and them This tells us that they are so united to him in one common nature as no other creature in Heaven or Earth is Angels are not so they are holy but not flesh unregenerate men are not so they are flesh but not holy Believers only have as Christ hath an humane nature sanctified by the Spirit Further which advances the Union they have this sanctified nature from him we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 In this sanctified nature there are two things a carnal substance and an holy quality as to the carnal substance he is of our flesh and of our bones he did partake of flesh and blood with us As to the holy quality we are of his flesh and of his bones by him we are partakers of the divine nature Thus believers are joyned to him as to the Fountan of their Sanctity their holy Graces all hang upon him as beams upon the Sun If the Children of Reuben and Gad had been asked What part have you in the Lord they would have shewed the pattern of the Altar If Believers be asked What part have you in Christ they can shew forth their holy Graces These are Copies drawn after him
the great Samplar of Holiness nay they are drawn by him by the finger of his own Spirit Again These Graces are tokens of the divine Presence and so import the Inhabitation of God in us these are tokens of the divine Presence When nature exceeds it self and rises above its own level as the Sea did when the waters were as a Wall to Israel on both hands it is a sure sign that God is there When poor lapsed men are lifted up above their natural self and elevated into a divine Life as it always is when the holy Graces are wrought in them it is a sure sign that God is there of a truth Humane nature cannot of it self ascend into the sphere of Grace only a supernatural power can do such a thing These Graces are such tokens of Presence that where-ever they are there God doth inhabit In the old Temple there were divers tokens of Presence such as the Vrim and Thummim the Ark with the Tables in it the Lamps the fire from Heaven and the Holy of Holies were Hence it is said that God did dwell in it but in Believers there are better tokens of Presence than those if we look to the intrinsecal value of things the breast-plate of Faith and Love is before the Vrim and Thummim the Law in the heart exceeds the Tables in the Ark an illuminated mind is more excellent than outward Lamps an holy ardor of affections is more valuable than the fire from Heaven a pure heart is above any outward Oracle those tokens in the Temple were material things a-kin in the matter of them to this lower world the Sanctuary it self was but a worldly Sanctuary but these Graces are spiritual things their birth are as high as Heaven Believers in whom they are are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a spiritual house for God to dwell in those were typical tokens made such by meer institution without which they would be but as other parts of matter but these are real tokens in their own nature bearing the very image and resemblance of God himself where these are there God dwells in an eminent manner the Shechinah or habitation of God in the Saints is a middle thing between the hypostatical dwelling of the Godhead in Christ and the typical dwelling of it in the Temple it is much higher than all types and shadows and in excellency next unto God in the flesh The next Operation of the Spirit in Believers is this He actuates their holy Graces he moves the new Creature by divine Influences there is an effectual working in every part of it Love in the Spirit as it is said Col. 1.8 and other Graces in the Spirit all of them go forth in the power of that Spirit which formed them at first As touching this Operation the Spirit may be considered either as the principle and first mover that actuates these Graces and this speaks union with Christ or else as the terminus or ultimate object of these Graces actuated and this speaks the Inhabitation of God in us The Spirit is the principle or first mover that actuates these Graces and this speaks union with Christ the Spirit which is upon him falls down upon believers to actuate the Graces in them Believers are all one body and as one body they have one spirit in them from Christ the Head they are all one new man in Christ Eph. 2.15 Though the Apostle there speak of Jews and Gentiles yet he saith not one people but which is more emphatical one new man in Christ they are one new man because as one man they are acted by one spirit they are one new man in Christ because the Holy Spirit which is upon him is that one Spirit which acts them the Sons of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are acted and moved by the Spirit Rom. 8.14 That Spirit which anointed the humane nature of Christ the natural Son falls down upon the adopted ones to act and move them Actuation by one spirit proves that they are in intimate union with him that they are indeed mystical parts and members of him who acts and moves them by his own Spirit This may be illustrated by that in the first Chapter of Ezekiel when the wheels went as the living creatures did and were lifted up as they were it was plain that there were some invisible bands between them the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels vers 21. In like manner when believers shew forth the virtues of Christ and walk as he walked it is very plain that they are in near conjunction with him the Spirit doth act them in ways of conformity to him who as an Head is joyned unto them That phrase of walking in Christ Col. 2.6 points out a walking not meerly after his pattern and command but in his power and spirit as becomes those who have received him and are united to him Again The Spirit is the terminus or ultimate object of these graces actuated and this speaks the Inhabitation of God in us As these Graces come from God as the fountain so they terminate in him as the ultimate object Holy fear terminates in his Majesty and Greatness Faith terminates in his Truth and Mercy Love terminates in his Goodness and Excellency Every Grace moves to him as its great Center Where these Graces are actuated there an Honour an inward Worship is done to him where that is in truth there he hath a Temple in the heart and objectively dwells there as in an holy place Hence Aquinas saith that God is in the Saints sicut cognitum in cognoscente amatum in amante 1. Pars q. 43. Art 3. as an object known is in the knower and an object loved is in the lover by knowledg and love a man attingit ad ipsum Deum reaches to God himself his heart becomes a Sanctuary for the Holy One. This is that inward Temple which the Primitive Christians gloried in Nonne meliùs in nostrâ dedicandus est mente in nostro imo consecrandus est pectore litabilis hostia bonus animus pura mens sinceraconscientia Min. Fel. When Pagans objected against them that they had no Temples no Altars no Sacrifices they made this answer That they had all within in themselves in mental Consecrations in a pure mind and heart What was said of the Temple that may be said of a Pious soul There is Gods Name there he is consecrated and sanctified there he dwells as in a sanctuary or holy place The next Operation of the Spirit in believers is this He preserves believers in their spiritual being he bears up their graces by continual influences that they fail not in the way to Heaven As touching this Operation Believers are preserved either as Members of Christ and this shews union or as Temples of God and this shews Inhabitation Believers are preserved as Members of Christ and this shews union Adam fell Angels fell but Believers are preserved in themselves they are but
poor weak creatures without are temptations within corruptions yet they stand there is but a little Oyl in the Cruse a small stock of grace in the heart yet it fails not they have many wants yet never become bankrupt This tells us that they are not alone but in union with Christ they are what Angels and Adam in innocency were not joyned to a Mediator mighty to save Weakness here is in conjunction with Power Power is made perfect in weakness there is in them one greater than he that is in the world nay than the corruption in the heart their little stock of grace depends upon infinite treasures their many wants are supplied out of infinite fulness this preservation declares union Again Believers are preserved as Temples of God and this shews Inhabitation they are in the midst of winds storms temptations corruptions wants weaknesses yet they fall not This tells us that God hath a Temple in them the Inhabitant bears them up he is in the midst of them they shall not be moved his eyes and his heart are upon them to protect them he will not suffer his habitation to be blown down in a storm or to be undermined by Sin and Satan or to run to ruine through want or weakness This preservation declares Inhabitation The last Operation of the Spirit in Believers is this He seals up Believers he witnesses their adoption he sheds abroad the Love of God in their hearts I instance in this not that it is so in all Believers but that it is so in some As touching this Operation these favours are afforded to Believers either as Members of Christ and this imports union or as Temples of the Holy Ghost and this imports Inhabitation These favours are afforded to them as Members of Christ and this imports union After that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 First there is Faith and then Sealing First men are Members of Christ and then they are irradiated with the beams of divine Favour there are great favours promised to Gods People he dwells in the humble he is seen in the pure heart his secret is with them that fear him his countenance doth behold the upright but all these favours are communicated to them as Members of Christ It 's true the Graces to which these promises are made are in their own nature and intrinsecal goodness grateful and acceptable unto God but because they are defective and dwelling under the same roof with inherent corruption which taints and soils them in their going forth into act therefore they are favoured and accepted in us as being members of Christ and having an interest in his glorious satisfaction which is able to cover all our spots and imperfections it is Christ that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Article is doubled that Son that beloved in whom the Father is infinitely pleased we are beloved only as parts of him Again These favours are afforded to them as Temples of the Holy Ghost and this imports Inhabitation In the outward Temple God did make himself known much more doth he do so in the inward Sanctuary I mean in a pure heart there he sheds abroad his Love and le ts out his Glory there he dwells and walks as in a place of pleasure and delight Thus much touching the other Bond of Union viz. the Holy Spirit To shut up this Chapter the order of things touching this union stands thus It was the great design of God to raise up a Church to himself out of the ruines of the fall his heart was more set upon this than upon all the world besides To promote this the Son of God leaves his Fathers bosom and comes down into our flesh in it he satisfied Justice and merited to have a body gathered in and anointed with that Holy Spirit which operated in the uniting and sanctifying of his own humane nature Upon account of this satisfaction and merit the Holy Spirit comes down and not only proposes the Gospel to men but operates in them first Faith the grace of Union and then in a second instant of nature all other graces which may make them meet Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost And after this is done he carries on the work by continual influences upon Believers quickning and preserving their Graces dwelling in them and manifesting himself to them CHAP. VII The Seals of the mystical Vnion are Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is a Seal of Vnion not to all but to Believers Some Infants are in their infancy in union with Christ some come to it afterwards some never attain to it The Lords Supper is a Seal to confirm and exhibit Christ to us The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not a corporal one The Bread and Wine are not as the Papists say turned into his Body and Blood His Body and Blood are not as the Lutherans say in with and under the Bread and Wine The presence of Christ is Spiritual He is present objectively to our Faith and virtually in the communicated Spirit Also the eating of Christ is not oral but spiritual HAving treated of the bonds of this Union I now proceed to the Seals of it Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is the Sacrament of Initiation the Supper is the Sacrament of Nutrition Baptism is the first entrance into Gods Family the Supper is the spiritual Banquet unto which the baptized after washing pass to feed upon Christ there both of them are Seals of union with him Baptism is not as the Socinians would have it to be a nude rite but an obsignative one it is not a meer picture of spiritual Grace but a Seal of it Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of Faith Baptism which succeeds in the room of it can be no less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian In man there is a body and a soul to answer both there is in Baptism an outward part and an inward one the outward part is water which cleanses the body the inward part is Christ who by his Blood and Spirit cleanses the Soul in both cleansings union is requisite Water unless applied cleanses not the Body Christ unless applied cleanses not the Soul Where Baptism is in the right use there is a seal of union with Christ who communicates the spiritual cleansing to those who are in him as parts of his mystical body Hence are those Phrases in Scripture touching baptized persons they are baptized into Christ Rom. 6.3 So united to him as to be in him they are baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 So united to him as to be parts of his mystical body they have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 So united to him as a man is to a garment his satisfaction covers them his Spirit adorns them with holy Graces they are in Baptism buried with him and risen with him Col. 2.12 So united to him that they have the power of his death in mortification and the
this never is or can be though the divine nature be where the humane is not yet the union remains it being made cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non cum loco with the word not with place the Divine nature being immense cannot possibly by distance be separated from any thing if in the least point it were separated it should cease to be immense or else thus The Divine Nature is not shut up in the limits of the flesh but doth transcendently exceed them and thus the Divine Nature is not so properly out of the flesh as beyond it according to its Infinity it is where the humane is not Thus much touching the Doctrine of the Lutherans in this point But if there is not a corporal presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist is there no presence at all Are the Sacraments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked signs and empty figures of Christ crucified This indeed is charged upon us by the Papists and Lutherans When Calvin saith that the body of Christ is exhibited to us in the Sacrament De Euch. lib. 1. c. 1. Bellarmine cries out that it is but mera ludificatio When Wendilin speaks of the presence of Christs body in the Eucharist Wend. Ex. 103. the Lutherans cry out fucus est dolus est it is a colour a cheat Nevertheless we say that the body and blood of Christ are truly though spiritually present not as contained in the elements but as exhibited to our Faith Thus Reverend Calvin hath it Inst lib. 4. c. 17. s 11. Dico in coenae mysterio per symbola panis vini Christum verè nobis exhiberi in the mystery of the Supper by the Symbols of bread and wine Christ is truly exhibited to us Thus the excellent Vsher Serm before the Commons 1620. Of his precious body and blood we are really made partakers that is in truth and in deed and not in imagination only although in a spiritual and not a corporal manner Thus the Church of England Hom. 1st of the Sacrament In the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent but the Table of the Lord the bread and cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the annunciation of his death yea the communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvelous incorporation which by the operation of the Holy Ghost the very bond of our conjunction with Christ is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful And again The body of Christ is given Art the 28. taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner It 's true the Papists and Lutherans make light of this spiritual presence Gregory de Valentiâ calls it merum somnium Calvinisticum a meer Calvinistical dream The Lutherans say that this is not a true presence of Christs body but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imago a spectrum or image In answer to this I shall offer two or three things The Papists and Lutherans who cast off this spiritual presence as a fancy do yet in explaining a corporal presence make the notion too fine to consist with the nature of a body De Euch. Lib. 1. c. 2. Lib. 3. c. 4. Bellarmine will not have the body of Christ in the Eucharist to be visible sensible tangible it exists after the manner of Spirits nay it is present after the manner of God The Lutherans will not have the body of Christ in the Eucharist to be visible palpable local circumscribed with place it exists in a supernatural manner it is present praesentiâ divinâ by a Divine presence Thus they who slight the spiritual presence do make the corporal one so fine that the body of Christ after they have stript it of its essential properties is more like a Spirit than a Body The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a spiritual one This is clear the presence is such as the faculty is to which the thing is presented the Bread and Wine which are the outward symbols of the Sacrament are presented to our sense the Body and Blood of Christ which are the inward marrow of it are presented to our Faith In the former a corporal presence is necessary in the latter a spiritual one Again The presence is such as the eating is the eating of Christ is spiritual it is as appears in the sixth chapter of St. John from spiritual principles to a spiritual end from the quickening spirit to life eternal the presence therefore must be a spiritual one that it may sute to the eating Further The presence is as the union is the union between Christ and us is spiritual he dwells in us by Faith he lives in us by his Spirit the presence therefore must be a spiritual one that it may agree with the union The Fathers are not for a corporal but a spiritual presence St. Cyprian treating of the Eucharist saith (a) Non tà m corporali quà m spiritali transitione Christo nos uniri de Caenâ That we are united to Christ not by a corporal but spiritual transition St. Ambrose saith (b) In illo Sacramento Christus est quia corpus est Christi non ergò corporalis esca sed spiritalis est De iis qui initiantur cap. 9. In the Sacrament is Christ because it is the Body of Christ it is not therefore corporal food but spiritual St. Athanasius saith of the Body of Christ (c) Corpus meum in cibum dabitur ut spiritualitèr unicûique tribuatur In illud qui dixerit Verbum That it is given for food that it may be spiritually distributed to every one St. Austin saith (d) Habuit Christum Ecclesia secundum praesentiam carnis paucis diebus modò fide tenet Tract in Joh. 50. The Church had Christ according to the presence of flesh a few days now she holds him by faith St. Bernard saith (e) Eadem caro nobis sed spiritualitèr non carnalitèr exhibeatur in fest Mart. That the flesh of Christ is exhibited to us spiritually not carnally Thus the Ancients are not for a corporal presence but a spiritual one This spiritual presence is so great a mystery that reverend Calvin saith Instit lib. 4. c. 17. Nec mens plane cogitando nec linguà explicando par esse potest the mind cannot conceive it the tongue cannot utter it Where mysteries are deep to speak a little is enough I shall therefore only touch on two things The one is this the body of Christ is objectively present to our faith St. Paul tells the Galatians that before their eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among them his Cross was at Jerusalem his glorious residence in Heaven yet he is before our faith in the Gospel and particularly in the Eucharist in which as in a sacred Crucifix we see him as it were a suffering for us It is here to be
noted that there is a double existence of things the one absolute which is coufined to time and place the other relative and objective which is not so The Sun in its absolute existence is in its orb but as an object it is present to the eye which sees not meerly the visible species but the Sun it self The Body of Christ in its absolute existence is in Heaven but as an object it is present to Faith which sees not meerly the outward figures and symbols in the Eucharist but Christ himself sweating bleeding dying on a Cross satisfying Divine justice for sin which is such a sight as makes the Soul hide in his wounds wash in his blood rest on his at onement and triumph in his salvation The phylact upon that passage Gal. 3.1 enquiring how Christ who was crucified at Jerusalem could be said to be crucified among the Galatians Answers thus Praedicationi fidem praebentes perinde ac praesentem vidistis believing the Gospel preached ye saw him as present with you St. Jerom upon that Text saith it was with you quasi apud nos omnia facta sint as if all things had been done with you as if you had seen Christ hanging on the Cross Thus Christ as an object is present to our Faith It 's true the Lutherans say this presence is not a real one but in fancy and imagination only but may that faith which is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the subsistence of things hoped for Heb. 11.1 be called a fancy Was it a fancy by which Abel offered his excellent sacrifice Enoch was translated into Heaven Noah prepared an Ark Abraham offered up his beloved Isaac Moses saw him that is invisible Is it by a fancy that we are justified before God that we overcome the World that we are inserted and incorporated into Christ that we eat his flesh and drink his blood that we have him dwelling and living in our hearts These things are not done by fancy but by faith that spiritual presence which is to our faith is not imaginary but real no needless thing but simply necessary to the spiritual eating of Christ unto life eternal Without a presence there can be no eating without a spiritual presence there can be no spiritual eating that cannot be corporally eaten which is not present to sense that cannot be spiritually eaten which is not present to Faith the spiritual presence therefore is so far from being a fancy that it is necessary to that spiritual eating which is necessary to life eternal The other is this The Body of Christ is present virtually and in the Holy Spirit communicated to us St. Cyprian sets out Christ by the Sun the great Luminary of the world De Caenâ Domini Totum apud se manens totum se omnibus commodat remaining whole in himself he communicates himself whole to all his members His Sacred Body which is locally in Heaven comes down to us in healing and quickening beams in the special presence and operations of the Spirit there goes out from it a divine virtue which reaches down to all the Believers in the world and upon every touch of Faith is present to heal them Evigilet fides praestò est Christus let Faith awake and Christ is at hand Aquinas a great man among the Papists asserts that the passion of Christ operates per spiritualem contactum by a spiritual contact Scheckius 3. Pars. q. 48. art 6. a learned Lutheran saith that the Body of Christ is present with us not locally and corporally but spiritually and in Energy But here it will be said that thus the body of Christ is present in its effect only To which I answer there is more in it than so the Spirit communicated is not a meer effect but a copula or unitive bond it operates not meerly upon believers as objects but in them as parts of Christ When the Sun lets down his rays to the earth those rays are effects and operate upon the earth as an object but when the head lets down the animal spirits to the feet those spirits are an unitive bond and operate in them as parts of the body Thus it is between Christ and Believers the Spirit is not a meer effect but an unitive bond it joins them intimately to Christ it makes them members of his body of his flesh and of his bones mystical parts of him and a kind of appendants of his humane nature not indeed hypostatically but spiritually joined to it the distance between Heaven and Earth can no more impede this conjunction than the distance between the head and feet can impede that union which is between them The Immense Spirit can more easily unite at a vast distance then finite spirits can at a less the humane nature of Christ cannot by local distance be separated from the Divine because the Divine is Immense Believers cannot by local distance be separated from Christ because the uniting Spirit is Immense Again The Spirit operates not meerly upon Believers as objects but in them as parts of Christ first it makes them parts and then it operates in them as such ' Two things eminently shew them to be parts of him that is his Satisfaction is imputatively derived down upon them his Spirit doth by a special presence operate in them in the one they are as parts covered in the other as parts acted That the curse of the Law doth not seize upon them it is because the Head covers them with his satisfaction that they walk in holiness and obedience it is because the Head moves and acts them by his Spirit Thus we are in intimate conjunction with him and so as St. Chrysostom speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In 1 Cor. cap. 10. by union we partake of him his body which is united to him hypostatically is united to us mystically we have his flesh in the uniting and operating Spirit We know his fiesh saith St. Austin Non secundum carnem De Verb. Domini ser. 60. sed secundum spiritum not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit his corporal presence being gone from us there succeeds a spiritual one in the room of it The next thing is the eating of Christ The Papists and Lutherans who stand for a corporal presence are for an eating sutable that is an oral one but this is a great mistake In the Eucharist there is an earthly part before our sense and an heavenly one before our faith in the one an oral eating is proper in the other it is impossible vain nay a very horrible thing It is impossible the body of Christ cannot be eaten orally without suffering neither can it suffer while it is in glory it would not if torn into pieces serve all the communicants in the Church neither can it being finite be received intirely by all It is also vain could we take the body of Christ into our mouths how should it spiritually profit us which way should it
Holy God they know assuredly that there is the way in which he is to be found there he records his name and commands the blessing even life for evermore the call is that which makes them run the institution is that which makes them wait for the benediction As to Manner an Ordinance is to be used like it self in an holy way accordingly they treat it as a sacred thing their hearts are in such a posture as corresponds to the Presence of God in it He is the great Majesty of Heaven they lye low before him their reverence shews Him whom they serve to be an Infinite one Oh! what abasing thoughts are there in their bosom Dust here approaches to Majesty it self nay sinful dust to the holy One What a little very little thing is the soul to him though it were intirely given up to him And how much less is it when corruption holds back and the world steals away a great part of it from him He is a Spirit they serve him in Spirit and Truth they endeavour to give him their highest and purest intention they bid the world stand by and not to interrupt them were it possible they would not have so much as a glance or a broken thought towards carnal objects he is Mercy and Love it self their Faith in and through the great Mediator ascends up to him for pardon and acceptance their Love takes fire at his and inflames their hearts towards him He is the great Author of the Ordinance he only can bless it their eyes are up to him their hearts cry out for him Oh! that he would fill the Ordinance with his Spirit that he would cast their minds into the mould of the Gospel this is all their expectation to meet with him in his ways Here is the first correspondence On Gods part there are such divine Communications as do in a way of Grace answer to their Services as they draw near to him so he draws near to them as they come to Ordinances as Ordinances appointed by him so he comes down into Ordinances as his own Institutions to fill them with his gracious Presence there are such spirations and influences of the Spirit such openings of Evangelical Glories and Mysteries such deep and intimate impressions of Truth such delights and spiritual suavities in holy things such prospects of rectitude and beauty in the commands such sweet tastes and favours of Grace in the promises such sheddings of the divine Love and Favour such a Shechinah a presence and glory in the Ordinance that they can do no less than break out and say God is in it of a truth Before they did by the word know the Ordinance to be of God but now they know it by experience God shews a wonderful respect to their services I may add to the pious mode of them The more low and humble they are the nearer is the high One to them their humility and penitential frame sets his Mercies a melting and working towards them when Israel was repenting his Soul was grieved for them Judg. 10.16 When Ephraim bemoaned himself the divine bowels were troubled for him Jer. 31.20 The more upright they are the more doth his countenance behold them With the upright he will shew himself upright their pure intentions shall have a Crown of pure Mercies while they are serving him in heart and spirit he will do them good with all his heart and soul they lift up their faith and love towards him and the issue is Mercy comes down upon them in greater riches and plenty Love appears in clearer and higher manifestations than before they lift up their eyes to the great Author of Ordinances and it is not in vain he manifests himself to them in every duty in Prayer they meet with gales and divine Enlargements they have a free access and manuduction to the Mercy-seat they have sweet returns of their Petitions if not in specie in the very thing desired yet in something else fitter and better for them there is an inward support which is tantamount to the blessing desired or else there is a wise transmutation of the blessing into something more profitable In the hearing of the word they have an effectual working in their hearts they do not only hear outwardly but inwardly too there are such Illuminations as are more precious than all the lights in nature The word like a beam of Omniscience penetrates into the very inward parts the savours of Christ are as if there were a box of heavenly Spikenard broken in their hearts the divine Spirit breathes life and power into them to quicken them to all Obediende in every Ordinance they have a practical and experimental proof that God is in the Ordinance This is the second correspondence both evidence a sweet communion with God in which stands much of our happiness here below it being certain that there is no greater good to be enjoyed than himself The last priviledg I shall name is this They that are in Christ are happy in every conditio Eth. lib. 1. c. 10. a virtuous man in Aristotle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a foursquare man cast him which way you will still he is upon his bottom I may much more say so of men in Christ their happiness is so internal and divine that it doth not wheel or rowl about with the mutable world but stands unmovable in every condition whether the times be prosperous or adverse still they are happy They are happy in times of prosperity they have outward good things in a more excellent way than others they have a special title to them they have them not only by Providence but by Promise they claim not upon meer Creation but in and through Christ All are yours and you are Christs 1 Cor. 3.22 They have not meerly the things themselves but the favour of God with them In the blessing of Joseph there are the dew and the deep the precious things of the Heaven Sun and Moon the precious things of the Earth Hills and Mountains and to sweeten all there comes in at last The good will of him that dwelt in the bush Deut. 33.13 14 15 16 verses This good will is that which makes the stream of blessings run pure Believers have blessings and no curse in them a table and no snare in it a prosperous state and no sorrow added to it the light of Gods Providence and the light of his countenance are met in conjunction Again They look upon outward blessings in their dependance upon the original they know the true sense of them to be this That their hearts may be guided to the fountain of Goodness the little beams being rightly understood point to the Father of Lights the smallest drops of good here below lead to the Ocean of sweetness above no sooner do Believers open their eyes upon the creatures but they see the stamps and signatures of the first cause they behold the rare Idea's of the divine Power and
be miserable CHAP. IX The Marks of Vnion considered In general the marks are internal no meer outward thing is a mark the marks are cordial no meer notion is a mark the marks are supernatural no meer moral virtue is a mark In particular The first mark is poverty of Spirit the second is an high estimation of Christ the third is a tender respect to the Bonds of Vnion the Spirit and Faith the fourth is a conformity to Christ a conformity to him in Graces in the rise of them and in the kinds a conformity to him in Sufferings in the mortification of Sin and in bearing of the Cross a conformity to him in his resurrection in heavenliness of mind and newness of life in matter and manner The conclusion in two words of advice one to those that are not in union with him the other to those that are in union with him AS Union with Christ gives a title to great Priviledges so the knowledg of that Union gives the comfort of them those who know themselves to be in Christ do read their pardon and live in the borders of Paradise the Holy Spirit gives them a prospect of Heaven and seals them up for it it is therefore worth our labour to enquire into the Marks of this Union In doing this I shall first note three things in general and then come to particulars In general three things may be noted The first is this The marks of this Union are internal no meer outward thing can amount to a mark I shall give two instances of it The one is this No meer outward priviledg can amount to a mark It was the ancient humour of the Jews to rest upon external priviledges they gloried in this that they were Jews the seed of that great Saint Abraham who as they say performed every jot and tittle of the Law they cryed up their circumcision as a very great thing it was say they equal to all Precepts nay Heaven and Earth could not stand without it they magnified the Temple saying The temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord are these that was the perfection of Beauty made such by the special Presence of God in it Dr. Lightf Har. fo 39. These Priviledges lifted them up to such an height that they look'd upon all the nations of the world but as so many Dogs in comparison of themselves But all those who had these Priviledges had not an interest in Christ the true Jew is not meerly an outward one but an inward the right seed are not the children of Abrahams flesh but the children of the promise the great circumcision is not in the flesh but the heart it was not the outward Temple but the inward Sanctity which God looked at Hence the Apostle returns upon the Jews which were void of Christ the name of Dogs and calls them in an holy mockery the Concision and asserts that Christians who rejoyce in Christ and have no confidence in the flesh of outward priviledges are the true circumcision Phil. 3.2 3. In like manner Christians are very apt to rest upon outward Priviledges they are in the bosom of the Church they are baptized in the name of the Sacred Trinity they hear the sound of the glorious Gospel they receive the Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper These great Priviledges make them imagine themselves to be Christians indeed but all those who have these Priviledges are not in union with Christ all are not in his mystical body all have not the inward washing of Regeneration all do not hear and learn of the Father all do not eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ in the midst of their outward Priviledges there is nothing within to prove them real Christians though they be in the Church visible yet as St. Austin saith Cont. Donat lib. 1. c. 17. Quod palea est palea est that which is chaff is chaff and as soon as the wind comes it will fly away and shew it self not to be in true unity with the Church The other is this No meer outward acts of obedience can amount to a mark It 's true acts of Obedience when done in a right spiritual manner are sure signs of union with Christ there is in them an holy respect to Gods command a pure intention directs them to his glory the fountain of them is internal and supernatural they are right issues of Faith and Love He that keepeth his Commandments dwelleth in him and he in them and hereby we know that he abideth in us by the Spirit which he hath given us 1 Joh. 3.24 It is here to be noted that to prove a man to be in union with Christ it is not only requisite that there be Obedience but also that there be the Holy Spirit to quicken us thereunto Acts of obedience which are good not in the manner but in the matter only do not amount to a mark they are but as a body without a soul or a picture without life a man may hear read pray give alms live soberly deal honestly yet in all these move only in the sphere of nature Natural conscience may prompt him to them servile fear may drive him on vain glory may allure him but he doth them in a carnal not in a spiritual manner in animo non facit he doth them to himself and to the world but not to God there is no Faith or holy Love at the bottom of them no pure intention at the great End no vital activity in the performance Acts of obedience are not evidences meerly as they are in opere operato in the work done but as they are done in a spiritual manner Hence our Saviour tells them Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven Mat. 5.20 Scribes were men of the greatest learning Pharisees were men of the strictest Sect among the Jews yet because their righteousness was a meer external one we must go beyond them or else we shall fall short of that Heaven into which all the members of Christ enter The second is this The marks of this union are cordial no meer notion no not that of divine things can amount to a mark a man may have a great stock of notions yet not be in union with Christ he may know the literal sense and meaning of divine Truths yet have nothing of the spiritual effect and power of them upon his heart a man of meer notions druges in the service of sin as if there were no redemption walks in his corrupt ways as if there were no better to be found cleaves to earth as if there were no Heaven hangs about time as if there were no eternity chuses his lusts as if there were no God to set his heart upon and falls in with every vanity as if there were no Christ to be united unto His notions all lie dead there is
to live in the spirit pray in the spirit walk in the spirit do all in the spirit which descends upon them from the Head Hence St. Paul saith I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me Gal. 2.20 He lived an holy life but it was in dependance upon Christ he did the Will of God but he was acted by the Spirit of Christ in the doing of it there is a vast difference between a meer Moralist and a right Christian the Moralist cries up the Fountain of Virtue in his own reason and will the Christian cries up the Fountain of Grace in Christ there are the full treasures of Grace there are the rich anointings of the Spirit The Moralist expects all Epict. Ench. c. 17. Sen. Ep. 31. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from himself and in all doth sibi fidere trust to himself The Christian hangs upon Christ and adheres to him that he may have continual supplies of grace from him the Moralist is a self-subsister he stands upon his own bottom works out of his own stock and is All to himself the Christian subsists in Christ he is a branch in him in the root he flourishes off from it he withers he is a member of him in union with the head he acts and moves in holy Works in separation from him he can do nothing he waits and looks up to him that he by the influences of his Spirit may inlighten him when dark quicken him when dead draw him when back ward strengthen him when weak hold him when falling enlarge him when in straits and actuate him to do Gods Will in the midst of infirmities in all the good works that he doth he acts in dependance upon the influences of grace Here again we may try our selves whether we be in Christ or not how is it with us what is the posture of our inward man do we live in dependance upon Christ our Head do we sanctifie the Fountain of grace in our hearts do we look up to him to move and act us by his Spirit if so it is sure that we are members of him and live like such in dependance upon him I will no longer insist upon the marks of union but conclude all with two things The one is this Those that are not in union with Christ had need to consider their condition what poor forlorn creatures are they what a world of guilt is there lying at their door what omissions comissions ignorances presumptions impieties iniquities what smothered light abused love forfeited creatures buried talents broken promises have they to answer for and for these things what black clouds and storms of wrath hang over their heads what dooms and fearful curses doth the broken Law pronounce against them at death and judgment what will they do how will they appear before the Holy God or what can they say or plead why his wrath should not be poured out upon them may they be saved without a Saviour or by a neglected one will the great and merciful Jesus deliver those that would not join themselves to him may his glorious satisfaction cover those that are none of his members or his precious atonement discharge those that would never receive it will the Law spare those that refuse the Gospel or the dreadful curse pass over those who have none of the blood of the Covenant sprinkled upon them It cannot be not being in union with Christ their condition is as forlorn as if there were no Christ no sacrifice or atonement no Gospel or promises at all the wrath of God abides upon them there is but a moment a little span of life between them and the bottomless pit as soon as death blows out their Candle they are in utter darkness It may be a matter of just wonder how it is possible that they should have any rest or quiet of mind in such a dreadful condition the very thought of the wrath to come is enough to dampall the joy and comfort of their lives Again Would they put dive into their own hearts it would be a weary thing to them to see their immortal spirits lye as they do in ruins and spiritual desolations to have minds and no practical light in them wills and no holy rectitude there to have love and joy and none for Christ hatred and sorrow and none for sin It would be grievous in their eyes to see their precious souls lye in the turpitude and pollution of sin in a sink of pleasure or a cave of covetousness or some other lust which like an unclean place miserably defiles it whilst it abides therein In such a doleful state what help or relief is there but in Christ Is not he the great repairer of breaches Is it not he that sets up the Divine Image and all its furniture in the Soul is not he the only one that cleanses us from the stains and turpitudes of sin There i salvation in no other but in him alone Were but men awakened they would never rest in a Christless condition the scores of guilt in conscience the wrath of God hanging over their heads the forlorn and desperate state of their own souls the wretched pollutions and defilements which they lye under would make them cry out for Christ oh give us Christ or else we dye nothing can wash out our guilt but his atoning blood nothing can cover us from wrath but his glorious satisfaction nothing can purge out our stains and set our hearts in order but his spirit the fearful condition of being without Christ would prompt them to breathe and endeavour after union with him as the only necessary and desirable thing in the world The other is this Those that are in union with Christ should carry themselves in a just decorum to that blessed state How should they study and admire the transcendent excellencies of their head what a glorious and incomparable person is he Creatures are but vanity the whole world is but a poor nothing in comparison of him what a sight is God in the flesh in whom the distance between God and man is as it were filled up in a wonderful incarnation how infinite is that love which moved him to come down into an humane nature to stand in it under the rules of his own Law nay to bleed and die upon a Cross to make a full satisfaction for the sin of the world How should those that are in him stand and adore him What rapes and extasies of affection are due to him who is all over beauty and amenity With what joys and triumphs of faith should they look upon that precious blood which cheers the heart of God and man Here they may lye down in ease and rest no fears of death or hell shall disturb them And what are the rich anointings and over-measures of the Spirit which are upon him How vast an Ocean of grace is he and what wonders are to be seen there Those that are in him have reason to stand and admire at the continual illapses of the Spirit and supplies of grace which come from him Israel could sing at an earthly fountain Spring up O well Numb 21.17 How should Christians joy in the fountain of Grace and say Flow out O infinite Well let thy streams make us glad for ever What precious thoughts should they have of him What firm adherences of will to him What total dependences upon him What pure intimate affections towards him How should their love feed and feast upon the delicious suavities and plenitudes in him Earthly things should be but as so many beautiful shadows and gilded nothings their affections should be intirely set upon him as the most amiable object of all carnal self should be left and forsaken that they may be swallowed up in him How should they study and earnestly affect to resemble him his will should be theirs theirs should be broken to pieces that it may be made one with his his mind should be in them and theirs should have pure aims at his glory they should never think that they have enough of his Image but every day endeavour to have more lively stamps and impresses of it upon their souls nay they should not rest in a meer interne assimilation to him but strive after an externe imitation of him to talk and act and live as he did as there is one Spirit in him and them so there should be the same steps in both When they go about any thing they should ask their own hearts would he if on earth do so Do we herein imitate him who is the grand copy and Idea of Virtue To hunt after the world or drown in sensuality or boil in hatred and malice is not to act as mystical parts of the great Samplar And how should they seek communion with him in Duties Providences in Creature-comforts Christ alone should be the matter of their fruition all other things should be subservient to him nothing should be good to them but what tends to him And how should they endeavour to give all content to him the least dalliances with sin are a grief to him The Physician tells us that all grief in the body proceeds from the solution of the continuum it holds good in his members nothing is more grievous to him than to have them backslide be out of joint If they should fall off from his Mysteries to their own reason or from his precepts to their own will or from his righteousness to their own works it would be a thing no less displeasing to him than unbecoming to them And how should they labour to find all content in him He is a King for power an Husband for love a foundation for support a Priest for atonement an Head for influence Nay he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all things Col. 3.11 It is safe to be under his protection sweet to be in his embraces sure to be upon his bottom comfortable to have peace by his blood excellent to have continual supplys and emanations of grace from him Nay to have him is to have all things all that are in him have reason to rest satisfied in him and to begin that Song of the Lamb which they shall be ever singing in Heaven to him FINNIS