respect of that New Creature Divine Nature and spiritual being which he hath wrought in them but immediately also I would fain learn of him what he means by this immediate presence of the Spirit for if the Holy Spirit be a divine and infinite being which is present every where how can he be more immediately present in one place or in one person than in another but only by a more peculiar manifestation of himself in his effects and operations As God who fills all places with his presence is said to dwell in Heaven because there he manifests his glory in a more peculiar manner But I cannot without some indignation observe how our Author has prophaned this holy Union between Christ and Believers by comparing it with the impure mixtures of a man with a Harlot and representing the Apostle to argue at this rate The Apostle tells us That he who is joyned to the Lord is one spirit 1 Cor. 6. 17. Which I thus explained That herein consists our Union to Christ that we have the same temper of mind which he had wrought in us by the same Holy Spirit which animates both the Head and the Body and every member of it as I acknowledged before for there can be no Union between Souls and Spirits without this that they are acted by the same principles and love and chuse the same things c. Mr. Ferguson disproves this from that opposition which the Apostle as he says makes between the Union of a man to a Harlot and our Union to Christ Know ye not that he which is joyned to a Harlot is one body but he that is joyned to the Lord is one spirit From whence he argues If the Union betwixt a man and a Harlot in the virtue of which they are one body import more than meerly a likeness of temper and moral disposition as surely it doth for asmuch as there may be a similitude in sensual propensions and inclinations where the becoming one flesh through carnal conjunction interposeth not much more doth a Believer's being one spirit with the Lord imply a higher kind of Union than an affinity of dispositions What fine work might a prophane Wit make of this And indeed I would not have defiled my Paper with it but only to have vindicated our Apostle and Christianity together from such sordid and impure abuses And any one who consults the place will easily perceive that this prophane comparison is owing wholly to our Author and that the Apostle has nothing to do with it For in the fifteenth verse he disswades them from Fornication by this Argument Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ shall I take then the members of Christ and make them members of an Harlot God forbid The undecency of this is very evident that the members of Christ should be made the members of an Harlot and therefore the Apostle distinctly proves these two Propositions that our bodies as we are Christians are the members of Christ and that that body which is joyned to the Harlot becomes one flesh and body with her This last he proves from the primitive institution of Marriage Two saith he shall be one flesh For an Harlot is an uxor usuraria who unlawfully supplies the place of Wife and he proves the latter that our bodies also are the members of Christ from that intimate Union of Souls and Spirits betwixt Christ and Believers He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit and therefore his body too is a member of Christ for that intimate Union between the body and the soul will not admit a separation Christ first takes possession of our souls and then challenges an interest and propriety in our bodies which must be preserved holy and pure as the Temples of God But then thirdly I observed That there is a closer Union still which results from this which consists in a mutual and reciprocal love when we are transformed into the Image of Christ he loves us as being like to him and we love him too as partaking of his nature He loves us as the price of his bloud as his own workmanship created unto good works and we love him as our Redeemer and Saviour for which I produced Ioh. 14. 20. At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you Where by day Mr. Ferguson very wisely understands the glorified state this Union being such a Mystery as cannot be understood in this world whereas the Circumstances of the place determine it to our Saviours Resurrection and the descent of the Holy Spirit and he himself explains the meaning of this Union Vers. 21. He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and manifest my self to him To the same purpose Christ prays for his Disciples Ioh. 17. 21. That they may be one as thou Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us These Scriptures are alleadged by Mr. Ferguson too but to prove he knows not what He acknowledges That it is not an oneness of Essence betwixt Christ and Believers that is here to be understood nor yet is it meerly an oneness of will and affection between the Father and the Son but it is an Essential Unity here meant Well Is there an Essential Unity then here meant betwixt Christ and Believers No that he rejected before What then Why though we plead not for the same kind of oneness between Christ and Believers as is between the Father and the Son yet we affirm that something more sublime than barely a Political Relation is adumbrated and shadowed forth to us Something more than External-Political Union I believe is intended by them but what sublime thing is that which is adumbrated and shadowed forth to us in these words which expressions argue that our Author is not very clear in it that he tells us that by alluding to that incomprehensible Idendity which is between the persons of the blessed Trinity through a numericalness of nature he would instruct us that the Union between Christ and those that are born of God is intimate great and Mysterious as well as true and real But Mr. Ferguson else-where tells us that all Unions are Mysterious and there are several sorts of intimate and great and true and real Unions so that we are never the wiser for this account of our Union to Christ. But our Saviours plain and obvious meaning is this that as there is a perfect harmony of will and affections and design and a perfect agreement in Doctrine between the Father and himself founded on the unity of nature so he prays that his Disciples may be one also among themselves and with God from their agreement in the same belief and participation of the same nature and a unity and harmony of Affections But then I observed
fourthly that this Union is expressed in Scripture by resembling the Christian Church to Gods Temple wherein he dwells as formerly he did in the Temple at Ierusalem That God now dwells in the Christian Church by his Holy Spirit as he formerly did in the Jewish Temple by Types and Figures and that he does not dwell thus in the Christian Church only as a spiritual Society but in every particular Christian as I explained at large in my former Discourse which is a plain demonstration of our Authors honesty in charging me with rejecting the Inhabitation of the Holy Spirit and making a meer External-Political Union between Christ and Christians This is sufficient to vindicate my own notion from the false representations of this Author and I might honourably enough retreat and leave him to skirmish with his own shadow but to do all the right that may be to my cause and to satisfie all unprejudiced teachable minds I shall give some farther account of the reason why I stated the notion of our Union to Christ in this manner And first the true reason why I did not more particularly discourse of the influences of the Divine Spirit but was contented to give some plain and short intimations of it was because I principally designed to consider what was necessary on our part as matter of duty in order to our Union with Christ For here are the great and dangerous mistakes here it is that my Adversaries have confounded the plain Notions of Religion and lead men into intricate Labyrinths and Meanders What is necessary on Christ's part he will be sure to effect whether we do so clearly and perfectly understand it or not but unless we understand what is necessary on our part it is impossible we should do it unless it be by perfect chance and accident These new Divines cannot to this day direct men how to get into Christ or to be united to him They talk of a Legal and a Mystical Union but what we must do to be thus Legally and Mystically united to Christ they know not we must expect till God gives Christ to us or till Christ unite us to himself or rather till he give us a sense and knowledge that we are united And this is a very hard case that when our Eternal happiness depends on our Union to Christ we should be so perfectly ignorant how to attain to this Union Nay they had so ordered the matter that a very good man who heartily believes the Gospel of Christ and makes conscience of obeying it if he be so weak as to hearken to their preachments may be perplext with Eternal Scruples about his Union to Christ while a bad man who hath a warm and Enthusiastick fancy and can work his imagination into all the various Scenes of the New Birth shall live in the perpetual embraces of Christ and in the Raptures and Extasies of assurance and despise the low attainments of morality and a good life Now my principal design was to rectifie these dangerous mistakes to give men such a notion of our Union to Christ that they may certainly know by what means they may attain this Union and that good men may reap the comfort of it and bad men though never such Seraphical hypocrites may see all their hopes confuted and be forced either to let go all their pretences of Union to Christ or enter upon a new course of life And I could not better do this than by making it appear that to be united to Christ signifies to be his Disciples to be incorporated into his Church by a publick profession of Faith and obedience and to conform our hearts and lives to the Laws of the Gospel And therefore I chose all along to expound those expressions of being one Spirit with Christ of having the Spirit of Christ of Christ's dwelling in us and the like so as to explain what they signified on our part viz. to be transformed into the Image of Christ to be animated by the same love of vertue and goodness to have the same Spirit the same temper of mind which he had than to dispute concerning the manner of the Divine Spirits inhabitation and operation in us which possibly will never be determined as very few modes of things are and is not much material whether it be or not so long as we heartily believe and importunately beg and constantly rely on the assistances of the Divine Grace Secondly There is a further account to be given of this because the gift of the Spirit is consequent to our Union to Christ but does not constitute the formal nature of it That there are some antecedaneous operations of the Holy Spirit whereby we are disposed to believe the Gospel and to list our selves into the number of Christ's Disciples I do not deny but these are of a very different consideration from that gift of the Holy Spirit which is bestowed on those who are actually incorporated into the Christian Church and made the Members of Christ For Christ has promised his Holy Spirit only to those who are actually united to him and indeed in order of nature a member must first be united to the body before it can receive any influences from the Head The gift of the Holy Spirit is an act of Christs Kingly Power and Authority and concerns only his Church and the members of it Just as Temporal Princes can exercise no jurisdiction but over their own Subjects and therefore we must first be united to Christ as members of his Church before we can expect to partake of the benefits and advantages of which the gift of the Holy Spirit is none of the least of his Government God vouchsafes the assistances of the Holy Spirit to all men to whom the Gosspel is preached to work Faith in them but when men do actually believe and give themselves up to Christ in such regular ways as he has appointed then the Holy Spirit is a constant Principle in them upon Covenant and Promise upon which account he is said to dwell in them and to make his abode with them because he is always present as a Principle of a divine life and therefore according to the sense of Scripture of the ancient Church and of the Church of England the Baptism of the Spirit is annexed to our Baptism with water which is the Ceremony of our Initiation into the Christian Church which upon that account in the ancient Church was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or illumination because the Holy Spirit the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge was then bestowed on them And indeed Dr. Owen and all my Adversaries though they differ from me in their Notion of our Union to Christ yet do and according to their Principles must acknowledge that we are first united to Christ before the Holy Spirit is bestowed on us And Dr. Owen proves that Christ is first reckoned unto us before we believe and I can understand no difference between Christs being reckoned
the Church his Spouse a Shepherd and the Church his Flock a Rock whereon his Church is built the chief corner Stone and the Church a holy Temple But as for particular Christians their Union to Christ is by means of their Union to the Christian Church that is no man can be united to Christ till he be a Christian and no man is in the Scripture account a Christian till he make a public profession of his Faith and be solemnly admitted into the Christian Church which is the Body of Christ for which he died and to which all the Promises of the Gospel are made A secret and private Faith in Christ is not ordinarily enough to make any man a Christian but Faith in the Heart and the Confession of the Mouth are both necessary Rom. x. 9 10. Christ himself hath appointed the publick Sacrament of our Initiation and our Church teacheth her Children that in their Baptism which is their solemn admission into the Christian Church They are made Members of Christ the Children of God and Inheritors of the Kingdom of Heaven But I have abundantly confirmed this Notion in my former Discourse and those who would be more fully satisfied in it may have recourse thither The next thing to be considered is what is the true nature of this Union betwixt Christ and his Church and the most general and comprehensive notion is that it is a Political not a natural Union the Union between Christ and his Church consists in their mutual Relations to each other now those Relations whereby the Scripture represents this Union signifie Power and Authority on Christs part and Inferiority and Subjection in the Church Christ is the Head and Husband which signifies Rule and Government and the Church is his Spouse and Body and therefore as the Wife is subject to the Husband and the Body to the Head so the Church must be subject to Christ and the like may be said of all those other Relations whereby this Union is described Only when I call it a Political Union you must not imagine that it is only such an external Relation as is between a Prince and his Subjects because Christ is a spiritual King and his Authority reaches to the Heart and Spirit which no Humane Power can no man is in a proper sence a Subject of Christs Kingdom but he who governs his Heart and Spirit as well as his external Actions by the Laws of the Gospel and though an external and visible profession of the Gospel entitles men to an external Communion with the Christian Church because the external Government of the Church is committed to men who cannot discern hearts and thoughts yet whoever does not heartily obey Christ is not really united to him for the subjection of the Mind and Spirit is the principal thing which denominates us the Subjects of a spiritual King and therefore this may be called a Spiritual-Political Union which principally respects the Subjection of our Minds and Spirits to Christ and does necessarily include a participation of the same nature with him and a mutual reciprocal love It is a Political Union because it consists in the Authority and Government of Christ as a Head and Husband and in the Subjection and Obedience of the Church as his Body and Spouse and it is Spiritual because the Authority of Christ does not only reach our Outward Actions as the Government of Earthly Princes does but extends it self to our Minds and Spirits and if you will put it into other words our Union to Christ consists in a hearty belief of his Revelations in obedience to his Laws and subjection to his Authority this makes us the Church the Temple of God wherein he dwells as he formerly did in the Temple at Ierusalem this is that which the Scripture calls having Fellowship and Communion with God and Christ which signifies being of that Society which puts us into a peculiar relation to God that God is our Father and we his Children that Christ is our Head and Husband our Lord and Master we his Disciples and Followers his Spouse and his Body this entitles us to his Merits and Righteousness to his peculiar Care and Providence to the Influences of his Grace to the Power of his Intercession to all those blessings which he hath purchased for and promised to his Church Now besides that this Notion is plain and intelligible and very aptly agrees with all those Metaphors and Forms of Speech whereby the Scripture represents our Union to Christ there are these two great advantages we gain by it first that this is a plain demonstration of the evil and danger of Schism a sin which very few men have any sense of in these days for if our Union to Christ as our Head necessarily requires our Union to the Christian Church which is his Body then to divide from the Christian Church or any true and sound part of it does not only make a Rent in the Body of Christ which is a very great evil but divides us from Christ as a Member which is separated from the Body is separated from the Head too this makes the Sentence of Excommunication so dreadful because it cuts us off from the Body of Christ and this Sentence every Schismatick executes upon himself and that more infallibly too than Church-Governours can for they may be mistaken in the Justice of the Cause and may separate those from the external Communion of the Church who are spiritually united to Christ and then their Sentence is reverst by a superior Tribunal But whoever causlesly separates from the Christian Church or any part of it does infallibly divide himself from Christ unless it be through such invincible mistakes as may mitigate the crime and plead his excuse for Schism is a work of the flesh the effect of Pride and Passion or Interest or some other carnal Lust and it concerns those men who make so light of Schism to consider how they expect to be saved by Christ who is only the Saviour of the Body when they have divided themselves from his Body and are no longer any part or member of it A second advantage which we gain by this notion is this that it gives a plain account of the necessity of Holiness and Obedience to entitle us to the Merits of Christ and Justification by him and to all those Promises which Christ hath made to his Body and Members whoever is in Christ and united to him shall certainly be saved by him for he is the Saviour of the Body and our Justification is not owing to our own Merits and Deserts but to the Merits of Christ for whose sake alone God hath promised to justifie and reward those who are united to him but since our Union to Christ consists in the subjection of our Souls and Bodies to him Holiness and Obedience is as necessary a condition of our Justification by Christ as it is essential to our Union to him We cannot be justified
whole body is united to the Head that the Church is Christ's Body and we are all Members in particular which is the very thing I contend for But Mr. Ferguson ought to have proved that every member is the body of Christ or that any one can be a member of Christ without being a member of his body that any Christian can be said to be married to Christ or to be his Spouse upon any other account than with respect to his relation to the Church which is his Spouse That these expressions may be used of particular Christians upon account of their relation to the whole body I deny not but the primary use of these Metaphors is to describe the relation between Christ and his Church and are secondarily applied to particular Christians and particular Churches as they are members of the Universal Church But to come closer to the business Mr. Ferguson's great spight is at the second Proposition That the Union of particular Christians with Christ is by means of their Union to the Christian Church Now methinks our Author in common prudence ought not to have expressed too great a zeal against this Notion till he had found out some better way of stating it And yet there are two or three plain questions which I am sure he can never answer without owning all I contend for in this matter As first whether Christ have more than one body I suppose he dares not say he has because the Apostle has expresly told us that there is but one body as there is but one Spirit Eph. 4. 4. And therefore I would ask him secondly whether every Christian as a Christian be not a member of Christ this I presume he will not deny neither and therefore thirdly I enquire farther whether any Christian can be a member of Christ without being a member of his body And unless our Author be very fond of non sense and thinks every thing true which is unintelligible he dares not say it and then the Consequence is very plain that no man can be considered as a Christian that is as united to Christ without being considered as incorporated into the Christian Church For no man can be a member of Christ without being a member of his body which is his Church Mr. Hooker in that very Paragraph which Dr. Owen alleadges as he thought against me asserts this in as express words as ever I did In God we actually are no longer than from the time of our actual Adoption into the body of his true Church into the fellowship of his Children For his Church he knoweth and loveth so that they that are in the Church are thereby known to be in him Our being in Christ by Eternal Fore-knowledge saveth us not without our actual and real Adoption into the Fellowship of his Saints in this world For in him we actually are by actual incorporation into that Society which hath him for their Head and doth make together with him one body I am not ashamed to confess that I cannot answer this though the comfort is that I have no need to do it If Dr. Owen be of this mind as methinks he should be by this quotation I would desire him to answer Mr. Ferguson if he be not let him answer Mr. Hooker or at least give an account to the world for what purpose he alleadged his authority for grant but this and I see nothing in that long Paragraph which will do him any kindness or me any injury But to return to Mr. Ferguson there needs no more to take off the force of his little Cavils than to state the true meaning of that Proposition That particular Christians are united to Christ by means of their Union to the Christian Church which I perceive he either does not or will not understand And I shall do that in these following Propositions First this does not signifie that it is one thing to be united to the Church and another thing to be united to Christ but our Union to Christ consists in our Union to the Christian Church as at other times I express it For there is no other way for a member to be united to the Head but by being united to the body And by its Union to the body it is united to the Head and we cannot so much as consider any priority of nature much less of time between these two For though we may distinctly consider the relation which is between the particular members of the body to each other and that relation which every particular member has to the head and for a more distinct conception of them may represent one as the means to the other yet when we consider the relation which is between the head and particular members we can form no other Notion of it than their Union to that body which is united to the Head Hence it is that when I explain that Metaphor of Christ's being a Vine sometimes by Vine I understand the Christian Church which is founded on a belief of the Gospel of Christ and is united to him as their Head Sometimes I express it more distinctly that I am the Vine signifies Christ together with his Church which is his body in which Mr. Ferguson fancies great contradictions That the Vine should sometimes signifie the Church sometimes Christ together with his Church but this savours only of his dulness and hebetude to use his own Phrase or which is as likely of a prevaricating conscience For when I say the Church is the Vine no man in his wits could imagine that I excluded the consideration of Christ the Head especially when I immediately explain it by Christ and his Church that is the Head and the Body For it is the very same thing when we speak of our Union to Christ to say that we are united to Christ or that we are united to his Church that we are united to the Head or to the Body since our Union to both is the very same And therefore it is indifferent whether we explain this Metaphor of the Vine by the Christian Church which is the body of Christ and inseparably united to the Head or by Christ considered as Head which implies a necessary relation to his body to which particular Christians are united We are in Christ as members are in the body which unites them to the head which is our being engrafted into this spiritual Vine Christ is in us as the Head is in the members by his Influences and Government by his Word dwelling and abiding in us Ioh. 15. 7. And now I hope no man will believe me so senseless as to deny the Union of Christians to the Person of Christ as Mr. Ferguson would perswade the World I do when I acknowledge our Union to him as the Head of the Church as the great Prophet and Ruler Prince and Saviour of his body which he is as he is a Person And therefore when I affirm That when Christ speaks