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
I will betroth I will betroth I will betroth thrice repeated to note out the fureness of the Promise here it is said in express terms That the espousal is not for a time but for ever here Christ engages his Righteousness Truth Love Mercy Faithfulness to make good the perpetual espousal In the close it is added Thou shalt know the Lord the espoused shall know that their Lord Christ hath effected this great work He is such a Foundation as never was all those who are builded upon him shall stand he is that Rock upon which the Church is built The gates of hell that is the powers of darkness shall not prevail against it Matt. 16.18 This excellent Promise doth signifie the perpetuity of the union between Christ and Believers if they were severed from him then the Gates of Hell would prevail but if as the Promise is the Gates of Hell shall not prevail then the union shall be perpetual It may possibly be here objected That this Promise concerns not particular Believers but the Church in general I answer This Promise reaches to all that are built on the Rock by Faith and so are particular Believers if some particular Believers may fall off from the Rock so may all and then where is the Church what is that but a body made up of particular Believers All Believers failing the Church must needs do so It may yet be objected That the meaning of that Promise is That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against Believers without their own consent But I answer It is not possible they should prevail in any other way than that of consent a temptation may come but without a consent it prevails not to say that the Gates of Hell shall not prevail without a consent is to say That the Gates of Hell shall not prevail in any other way than that which is possible and this being true without any Promise at all the Promise thus interpreted signifies just nothing as being only of that which was so before We are not then to take it so but in the plain sense which gives us an high assurance that those who are built upon the Rock shall never be removed from thence no not by all the powers of darkness St. Paul speaking of Christ the Corner-stone saith In him all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the-Lord The apt and harmonious framing of the building shews the firmness of it the growing of it tells us That it is not as corruptible buildings bore up by dead matter but by that which is much more durable the everliving Spirit of Christ St. Peter speaking of the same Corner-stone saith He that believeth on him shall not be confounded 1 Pet. 2.6 If Believers who are built upon him might be severed from him they must be confounded but if they shall not be confounded they shall not be severed in union with him is salvation but in separation from him is nothing but confusion such a Foundation is he that he bears up all that are built upon him and prevents their confusion by maintaining their union with him None of the lively Stones shall totally finally fall off from him He is such a Vine and Head as never was his juice never ceases his vital influences never fail Hence the Branches and Members ever remain in union with him To make this appear I shall offer two or three things There is a supply of the Holy Spirit from Christ unto Believers he is made sanctification to them he lives in them there is an effectual working in every one of them and all this is by the Spirit communicated from him the Root and Head of all Grace Hence he tells us that the rivers of living water flow in the Believer Joh. 7.38 The supply of the Spirit from Christ unto Believers In Sanctorum cordibus secundum quasdam virtutes semper manet spiritus secundum quasdam recessurus venit venturus recedit in his virtutibus sine quibus ad vitam non pervenitur in electorum suorum cordibus permanct Greg. Mor. doth ever continue in some measure it 's true it doth not ever continue as to the accessaries of Grace but it ever continues as to the vitals and essentials of it it doth not keep them from all acts of sin but under their greatest falls it ever upholds a state of grace and spiritual life in them They may fall and that grievously yet still there is a lamp the habits and principles of Grace are not extinct in them He that is born of God cannot sin 1 Joh. 3.9 That is he cannot sin so as to unframe the new creature he cannot sin so as to lose the remaining seed in him the Reason is because the Spirit continues to bear him up in a state of Grace This continuance of the Spirit is upon a double account the one is the durable foundation of it the communication of the Spirit is founded upon the satisfactory and meritorious sufferings of Christ there is an endless life of merit in him his blood is of an eternal efficacy Hence the supplies of the Spirit procured thereby never fail Very remarkable is the difference between the case of Adam and the case of Believers in him one act of sin drove out a stock of pure holiness in them many sins do not drive out their imperfect graces the Reason is their graces respect a great foundation an infinite treasure of merit which moves the Spirit to bear them up in being but his holiness doth not do so For them as under the second Covenant there is a ransom a satisfaction of immense value to interpose that the forfeiture of their habitual graces made by sin may not be taken but for him as under the first Covenant there was nothing to interpose nothing to bear off justice from taking the forfeiture The other thing is the office of Christ a Vine is to communicate juice to the Branches an Head is to communicate vital influences to the Members the rich anointing of the Spirit was upon Christ not as a meer private person but as a Trustee and a Treasurer for Believers that out of his fulness they might have grace for grace It lies upon his truth and faithfulness to perform his trust and office if he did not communicate the Spirit to his Branches and Members he should cease to act like a Root and Head but because he never does what unbecomes him the communication must continue as long as he is a Root or Head Upon these sure grounds doth stand the continuance of the Spirit in its supplies it may be sometimes grieved by the sins of Believers yet it doth not depart from them because Christ is a Priest after the power of an endless life and it is his trust and office to communicate the Spirit to them The supply of the Spirit unto Believers ever continuing their union with Christ must needs continue also The Spirit is the primary
now lives to perfect the work to save 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hebr. 7.25 not by halves but altogether to give our Salvation its last act and complement he is a Priest for ever his Sacrifice but once offered up is in his Intercession virtually continued to perfect for ever them that are sanctified Here believers have a tree of life bearing as many excellent fruits as Christ paid for in his Death To instance in some of them Here 's a pardon for them He that on earth made satisfaction for sin in Heaven pleads for the pardon of it his Blood crys That the sin which is satisfied for in the head may not be charged upon the members If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous 1 John 2.1 He pleads that righteousness which being put into the opposite ballance outweighs all the sins of his people Here 's the supply of the Holy Spirit given to them he that here below dyed to merit the communication of the Spirit lives and intercedes above to have it done I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever John 14.16 Our Saviour prays in the force of an infinite price therefore the Spirit is given to them he lives for ever and continues praying therefore the Spirit abides with them that which he by Prayer obtains for us by Power he confers upon us therefore as Dr. Reynolds observes in the Psalm he is said to receive gifts for men noting the fruit of his Intercession On the 110 Psalm fol. 438. Psal 68.18 And in the Apostle to give gifts to men noting the power and fulness of his Person Ephes 4.8 Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost he hath shed forth this which you now see and hear Acts 2.33 The Intercession of Christ never fails to communicate the Spirit to his members Here 's an access to God a free ingress for them unto the Mercy-seat whilest he is at Gods right hand none can bar them out from the divine Presence The Apostle tells us That we have a great High Priest passed into the Heavens one no less than the very Son of God and withal one as man touched with the feeling of our infirmities no less willing and compassionate than able to help us And from thence he concludes Let us therefore come 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with boldness with a liberty to speak all our mind unto the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need Hebr. 4.14 15 16. Believers need not fear to approach unto the great God his Glory will not swallow them up his Justice will not be a devouring fire to them they may freely open their wants before him their regular prayers shall surely speed in Heaven Christ intercedes there for them and which is the Eccho of that Intercession the Spirit makes intercession in their hearts the success therefore cannot fail though their prayers as they are in their bosoms have much weakness and imperfections yet as soon as they are put into the hand of Christ and perfumed with the sweet incense of his Merits they are glorified prayers and have power with God to procure the thing desired Another priviledg is Adoption All men in a sense are the off-spring of God the immortal Spirit in them had in the very make of it the natural Image of God which was a nobler print of the Deity than that which was upon all the material world besides Adam in Innocency was in an higher way the Son of God the holy Graces in him which made up the Moral Image had more of the divine Beauty shining in them than that which was to be found in the Essence of the Soul but Believers are the Sons of God in a more excellent manner To as many as received him to them he gave power to become the Sons of God John 1.12 By conjunction with Christ the natural Son they become adopted ones Adam was a Son only by Creation his Soul had in the Essence of it a natural Image of God and in the holy Graces of it a Moral one but Believers are sons by mystical union with Christ the natural Son neither is this a meer empty title but they are born of God they are of the seed-royal of Heaven the Blood of God runs in their consciences the divine Spirit which formed Christ in the womb doth by a supernatural overshadowing form him in their heart in their adoptive Sonship there is a shadow of the eternal one the splendor of grace in them resembling God in a measure is a little picture of Christ who is the brightness of his Fathers glory This priviledg as it is from God is a piece of admirable love Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God 1 John 3.1 The Apostle stands and wonders at it as an object of glorious and amazing Eminence Also as it is upon Believers it is a piece of incomparable Dignity such as doth far outshine all that lustre which is upon the Potentates of this world all the glory of earthly Princes is but fumus seculi the smoak of this lower Region their titles glitter only in carnal eyes but adoption is radius coeli a ray of heavenly glory making believers though but worms in themselves shine to the eyes of Angels who look upon them as mystical parts of Christ Touching this priviledg I shall only touch on two or three things Believers as Sons have an heavenly freedom in the ways of God They are not drag'd to holy things by the cords of Hell and Death they do not bring forth their duties meerly under the pressure of the Law-letter or in the power of fallen nature in a dead carnal servile manner no they are spirited for holy things the Law is in their hearts the rectitude of the commands attracts them the Love of Christ constrains them the great rewards in Heaven ravish them the Holy Spirit inspires obedience into them Holiness becomes natural to them Duties are brought forth in the easiness of the new creature they can walk run fly on in the pure ways towards eternal happiness this is a very choice priviledg indeed they are no longer in the straits of sin and earth but in a divine amplitude and liberty their hearts rest not in * Liber ab infinito ad infinitum super infinitum movetur finite things but go out to the infinite One their thoughts are upon the first Good their aims at the last End their liberty is joyned to its great fountain their motion is to the true center this is a right noble royal posture of Soul towards God in whom all our happiness is Believers as Sons live under the continual Indulgences of God in temptations he bears them up upon the wings of grace in a world of snares he plucks their
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
your eyes upon them in their pure spiritual glory Spiritual objects being represented under sensible are much better attempered unto our minds than they would be if set forth in a more proper dialect only Moreover Metaphors are of excellent use to make us seek after the things above did our minds indeed take in and digest the sacred similitudes in Scripture the very objects of sense would prompt us to be heavenly outward things being but the shadows would lead us to the true substance The Sun would tell us that there is a more glorious one above which shines with healing under his wings The Wind would remember us that the best Gales come from the holy Spirit The Fountains would mind us that there is a Well of water which springs up into life everlasting The old creation would be a gloss and paraphrase upon the new every where we should meet with Christ and holy mysteries The duct and tendency of these holy Metaphors is such that a due improvement of them must needs render our minds very spiritual and Divine In particular The Holy Ghost in Scripture sets forth the mystical union by many resemblances Christ saith St. Chrysostom unites us to him In 1 Cor. hom 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by many patterns and then he goes on he is the head we the body he the foundation we the building he the vine we the branches he the husband we the spouse he the shepherd we the sheep he the way we the walkers we are the temple he the inhabitant he is the first-born we brethren he the heir we coheirs he the life we the livers he the resurrection we the raised he the light we the inlightned and after all he concludes thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 all these things declare union My first work shall be to consider the chief resemblances by which this union is set forth in Scripture Certain it is that the holy Ghost uses no Metaphors or similitudes in Scripture but such as have an aptitude and fitness to manifest the mysteries thereby shadowed out to us he is so wise that he knows what forms of speech are most adapted to promote our knowledg of spiritual things and so good that he will in no forms but such declare his mind unto us Touching these resemblances I shall first note two things in common to them all There is an Analogy between the mystical union and the other unions which resemble it There is an excellency in the mystical union above all the other There is first an Analogy between them somewhat in the earthly unions resembles the mystical one somewhat in the mystical union answers to the earthly pattern there is a correspondence between them This must needs be so because in all Scriptural Metaphors touching this or any other mystery the Holy Ghost always speaks aptly and truly When there is no propriety in the words there is an aptitude in the things to shadow out the mystery when there is no truth in the proper sense there is a truth in the metaphorical one because of the similitude which is between the earthly pattern and the heavenly mystery If the Scripture say that the internal work of grace is a new birth or a resurrection or a new creation it is sure that there is some act of power which makes good the resemblance if it say that Christ is to believers a king or an husband or a foundation or a root or an head or spiritual meat and drink it is sure that there is somewhat of law or love or supportance or vital influence or intimate conjunction which makes good the Analogy Two things may be noted touching the Analogy the one is this there is a necessity of it otherwise the holy Spirit in such Metaphors should not speak aptly or truly not aptly there being no proper aptitude in the very words the aptitude must be in the things or no where take away the Analogy and there will be no aptitude at all the words which cannot befall so wise a speaker as the holy Ghost is will be insignificant and to no purpose nor yet truly there being no truth in the proper sense the truth must be in a metaphorical one or no where Take away the Analogy which makes the Metaphor a Metaphor and there will be no truth at all the words which cannot befall so true a speaker as the Holy Ghost is will be false and delusive For instance our Saviour saith I am the bread of life Joh. 6.48 I am the door of the sheep Joh. 10.7 The first words are apt and true because by him believers are spiritually nourished to life The second are so because by him believers go in and find pasture of comfort but take away these things in which the similitude consists and the words will not be apt or true The other is this there is a very good use of the Analogy to be made it serves being duly and regularly taken according to the line and level of Scripture not only for illustration but for very good proof also For instance St. Paul sets forth the union of Christians among themselves by the union of the members in the natural body 1 Cor. 12. And from thence he argues strongly that Christians should not differ and despise but accord and have a care one of another the eye cannot say to the hand I have no need of thee nor the head to the feet I have no need of you if one member suffer all the members suffer with it if one member be honoured all the members rejoyce with it Also the Apostle sets forth the Union of Believers with Christ by the union of the members with the head Eph. 4.16 and Col. 2.19 And from thence he argues strongly that Believers have a near conjunction with Christ and admirable communications from him there are joints and bands there is a body fitly joyned and compacted there is nourishment ministred there is an effectual working in the measure of every part there is an increasing with the increase of God all these are rationally drawn from the Analogy Thus we see the Analogy is of use not only for illustration but for proof only we must by no means stretch it beyond the scope of Scripture The next thing is There is an excellency in the mystical union above all and every one of the other unions which resemble it It is more excellent than any one of them singly taken The Holy Ghost doth not shadow it out by one or two resemblances but by many and those resemblances do not all point it out in one or two respects but in more and various ones if one resemblance or respect might have reach'd it there would have been no use or need of any more It is also more excellent than all of them put together they are but shadows and resemblances the mystical union is the truth and substance of them all in them meer creatures and those upon earth are united together in
constitution according to which a King is made if he be in by election or succession he stands upon some positive Law or consent which amounts to a Law if he be in by conquest in a just War he stands upon the Law of Nature which saith that the captive must be subject to the victor There are also Laws of Administration according to which a King is to Govern his Subjects without the first Laws there can be no King rightly constituted to have Subjects united to him a people may be under a Tyrant but it is not united to him Without the second Laws there will be no rule of government no right administration of things in a Kingdom According to this distinction I shall lay down two things touching the Mediatory Kingdom of Christ The one is this The Law of constitution must needs be very righteous as being no less than the Decree and Ordinance of God himself he was made a King immediately by God his Kingdom was not as ordinary ones in part are an human creature but a pure Theocracy altogether of Divine Ordination I have set my King upon my holy hill of Zion saith God of Christ Psal 2.6 I have done it not man The Decree of Heaven was for it as the next verse tells us The Lord said unto my Lord that is the Father said to Christ sit thou at my right hand Psal 110.1 Dicere hîc est discernere To say here is to decree That Christ should sit in Royal state and Majesty he is a King meerly of Divine Ordination yet he enters upon his Kingdom by Conquest in the Belial heart of fallen man nothing is in a fit posture to receive this holy King The carnal mind is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be strong holds must be cast down thoughts must be captivated and wills must be overcome or else Christ cannot have a Kingdom Therefore he takes up his spiritual arms goes forth in the power of his spirit and word and subdues the minds and hearts of men to himself so he enters by conquest and that in a very just nay merciful war it being to rescue poor captive creatures and reduce them back again to their Creator but though he come in by conquest yet there is consensus populi his people are willing they own him as their King subject to his Scepter and give up themselves to his government Thus he hath a Title to his kingdom as good as a Divine ordination a just conquest and a free consent can make it The other is this the Law of Administration is righteous and gracious righteous in that which he commands his subjects to do gracious in that which he promises to do for them His Commands which call for faith humility holiness rightiousness meekness mercy temperance patience are as right as any thing can be they are the counterpanes of Gods heart the copies of that Divine Will which is Rectitude it self they perfect the humane nature and being practically embraced they set man in a true posture towards God himself and his fellow creatures His Promises in which he engages himself that the Believer shall be justified that the poor in spirit shall have the kingdom that the pure in heart shall see God that the righteous shall be compassed with Divine favour that the meek shall be beautified with salvation that the merciful shall obtain mercy that all his obedient subjects shall enter into Heaven and enjoy the blessed God there are exceeding gracious and true not one of them shall fail he hath will and power enough to make them all good this is the Administration The sum of all is Christ being a King by Divine Ordination entring by just conquest obtaining a free consent and administring his kingdom so admirably that nothing is in his government but meer rectitude and grace the union between him and his subjects bound together by such right and good Laws must needs be very excellent Here can be no reason to complain no colour of occasion to break off from such a King or to say What portion have we in David Here are no scruples about the Governors Title no unjust Laws to be repealed no grievous burdens to be removed no heavy yokes to be taken off not the least shadow of a male-administration to be found nothing is here to be seen but rectitude and goodness which must needs make the union very firm and stable 3dly The more intimate the union is and the more internal the bonds of it are the more excellent is the union Between an earthly King and his Subjects the bonds are external there are outward thrones and scepters outward pieces of state and majesty outward laws and proclamations the King looking on his Subjects may see the outward man but no further He may exact an outward conformity but cannot touch or move their hearts there is not one spirit between him and them but several which may easily run apart and in different ways But between Christ and his Subjects the bonds are internal his kingdom comes not with observation or outward splendor but in inward power and efficacy his Kingdom is within his Throne is in the heart his Laws are not only without in the Letter but inwardly ingraven in the hearts of his Subjects they are the very Epistles of Christ written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God not in tables of stone but in the fleshly tables of the heart 2 Cor. 3.3 Besides the outward literal Edition of the Law there is an inward spiritual one which answers thereunto this spiritual King can not only look into the hearts of his Subjects but touch and move them unto obedience he can so draw as to make them run after him it is his Royal Prerogative to rule wills and hearts his Subjects have the mind of their Lord nay the same holy Spirit which is in him is in them also to inspire a measure of holiness and obedience into them O! what a union is here and how full of mystery No King can rule after this sort neither could he himself unless he were God do so In a word his Kingdom and Laws being within his Subjects having the same mind and spirit with himself the union must needs be very intimate and excellent 4thly The greater the benefits of government are the more secure is the union a King resembling God in the doing of good acting like one given to the kingdom for a common blessing his vigilancy securing the repose of his Subjects his care procuring their quiet his study being for their good as his own his Subjects resting under his shadow and enjoying the sweet ends of a well-ordered Government the union in such a case must needs be very much confirmed I shall instance but in two benefits of Government Protection and Rewards As for Protection it is incomparable in the Kingdom of Christ no earthly Kings have such a foresight and care to protect as
a consent he that wants reason which is the root of liberty cannot consent If there be error personae a mistake of the person there is no consent errantis voluntas nulla est he that errs consents not if there be metus gravis ac violentus a weighty and violent fear extorting a consent the consent not being free is as none at all In all such cases the Rule is Vbi non est consensus non potest esse matrimonium where there is no consent there can be no marriage Consensus facit matrimonium the consent makes the marriage Answerably in the spiritual marriage between Christ and Believers there is a mutual consent there are arrhae sponsalitiae earnests and pledges given on both hands Quemadmodum nobis arrabonem spiritûs reliquit ita a nobis arrabonem carnis accepit Et vexit in coelum piguus totius summae illuc redigendae Tert. de Resur Carnis Christ hath carried the earnest of our flesh to Heaven and from thence sent down the earnest of his Spirit to us the consent is mutual on Christs part there is a consent though it be to espouse not Angels but men not men in their primitive beauty and integrity but men under a stain of sin and corruption yet he consents to it and that not out of error or mistake but out of choice and transcendent love which as early as eternity it self delighted in the sons of men and in time calls and draws them into conjunction with himself all the sweet wooings pathetical expostulations precious promises and free offers in the Gospel are as so many sure testimonies given to his consent On the Believers part there is also a consent they breathe after him rest upon him resign to him and accept of him upon the terms of the Gospel In their consent two or three things may be noted First There must be a right knowledg of Christ to an unknown Christ there can be no consent the knowledg of him must be right in the measure of it Under the Old Testament where Religion was much wrapt up in vails and shadows a less measure of knowledg might suffice but under the New when men live in the noon-day light and as it were directly under the Sun of righteousness a much greater measure of knowledg is necessary We should now study to know him distinctly in his offices and benefits that we may aptly and out of judgment join our selves to him If a man think that Christ is a Saviour only and not a Lord or that one may partake of Christ crucified and yet not take up his Cross in mortifications and patient sufferings nor yet follow him in holiness and true obedience here is error personae such an one knows not the true Christ but a Christ of his own fancy his consent which is proportioned to his knowledg is not to the real Christ but to the imaginary one no man can consent to more than he understands the knowledg must be right that the consent may be so Again the knowledg must be right in the nature of it it must not be a meer notion which may be in an heart like Nabals dead and cold in spiritual things but it must be a spiritual knowledg which discerns Christ spiritually and carries with it such a savour of him as makes the heart chuse and embrace him above all things Further As there must be a right knowledg so there must be a free choice of Christ Consensio volentis est consent is in the willing it is not a thing pressed out of the heart by fear but sweetly issuing out of it in a free option When Lewis the Eleventh of France was pressed under the fears of death he sent for the holy Hermite holy Oyl holy Cross and what not in his extremity Many men when upon their death-beds they are turning off from this world and entring upon eternity or possibly before that last hour when the wrath of God flashes into their consciences and sets them a fire with the dread of what is justly due to their iniquities may in such a strait seem very willing to have Christ But alas all this is but a force a meer pressure upon their wills Nothing like unto that pure genuine consent which is in true Believers who chuse and set their hearts upon Christ as seeing the excellency of his Person usefulness of his Offices rectitude of his Precepts preciousness of his Promises and greatness of his Rewards the intimate biass and bent of their hearts is such that leaving the world behind their back they embrace and fall in with their dear Jesus above all things Moreover This consent is a present actual one in Marriage there are words used not de futuro but de praesenti or else it is no Marriage but a promise only Believers do not say as the sluggard yet a little sleep a little slumber in sin nor as St. Austin in his delays before conversion did modo ecce modo but they give a present consent to Christ when he knocks they say not go and come again to morrow for that is not to consent to day nay not to consent at all but only to speak of it but they make haste and delay not immediately they open and own him as their Lord he is their greatest desire and they will not put him off no not for a world which is much less in their eyes than he is They have to their great shame too long served their corruptions now they join themselves unto him in a perpetual covenant never to be forgotten without any more ado a present actual consent is given to him It is indeed said by Divines that the true desires of Grace are Grace and so they are but then those desires do at least virtually and seminally contain in them a present consent for where those desires are in truth there the heart breaks off confederacy with sin and values Christ as its chief treasure Were such an one asked what he would have in the first place he would answer None but Christ Before I pass over the consent between Christ and Believers two things may be noted touching the excellency of it above that which is between man and wife The one is this Christs consent is a pure gratuitous act When a man chuses a wife the reason is in the object she is fair or virtuous or rich in estate one attractive or other draws out his consent but when Christ made his choice no attractive was in his Spouse Believers no less than others are naturally void of holy Graces and so extreamly poor that they have not of their own to cover their nakedness or pay their debts there was nothing in them to draw out his love towards them the only reason of his choice was in his infinite goodness his Grace had no other mover but it self It 's true he saith of his Church Behold thou art fair my love behold thou art fair Cant. 1.15 But
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
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
To a spiritual discerning there is requisite a due proportion between the object and the faculty such a proportion there is between Christ an object supernaturally revealed and a mind supernaturally inlightned there the Holy Spirit is on both hands I mean outwardly revealing the object in Scripture and inwardly inlightning the mind to make it fit for the object but between Christ a supernatural object and a natural mind there is not such a proportion the Holy Spirit is but on one hand revealing the object but on the other there is only the humane Spirit which without inward illumination doth not spiritually discern the things of God If a meer natural mind might spiritually discern them there would need no opening of eyes no renewing in the spirit of the mind the new Creature would be new but in part the old understanding though that faculty first erred in the fall might serve the turn Faith as far as it is in the Intellect would not be the Gift of God but of our selves the external proposal of the object which is what grace Pelagius allowed would be enough But such things as these being never to be admitted it is evident that spiritual discerning is not a thing common to Reason but proper to Faith which having a divine Light in it doth elevate the mind above it self and make it apt to discern spiritual things in a spiritual manner There being in Faith a spiritual discerning Christ is intellectually present with the Believer in an excellent manner he is in some sort intellectually present with a man of notion but with the Believer he is present in a more divine manner he appears in spiritual beauty the Spirit glorifies him in the heart Oh! what an one is our Immanuel how sweet is his Name how rich his Merits how full his treasures of Grace Every thing in him appears in a kind of ravishing glory he is no longer looked on as a meer matter of speculation but as an object to be for ever loved chosen embraced adored by us the notion of him doth not lie dead upon the heart but lives and warms the inner man into holy admirations and affections towards him we have not a light opinion but a firm perswasion touching him and his Sufferings we can certainly pronounce This is indeed the Christ the Saviour of the World This is the Blood of the Covenant which made an atonement for us we are as sure of it as if these things were before our corporeal eyes and senses nay we are more sure than so we see them in lumine veritatis primae in the light of the first Truth revealing himself in the Gospel This is the first step of Union Christ is spiritually discerned he is intellectually present with our minds in a very excellent manner 2dly Faith doth put the soul into an apt and fit posture for Christ it sets all ready and in order for him In general it doth this by making us poor in spirit A natural man though a fallen creature is very high in his own eyes he is as well as if he had had no bruise at all in the fall as rich as if nothing of mans Primitive excellency were lost he dreams and flatters himself as if his reason could span all Mysteries and his will teem out all Virtues he stands upon his own bottom and wraps up himself in his own false Righteousness he is every way full and wants nothing compleat in himself and knows no dependance And why should such an one go to Christ or seek Union with him or what may be done for such an one who hath all in himself This temper is not only at a vast distance from Christ but it carries in it an utter enmity to him when it speaks out it blasphemes in some such language as that Pagan did who cryed out Aust in Psal 31. Praef. Jam benè vivo quid mihi necessarius est Christus I live well of my self how is Christ necessary to me But as soon as Faith comes a man reflects and sees nothing in natural self but poverty emptiness impotency uncleanness perdition he looks up to Christ and sees all riches fulness power sanctity salvation to be in him he humbles himself as knowing his dependance he puts off his Ornaments that Christ may do somewhat for him he goes down into his own nothingness and desolate self-waiting to have some Communications of Grace from Christ this is the right posture of the soul Poverty here looks up to unsearchable riches Emptiness opens the heart for the effusions of grace Conscience cries out to be cooled with the blood of atonement Impotence waits for the arm of a Saviour to be revealed Nothingness calls for a new Creation to be erected upon the ruines of a lapsed nature All things are ready for Christ to shew forth his Glory in the Believer More particularly Faith puts the soul into an apt posture for Christ in that it hath that in it which answers to all his Offices he is an excellent Priest he offered up himself as a propitiating sacrifice for us he satisfied the Law and Justice of God he made a full and perfect compensation for the sin of the world Unto this Faith answers by its recumbency it ventures all upon Christ it runs under the wings of its Saviour it hides it self in his precious wounds it casts the Believer on him who bore the sin of a World it rolls the soul on his atoning blood and leaves it there for acceptance with God it commits the whole concern of Justification as to the Law to his Plenary satisfaction it hath no other bottom to stand upon but this no other answer to the Law no other plea to divine Justice no other refuge or hiding-place for the soul to repose it self in This is the right posture it is called receiving the atonement Rom. 5.11 because the Believer is in the very instant made partaker of Christs sacrifice His atoning blood is sprinkled on him the great satisfaction covers him as a mystical part of Christ that the Curse of the Law may not seize him or the wrath of God burn him up Again Christ is a great Prophet he brought the holy Mysteries out of his Fathers bosom he speaks outwardly by his Word and by his Spirit he is an inward Ecclesiastes who can enter into the heart and there express himself in words of Life and Power Unto this Faith answers by an humble docibleness it softens and meekens the heart it makes the Believer sit down at Christs feet and hear him in the hardest Lectures if Christ talk of a Cross the Believer is ready to take it up upon his back if of super-rational Mysteries he is ready to subscribe to them he becomes as a little child ruleable by every holy beam or motion he yeilds up himself to the Spirit and Word to be instructed by them this is the apt posture it is called an hearing of the Prophet Acts 3.22 The
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
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
power of his resurrection in a Divine life the one is notably adumbrated in the baptismal immersion into the Water the other in the eduction out of it Thus Baptism is a seal to confirm Christ with his benefits to us But this is not all it is also a seal to convey him with his benefits to us Hence in Scripture it is for the remission of sins Acts 2.38 It is the Laver of regeneration Tit. 3.5 Hence in the Fathers it is called the investiture of Christianity the genital Water the spiritual Nativity the divine Generation with the like which import that it is a sacred Medium by which divine Grace is communicated to us only it is to be remembred that Baptism doth not this ex opere operato out of the work done it is not the Physical cause of Grace but the Moral it is Idolatry to imagine that a meer creature should physically by its own intrinsecal virtue cause such a thing as Regeneration which is only proper for God to do we are all apt to be led by Sense rather than by Faith we had much rather have Grace inclosed in a visible element than be in a dependance upon God for it but Grace is not in Baptism as Wine is in a Vessel it is not insistent in the Water but assistent it lodges not by the way in the element but comes immediately from the eternal fountain In the right use of Baptism it never is wanting but In Esay cap. 4. as St. Jerom hath it Homo tantùm aquam tribuit Deus autem Spiritum Sanctum Man only gives the Water God gives the Holy Ghost Baptism is a seal of union with Christ only the Quaere is to whom it is so In answer to this I shall speak a little first touching the Baptism of adult persons then touching the Baptism of Infants As touching the Adult Baptism is a seal of union not to all but to Believers only Bonaventure saith that faith is necessary in all Sacraments In sent lib. 4. d. 3. qu. 3. especially in Baptism Quoniam Baptismus est janua Sacramentorum sicut fides est janua virtutum because Baptism is the gate of Sacraments as Faith is the gate of virtues Baptism is the seal of the Covenant therefore it appertains to those who by Faith are within it It is clear in Scripture that Faith is pre-required to Baptism They that gladly received the word were baptized Acts 2.41 When they believed Philip they were baptized Acts 8.12 If thou believest with all thine heart thou maist saith Philip to the Eunuch Act. 8.37 Anciently before Baptism Interrogatories were put unto the person to be baptized and answers made by him in this manner Renuncias Satanae Renuncio Credis in Christum Credo Dost thou renounce Satan I renounce him Dost thou believe in Christ I believe Hence Tertullian saith De Resur Anima non lavatione sed responsione sancitur the Soul is established not by washing but by answering In the due use of Sacraments there must be an hand on both sides manus Dei offerentis the hand of God offering and manus fidei accipientis the hand of faith receiving though a Sacrament hath its essential integrity though there be a real offer on Gods part yet without a receiving-Faith there is Sacramentum sine re a sign without Grace Were Faith always present the Grace as well as the Sign would ever be communicated but Faith being absent nothing but the meer Sign passes to the receiver Hence the Scripture distinguisheth touching Circumcision between that in the flesh and that in the heart Rom. 2.28 29. and touching Baptism between the putting away the filth of the flesh and the answer of a good conscience towards God 1 Pet. 3.21 The House of Israel was not as other Nations uncircumcised in flesh yet were they uncircumcised in heart Jer. 9.26 Simon Magus was baptized with Water but not with the Holy Ghost for he was in the gall of bitterness Acts 8.13 23. Believers are the men to whom Baptism is a seal of union they are in truth baptized into Christ and into one body while others are so in shew and appearance only they do indeed put on Christ while others as St. Austin speaks Contr. Don. lib. 5. c. 24. put him on only usque ad Sacramenti perceptionem non usque ad vitae Sanctificationem unto a perception of the Sacrament not unto sanctification of life They are buried with Christ and risen with him feeling his death in their mortification his resurrection in their Divine Life Baptism is for the remission of sins but it is to those who by Faith are capable of it it is a Laver of regeneration as the Gospel is the Power of God to Salvation not to all but to Believers As touching Infants the Learned Professors of Leyden require Faith not only in the Adult Synops Theo. de Baptismo but in Infants too in order to Baptism Infants may be put into three ranks Some Infants are in their infancy in union with Christ they have Faith in the seed though not in the fruit Grace in the gift though not in the use they have the Spirit dwelling in them Aust Epist 57. and are a part of his Temple though they know him not Neither needs this seem strange it is very reasonable to believe that a supernatural power may do as much as a natural one the Image of God which if Adam had stood would have passed to Infants by natural generation may well be derived to them by spiritual regeneration It 's granted on all hands that some Infants at least enter into life eternal But what do they do so unjustified unsanctified Surely no in Heaven there is not so much as the guilt of one unremitted sin those Infants who go thither must be justified if they be justified they must have Faith and Sanctification Faith because justification is by it The Scripture knows not two ways of justification one by Faith another without it Sanctification because Justification is never separate from it But you are sanctified but you are justified saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 6.11 These twins of Grace can never be parted where the justifying blood is sprinkled there the sanctifying spirit is communicated where the binding guilt of sin is dissolved there the polluting spot is done away both are to be found in those Infants that are saved Hence the Fathers in the Milenitan Council Can. 2. do say That Infants are baptized in peccatorum remissionem ut in eis regeneratione mundetur quod generatione traxerunt for the remission of sin that that in them may be cleansed in regeneration which they drew in generation Here they mention both remission and regeneration in them Again In Heaven there is not there cannot be the least spot of pollution Infants which go thither must be sanctified without the new birth there is no entry Joh. 3.5 Without holiness no seeing of God Heb. 12.14 Hence it
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
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
no impression made upon the will no vital influence upon the heart no savouring or spiritual sensation of heavenly things it is but a form of knowledg a figure or appearance only without any life in it he knows holy truths only to know them he doth not love chuse embrace practise them he hath them only in notion not in a practical way the holy Precepts as full of rectitude as they are move him not to obedience the precious Promises which flow with admirable grace attract him not into faith and love the dreadful threatnings in which Gods wrath appears like devouring fire drive him not out of his iniquity all his knowledg is by a practical error blasted and turned away from its true end in effect it withers and nomes to nothing But in a man in Christ the knowledg is not a meer form or appearance but the substance or spiritual subsistence of holy things in the heart the notions do not lie dead but rise up in life and power in the soul holy truths do not meerly float in the brain or stay in the intellect but fall down upon the will to make it free in the ways of God and upon the affections to inflame them towards him the things of Heaven do now appear in such glory and excellency that they cast the ballance in heart and life the right way Christ with whom they are united makes every truth effectual The third is this The marks of this union are supernatural No meer moral virrues such as are under a common blessing extracted out of principles of reason can amount to a mark In moral virtues Reason is the great Moderator in acts of Justice it weighs out to every man his own in acts of temperance it proportions out how far a man may drink of sensitive delights in acts of fortitude it sets down the just measures how far fear may be heard in all Reason is the chief Umpire and Empress regulating and commanding every thing In these moral virtues a man is in union with his Reason as the supream faculty in him this is indeed highly commendable but if we might rest here Christ would not be necessary to us However necessary he might be for expiation yet he would not be necessary for fanctification he need not be a vital head to us we might be an head to our selves he need not pour out his Holy Spirit upon us our own spirit might serve the turn we need not be in union with him it is enough for us to be in union with our own Reason All which being very absurd it is to be noted that union with Christ is a thing of a much higher nature than union with Reason The meer Moralist moves in an orb much lower than the true Christian the Moralist in a kind of self-sufficiency stays at home and drinks out of the cistern which is in his own Reason but the Christian in a way of self emptiness goes out of himself and partakes of influences of Grace from Christ The Moralist is prudentially regulated in his passions that they are subject to his mind but the Christian is divinely renewed throughout that the whole man becomes subject unto God The Moralist does his virtuous actions in compliance with his Reason as being the highest faculty in him but the Christian does his gracious acts in compliance with the divine will as being the supream rule to him The Moralist acting out of natural principles aims at nothing higher than himself but the Christian acting out of supernatural principles directs all to the glory of God as the chief end These things make it appear that moral virtues though good in their kind are so far short of spiritual graces that they cannot in themselves be marks of our union with Christ Having laid down these three things I shall now proceed to the particular marks of this union The first mark of this union is poverty of spirit Every man naturally is poor in spirituals his humane nature lies in the ruines of the fall there is a Tohu and Bohu a voidness and Spiritual emptiness in it his mind is empty of spiritual light and hath only some few reliques left to make him a man his will is void of divine freedom and hath only such fragments of liberty as may declare him a free agent his affections have lost their wings and creep only upon the things here below corruption is very strong and there is a meer Vacuum of grace it is with him as if the Divine Image or likeness had never been stamp'd upon him a vast debt of original and actual guilt lies upon him and he hath nothing to pay or if Divine Justice seize him he hath nothing to say against it he is shut up under wrath and cannot but deserve it Thus every man is very poor in spirituals yet alas he is not naturally poor in spirit no on the contrary he presumes all is well he is as he dreams happy in his ruines full in his emptiness seeing in his darkness free in his chains and rich in his debts and wants a man poor in spirit is one who is poor in sense and reflection upon his poverty he considers his lost and undone condition he feels and groans under his spiritual wants the deep sense of them makes his heart cry out Oh! I am lost I am in the ruines of the fall there I must lie unless Christ lift me up and bring forth a new Creation out of the Chaos my mind is dark my will fettered with corruption so it must be unless Christ shine into my heart and make me free indeed my poor affections lie in the dust and vanity of this lower world and there is no help unless Christ come and raise them up to the things above I find nothing but an emptiness and voidness of grace neither is there any hope unless the Spirit of Christ communicate a furniture of graces and comforts my debts are great and never to be discharged unless the blood of Christ which paid for the sin of a world do it for me After some such manner as this he lies at the feet of Christ he is poor empty forlorn destitute in himself the very frame of his heart prays for a Saviour such an one is in a right posture for him His poverty cries for an Alms out of the infinite treasures in Christ his weariness pants after the true rest which is in a Mediator the broken heart begs for a compassionate hand to bind it up the wounds in conscience open for the atoning blood to be poured into them the sin sick soul calls for the great Physician Lord heal my soul for I have sinned against thee the lamented ruines invite the Divine Builder to set up his own Temple there the spiritual nothingness importunes for a new Creation to be brought forth Create in me a clean heart O God Every want being felt to the quick hath a voice in it and cries out for a supply
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
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