〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports not accidents but a substance accidents are not a body neither are these converted but remain Is it the Body of Christ That is not in the Eucharist till all the words be uttered it is not there at the pronouncing of the first word this the Proposition is not identical the words run not thus my body is my body neither if they did could they any more work a conversion than a thing can be turned into it self Is it an substantia vaga an indefinite substance such as is neither Bread nor the Body of Christ This is such a vagrant that all the world knows not where to find it Christ did not take bless break give an indefinite substance but the Bread It remains therefore that the Bread is the thing pointed at The words in effect are thus the Bread is the Body of Christ and then as Bellarmine himself confesseth De Euch. lib. 1. c. 1. the words must be taken tropically or else they are plainly absurd and impossible The Copula is doth in Propositions import such a conjunction as the subject and predicate coupled together are capable of when it stands between the sign and the thing signified it is not to be taken essentially but significatively the sign is not the very thing but a sign In Scripture we read not of a sign turned into the thing signified but we ordinarily find the name of the thing signified given to the sign Circumcision is the covenant Gen. 17.10 That is a sign of it as the next verse tells us The Lamb is the passover Exod. 12.11 that is a sign of it The Cup that is the Wine in in it is the New Testament 1 Cor. 11.25 that is it is Sacramentally such after the same manner the Bread is the Body of Christ that is it is significatively such this is the plain natural interpretation of the words Vsher An. to a Jes 61. Hence in the ancient Fathers the Bread is called the figure memorial symbol image type sign similitude of Christs Body It is the excellent observation of St. Austin That Sacraments should not be Sacraments unless they did resemble the things signified and for that resemblance they do often bear the names of the things themselves Epist 23. Secundum quendam modum Sacramentum Corporis Christi Corpus Christi est Sacramentum Sanguinis Christi Sanguis Christi est after a certain manner the Sacrament of Christs Body is his Body the Sacrament of his Blood is his Blood The Bread and Wine are figuratively and sacramantally such Two things may be noted touching the Doctrine of Transubstantiation The one is this It is a Doctrine cross to the description of the Eucharist which we have in 1 Cor. 11. The Bread was not blessed that it might be destroyed nor given to be eaten that it might cease to be before it was eaten Never did God put forth his miraculous power to make his command impossible such as the eating of Bread which is not must needs be in those words this is my body in which if in any Transubstantiation may be found there is no imperative word no mention at all of conversion which yet being a very wonderful thing would in all reason if it were true be fully opened it is not only said this is my body but it is added which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me In the Eucharist Christs Body is not considered as a glorious Body but as broken and crucified neither is there only his Body but the memorial of it And how should there be a conversion of the Bread into the Body A conversion of it into the glorious Body doth not sute with the Sacrament a conversion of it into a broken crucified Body doth not sute with a state of glory or if there were a conversion how should there be a memorial the Bread which is not cannot be a memorial of the Body neither can the Body be a memorial of it self after all it is no less than three times called Bread to assure us that it is Bread after consecration as well as before The other is this It is a Doctrine attended with very great absurdities it puts things into such a posture as here follows Here 's a Sacrament without a sign It is essential to a Sacrament that there be an earthly part as well as an heavenly somewhat for the body as well as for the soul but here 's a Sacrament of meer accidents no Bread no Wine to figure out the body and blood of Christ no corporal nourishment to signifie a spiritual one Here 's accidents without a subject the bread vanisheth but the accidents remain and face our senses yet they stand all alone without a substance to inhere in under their roof is no less than the body of Christ yet they lean upon nothing Here 's a thing made which before was made which is all one as if a Father should beget a Son already begotten or an Architect build an house already built the body of Christ which was before the Conversion is produced by turning the bread into it he that was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin is made again by pronouncing a few words to make that which is made is impossible Bellarmine to salve this saith De Euch. lib. 3.18 That it is not conversio productiva sed adductiva which distinction overturns it self if it be only adductive it is no conversion if Christ had only destroyed the substance of the Water and set Wine that was extant before in the room of it there had been no conversion no more is there if the bread cease to be and the body of Christ that was before in being came in the room of it Here is no Transubstantiation but Translocation only Here 's a body in many places the body of Christ is intire in Heaven it is also intire in the Eucharist it is therefore above it self below it self at a distance from it self all which are impossible Here 's a mistake of the Senses the bread appears to be bread it looks touches smells tastes like bread yet it is not so in other things our senses are right but in the Eucharist in which the design is by sense to lead our Faith to spiritual objects they are in a fatal error much less tolerable than if there were a mistake about other objects it being not in a thing meerly natural or speculative but in a sacred or practical sign ordained on purpose to figure out and exhibit Christ unto us Thus much touching the Doctrine of the Papists in this point The Lutherans assert a corporal presence upon account of an Ubiquity in Christs humane nature They explain themselves more fully thus Two things may be noted touching this Presence the Will of Christ and his Power Touching his Will it appears in the words of Institution This is my body that is in with and under this bread is my body this
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
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
poor weak creatures without are temptations within corruptions yet they stand there is but a little Oyl in the Cruse a small stock of grace in the heart yet it fails not they have many wants yet never become bankrupt This tells us that they are not alone but in union with Christ they are what Angels and Adam in innocency were not joyned to a Mediator mighty to save Weakness here is in conjunction with Power Power is made perfect in weakness there is in them one greater than he that is in the world nay than the corruption in the heart their little stock of grace depends upon infinite treasures their many wants are supplied out of infinite fulness this preservation declares union Again Believers are preserved as Temples of God and this shews Inhabitation they are in the midst of winds storms temptations corruptions wants weaknesses yet they fall not This tells us that God hath a Temple in them the Inhabitant bears them up he is in the midst of them they shall not be moved his eyes and his heart are upon them to protect them he will not suffer his habitation to be blown down in a storm or to be undermined by Sin and Satan or to run to ruine through want or weakness This preservation declares Inhabitation The last Operation of the Spirit in Believers is this He seals up Believers he witnesses their adoption he sheds abroad the Love of God in their hearts I instance in this not that it is so in all Believers but that it is so in some As touching this Operation these favours are afforded to Believers either as Members of Christ and this imports union or as Temples of the Holy Ghost and this imports Inhabitation These favours are afforded to them as Members of Christ and this imports union After that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise Eph. 1.13 First there is Faith and then Sealing First men are Members of Christ and then they are irradiated with the beams of divine Favour there are great favours promised to Gods People he dwells in the humble he is seen in the pure heart his secret is with them that fear him his countenance doth behold the upright but all these favours are communicated to them as Members of Christ It 's true the Graces to which these promises are made are in their own nature and intrinsecal goodness grateful and acceptable unto God but because they are defective and dwelling under the same roof with inherent corruption which taints and soils them in their going forth into act therefore they are favoured and accepted in us as being members of Christ and having an interest in his glorious satisfaction which is able to cover all our spots and imperfections it is Christ that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Article is doubled that Son that beloved in whom the Father is infinitely pleased we are beloved only as parts of him Again These favours are afforded to them as Temples of the Holy Ghost and this imports Inhabitation In the outward Temple God did make himself known much more doth he do so in the inward Sanctuary I mean in a pure heart there he sheds abroad his Love and le ts out his Glory there he dwells and walks as in a place of pleasure and delight Thus much touching the other Bond of Union viz. the Holy Spirit To shut up this Chapter the order of things touching this union stands thus It was the great design of God to raise up a Church to himself out of the ruines of the fall his heart was more set upon this than upon all the world besides To promote this the Son of God leaves his Fathers bosom and comes down into our flesh in it he satisfied Justice and merited to have a body gathered in and anointed with that Holy Spirit which operated in the uniting and sanctifying of his own humane nature Upon account of this satisfaction and merit the Holy Spirit comes down and not only proposes the Gospel to men but operates in them first Faith the grace of Union and then in a second instant of nature all other graces which may make them meet Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost And after this is done he carries on the work by continual influences upon Believers quickning and preserving their Graces dwelling in them and manifesting himself to them CHAP. VII The Seals of the mystical Vnion are Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is a Seal of Vnion not to all but to Believers Some Infants are in their infancy in union with Christ some come to it afterwards some never attain to it The Lords Supper is a Seal to confirm and exhibit Christ to us The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is not a corporal one The Bread and Wine are not as the Papists say turned into his Body and Blood His Body and Blood are not as the Lutherans say in with and under the Bread and Wine The presence of Christ is Spiritual He is present objectively to our Faith and virtually in the communicated Spirit Also the eating of Christ is not oral but spiritual HAving treated of the bonds of this Union I now proceed to the Seals of it Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is the Sacrament of Initiation the Supper is the Sacrament of Nutrition Baptism is the first entrance into Gods Family the Supper is the spiritual Banquet unto which the baptized after washing pass to feed upon Christ there both of them are Seals of union with him Baptism is not as the Socinians would have it to be a nude rite but an obsignative one it is not a meer picture of spiritual Grace but a Seal of it Circumcision was a seal of the righteousness of Faith Baptism which succeeds in the room of it can be no less 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nazian In man there is a body and a soul to answer both there is in Baptism an outward part and an inward one the outward part is water which cleanses the body the inward part is Christ who by his Blood and Spirit cleanses the Soul in both cleansings union is requisite Water unless applied cleanses not the Body Christ unless applied cleanses not the Soul Where Baptism is in the right use there is a seal of union with Christ who communicates the spiritual cleansing to those who are in him as parts of his mystical body Hence are those Phrases in Scripture touching baptized persons they are baptized into Christ Rom. 6.3 So united to him as to be in him they are baptized into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 So united to him as to be parts of his mystical body they have put on Christ Gal. 3.27 So united to him as a man is to a garment his satisfaction covers them his Spirit adorns them with holy Graces they are in Baptism buried with him and risen with him Col. 2.12 So united to him that they have the power of his death in mortification and the
appears that Infants have sanctifying graces to these Baptism doth immediately seal union Some Infants though baptized are not in their infancy in union with Christ but the work of Grace comes afterwards both Baptisms are not always together the Spirit doth not always cleanse in the same moment as the Water doth The virtue of Baptism is not always immediately but it follows us as the waters of the Rock did the Israelites in some the effect is earlier in some later these Infants are sealed from the moment of Faith not of Baptism their Baptism doth point at a future union but it seals not an actual one where it is not but where it is Some Infants though baptized never are in union with Christ some Divines conceive that all baptized Infants are regenerate but common observation opposes this multitudes there are of Infants baptized who at years of understanding shew forth nothing at all of a Divine principle Reason and Will appear but nothing of Grace It may be reasonably expected in regenerate persons that the Seed of God should spring up that the supernatural principles should come forth into act in some measure but when there is no print or footstep of Grace no dye or tincture of it in the life it cannot well be imagined that there is any such thing as regeneration in them To such Infants as these Baptism doth not seal union I conclude with the Learned Bishop Abbot In Thoms Diatr cap. 7. In Christo baptizantur omnes qui baptizati sunt in Christum non baptizantur nisi qui transeunt in Christum corpusque ejus membra fiunt All that are baptized are baptized in Christ but none are baptized into Christ but those who pass into him and are made his body and members The other seal is that of the Lords Supper here Bread and Wine stand before our senses and Christ with his Body and Blood stands before our Faith as if he were crucified among us The Seventh General Council at Constantinople who beat down all other Images saith of this Sacrament That it is Vera Christi Imago the true Crucifix or Image of Christ nay it is more than a meer Image it is a seal to confirm and exhibit Christ with his benefits unto us The cup of blessing which we bless is it not the communion of the blood of Christ The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 Upon these words Theophylact observes That the Apostle did not say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a participation but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communion that he might declare something more excellent namely a very high union In this Ordinance we eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ we dwell in him and he in us a very intimate union there is between him and us only it must be remembred that union is not sealed to all but to Believers Faith is requisite that we may partake not meerly of the outward elements â—ut of Christ himself This appears in 1 Cor. 11. in these words Take eat this is my body Drink this is the New Testament in my blood verse 24 25. There is an express command to feed on the elements and an implied one to feed on Christ all Receivers can do the first but only Believers can do the second what we do in this Ordinance we are to do in remembrance of Christ verse 24 25. Not only in an historical remembrance which is common to all Receivers but in a fiducial one which is proper to Believers The unworthy Receiver doth not discern the Lords body verse 29. but Believers have a spiritual eye for it to them Christ is communicated Others have the elements only panem Domini non panem Dominum the bread of the Lord not the Bread the Lord. Were I for Transubstantiation at all I should think it reasonable to be of their mind who as Bellarmine relates held De Euch. lib. 3 c. 11. that only that part of the Bread which the pious receive was turned into the Body of Christ It is to me without doubt that impious men do not receive it or feed upon it Our Saviour saith He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life Joh. 6.54 Hence that of St. Ambrose In Psal 118. Ser. 18. Hic est panis vitae qui ergò vitam manducat mori non potest he is the Bread of Life he therefore who eats Life cannot dye impious men who eat him not dye eternally The great thing in this Sacrament is the eating of Christ eating cannot be of a thing absent it is an unmoveable axiom that which is eaten must be some way present I shall therefore first discourse touching the Presence of Christ in the Sacrament and then speak touching the eating of him The Papists and Lutherans do both assert a corporal presence of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist but upon different grounds the one upon account of a transubstantiation of elements the other upon account of an ubiquity communicated to the humane nature of Christ The Papists assert such a presence upon account of a Transubstantiation of elements they explain it thus those words This is my body this is my blood are consecratory and operative by virtue of them and in the last instant of pronouncing them the Bread and Wine are turned into the Body and Blood of Christ the substance of the Bread and Wine remains no longer but under the accidents thereof are the very Body and Blood of Christ In answer to this I shall consider the words this is my body this is the subject is the copula my body the predicate touching the predicate it is on all hands granted to be the Body of Christ the only question is in the two other The word this imports clearly the Bread this appears by the precedent words And he took bread and gave thanks and brake it and gave unto them saying this is my body Luke 22.19 What did he say was his body but that which he gave to his Disciples what did he give unto them but what he brake what brake he but what he took And doth not the Text expresly say that he took Bread Of the Bread therefore he said This is my body the order of the words shews it to be bread this will more appear if we compare these words this is my body with those which are a fair commentary on them The bread which we break is it not the communion of the body of Christ 1 Cor. 10.16 In the one we have the word this in the other the bread in express terms in the one we have the body of Christ in the other the communion of it In both Bread is the thing spoken of as a thing distinct from the body of which it is the communion If the word this be not bread what can we make of it Is it the accidents of the Bread The Greek word 〈◊〉
is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the literal sense of it Touching his Power to do it they say there is an hypostatical union of the divine and humane natures in Christ his Hypostasis is communicated to the humane nature therefore so are the divine Properties such as Immensity is he sits in the humane nature at the right hand of God and that right hand is every-where The union of the two natures is inseparable therefore where his Deity is there is his Humanity he is everywhere God incarnate therefore no-where excarnate or out of the flesh In answer unto this I shall offer some things As touching the Will of Christ expressed in those words This is my body The Lutherans seem to stand for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Letter of the Text but their Interpretation is not a litteral one This is not properly in with and under this in propriety This is my body is one thing in with and under This is my body is another neither is their Interpretation true Baptism is a Sacrament of the New Testament as well as the Lords Supper as in the one the blood of Christ is not in with and under the water so in the other the body is not in with and under the bread the reason is alike in both Sacraments If in the Eucharist the body be in with and under the bread then the blood is in with and under the wine consequently the blood is separate from the body There is put upon Christ now in Glory not to say a second passion but as many passions as there are Eucharists It is not easie to imagine how the bread should be broken and the body under it not be so or how the body should be broken on Earth and at the same time glorious in Heaven or how the same body at the same instant can be present in as many distant places as there are Eucharists in the world or if such a Presence might be how the body coúld be finite or indeed a body All which strange Riddles the Lutherans must maintain to make good their opinion As touching the Power of Christ to do it the particulars must be considered First The Hypostasis is communicated to the humane nature therefore so are the divine Properties such as Immensity is Theol. Ancil 51. I answer with the learned Baronius the Hypostasis of the Word is communicated to the humane nature not inhaesivè or denominativè but sustentativè the humane nature of Christ is not a Person it may no more be called a person than Christ may have two persons it doth not subsist but exist in the person of the Word there is no personality in it but it is received and taken into the person of the Word and the person of the Word doth stay and sustain it Hence it is evident that the hypostasis not being communicated to the humane nature inhesively or denominatively the divine Properties are not so communicated to it neither is there any immensity therein It 's true from the hypostatical union of the divine and humane natures in Christ there doth issue a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a communication of Properties the Properies of both natures are truly and really attributed to the Person the Person subsists in both natures both natures are united together in the Person but the Properties of the divine nature are not communicated to the humane for then the humane should be not immense only but infinite and eternal nay God himself because the divine Properties are all one with the divine Essence The second thing is Christ in his humane nature sits at Gods right hand and that right hand is everywhere I answer This argument supposes that the body of Christ is as the right hand of God is which is utterly untrue the right hand of God is incorporeal is the body of Christ so or can it be so and not cease to be a body The right hand of God is infinite is the humane nature of Christ so or can it be so and not become a God In like manner the right hand is everywhere must the humane nature be so too Scripture opposes it in those very Texts which mention Christs Session Christ sits at the right hand of God but where It is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in heavenly places Eph. 1.20 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the high places Heb. 1.3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Heavens Hebr. 8.1 The Session therefore notes out his state of Glory in Heaven not his universal Presence The Apostle tells the Colossians that Christ sits on the right hand of God and from thence presses them to set their affections on things above not on things on the earth Col. 3.1 2. But if the Session note an universal Presence the Apostles exhortation vanishes into nothing Stephen looketh up and saw the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God Acts 7.55 56. But if the being at the right hand did point out an universal Presence what needed any looking up or opening of Heaven to see him who in his humane nature is every-where Again If the Ubiquity of Christs humane nature be from his Session then it is not from the hypostatical Union which was long before in the first moment of his Incarnation or if it be from the hypostatical union then it is not from the Session which was after his Passion and Resurrection The next thing is the union of the two natures in Christ is inseparable therefore where his Deity is there is his Humanity I answer There may be an union and yet the united may not co-exist in all places a Star is united to its Orb yet the Orb is where the Star is not The humane nature of Christ is united to the divine yet the divine nature is where the humane is not the reason is evident where the united are equal there may be a full co-existence in place but where they are unequal as the two natures in Christ must needs be there it cannot be so the infinite nature is not put into finite straits the finite one is not stretcht into an infinity the union joyns not destroys the natures the humane nature must have its limits the divine can have none Hence it appears that the divine nature must needs be where the humane is not The last thing is Christ is everywhere God incarnate no-where excarnate or out of the flesh I answer As to that he is every where God incarnate it may be taken two ways either thus God who is in the flesh is every where and this is true but proves not the ubiquity of the flesh or thus the flesh in which God is is every where and this would make for ubiquity but it is untrue As to the other He is no where excarnate or out of the flesh he may be said to be out of the flesh two ways either thus The union of the natures is dissolved the divine nature is separated from the humane and
this never is or can be though the divine nature be where the humane is not yet the union remains it being made cum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non cum loco with the word not with place the Divine nature being immense cannot possibly by distance be separated from any thing if in the least point it were separated it should cease to be immense or else thus The Divine Nature is not shut up in the limits of the flesh but doth transcendently exceed them and thus the Divine Nature is not so properly out of the flesh as beyond it according to its Infinity it is where the humane is not Thus much touching the Doctrine of the Lutherans in this point But if there is not a corporal presence of the body of Christ in the Eucharist is there no presence at all Are the Sacraments 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 naked signs and empty figures of Christ crucified This indeed is charged upon us by the Papists and Lutherans When Calvin saith that the body of Christ is exhibited to us in the Sacrament De Euch. lib. 1. c. 1. Bellarmine cries out that it is but mera ludificatio When Wendilin speaks of the presence of Christs body in the Eucharist Wend. Ex. 103. the Lutherans cry out fucus est dolus est it is a colour a cheat Nevertheless we say that the body and blood of Christ are truly though spiritually present not as contained in the elements but as exhibited to our Faith Thus Reverend Calvin hath it Inst lib. 4. c. 17. s 11. Dico in coenae mysterio per symbola panis vini Christum verè nobis exhiberi in the mystery of the Supper by the Symbols of bread and wine Christ is truly exhibited to us Thus the excellent Vsher Serm before the Commons 1620. Of his precious body and blood we are really made partakers that is in truth and in deed and not in imagination only although in a spiritual and not a corporal manner Thus the Church of England Hom. 1st of the Sacrament In the Supper of the Lord there is no vain ceremony no bare sign no untrue figure of a thing absent but the Table of the Lord the bread and cup of the Lord the memory of Christ the annunciation of his death yea the communion of the body and blood of the Lord in a marvelous incorporation which by the operation of the Holy Ghost the very bond of our conjunction with Christ is through Faith wrought in the Souls of the faithful And again The body of Christ is given Art the 28. taken and eaten in the Supper only after an heavenly and spiritual manner It 's true the Papists and Lutherans make light of this spiritual presence Gregory de Valentiâ calls it merum somnium Calvinisticum a meer Calvinistical dream The Lutherans say that this is not a true presence of Christs body but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imago a spectrum or image In answer to this I shall offer two or three things The Papists and Lutherans who cast off this spiritual presence as a fancy do yet in explaining a corporal presence make the notion too fine to consist with the nature of a body De Euch. Lib. 1. c. 2. Lib. 3. c. 4. Bellarmine will not have the body of Christ in the Eucharist to be visible sensible tangible it exists after the manner of Spirits nay it is present after the manner of God The Lutherans will not have the body of Christ in the Eucharist to be visible palpable local circumscribed with place it exists in a supernatural manner it is present praesentiâ divinâ by a Divine presence Thus they who slight the spiritual presence do make the corporal one so fine that the body of Christ after they have stript it of its essential properties is more like a Spirit than a Body The presence of Christ in the Eucharist is a spiritual one This is clear the presence is such as the faculty is to which the thing is presented the Bread and Wine which are the outward symbols of the Sacrament are presented to our sense the Body and Blood of Christ which are the inward marrow of it are presented to our Faith In the former a corporal presence is necessary in the latter a spiritual one Again The presence is such as the eating is the eating of Christ is spiritual it is as appears in the sixth chapter of St. John from spiritual principles to a spiritual end from the quickening spirit to life eternal the presence therefore must be a spiritual one that it may sute to the eating Further The presence is as the union is the union between Christ and us is spiritual he dwells in us by Faith he lives in us by his Spirit the presence therefore must be a spiritual one that it may agree with the union The Fathers are not for a corporal but a spiritual presence St. Cyprian treating of the Eucharist saith (a) Non tà m corporali quà m spiritali transitione Christo nos uniri de Caenâ That we are united to Christ not by a corporal but spiritual transition St. Ambrose saith (b) In illo Sacramento Christus est quia corpus est Christi non ergò corporalis esca sed spiritalis est De iis qui initiantur cap. 9. In the Sacrament is Christ because it is the Body of Christ it is not therefore corporal food but spiritual St. Athanasius saith of the Body of Christ (c) Corpus meum in cibum dabitur ut spiritualitèr unicûique tribuatur In illud qui dixerit Verbum That it is given for food that it may be spiritually distributed to every one St. Austin saith (d) Habuit Christum Ecclesia secundum praesentiam carnis paucis diebus modò fide tenet Tract in Joh. 50. The Church had Christ according to the presence of flesh a few days now she holds him by faith St. Bernard saith (e) Eadem caro nobis sed spiritualitèr non carnalitèr exhibeatur in fest Mart. That the flesh of Christ is exhibited to us spiritually not carnally Thus the Ancients are not for a corporal presence but a spiritual one This spiritual presence is so great a mystery that reverend Calvin saith Instit lib. 4. c. 17. Nec mens plane cogitando nec linguà explicando par esse potest the mind cannot conceive it the tongue cannot utter it Where mysteries are deep to speak a little is enough I shall therefore only touch on two things The one is this the body of Christ is objectively present to our faith St. Paul tells the Galatians that before their eyes Jesus Christ had been evidently set forth crucified among them his Cross was at Jerusalem his glorious residence in Heaven yet he is before our faith in the Gospel and particularly in the Eucharist in which as in a sacred Crucifix we see him as it were a suffering for us It is here to be
Christus in Corde OR THE MYSTICAL UNION BETWEEN CHRIST AND BELIEVERS CONSIDERED IN ITS Resemblances Bonds Seals Priviledges and Marks By EDWARD POLHIL of Burwash in Sussex Esq LONDON Printed by A. M. and R. R. for Tho. Cockerill at the Three-Legs in the Poultrey over-against the Stocks Market 1680. TO THE Christian Reader THERE are three admirable Unions noted by Divines the essential Union of the Three persons in the Sacred Trinity the Hypostatical Union of the divine and humane natures in the Person of Christ and the Mystical Union which is between Christ and Believers In the first we have salvation in the primary fountain of it in the second we have it in the channel or excellent medium of it in the third we have it in the application or actual possession of it The Deity is an Immense Ocean of mercy and goodness but it flows out to us only in and through a Mediator Jesus Christ is a Mediator of Alsufficient righteousness and merit but he communicates himself only to those that are in union with him All our righteousness Caput membra sunt quasi una persona mystica ideò satisfactio Christi ad omnes fideles pertinet Aqu. 3. pars quaest 48. Art 2. Fiant corpus Christi si volunt vivere de Spiritu Christi Aust in Joh. Tract 26. In 3. part Thom. qu. 49. grace peace salvation depends on that Union If we are in him then his satisfactory righteousness covers us his Holy Spirit dwells in us but if we are out of him then our case is as desperate as if he had never satisfied justice as if he had never merited grace and eternal life for us Most true is that of Medina Tota ratio nostrae salutis in eo consistit ut induamus Christum the total sum of our salvation stands in this That we put on Christ who as a learned man hath it is in his imputed righteousness as an artificial garment to us and in his imparted graces as a natural one This mystical union which is of such high concern to our salvation is very signally set forth in Scripture There it is said that Christ dwells in Believers and they in him he abides in them and they in him which expressions point out a mutual inexistence of him and them But because this mystery is very deep the Holy Ghost in condescension to our weakness shadows out this Union by many earthly patterns viz. by the Law-union of a King and Subjects by the Love-union of an Husband and Wife by the Artificial union of the Foundation and Building by the Natural union of the Vine and Branches the Head and Members by the intimate union and incorporation of the Food and the Body There is that in the Mystical union which answer to all these earthly patterns and withal that which as much exceeds them as a substance doth a shadow The bonds of this union are Faith and the Holy Spirit Faith sees comes to receives leans on puts on feeds upon Christ as being the universal capacity to take in Christ into the Soul the Holy Spirit is primaria commissura the primary ligature which knits us to Christ That Spirit which is as St. Austin speaks Patris filii communio brings us into union with Christ that Spirit which united the two natures in Christ unites us to Christ Hence we become mystical parts of him of his flesh and of his bone nay 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 one spirit with him The Seals of this union are Baptism and the Lords Supper Baptism is called by an Ancient Christianismi investitura in it we are said to be buried with Christ and to be risen with him which is notably adumbrated by the baptismal immersion into the water and eduction out of it In the Lords Supper the body and blood of Christ are really though spiritually present to our Faith we may eat his flesh and drink his blood unto life eternal we are as St. Cyprian speaks united to him spiritali transitione by a spiritual transition or passing into him and as St. Chrysostom hath it we are united to his body as that is to the word The priviledges of this union are so great that they are worthy to attract all men into conjunction with Christ the marks of this union are so plain in Scripture that Believers reflecting on themselves may have the comfort of their being in him These are the things that the ensuing discourse offers to the Reader with this only request that he would agnoscere quod Dei est and ignoscere quod hominis est If any glory may come to Christ or comfort to his members by this Treatise it is enough and as much as is aimed at by him who is A Lover of Truth Edward Polhil THE CONTENTS CHAP. I. MIllions in the Church miscarry for want of Vnion with Christ This is cleared from the two Covenants of Works and of Grace from the two heads Adam and Christ from the two ways and periods of mankind Two Vnions with Christ one in appearance another in truth this latter is a mystery it carries a respect to the Vnion of the Sacred persons in Trinity and to the hypostatical Vnion of two natures in Christ it depends on them it resembles them it is that the hypostatical Vnion aims at it is not to be measured by human Reason but by Scripture CHAP. II. The Scripture useth Metaphors to express holy Mysteries by because the mysteries are sublime because it would make us seek the things above It sets forth the mystical union by resemblances There is an analogy between it and other unions an excellency in it above them It sets forth the mystical union by that between a King and his Subjects The mystical union exceeds in the worthiness and nearness of the persons united in the rightness of Laws and Administrations in the intimacy of the union in the benefits of government particularly in protection and rewards CHAP. III. The Mystical Vnion set forth by the Conjugal one There is a mutual consent between Christ and believers The believers consent imports a right knowledg a free choice and a present compliance with Christ Christs consent is purely gratuitous believers purely supernatural Christ and believers mutually make over themselves each to other The Emphasis of that phrase one spirit opened There is an intimate love between Christ and believers he put on an humane nature for them they put off a corrupt nature for him He died for expiation they die in mortification There is a communication of good things from Christ to the Church the Church propagates in Believers and good works The mystical Vnion set forth by that of a foundation and a building Christ laid and Believers built on him by Divine Art The double cement of faith and the holy Spirit Christ is a large and strong foundation he bears up the Church by Divine influences CHAP. IV. The Mystical Vnion set forth by the Vine and the Branches Christ
Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2.5 The substantial mediation must precede the actual one he that is medium reconciliationis must be first medium participationis he must partake of our nature that he may mediate for us Hence it appears that Christ not assuming the nature of Angels hath not a fit nature in which he may mediate for them neither indeed do they want a Mediator Adam in innocency wanted none much less do the holy Angels much higher in perfections than he stand in need of one It's true the Apostle saith that God in Christ doth gather together and reconcile all things in Heaven and Earth but the all things in the Text are to be limited to men only the things in Heaven are the Spirits of just men there not the holy Angels who because they were never scattered cannot be gathered and because they never offended cannot be reconciled but if the things in Heaven should reach to Angels it would not from thence follow that Christ mediates for Angels but that he so mediates for men that the Angels who before stood off and at a distance from men are reconciled and at amity with them 2dly Christ the Son of God was incarnate not for Angels but for men Vnto you saith the Angel is horn a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luk. 2.11 Unto you men and not unto us Angels Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost not among Angels for what was lost there was finally so but among men for us men and for our salvation he descended from Heaven saith the Ancient Creed Incarnation being a mystery made known by supernatural revelation only it is no less than presumption in us to put other ends upon it than the Holy Scripture hath done the incarnation of the Son of God doth presuppose the fall of man but the confirmation of Angels doth not do so had not man fallen Christ had not come in the flesh yet had the elect Angels been confirmed his coming therefore was not for Angels but for men 3dly Christ in our assumed nature obeyed and suffered not for Angels but for men The end of his obedience and sufferings was as the Scripture tells us that he might redeem us from all iniquity that he might fanctify and cleanse us that he might make an end of sin that he might reconcile us unto God that he might purify unto himself a peculiar people that he might purchase a Church with his own blood that he might gather together in one the Children of God scattered up and down the wide world all which concern not Angels but men Angels standing in their primitive purity and integrity are not capable of any such things as redemption and reconciliation neither doth the Scripture speak one word or syllable of Christs dying or giving himself for them it was lost man that was aimed at De Incarn cap. 8. Filius Dei pro mortuis natus est ad mortem saith Fulgentius The Son of God was born to dye for the dead not for the living Angels but for men dead in Adams fall that they who died in the first Adam might live in the second 4thly The holy influence into Angels which preserves them is from God but not as the influence into Believers is from Christ as God-man the influence from Christ as God-man being the fruit of his incarnation and passion reaches only to those for whom he was incarnate and suffered he was incarnate for men only therefore this influence is only unto them not unto Angels Both he that sanclifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren Heb. 2.11 And a little after he calls them Children vers 13. Those who are sanctified by Christ have one and the same nature with him and upon that account are his Brethren and Children Angels not being such are not sanctified by him but men being such have a sanctifying influence from him Again he suffered for men only therefore this influence is only unto them not unto Angels For their sakes I sanctifie my self that they also might be sanctified through the truth saith our Saviour Joh. 17.19 for their sakes not for Angels did he consecrate himself to be a propitiatory sacrifice they therefore not Angels are sanctified by him the holy Spirit which issues out of his meritorious wounds falls down only on those whom he died for Moreover this influence from Christ as God-man is proper only to the Church which is his Body the word Church in Scripture notes the Church of men not of Angels Vpon this rock I will build my Church Matt. 16.18 God purchased the Church with his own blood Act. 20.28 Unto principalities is known by the Church the manifold Wisdom of God Ephes 3.10 Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it Ephes 5. 25 26. The Church of the first-born which are written in heaven Heb. 12.23 In all these places by Church is meant the Church of men not of Angels The Greek word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is caetus evocatus a company called out of the corrupt mass is not proper to Angels but to men only I find not in Scripture that it extends any further than so the Church which is Christs body must be homogeneral and one nature with him therefore it is made up of men not of Angels Thus it appears That Christ is an Head of eminency over Angels but of influence unto men The very Text which proves him head of Angels demonstrates this ye are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 filled in him who is the head of all principality and power Col. 2.10 ye are filled not Angels to them he is an head of eminency but to you of influence Christ is head of every man 1 Cor. 11.3 Not to straiten the words but to take them in their full latitude he is head not of Believers only but of all men he is an head of eminency to them never was the humane nature so exalted and lifted up as in him in whom it is united to the Deity and filled with all grace he is an head of authority over them he is Law-giver and Judge of the world nay in some sort he is an head of influence to them he is that light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world that is with the light of Reason which is the Candle of the Lord in the first lighting of it up it was a piece of nature coming from Christ as God in the continuance of it in fallen man it is a reprieved thing owing to the sweet smelling sacrifice of Christ as God-man and Mediator sin being an universal forfeiture not only of the outward blessings in the world but of the inward furniture in the soul it is through the Mediator that the world stands unturned into a Chaos and that reason continues not extinct and utterly gone out we are bound to thank Christ that our forfeited
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
that it might be but as a prostrate pinioned enemy to them that they through his Spirit communicated to them might also overcome it he did not gather them up out of the corrupt world to himself that they might return thither again their union with him is so near and strong that the world cannot take them back to it self again its flatteries cannot allure its fears cannot fright them away from him Satan overthrew Adam but he cannot do so with Believers in assaulting him he had only to do with a man but in assaulting them he sets upon those who are mystical parts and members of Christ he hath to do with Christ himself who is God as well as man his hand is too strong for Satan to pluck them away from him his Love is too great to lose his own members whom he hath purchased at no less price than his own blood It 's true they do sometimes fall under the temptation but then they do not fall as Adam did they do not as he lose the very state of Grace or all the power of a recovery no the habits or vital principles of Grace are not extinct the Spirit and Grace of Christ will raise them up again Satans conquest is not a total or final one at last he shall be bruised under their feet Christ who in his own person conquered the Tempter conquers him in his members also Thus Believers are supported because they are in union with Christ 4thly The union between Christ and Believers is such that he doth influence into them The resemblances of the Vine and the Head do naturally teach this A Vine communicates to the branches an Head influences into the members Christ could not be what the Scripture calls him a Vine or an Head unless he did influence into his branches and members There are two sorts of influences some are first and fundamental to our union with Christ others do in order of nature follow after The first fundamental influences are those which work the unitive Grace of Faith Men are not native branches or members of Christ but insititious ones Faith which implants and incorporates them into him is not from Nature but Grace The ancient Council tells us Conc. Arans Can. 6. that it is per infusionem inspirationem Spiritûs Sancti by the infusion and inspiration of the holy Spirit Christ therefore sends out the Spirit with its inward teachings and tractions to work faith in men to gather them into union with himself thus the union begins from him Faith the first Grace that touches upon him is wrought by his Spirit and upon account of his Merits To you it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christs sake to believe Phil. 1.29 Were it not for this influence there could be no union no branches or members in him The after-influences are those which serve to perfect the Believer as in the Old Creation Light was the first-born and then the other parts of the world were made so in the New the first thing is the Light of Faith and then follow those Graces which make up the new Creature Love Mercy Meekness Zeal Obedience Patience are the fruits of the influencing Spirit the Rivers of living water in the Believer all of them are derived from Christ the Head through faith which is called the Churches Neck Cant. 4.4 into the mystical body after this manner are all Graces formed without these influences there would be in Believers no Graces or Conformity to Christ no fit Temple for the Holy Spirit to dwell in Again there are influences not only to form these Graces but to actuate them As natural Agents live and move in the God of Nature so Believers who are spiritual Agents live and move in Christ their Head the gracious Principles in them do not go alone but the Holy Spirit stirs them up and then the spices flow out Love and Joy and all other Graces shew forth themselves in suitable Operations St. Paul excellently describes this I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me saith he Gal. 2.20 Take a Believer burning in Zeal or melting in Charity or sweating in Obedience or doing ought in an holy manner still Christ lives in him the effectual working is from the Head in Heaven without these influences Graces do but sleep in the principle and not go forth into act Further There are not only influences to actuate Graces in Believers but to make them grow up into Christ in all things the Believer doth not stand at a stay no the first little dawn in his heart increases into a morning the small grain of mustard-seed becomes a tree the little Embrio or Babe in Christ grows to be a man of spiritual stature his humility is every day lower his holy desires rise higher than before the vitals of Faith and Love become warmer than ever and all this increase is from the effectual working it is no other than the growing up of the members into their influencing Head the flourishing and spreading of the new Creature under the dews of the Spirit Without these influences Believers would be at a stand and never arrive at any statures in Grace Thus it appears that these influences are excellent and necessary Were it not for the first influences Christ would have no members and so not be what he was ordained to be an Head to the Church Were it not for the after-influences he would not carry himself as becomes an Head neither would his members be such as they ought to be in the point of holy graces 5thly The union between Christ and believers is a very intimate one The resemblance of food doth notably set forth this food is very intimately united to the body and so is Christ to believers Our Saviour takes notice of this He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him Joh. 6.56 The words import a very near union St. Cyprian speaking of this De Caenâ Domini saith Mansio nosira in ipso est manducatio potus quasi quaedam incorporatio Our eating of him is mansion our drinking a kind of incorporation we are spiritually incorporated into him Of the Sacr Hom. 1. Our Church calls it a marvellous incorporation wrought by the operation of the Holy Ghost Accipientes virtutem caelestis cibi in carnem ipsius qui caro nostra factus est transeamus Leo 1. Epist 22 ad Cler. Const we do as it were pass into his flesh who was made flesh with us we dwell in him and he in us and what can be nearer though he be not as ordinary food inferior to the body is turned into our substance yet as spiritual food more excellent than our souls he turns us into his Divine image We live by him Joh. 6.57 He is our life Col. 3.4 The very fountain and principle of it therefore he must needs be nearly and intimately united to us Nemo vivit vitâ extra se
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
all these glorious appearances operate intimately and immediately he penetrates into the inmost spirit and is more intimate to it than that is to it self he operates not only by an immediation of virtue but by an immediation of essence for his virtue is not distinct from his essence Thus there is a communication of the Spirit an excellent operative intimate presence with Believers as if he were a kind of soul to them to quicken them unto every good work But alas how short are our thoughts in this point how little a portion of it do we know The Master of the Sentences out of St. Chrysostom asserts That we cannot comprehend how God is every where much less can we comprehend how he who is every where is in a special manner in Believers I verily think that those Phrases of Scripture which express the Spirit to be communicated to them have in them a mystery much deeper than we can dive into I shall therefore make no further answer to the Quaere it is enough for me to say with Fulgentius That the inhabitation of the Holy Trinity in us De Pers Christ is non localis sed immensa non comprehensibilis cogitatione sed venerabilis fide not local but immense not comprehensible in thought but venerable in Faith I conclude with that of Zanchy De trib El. lib. 4. cap. 1. Spiritus Sanctus quia immensus est ideo ubique est maximè in omnibus fidelibus speciali quodam sed incomprehensibili modo The Holy Spirit because he is immense therefore he is every-where most of all he is in all the faithful after a certain special but incomprehensible manner The next thing which comes to be considered in this discourse is the Operations of the Spirit I touched upon this before but now I will speak a little more to it It 's true these Operations being among the opera ad extra are common to the whole Trinity yet in Scripture they are in a peculiar manner attributed to the Spirit the reason of which is because of that order which is among the persons in the Sacred Trinity the Father is of himself fons Deitatis the fountain of the Deity the Son is from the Father lumen de lumine light of light the Holy Spirit is from the Father and the Son he proceeds by an eternal spiration from both of them And as is the order of subsisting so is the order of operating the Father operates from himself the Son from the Father the Holy Spirit from both Hence in the three great Works of God Creation which is the first rise of things out of nothing is in a special manner attributed to the Father Redemption which helps up a poor fallen creature is in a special manner attributed to the Son Sanctification which perfects the redeemed is in a special manner attributed to the Holy Spirit Hence in the great Work of Salvation the Father laid the counsel and platform of it the Son carries on the work in a middle mediating way the Holy Spirit according to his place in order consummates it by working Faith and all other Graces But this is only by the way In treating of these Operations I shall note two things that is what is in them of respect to union with Christ and what is in them of respect to the Inhabitation of the Spirit or which is all one to the Inhabitation of the whole Sacred Trinity The first Operation of the Spirit in Believers is this He forms all holy Graces in them he draws the very Picture of Christ upon them in humility love meekness mercy goodness heavenliness patience this operation is requisite upon a double account One that Christ may have a seed the Father promised him a seed he himself merited one yet a seed he could not have unless the Spirit did work these Graces which make us to bear a resemblance of him Another that God might have a Temple under the Old Testament he had an outward Temple but even then he would have an inward one a Sanctuary in the heart under the New Testament he had a Temple in the humane nature of Christ but even in that he aimed to have a Tabernacle in men but this could not be unless the Spirit did come and turn the heart into an holy place for him As touching this Operation the holy Graces may be considered under a double notion either as they make us to have one common nature with Christ and thus they import union with him or else as they are tokens of the divine Presence and thus they import the Inhabitation of God in us These Graces make us to have one common nature with Christ and thus they import union with him there is as the learned Camero observes a double union one ab uno communi simpliciter from one common nature simply considered thus all men are united there being one humane nature in them another ab uno communicato from one nature communicated thus a Father and a Son are united the Son having the same nature communicated from the Father To apply this distinction First Believers have one common humane nature with Christ not only in that large sense in which all men have the same nature with him but in a more strict sense peculiar to believers only He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one Hebr. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of one not of one God so Angels also are not of one Adam so wicked men also are but of one nature and condition Christ hath an humane nature sanctified by the Spirit and so have Believers this is one peculiar thing in which he and they meet there is no other holy flesh in all the world but what is in him and them This tells us that they are so united to him in one common nature as no other creature in Heaven or Earth is Angels are not so they are holy but not flesh unregenerate men are not so they are flesh but not holy Believers only have as Christ hath an humane nature sanctified by the Spirit Further which advances the Union they have this sanctified nature from him we are members of his body of his flesh and of his bones Eph. 5.30 In this sanctified nature there are two things a carnal substance and an holy quality as to the carnal substance he is of our flesh and of our bones he did partake of flesh and blood with us As to the holy quality we are of his flesh and of his bones by him we are partakers of the divine nature Thus believers are joyned to him as to the Fountan of their Sanctity their holy Graces all hang upon him as beams upon the Sun If the Children of Reuben and Gad had been asked What part have you in the Lord they would have shewed the pattern of the Altar If Believers be asked What part have you in Christ they can shew forth their holy Graces These are Copies drawn after him
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
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
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
such an one though he know it not is indeed in union with Christ our Saviour pronounces him a blessed man one to whom the Kingdom of Heaven belongs which could never be in a state separate from him who purchased it for us there are some rayes of Faith in him which unite him to Christ some touches of the Holy Spirit which make him look towards salvation The next mark of this union is an high estimation of Christ In the Spouses eye he is white and ruddy the chiefest among ten thousand altogether lovely Cant. 5.10 and 16. To them that believe he is precious 1 Pet. 2.7 every thing in him is attractive He is precious in his person he is Immanuel God and man in one his Deity is infinite perfection his humanity is full of the rich anointings of the Spirit the union of the two natures is a pledg that God would be at one with us the rich anointings of the Spirit make his humane nature to be a fountain of Grace to run over and fill all the Believers in the world every thing in his person is amiable none neglect him but those that are at a distance from him all that are in union with him set the highest rate upon him in their eyes other things are but dross in comparison of him they put by all the world to set their hearts upon him they cast away all their Idols to make room for him in their inner man they part with carnal self to espouse him in the highest love they chuse him not meerly for his excellent benefits but chiefly for his incomparable person they rest not in his choicest gifts but lift their affections up to him the great donor nothing is so valuable to them as he He is precious in his active and passive obedience he fulfilled righteousness and bare the curse for us he did bleed and dye upon a Cross to make an atonement for us his sufferings being by his Deity elevated into a kind of Infinity were of value enough to pay for the sin of a world he hath satisfied Justice to the full and withal hath opened a door of mercy to us And what things are these how highly to be valued to slight them is to say we have no part in them all who by union with him share in them prize them above a world the very life of their souls is bound up in them here 's their refuge against the storm of wrath which hangs over them as sinners here 's the only plea to the Law which pronounces a Curse on them as transgressors here 's the only compensation for sin the only sat is faction to justice here 's their trust confidence prop center of rest no tears prayers services good works nothing can satisfie their hearts but that which satisfied Gods Luther said That Christ was as fresh to him now acâ—si hâc horâ fudisset sanguinem as if he had shed his blood this very hour Those that are in Christ find as much sweetness in his blood as if they had stood by the Cross and seen the shedding of it for them He is precious in his Words Neverman spake as he did what he declared was brought down out of the Fathers bosom his mysteries are heights and depths his commands all rectitude and equity his promises the effluxes of infinite grace and mercy every thing that dropt from his lips was divine not to taste such things as these is to be without sense those that are in Christ set an high rate upon them they sit at his feet to hear him they do not only hang his words about their heads but keep them in the midst of their hearts as being their life they hold them and will not let them go no not in suffering times in which their own lives may be called for to be laid down in pawn for them The high Mysteries which are above the sphere of their reason are meat for their faith the righteous commands which the carnal heart would turn off are the only Canon of their lives the precious Promises though chiefly they concern the things of another world are to them as so many Honey-combs of grace to sweeten every condition every truth of Christ is dear to them He is precious in the influences of grace he received gifts to give them out to men he had the Spirit above measure that he might communicate it to them He is an Head ever working in his members a fountain of grace ever running out towards them Those that are separate from him make nothing of this but all that are joined to him highly esteem of it He is to them as the wind to the sails to fill them with holy gales and as the Sun and rain to the flowers to make a spring of graces in them Whilest he is influencing on them all is well they live and their holy Principles are in motion Should he withdraw from them there would be nothing but dying and withering they would soon be as a branch without a root or a member without an head The influences of grace from him are as dear to them as the breath in their nostrils He that thus values Christ may be sure that he is in him none that are out of him do so Another mark of this Union is a tender respect to the bonds of it The Spouse in the Canticles held Christ and would not let him go St. Paul did follow after to apprehend that for which he was apprehended of Christ Phil. 3.12 Those that are in union with him are unwilling to leave him In him they have light life grace peace salvation heaven and where can they be better It is in their heart never to part with him but always to abide in him To this end they make it their care to maintain the bonds of union they carry a tender respect to faith and to the holy Spirit They have a tender respect to faith it is not enough to them to have faith but they use all means to strengthen it they are much in the Scriptures to refresh it there they go to the Lords-Supper to feed it there they cry out in ardent devotions for the encrease of it they put forth often acts of it to make it more vigorous and all this is because it is the choice unitive grace the golden pipe that lies at the fountain of grace the sacred bond that tyes them to the Head in Heaven Should this fail they would be broken off from Christ it would be all one with them as if there were no Christ no fountain or head of grace as if there were no influences or streams of grace from him What Julian the Apostate in a scoff said of the faith of Christians Naz. Orat. 1. in Jul. That it was their only wisdom that they find true in good earnest Faith is their great concern to strengthen it is their daily work They call upon their souls to adhere unto Christ for ever they cry