murderer much more if he express that anger or hatred in any contemptuous and provokin words The like you have in the case of adultery Mat. 5.27 28. Now if this spiritualness of the Law were but throughly studied it would take off mens hearts from resting thereupon For it condemneth us for the first rising or ebullition of sin within us as well as for the gross outward acts of impiety It speaketh a man accursed for the defects and imperfections in his obedience as well as for the neglect and omission of his obedience It leaveth him under the wrath of God for the original corruption of his heart For as the Apostle speaketh Rom. 7.7 I had not known sin but by the Law for I had not known lust or concupiscence except the Law had said thou shalt not covet And therefore by the deeds of the Law there shall no flesh be justified in his God 's sight for by the Law is the knowledge of sin as the argument is pressed Rom. 3.20 3. A third ground of a mans trusting in his legal righteousness is ignorance of the rigour and severity of the Law It requireth exact conformity the precepts thereof but administers no strength or assistance to help us in the observation of those precepts * Lex jubet gratia juvat It calleth for exact performance of what is required and leaveth no room for repentance pardon upon any failings whatsoever nor doth it promise acceptance upon our repentance The Law Sirs or Covenant of works doth not know what a pardon meaneth Inceed upon supposal of sin it injoyneth repentance but doth not accept repentance in any case The Law is such a severe task-master that when it hath appointed our work there is no relaxation to be expected it will not make any abatement in the least Rom. 10.5 For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the Law that the man which doth those things shall live by them Mark it not he that repenteth for his neglect of what is not done but he that doth them not he that is humbled for his imperfections and failings but who so never faileth in the least particular And if this were well considered the Law it self would knock us off from dependance on the Law and would thereby prove as a Schoolmaster to drive us unto Christ You have many carnal people when conscience galleth them for sin and their hearts smite them for their abominations they will mourn and lament a little under the sense of it they are filled with trouble and perplexity and a great deal of legal sorrow upon that account and here they take up their rest Surely think they God will pardon and accept of us for we have grieved and repent of what we have done Why mind it Sirs As this doth proceed from ignorance of the nature of repentance the repentance of Judas carried him thus far True Evangelical repentance doth doth not only humble a man for sin but turneth him from it even unto God and is mingled with faith in the blood of Christ so it proceedeth from ignorance of the law If thou art not in Christ but standest on the old bottom of legal righteousness there is not one word in that Covenant for admission of repentance that is a priviledge brought to light by the Gospel a part of the purchase of the death of the Mediator of the Covenant of grace who can have compassion on the ignorant and such as are turned out of the way The Covenant of works knoweth nothing of forgiveness of sin upon our repentance it speaketh not a syllable of comfort unless we had kept undefiled in the way without the least aberration or wandring out of it Christ Jesus is the Author of repentance and of acceptance therein Acts 5.30 31. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance unto Israel and forgiveness of sins This is the first instrument that God maketh use of to take off mens hearts from seeking justification by the law that they may be united unto Christ viz. the Law it self And indeed it is delivered to that end not that persons might rest upon it but might see the utter impossibility of being saved by it that it may shew us the necessity of Christs righteousness and lead us unto him It was published as a Covenant of works upon this very design that it might lock men up under guilt and bind them over to the wrath of God and make them to see their miserable and remediless condition in themselves that so they might be necessitated to run for refuge unto Christ Rom. 3.19 What things soever the Law saith it saith to them that are under the Law To what end Why that every month may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God Rom. 10.4 Christ is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth The end of the law that is say some of all the shadows and ceremonies of the law they had a reference to Christ and did typifie and prefigure the Lord Jesus I would not exclude this sense but I think it may be meant of the publication of the law as a Covenant it was to this end that sinners might see more clearly into the weakness of the law to justifie them and so might have recourse â—nto Christ and be justified by faith The law it self doth bear testimony of itself how unable it is being become weak through the flesh and therefore Christ is the end of it to bring in everlasting righteousness such a glorious righteousness as abideth for ever 2. The second special means to divorce men from the law or to deaden them unto the law that they may be married or united to the Son of God is the body of Christ the sufferings of Christ in his body the cursed death which he underwent for the sake of sinners The death of Christ doth not enervate or exauctorate the law of God as it is a commandment for guidance of our wayes or as it is a rule of life * Christus est legis finis perficiens non interficiens Aug. so the sufferings of Christ are the great Evangelical argument to quicken us unto the conscientious observance of it shall we not obey his voice that died for us shall we sin against him who shed his precious blood for our sakes shall we think any thing too hard to be done at his injunction who thought it not much to humble himself unto the death even the cursed death of the Cross that our souls might live * Rom. 6.10 11. In that he died he died unto sin once c. Likewise reckon 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 reason or argue your selves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God Why the love of Christ doth constrain us not to live unto our selves but to serve him to
in their unregeneracy before they are partakers of the differencing or special grace of God are wholly separated from Christ and meer strangers unto him As they are afar off from God by reason of their apostacy and declension from so they are without Christ by whom alone they can be brought back again unto the Lord. They can plead no share in his death and sufferings or if they do plead it they will be found guilty of usurpation for they are without him in the world This is clearly the doctrine of the Scripture Eph. 2.12 At that time ye were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise At that time that is whilst you were dead in sins and trespasses before you were quickned by grace according to the riches of the mercy and love of God v. 4,5 then ye were without Christ not only destitute of the knowledge of Christ as Gentiles though that seems to be the primary intent of the words but without an interest in him because unconverted sinners For what the Apostle speaketh of the Gentiles is true in that sense of all wicked ungodly persons whomsoever There is no difference in that respect between Jews and Heathens carnal Professors and open Infidels S. Paul plainly doth include himself and such as he was before his conversion And therefore in the day of grace when the eternal love of God doth break forth towards his chosen people they are said to be brought to Christ and espoused unto him 2 Cor. 11.2 When they are taught of God they are drawn to the Son of God when they have heard and learnt of the Father then they come unto Jesus Joh. 6.44 45. evidently implying that before they had so learned they were without Christ and at a distance from him That is the first Proposition 2. Propos 2. The sons and daughters of men in their carnal unconverted estate over and above their distance and separation from Christ are actually knit and joyned unto such objects as are wholly inconsistent with their Union with Christ I will instance especially in two things They are 1. In Covenant with sin 2. Contracted to the Law 1. They are in covenant with sin and at league of peace with their corruptions their spirits are glewed and fastened unto base lusts and pollutions Though some remainders of sin abide in the hearts of the godly whilst on this side of heaven yet they are hated and abhorred they are ever pursuing them unto death and executing a kind of holy revenge upon them and never satisfied till they are utterly vanquished and rooted up But now an unregenerate person is under the dominion of sin as an hired servant is under the command of his master Pride bids him go and he goeth flattery biddeth him run and he runneth covetousness injoyneth him to do this and he doth it carnal fear requireth him to wound his conscience in this particular and he woundeth it uncleanness commandeth him to venture upon that provocation of the wrath of God and he ventureth as having given up himself to the obedience of sin As the Lord saith of the Israelites of old it is true in its kind and measure of all impenitent sinners They are joyned to their idols Hos 4.17 Sin hath a being and residence in the hearts of the dearest of God's servants but the spirits of the wicked are fast linked together with it Such a one as Paul may be sold under sin but Ahab sells himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord Rom. 7.14 1 King 21.20 Unconverted sinners yield up themselves to be the servants of unrighteousness You shall find that sin is as dear to a natural man as the most useful members of the body Hence it is that Christ compareth a mans beloved lusts to the right hand and the right eye Mat. 5.29 30. And hereupon it is that their hearts are so ready to rise up with indignation and hatred against the means which are made use of to rid them of their sins and that sometimes they will not stick to be at a great deal of cost and pains to retain their abomiminations See what an offer they make Mic. 6.7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or with ten thousands of rivers of oyl Shall I give my first-born for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul q.d. Let us keep our lusts and we will stick at nothing we will part with our Estates and sacrifice our children rather than abandon our bosom corruptions Nay how do many venture their lives not to speak of their souls which all of them willingly run the hazard of losing for satisfaction of their lusts Now Sirs this can never consist with our being joyned to Christ * In omnibus nobis regnavit peccatum Unusquisque tamen habuit in se aliquem specialem regem qui in eo regnabat dominabatur ei Verbi causa in alio regnum tenebat avaritia in alio superbia in alio mendacium regnabat in alio libido dâ—minabatur alius regem patiebatur furorem Postea vere quam venit Jesus occidit omnes reges qui in nobis tenebant regna peccati praecepit nobis interficere omnes istos reges nullum ex iis relinquere Si quis enim aliquem horum in semet-ipso servaverit vivum in exercitu Jesu esse non poterit Si ergo regnat in te avaritia si jactantia si superbia si libido non eris Israeliticus miles c. Orig. hom 15. in Jos He will have no manner of fellowship with the workers of iniquity The design of his coming was to destroy the works of the devil and therefore he will not dwell with such as give up themselves to serve the devil that make it their trade to promote his interest these are the persons whom his soul abhorreth What communion hath Christ with Belial 2 Cor. 6.14 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity Psal 45.7 Into a polluted soul Christ the wisdom of God will not enter nor will he take up his habitation with those that are in confederacy with sin That 's the first object to which sinners are joyned in opposition unto Christ 2. They are contracted unto the Law as it is a covenant of life and are ready to seek for justification and acceptance upon legal terms which is a strong bar in the way of union with Christ For where the Lord Jesus is a Saviour indeed he will be acknowledged as a perfect Saviour he will have the whole glory of our redemption redound unto himself See what the Apostle speaketh to this purpose Gal. 5.4 Christ is become of none effect unto you whosoever of you are justified by the Law that is if you seek to be justified by it none are or can be justified by it in reality but if you rely thereupon and expect and look for acceptation with God upon those terms
love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment that is as I take the meaning of the Apostle to be in the day of mans judgment when we are called before mens tribunal seats for the profession of Christ and required to give an account of our faith in Christ then we that are true believers will do it boldly we are not ashamed to own him for our Lord and Master Why Because we love him and this is the top of our love to make us stick fast unto him in times of tryal Or this is the perfection of our love the putting it to its proper use it was one of the ends for which this grace was planted within us that it might cause us to abide with Christ and not to shrink away from him when we are brought before mens judgment seats * The latter clause of the 17. v. Because as he is so are we in this world is rendred in the Syriack in the time past Because as he was so are we in this world As if the meaning were this Why should not we be bold to stand to the cause of Christ If we suffer for him it is but what he did for our sakes We are thereby rendred conformable unto him He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and shall we not willingly partake of his sufferings Vide Marian. in loc I am the rather confirmed in this interpretation from the following words v. 18. There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear as if he had said if persons love Christ sincerely which is Evangelical perfection if they love him really and in good earnest they will not be terrified with the threatnings of men but they will acknowledge him for their Master in the midst of an adulterous and sinful generation and though they should be dealt with for it even as they dealt with Christ Why Because they dearly love him and that love keepeth under their carnal fear and causeth them to go on with courage amidst all oppositions * The Gnosticks whom as some think the Apostle here confutes held that Christians in danger might to save their lives deny Christ outwardly Provided that they owned him in their-hearts To confute which devillish opinion St. John asserts the necessity of confessing Jesus v. 15. answerable to Matth. 10.32 33. And here he sheweth that denying Christ for fear of death was utterly inconsistent with love to him For many waters cannot quench love neither can the flonds drown it Cant. 8.7 And therefore when Peter had denyed his Master once and again for fear of danger what is the question that our Saviour puts to him after his Resurrection See Joh. 21.15 16 17. Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me more than these Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me He said to him the third time Simon Son of Jonas lovest thou me as if Christ had said haste thou not cause to question the integrity of thy love towards me Should not thy love have kept thee from disowning thy Lord even in the High-Priests-Hall though in times of danger Is there not reason for thee to search into the reality of thy love where was it at that time when thy carnal fear did so prevail 3. That love of Christ which will be evidential of our ingrafture into him must be a superlative love When we give the Lord Jesus the top of our affections and the uppermost seat in our hearts and place nothing above him or in competition with him When persons plead that they love Christ and it is pity he should live will some carnal people say that doth not love the Lord Jesus but they love the world better they love the Son of God but they have more love for their lusts and the pleasures of sin this is indeed to reject and despise him For Mat. 10.37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me and he that loveth son or danghter more than me is not worthy of me Luk. 14.26 If any man come to me and haâ—e not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters yea and his own life also he cannot be my disciple If he doth not hate them that is if he have not a lesser affection for them than for me which in comparison with a greater love is a kind of hatted if he be not ready to cast them away even with detestation and to trample them under his feet when they come in competition with Christ as we are wont to do that which we hate and abhor he cannot be my disciple saith our Saviour For a Believers love to Christ must be a superlative love so as to account all things but loss and dung for Christ's sake and to part with all things to win Christ And to this purpose you must be much in studying the worth of Christ and be careful to get an insight into his excellency For as in secular negotiations men will never part with a great price for a commodity except they know the worth of that commodity so in spiritual affairs you will never be willing to sustain any great loss for Christ unless you know the excellency of him As your apprehensions of Christ's worth are such will be your readiness to venture and lose for Christ's sake Unless the Merchant had been acquainted with the preciousness of the pearl he would never have sold all that he had to buy it Mat. 13.45 46. 4. It must be a love of complacency and satisfaction when there is an holy acquiescence of the soul in Christ and a sweet contentment that ariseth from the enjoyment of Christ When it is the joy and rejoycing of a mans heart to be conversing with him * Amor est delectatio cordis alicujus ad aliquid propter desiderium in appetendo gaudium perfruendo Per desiderium cürrens requiescens per gaudium Else when persons say they love Christ but perhaps think not a serious thought of him from one end of the day to the other seldom or never have him in their meditations care little for any spiritual intercourse with him that is but a pretended love If a man love the Lord Jesus indeed he will long after converse with him it will be as marrow and fatness to his soul to be in his society Psal 63.1 2 3 8. O God thou art my God early wil I seek thee my soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is c. And v. 8. My soul followeth hard after thee It is love to Christ which maketh Believers so prize the Ordinances wherein they are wont to meet with him that is the reason why they take it so heavily to be deprived of those priviledges and that they can hardly bear the withdrawment of his presence but their spirits are ready to sink within them See what effect it had upon the Spouse Cant. 5.6
I opened to my beloved but he had withdrawn himself and was gone my soul failed when he spake that is when he gave forth his parting words The Spouse at first was not ready to open to Christ and to give him entertainment v. 3. Why then farewel saith Jesus I will wait no longer seeing you so little regard me I will be gone immediately O then the soul raileth this striketh the spirit dead and there is no quietness to be had till Christ be found again and intreated to return It is love to Christ that maketh it so pleasant a thing to a Believer to recount his perfections and to reckon up the glorious things that he hath done See what delight the Spouse taketh in the enumeration of them Cant. 5.10 11 12 13 14 15. So much for the seventh Proposition 8. Propos 8. The eighth and last Proposition is this The mystical union of Believers with Christ and all the priviledges and blessings which are the consequents thereof do originally flow from the merit of the death of the Lord Jesus which in pursuance of the eternal Covenant between the Father and himself he suffered in their stead and whereby he gave satisfaction to the justice of God in their behalf To this end he undertook to be a Mediator and to die an accursed death in their room and in the fulness of time he actually performed it that they in whose stead he stood might be gathered unto him and by the Spirit and faith might be made one with him Upon the account of this his standing in their stead and transacting matters with the Father for their good and benefit some speak of an eternal Vnion betwixt them Say they In the eternal counsel of God for reconciling sinners unto himself Christ ingaged to suffer as representing their persons and so they are considered as one This we may call a judicial Union as some or a transcendental Vnion But I will not stand upon an enquiry into the fitness of these expressions This I take to be clear from the Scriptures of truth That the mystical Union of Believers with Christ wrought by the Spirit and faith which is the matter we are treating of and until which they are dead in sins and trespasses and under the wrath of God as well as others is a fruit of Christ's undertaking to die for them and actual performance of that undertaking * Haec transactio inter Deum Christum fuit praevia quaedam applicatio redemptionis liberationis nostrae ad sponsorem nostrum ad nos in ipso Quae ad secundariam istam in nobis peragendam rationem habet cfficacis cajusdam exemplaris ita ut illa fit hujus repraesentatio haec illius virtute producatur Ames med That which I drive at is this That the Lord Jesus did not enter himself into an obligation to undergo the cursed death of the Cross and in due time actually undergo it only that the elect of God might be saved if they should get into him but that they might be brought unto Christ and ingraffed into him and so made partakers of salvation You shall find that their gathering unto Christ and being implanted into him is mentioned as an effect of his undertaking and suffering for them This is notably set forth in that Anti-Socinian Chapter as I may call it which hath broken the teeth of such as have been nibling at it and out of which it is impossible for them with all their subtle devices to extricate themselves I mean Isa 53. v. 10 11 12. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him he hath put him to grief when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand He shall see of the travel of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justifie many for he shall bear their iniquities Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he hath poured out his soul unto death and he was numbred with the transgressors and he bare the sins of many and made intercession for transgressors Mark but how abundantly this point is confirmed Therefore shall Christ have a people gathered unto him and a seed to serve him because he made his soul an offering for their sins Upon that very account many shall be united to him so as to be justified by him because he bare their iniquities Therefore he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death How doth Christ divide the spoil with the strong Why when in the day of conversion he knittetn sinners unto himself As Satan the strong man armed hath his company that continue finally impenitent in their wickedness So Christ by his Spirit doth gather a company unto himself And whence doth this proceed Why it is the product of the satisfaction which he made for them Thus it shall be because he bare the sins of many These are the trophies of the victory that Christ got by dying the death of the cross They are ingraffed into him because he suffered for them Hence the grace of faith which is the uniting grace is said to be attained through the righteousness of Christ As it is acted upon Christ's righteousness so it was purchased thereby and is given forth upon the account thereof 2 Pet. 1.1 To them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ This is the last Proposition For the clearing whereof and the point asserted I will take it asunder into five heads of observation 1. Observe That the eternal transactions of matters between God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ in order to the redemption and deliverance of the elect are set forth in the Scriptures under the notion of a Covenant that passed betwixt them for the accomplishment of that redemption As there is a Covenant made with the souls of Believers in Christ so there was a Covenant from everlasting made with Christ a kind of compact and agreement between the Father and the Son for the restauration of fallen sinners This is acknowledged by most as to the matter and substance of the thing and I think we have it plainly enoâ—gh under that notion and expression of a Covenaut Zech. 6.12 13. Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts saying Behold the man whose name is the Branch and he shall grow up out of his place and he shall build the temple of the Lord. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord and he shall bear the glory and shall sit and rule upon his throne and he shall be a Priest upon his throne and the counsel of peace shall be between them both The counsel of peace that is the transactions in order to making peace betwixt an incensed God and sinful men and
the uttermost 2 Cor. 5.14 Do we make void the law through faith God forbid yea we establish the law Rom. 3.31 But now as it is a Covenant of life and doth promise justification unto the observers of it so the death of Christ doth deaden us unto the law it is of notable force and efficacy to take off a man from building and bottoming upon his own legal performances For this very topick the Apostle argueth with the Galatians cap. 3.1 O foolish Galatians who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth crucified among you Mark it the great matter wherein the Galatians fell from the truth of the Gospel was by adhaering to the law and seeking righteousness therein Now saith the Apostle a man would have thought the doctrine of Christ's death and crucifixion might have been a strong fence against that error unless you had been under a kind of fascination and witchcraft upon your spirits Hath the great fundamental principle of the death of Christ been so plainly and faithfully preached unto you and set forth amongst you in such lively colours as if he had been crucified before your eyes and are you still so foolish as to rest upon the law Certainly this is an argument of abundant sottishness and madness or else you have quite forgotten the doctrine of Christ's death and neglect to make a due improvement thereof The death of Christ will be of notable use to deaden a man to the law by making a threefold discovery 1. By discovering the sinfulness and damnableness of the evil of sin or transgressionof the law of God in that it could be expiated at no lesser rate than by the crucifying of the Son of God It is not any corruptible thing as silver and gold could make satisfaction for sin but the precious blood of the Son of God and therefore certainly it is an evil of a very heinous nature Thus my brethren a real sight of the greatness of the evil of sin would sooner convince a man of the insufficiency of all his legal righteousness to satisfie for the wrong that is done unto God by it If men think to recompence the Lord by any obedience of their own for the sins whereof they are guilty it is because they have low and slight thoughts of the evil of their sins Now the death of Christ may serve to rectifie such thoughts and to set forth the damnableness of the nature of sin And indeed it was one of the ends which God aimed at in the death of Christ as to save the sinners so to damn the sin Rom. 8.3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh He condemned it that is he made it thereby to appear what a deadly destructive and damnable nature it is of how odious and abominable a thing it is in his sight * He condemned it of that capital crime that it was the meritorious cause of the death of Christ who was most innocent Engl. Annot. By what way was this made to appear Why because nothing could appease his wrath but the crucifying of the Lord Jesus Undoubtedly it must needs be a very accursed thing for which Christ himself was made a curse 2. The death of Christ is of use to deaden a sinner to the law by making discovery of the inexorableness of the justice of God of his severity and strictness in requiring the utmost farthing that is due for satisfaction He did not spare his own Son when he had iniquity laid upon him but he was put to a painful cursed ignominious and reproachful death so that let not the children of men ever expect to be spared if they lie under the guilt of the least ungodliness God the Father did not abate his own beloved Son any part of the punishment surely he will never make abatement unto his adversaries And this was another end of Christ's death to set forth the exactness and inexorableness of the justice of God that he will by no means clear the guilty Rom. 3.25 26. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God To declare I say at this time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus * Deus justitiam suam dicitur oftendisse quia non aliter remisit peccata hominum quam pretio iusto redemptionis accepto non ab ipsis hominibus sed a Christo pro nobis satisfaciente Justum ergo se Deus exhibuit in nostro justificatione liberalem seu gratiosum Justitia fuit relatione ad Christum gratia vero relatione ad nos Tolet in Rom. 3. Lastly the death of Christ will serve to take off a man from seeking justification by the law by making a full discovery that there is no other way imaginable to make reconciliation for sin and to deliver sinners from the wrath to come but the death of Christ only For Sirs if there had been any other way could have been found out undoubtedly God would have spared the dearly beloved of his soul he would never have striken and bruised his only begotten Son For as the Apostle argueth If there had been a law given which could have given life verily righteousness should have been by the law Gal. 3.21 q. d. Had that way been sufficient to save men and women from everlasting destruction God would have taken that way and prevented the sorrows and sufferings of his Son He would never have sent him into the world in such a low and despicable condition nor have brought him into such strairs and agonies as made him sweat drops of blood not would he have poured out upon him the vials of his wrath for the accomplishment of that which might have been otherwise accomplished So that to test for justification upon the law is in effect to frustrate and make void the grace of God in the death of the Mediator For if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain Gal. 2.21 Thus much for the fifth Proposition touching the way of a sinners union or conjunction with the Lord Jesus 6. Propos 6. The way of the actual conjunction between Christ and his people when they are thus divorced from sin and deadned to the Law may be conceived thus The Lord Christ by his Spirit taketh possession of them and dwelleth in them and Believers through faith of the operation of the Spirit take hold of Christ and get into him and so they are knit together and become one For this conjunction you must understand is a mutual conjunction * Abide in me and I in you And again He that abideth in me and I in him By which