Sermon XLI (continued, part 4)
Nor yet that conjugal union,by marriage-covenant, betwixt am an and his wife; for though this be exceeding dear and intimate, so that a man leaves father and mother, and cleaves to his wife, and they two becomeone flesh; yet this union is not indissolvable, but may and must be broken by death ; and then the relict lives alone without any communion with, or relation
SERM. H. The Method of Grace. 129 to, the person that was once so dear; but this betwixt Christ and the soul can never be dissolved by death, it abides to eternity.
Nor, lastly, that of the head and members united by one vital spirit, and so making one physical body, mentioned Eph .
iv. 15, 16. for though one soul actuates every member, yet it doth notknit every member alike near to the head, but some are nearer, and others removed farther from it; but here every member is alike nearly united with Christ the Head, the weak are as near to him as the strong.
Two things are necessary to be opened in the doctrinal part of this point. 1. The reality. 2. The quality of this union. First, For the reality of it, I shall make it appear, that there is such a union betwixt Christ and be livers; it is no Ens rat i on is, empty notion, or cunninglydevisedfable, but a most certain demonftrable truth, which appears,
First, From the communion which is betwixt Christ and believers ; in this the apostle is express, I John i. 3. " Truly our " fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ ;" κοινωνία. It signifies such fellowship or copartnership, as persons have by a joint interest in one and the fame enjoyment, which isincommonbetwixt them. So Heb. iii. 14. we are μετοχοι; partakers of Christ. And Psal. xlv. 7. here the saints are called the companions, conforts or fellows of Christ ; "and that
66 not only in respect of his * assumption of our mortality, and " investing us with his immortality, but it hath a special refe- " rence and respect to the unction of the Holy Ghost, or graces
" of the Spirit, of which believers are partakers with him and
" through him." Now this communion of the saints with Christ, is entirely and necessarily dependent upon their union with him, even as much as the branch's participation of the sap and juice, depends upon its union and coalition with the stock ; take away union, and there can be no communion, or communications, which is clear from 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. "All is yours, " and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Where you fee how all our participation of Christ's benefits is built upon our union with Christ's person .
Secondly, The reality of the believers union with Christ, is e-
Ipfe venit in fortem noftræ mortalitatis, ut infortemnos adduceretfue immortalitatis : clarum autem eft, hic agideconfortibus unctionis : qualesfunt omnes fideles qui unctionis participesfiunt. Rivet. VOL . II. S
130 The Method of Grace. SERM. II.
vident from the imputation of Christ's righteousness to him for his justification. That a believer is justified before God by a righteousness without himself, is undeniable from Rom. iii. 24. " Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption " that is in Christ Jesus." And that Christ's righteousness becomes ours by imputation, is as clear from Rom. iv. 23, 24. but it can never be imputed to us, except we be united to him, and become one with him : which is also plainly asserted in 1 Cor.
i. 30. " But of him areye (in Christ Jesus) who of God is made 6 " unto us wisdom and righteousness, sanctification andredemp- " tion ." He communicates his merits unto none but those that are in him. Hence all those vain cavilsofthe Papift's, disputing against our justification by the righteousness of Christ, and af serting it to be by inherent righteousness, are solidly answered.
When they demand, How can webejustifiedby therighte oufness of another ? Can I be rich with another man's money, or preferred by another's honours ? Our answer is, Yes, if that other be my surety or husband. Indeed Petercannot be justified by the righteousness of Paul; but both maybe justified by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them; they being members, jointly knit to one common Head. Principal and surety are one in obligation and construction of law. Head and members areone body, branch and stock are one tree; and it is no
thing, to see a grafflive by the sap of another stock, when once it is engraffed into it.
Thirdly, The sympathy that is betwixt Christ and believers, proves a union betwixt them ; Christ and the saints smile and sigh together. St. Paul in Col. i. 24. tells us, that he did " fill up that which is behind," τα υςερηματα,--the remainders of the " sufferings of Christ in his flesh:" not as if Christ's sufferings were imperfect, (" for by one offering he hath per- " fected for ever them that are sanctified," Heb. x. 14.) but in these two scriptures, Christ is considered in a twofold capacity ; he suffered once in corpore proprio, in his own person, as Media tor; these sufferings are complete and full, and in that sense he suffers no more ; he suffers also in corpore mystico, in his church and members; thus he still suffers in the sufferings of every faint for his fake; and though these sufferings in his mystical body are not equal to the other, eitherpondere et menfura, in their weight and value, nor yet designed ex officio, for the fame use and purpose, to satisfy by their proper merit, offended justice; nevertheless they are truly reckoned the sufferings of Christ, because the head suffers when the members do; and without this sup. position, that place, Acts ix. 5. is never to beunderftood,when
SERM. II. 131 The Method of Grace. Christ, the Head in heaven, cries out, " Saul, Saul, why perse- " cutest thou me ?" when the foot was trod upon on earth ; How doth Christ sensibly feel our sufferings, or we his, if there be not a mystical union betwixt him and us ?
Fourthly, and lastly, The way and manner in which the saints shall be raised at the last day, proves this mystical union betwixt Christ and them ; for they are not to be raised as others, by the naked power of God without them, but by the virtue of Christ's resurrection as their Head, sending forth vital quickening influences into their dead bodies, which are united to him as well as their souls . For so we find it, Rom . viii. II . "But if the " Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit thatdwelleth in you;" even as it is in our awaking out of natural sleep, first the animal-spirits in the head begin to rouze and play there, and then the senses and members are loosed throughout the whole body.
Now it is impossible the saints should be raised in the last resurrection, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, if that Spirit did not knit and unite them to him, as members to their head. So then by all this, it is proved, that there is a real union of the saints with Christ .
Next, I shall endeavour to open the quality and nature of this union, and shew you what it is, according to the weak apprehenfions we have of so fublimea mystery ; and this I shall do in a general and particular account of it.
First, More generally, it is an intimate conjunction of believers to Christ, by the imparting of his Spirit to them, whereby they are enabled to believe and live in him.
All divine spiritual life is originally in the Father, andcomethnot to us, but by, and through the Son, John v. 26. to him hath the Father given to have an αυτοζωη,--a quickening, enlivening power in himself; but the Son communicates this life which is in him to none, but by, and through the Spirit, Rom. viii. 2. "The Spirit of life which is in Christ Jesus, hath made
66 me free from the law of fin and death ." The Spirit must therefore first take hold of us, before we can live in Christ, and when he doth so, then we are enabled to exert that vital act of faith, whereby we receive Christ ; all this lies plain in that one Scripture, John vi. 57. " As the living Fa- " ther hath sent me, and I live by the Father, fo he that eat-
" eth me (that is, by faith applies me) even he shall live by me." So that these two, namely, the Spirit, on Christ's part, and faith,
132 SERM.If The Method of Grace. his work on our part, are the two ligaments by which we are knit to Christ.
So that the Spirit's work in uniting or engraffing a soul into Christ, is like the cutting off the grass from its native stock
(which he doth by his illuminations and convictions) and closing it with the living, when it is thus prepared, and fo enabling it(by the infusionoffaith) to fuck and draw the vital sap, and thus it becomes one with him. Or as the many members in the natural body, being all quickened and animated by the fame vital spirit, become one body with the head, which is the principal member, Eph. iv. 4. " There is one body, and one spirit."
More particularly, we shall confider the properties of this union, that so we may the better understand the nature of it. And here I shall open the nature of it both negatively and affirmatively.
First, Negatively, by removing all false notions and mifapprehenfions of it. And we say,
First, The saints union with Christ, is not a mere mental union, only in conceit and notion, but really exists extra mentem, whether we conceit it or not. I know the atheisticalworld cenfures all these things as fancies and idle imaginations, but believers know the reality of them ; John xiv. 20. "At that day " you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and " I in you. " This doctrine is not fantastical,but fcientifical. Secondly, The saints union with Christ is not a physical union, such as is betwixt the members of a natural body and the head; our nature indeed is assumed into union with the person of Christ, but it is the singular honour of that blessed and holy flesh of Christ, to be fo united as to make one person with him ; that union is hypostatical, this only mystical.
Thirdly, Nor is it an essential union, or union with the divine nature, so as our beings are thereby swallowed up and lost in the Divine Being.
Some there be indeed that talk at that wild rate, ofbeinggodded into God, and christed into Christ ; and those unwaryexpressions of Greg. Naz. Θεοποιειν, andΧρισοποιειν, do but too much countenance those daring spirits; but oh, there is an infinitedi-
betwixt us and Christ, in respect of nature and excellency, notwithstanding this union.
Fourthly, The union I here speak of, is not a foederal union, or an union by covenant only; such an union indeed, there is betwixt Christ and believers, but that is consequential to, and wholly dependent upon, this.
Fifthly, and lastly, It is not a mere moral union by love and
SERM. II. The Method of Grace. 133 affection ; thus we say, one soul is in two bodies, a friend is another self; the lover is in the person beloved; such an union of hearts and affections there is alto betwixt Christ and the saints, but this is of another nature; that we callamoral, this a mystical union ; that onlyknits our affections, but this our persons, to Christ.
Secondly, Positively. And first, Though this union neither makes us one person or essence with Christ, yet itknits our persons most intimately and nearly to the person of Christ. The church is Christ's body, Coloff. i. 24. not his natural, but his mysticalbody ; that is to say, his body is a mystery, because it is to him as his natural body. The saints stand to Christ in the fame relation that the natural members of the body stand to the head, and he stands in the fame relation to them, that the head
in to the natural members ; and consequently they stand related to one another, as the members ofa natural body, do to each other.
Christ and the saints are not one, as the oak, and the ivy that clafps it are one, but as the graffand stock are one ; it is not an union by adhesion, but incorporation. Husband and wife are not so near, foul and body are not so near, as Christ and thebelievingfoul are near to each other.
Secondly, The mystical union is wholly supernatural,wrought bythealonepower of God. So it is said, 1 Cor. i. 30. " But of " him are ye in Christ Jesus." We can no more unite ourselves to Christ, than a branch can incorporate itselfintoanother stock ; it is of him, i. e. of God, his proper and alone work .
There are only two ligaments, or bands of union betwixt Christ and the soul, viz. the Spirit on his part, and faith on ours. But when we fay faith is the band of union on our part, the meaning is not, that it is so our own act, as that it springs naturally from us, or is educed from the power of our own wills ; no, for the apostle exprefly contradicts it, Eph. ii. 8. " It is not " ofyourselves, it is the gift of God." But we are the subjects of it, and though the act on that account be ours, yet the power enabling us to believe is God's, Eph . i. 19, 20.
Thirdly, The mystical union is animmediateunion; immedi ate I fay, not as excluding means and instruments, for several means andmanyinstruments, are employed for the effecting of it; but immediate, as excluding degrees ofnearness among the members of Christ's mystical body.
Every member in the natural body stands not as near to the head as another, but fo do all the mystical members of Christ's body to him : every member, the smallestaswell as the greatest,
134 The Method of Grace. SERM . II . hath an immediate coalition with Christ, 1 Cor. i. 2. " To the " church of God, which is at Corinth, to them that are fanc-
" tified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every " place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs " and ours."
Among the factions, in this church at Corinth, those that said, I am of Christ, as arrogating Christ to themselves, were as much a faction, as those that said, I am of Paul, 1 Cor. i. 30. To cure this he tells them, he is both theirs and ours . Such inclofers are against law.
Fourthly, The saints mystical union with Christ is a fundamental union ; it is fundamental by way of fuftentation; all our fruits of obedience depend upon it, John xv. 4. " As the " branch cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, no more
" can ye, except ye abide in me." It is fundamental to all our privileges and comfortable claims, 1 Cor. iii. 23. "All is yours, " for ye are Christ's." And it is a fundamental to all our hopes andexpectattions of glory; for it is " Christ in you the hope of
" glory," Col. i. 27. Sothendeftroy this union, and with it you destroy all our fruits, privileges, and eternal hopes, at one stroke.
Fifthly, The mystical union is a most efficacious union, for through this union the divine power flows into our souls, both to quicken us with the life of Christ, and to conserve and secure that life in us, after it is so infused.
Without the union of the soul to Christ, which is to be conceived efficiently as the Spirit's act, there can be no union formally considered; and, without these, no communications of life from Christ to us, Eph. iv. 16. And as there is that ενεργεια, or effectual working of the spirit of life in every part, which he there speaks of, (as though you should say,the first appearances ofa new life, afpiritual vitality diffused through the soul, which ere while was dead in sin) yet still this union with Christ is as necessary to the maintaining, as before it was to the producing of it.
For why is it that this life is not again extinguished, and wholly suffocated in us, by so many deadly wounds as are given it by temptations and corruptions ? Surely no reason can be af. fignedmore fatisfyingthan that, which Christ himself gives us, in Johnxiv. 19. "Because I live, ye shall live also : " q. d. whilst there is vital sap in me the root, you that are branches in me cannot wither and die.
Sixthly, The mystical union is an indissoluble union; there is an everlasting tye betwixt Christ and the believer; and here
SERM . II . The Method of Grace. 135 in also it is beyond all other unions in the world; death dissolves the dear union betwixt the husband and wife, friend and friend, yea, betwixt foul and body, but not betwixt Christ and the soul, the bands of this union rot not in the grave. " What " shall separate us from the love of Christ ?" faith the apostle,
Rom. viii. 35, 38, 39. He bidsdefiance to all his enemies, and triumphs in the firmness of this union over all hazards that seem to threaten it. It is with Christ and us, in respect of the mystical union, as it was with Christ himself, in respect of the hypostatical union : That was not dissolved by his death, when the natural union betwixt his soul and body was, nor can this mystical union of our souls and bodies with Christ be dissolved, when the union betwixt us and our dearest relations, yea, betwixt the soul and body, are dissolved by death. God calls himself the God of Abraham, long after his body was turned into dust.
Seventhly, It is an honourable union*, yea, the highest honour that can be done unto men: The greatest honour that was ever done to our common nature, was by its assumption into union with the second personhypostatically, and the highest honour that was ever done to our single persons,was their union with Christ mystically. To be a servant of Christ, is a dignity transcendent to the highest advancement among men ; but to be a member of Christ, how matchless and singular is the glory thereof ! And yet such honour have all the saints, Eph. v. 30. " We are members of his body, of his stesh, and of his "bones."
Eightly, It is a most comfortable union : Yea, the ground of all solid comfort, both in life and death : Whatever troubles, wants, or distresses, befal such, in this is abundantreliefandfupport. Christ is mine, and I am his; what may not a good foul make out of that ! If I am Christ's, then let him take care for me, and, indeed, in so doing, he doth but care for his own : He is my head, and to him it belongs to consult the safety and welfare of his own members, Eph. i. 22, 23. He is not only an head to his own, by way of influence, but to all things else, byway of dominion, for their good. Howcomfortablymaywe
is the head, summit, and crown of all dignity, without whom there is nothing (truly) noble in all this sublunary world, who has heaven for his throne, and the earth for his footstool . The earth, I say, with all the persons of high rank and station in it are put under his feet. Laur. Humphred. on Nobility.
136 SERM. II. The Method of Grace. repose ourselves, under that cheering consideration, upon him at all times, and in all difficult cases!
Ninthly, It is a fruitful union : The immediate end of it is fruit, Rom. vii. 4. " We are married to Christ, that we should " bring forth fruit to God :" All the fruit we bear before our ingrafture into Christ, is worse than none: Till the person be in Christ, the work cannot be evangelically good and acceptable to God: We are made accepted in the Beloved," Eph. i. 6. Christ is a fruitful root, and makes all the branches, that live in him, so too, John xy. 8 .
Tenthly, and Lastly, It is an enriching union : For, by our union with his person, we are immediately interested in all his riches, 1 Cor. i. 30. How rich andgreataperson do the little arms of faith clasp and embrace ! "All is yours," 1 Cor. iii. 22. All that Christ hath becomes ours, either by communication to us, or improvement for us : His father, John xx. 17. His promises, 2 Cor. i. 20. His providences, Rom. viii. 28. His glory, John xvii. 24. It is all ours by virtue of our union with him.
Thus you fee, briefßy, what the mystical union is. Next we shall improve it.
Infer. 1. If there be such an union betwixt Christ and be. lievers, Oh then what transcendent dignity hath God put upon believers !
Well might Constantine prefer the honour of being a member of the church, before that of being head of the empire †; for it is not only above all earthly dignities and honours, but, in some respect, above that honour which God hath put upon the angels of glory.
Great is the dignity of the angelical nature: The angels are the highest and most honourable species of creatures : They alfohave the honour continually to behold the face of God in heaven, and yet, in this one respect, the saints are preferred to them, they have a mystical union with Christ, as their head of influence, by whom they are quickned with spiritual life, which the angels have not.
It is true, there is an ανακεφαλαιώσις, or gathering together of all in heaven and earth under Christ as a common head, Eph. i.
10. He is the Head of angels, as well as faints, but indifferent
If thou would'it be called a man of power, put on Christ who is the power and wisdom of God, and in all things join thyself to the Lord, that thou mayeftbe one spirit with him, and then thou
shalt become a man of power. Orig. Hom. in Num. xxxi.
SERM. II. 137 The Method of Grace.
To angels he is an head of dominion and government, but to faints he is both an head of dominion, and vital influence too: They are his chief and most honourable subjects, but not his mystical members : They are as the Barons and Nobles in his kingdom, but the saints as the dear spouse and wife of his bosom. This dignifies the believer above the greatest angel. And as the nobles of the kingdom think it a preferment and honour to serve the queen, so the glorious angels think it no degradation or dish on our to them to serve the saints; for to thishonourable office they are appointed, Heb. i. 14. to be mini string, or serviceable spirits, for the good of them that shall beheirs of salvation. The chiefest servantdisdains not to honourand serve the heir.
Some imperious grandees would frown, should fomeofthese persons but presume to approach their presence; but God sets them before his face with delight, and angels delight-to serve them.
Infer. 2. If there be such astrict and inseparable union betwixt Christ and believers, then the graces of believers can never totally fail: Immortality is the privilege of grace, because fanctifiedperfons are inseparably united to Christ the fountain of life : " Your life is hid with Christ in God," Col. iii. 3. Whilst the fapof life is in the root, the branches live by it. Thus it is betwixt Christ and believers, John xiv. 19. "Because I live, " ye shall live also." See how Christ binds up their life in one bundle with his own, plainly intimating, it is as impossible for them to die, as it is for himself, he cannot live without them.
True it is, the spiritual life of believers is encountredbymany ftrongand fierce oppositions: It is also brought to a lowebb in some,but we are always to remember, there are some things which pertain to the essence of that life, inwhichtheverybeing of it lies, and some things that pertain only to its well-being. All those things which belong to the well-being of the new creature, as manifestations, joys, spiritual comforts, &c. may, for a time, fail, yea, and grace itself may suffer great losses and remission sin its degrees, notwithstanding our union with Christ ; but still the essence of it is immortal, which is no small relief to gracious fouls : When the means of grace fall, as it is threatned, Amos viii. 11. When temporary, formal professors drop away from Christ likewitheredleaves from the trees in awindy day, 2Tim. ii. 18. And when the natural union of their souls and bodies is fufferingadiffolutionfromeach other by death, when VOL. II. T
138 The Method of Grace. SERM. II.
thatfilvercord isloofed, this golden chain holds firm, 1 Cor. iii. 23.
Infer. 3. Is the union so intimate betwixt Christ and believers ? How great and powerful a motive then is this, to make us openhandedand liberal in relieving the necessities and wants of every gracious person! For in relieving them we relieve Christ him Jelf.
personal is not the object of our pity and charity, he is at the fountain-head of all the riches in glory, Eph. iv. 10. but Christ mystical is exposed to necessities, and wants, he feels hunger and thirst,cold and pains, in his body the church * ; and he is refreshed, relieved, and comforted, in their refreshments and comforts. Christ the Lord of heaven and earth, in this consideration, is sometimes in need of a penny; he tells us his wants and poverty, and how he is relieved, Mat. xxv. 35, 40. A text believed and understood by very few. " I was an
" hung red, an dye gave me meat: I was thirsty, andyegaveme " drink : I was a stranger, an dye took me in. Then shall the " righteous answer, Lord, when fawwe thee anhungred, c. " And the King shall answer, and sayuntothem, verily I fay " unto you, in as much as ye have done it untooneofthe least " of these my brethren, yehavedone it unto me." :
It was the saying ofagreatdivine, that he thought scarce any man on earth did fully understand, and believe this truth, and heconceives so much hinted in the very text, where the righteous themselves reply, " Lord, when fawwe thee sick," &c. intimating in the question, thattheydid not thoroughly under-
the nearness, yea, oneness of those persons with Christ, for whomtheydid these things. And, indeed, it is incredible, that a Christian can be hard-hearted, and close-handed, to that necessitous Christian,in refreshing and relieving of whom,he verily believes, that he ministers refreshment to Christ himself. " Othink again and again, upon this scripture, consider what forcible and mighty arguments are here laid together, to engage relief to the wants of Christians.
Here you fee their near relation to Christ ; they are mysticallyone person ; what you did to them,you did tome. Here you fee alsohowkindly Christ takes it at our hands : acknow-
He who is not moved with the condition of a brother in the church, lethimbemoved with the contemplation of Christ: and he who does not regard his fellow servant in straits and want, let him regard the Lord, dwelling inthatmanwhomhe despises. Cyprian on Works and Charity.
SERM. II . The Method of Grace. 139 ledgingall those kindnesses that were bestowed upon him, even toabitofbread : He is, you fee, content to take it as a courtesy, who might demand it by authority, and bereave you of all immediately upon refusal.
Yea, here you fee one single branch or act of obedience, (our charity to the saints)is singled out from among all the duties of obedience, and made the test and evidence of our sincerity in that great day, and men blessed or cursed according to the love they have manifestedthisway to the saints. O then, henceforth, let none that understand the relation the saints have to Christ, as the members to the head, or the relationtheyhave to each other thereby, as fellow-members of the
body, from henceforth suffer Christ to hunger, if they have bread to relieve him, or Christ to be thirsty, if they have wherewith to refresh him: this union betwixt Christ and the
affords an argument beyond all other arguments in the world to prevail with us. Methinks, a little rhetoric might persuade a Christian to part with any thing he hath for Christ who parted with the glory of heaven,yea, and his ownbloodfor his fake.
Infer. 4. Do Christ and believers make but one mysticalperfon? How unnatural and absurd then are all those acts ofunkindness, whereby believers wound and grieve Jesus Christ ! This is as if thehandshouldwound his own head,from which it receives life, Sense, motion, andstrengtb. When satan smites Christ by awickedman, he then wounds himwiththehandofan enemy; but when his temptations prevail upon the faints to fin,he wounds him, as it were with his own hand: As the eagle and tree in the fable complained, the one that he was wounded by an arrowwingedwith his own feathers; the other, that it was cleaved asunder by awedge hewn out of its own limbs.
Now the evil anddisingenuity of such sins,are to be measured, not only by the near relation Christ sustains to believers as their Head; but more particularly, from the several benefits they receive from him as such; for in wounding Christ by their fins,
First,They wound theirheadofinfluence, through whom they live, andwithoutwhom they had still remained in the state off in and death, Eph. iv. 16. Shall Christ send life to us, and we return that which is death to him ! O how absurd, how disigenuous is this ; : Secondly,They wound their head of government. Christ is a T2
140 The Method of Grade. SERM.II. guiding, aswellasa quickeninghead, Col. i. 18. He is yout wisdom, he guides you by his counsels to glory : but must he be thus requitedfor all his faithful conduct ! Whatdoyou, when you fin, but rebel against his government, refusing to follow his counsels, and obeying, in the meantime,adeceiver, rather than him.
Thirdly, They wound their consulting head,who cares, pró vides, and projects, for the welfare and fafetyofthebody. Chris tians, you know your affairs below have not been steered and managed by your own wisdom,but that orders have been given from heaven for your securityandfupply from day today. "I " know, O Lord,(faith the prophet) that the wayofman is not " in himself, neither is it in him that walks to direct his own
66 steps," Jer. x. 23. It is true, Christ is out of your fight, and you see him not: but he fees you, and orders everything thatconcernsyou. And is this a due requital of all that care he hath taken for you ? Do you thus requite the Lord for all his benefits ? What, recom pense evil for good! O let shame cover you.
Fourthly, and lastly, They wound their head of honour. Christ your Head, is the fountain ofhonour to you : This is your glory that you relate to him as your head : You are, on this account, (as before was noted) exalted above angels,
Now then confider, how vile a thing it is to reflect the least dish on our upon him, from whom you derive all your glory. O confider and bewail it.
Infer. 5. Is there so strict and intimate a relation and union betwixt Christ and the faints ? Thenfurely they can never want what is good for theirfouls or bodies.
Everyone naturally cares and provides for his own, especially for his own body ; yet we can more easily violate the law of nature, and be cruel to our own flesh, than Christ can be soto his mystical body *. I know it is hard to rest upon, and rejoice in a promise, whennecessitiespinch,andwefeenot from whence relief should arise ; but O! what sweet fatisfactionand comfort, might a neceffitous believer find in these considerations, would he but keep them upon his heart in such a day of strait.
First, Whatever my distresses are for quality, number, or degree, they are all known even to the least circumstance, by Christ my Head: He looks down from heaven upon all myaf-
mifit filium, immifitspiritum, prom if it vultum, quid tan dem denegabit ? i. e. He who hath sent his Son, put the Spirit with in us, andpromifedhis countenance, What will he deny us ?
SERM II. The Method of Grace: 141 flictions, and understands them more fully than I that feel them, Psal. xxxviii 9. " Lord, all my desire is before thee, and my " groaning is not hid from thee."
Secondly, He not only knows them, but feels them, as well as knows them ; " We have not an High-priest that cannot be "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," Heb. iv. 15, In all your afflictions he is afflicted; tender sympathy cannot but flow from such intimate union ; therefore, in Matth. xXV, 35. he faith, I was an hung red, and I was a-thirst, and I was naked. For indeed his sympathy, and tender compassion, gave himasquick a resentment, and as tender a sense of their wants, asiftheyhadbeenhisown. Yea, Thirdly, He not only knows and feels my wants, but hath enough in his hand, and much more than enough to supply them all; for all things are delivered to him by the Father, Luke x. 22. All the storehouses in heaven and earth are his, Phil. iv. 19.
66 Fourthly, He bestows all earthly good things, even to superfluity and redundance, upon his very enemies, They have " more than heart can wish," Psal. lxxiii. 7. He is bountiful to strangers ; he loads very enemies with these things, and can it be supposed he will in the mean while frarve his own, and neglect those whom he loves as his own flesh? It cannot be, Moreover,
Fifthly, Hithertohehath not fufferedme to perish in any former straits ; when, and where was it, that he forsook me ? This is not the first plunge of trouble I have been in; have I not found him a God at hand ! How ofthave I seen him in the mount of difficulties !
Sixthly, and Lastly, I have his promise and engagement that he will never leave me nor forsake me, Heb. xiii. 5. and John xiv. 18. a promise which hath never failed, since the hour it was first made. If then the Lord Jesus knows and feels all my wants, hath enough, and more than enough to supply them, if hegiveseven to redundance untohisenemies, hath not hitherto forsaken me, and hath promised he never will ? Why then is my soul thus disquieted in me! Surely there is no cause it
should be fo.
Infer. 6. If the saints are so nearly united to Christ, as the members to the head: O then how great afin, and full of danger is it for any to wrong and persecute the faints ! For info doing, they must needsperfecute Christ himself. " Saul, Saul, (faith Christ)why perfecutestthou me ?" Acts
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ix. 4. + The righteous God holds himself obliged to vindicate oppressed innocency, though itbeinthe personsofwickedmen, how much more when it is in a member of Christ ? " He that *" touchethyou, toucheth the apple of mine eye," Zech. ii . 8. And is it to be imagined, that Christ will fit still, and suffer his enemies to hurt or injure the very apples of his eyes : No, no, " He hath ordained his arrows against the perfecutors," Psalm vii. 13. O it were better thine hand should wither,and thine arm fall from thy shoulder, than ever it should be lifted up against Christ, in the poorest of his members. Relieve it, firs, not only your violent actions, but your hard speeches, are all set down upon your doom's-day book ; and you shall be brought to an account for them in the great day, Jude 15. Beware what arrows you shoot, and be sure of your mark before you shoot them.
Inter. 7. Iftherebefuch a union betwixt Christandthefuints, as hath been described, upon what comfortable terms then, may believers part with their bodies at death?
Christ your head is risen, therefore you cannot be lost : nay, he is not only risen from the dead himself, but is also " become
the first-fruits of them that lept," 1 Cor. xv. 20. Believers are his members, his fulness, he cannot therefore be complete without you : a part of Chrilt cannot perish in the grave †, much less burn in hell. Remember, when you feel the natural union dissolving, that this mystical union can never be dissolv. ed: thepangs of death cannot break this tie. And as there is a peculiar excellency in the believer's life, so there is a singular support, and peculiar comfort in his death; To me to live is " Christ, and to die is gain," Phil. i. 21.
Infer. 8. If there be such a union betwixt Christ and believers, How doth it concern every man to try and examine his etate, whether he is really united with Christ or not, by the naturalandproper effects, which alwaysflowfrom this union? As,
Agefilaus was wont to say,That he very much wondered, that thosewerenot reckoned up in the number offacrilegious persons,who injured those who made fupplication to God, or worshipped him : By which he signified,that not onlythoseshould be reckoned injurious, who robbed the Gods themselves, or their temples, but even these chiefly who affronted their servants or heralds. Emyl. Prob. † To say that the temple of God, in which the Spirit of the Father dwells, and the members of Christ, shall not partake offalvation, but be brought into perdition, what is it but the greatest blasphemy ? Iren. lib. 5.
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First, The real communication of Christ's holiness to the soul. We cannot be united with this root, and not partake of the vital sap of sanctification from him; all that are planted into him, are planted into the likeness of his death, and of his resurrection, Rom. vi. 5, 6. viz.by mortification and vivification. - Secondly, They that are sonearlyunited to him, as members to the head, cannot but love him and value him, above their own lives; as we fee in nature, the hand and arm will interpose tofavethe head. The nearer the union, the stronger always is the affection.
Thirdly, The members are subject to the head. Dominion in the head must needs infer fubjection in the members, Eph. v. 24. In vain do we claim union with Christ as our head, whilftwe are governed by our own wills, and our lusts give us law.
Fourthly, All that are united to Christ, de bear fruit to God, Rom. vii. 4. Fruitfulness is the next end of our union : there are no barren branches growing upon this fruitful root.
Infer. 9. Lastly, How much are believers engaged to walk as the members of Christ, in the visible exercises of all those graces and duties, which the consideration oftheirnearrelation to him exacts from them. As, First, How contented and well pleasedshouldwebe with our outward lot, however providence hath cast it for us in this world. Odonot repine, God hath dealt bountifully with you ; upon others he hath bestowed the good things of this world ; upon you, himself in Christ.
Secondly,How humble and lowly in spirit should you be under your great advancement ! It is true, God hath magnified you greatly by this union, but yet do not swell, "You bear not " the root, but the root you," Rom. xi. 18. You shine, but it is as the stars, with a borrowed light.
Thirdly,How zealous shouldyoube tohonour Christ,who hath put so much honour upon you ! Be willing to give glory to Christ, though his glory should rise out of your shame. Never reckon that glory that goes to Christ, to be loft to you : when you lie at his feet, in the most particular heart-breaking confessions off in, yetletthis please you,that therein you have given him glory.
Fourthly, How exact and circumspect should you be in all your ways, remembringwhoseyou are, and whom you represent! Shall it be said, that a member of Christ was convicted of unrighteousness and unholy actions ! God forbid. " If we fay,
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" we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie,"
1John i. 6. "And he that faith he abideth in him, ought al- " so himself to walk even ashe also walked," 1 John ii. 6.
Fifthly, How studious should you be of peace, among yourfolves, who are all so nearly unitedtosuch aHead, and thereby are made fellow-members of the same body ! The Heathen world was never acquaintedwithsuchanargument as the apostleurges for unity, in Eph . iv. 3, 4.
Sixthly, and lastly, How joyful and comfortable should you be, to whom Christ, with all his treasures and benefits, is effectually applied in this blessed union of your souls with him ! This brings him into your possession: Ohow great! how glorious a person do these little, weak arins of your faith embrace !
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.