Chapter V (continued, part 3)
him, because he had it immediately; that is the reason why it is said so here of Paul, in opposition to other apostles.
There is another place that I shall give you for this, and that is Gal.
* My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you. They had not lost the image of Christ in respect of sancti-
iv. 19,
fication in their hearts, for certainly they were men that were holy, but the
truth was this, they had been diverted from the knowledge of Christ which
at first they had received, they were diverted to another gospel, as he saith,
chap, i., and so to another Christ; Moses had been formed in them. Ho doth not say, until you are formed in Christ, but until Christ be formed in
you. He cannot mean the person of Christ dwelling in them. Why ? Because that is not formed, that was formed in the womb of the virgin, and now is glorious in heaven ; therefore it must be the right notion and appre hension of Christ in the gospel that he meaneth. It is as if he had said,
till you be fully evangelised ; and as both Piscator and Pareus interpret it,
till you be fully restored to your former true knowledge of Christ ; now
you are full of Moses, he is formed in you ; that appears by the 21st verse, for there were some amongst them that were so full of the law, that there was nothing but law almost in them ; now in opposition to this, saith he, I long till such time as Christ be formed in you, till there be a complete knowledge of Christ, according to the nature and genius of the gospel be
gotten in you. And this is called Christ. Now, why should the knowledge of Christ in the gospel be called Christ
in us, speaking of spiritual knowledge ?
1. The reason is clearly this, there is no knowledge else in the world can be called the thing that is known.
2. I shall shew you that Christ as thus revealed in the soul may truly be called Christ. There is no knowledge else in the world can be termed the thing that is known. When a man hath the species or image of an horse or man in his mind, or the thought thereof, you cannot call that
image a man or a horse, because all natural knowledge is but a mere phantasm ; but the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the heart of a Christian is Christ in him. Why ? Because that faith which we know Christ by doth
give a being, a reality, and a subsistence to the thing that is known. I
836 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. VII.
* Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord ; and I shall enlarge upon it now, that you may still see how one thing follows another. In Heb. xi. 1, faith is there called liypostasis, that which doth give a subsistence to the things hoped for ; so as indeed in the beholding of Christ, and by beholding of
mentioned it upon another occasion, in opening that place,
Christ, he is in me, there is a reality, a subsistence to me of him. To open and explain this to you a little, the difference of the spiritual knowledge of
Christ, and of all natural knowledge whatsoever, I shall give it you as
briefly and as plainly as I can. You must know this, and you do know it, for you feel it within yourselves, that God hath annexed to the understand
ing of a man a fancy, which we call phantasia, I speak it in opposition to that other phrase in the Hebrews, where faith is called hypostmis. Now the other word, phantasia, corneth from phanos and stasia, it sheweth its
office, for it makes things absent from the mind to appear, and yet but to
appear ; it doth not give a subsistence to them, it is but phanos stasia. Think where you will of any thing ; if you hear a story told you of a thing done at Rome in a church, of such a person, or the like, your mind will be
thinking of a church, or framing the image of some person of whom the
story is told, though you were never there. This is natural to the mind of man to do it. This is the work of the fancy, which is annexed and joined to the understanding of man in his natural knowledge. And the reason why God did annex to the understanding of man that faculty of the fancy, which makes things which the understanding would understand appear to
it (for so the word implies), is because the mind of man would still behold
something ; and because the thing is not present itself, hence therefore God hath made the fancy to give an appearance, still to feed the mind with a view of the thing it would understand, and so the mind is supported in the
understanding of what it doth understand by the assistance of the fancy. Now the Lord having prepared for his people and children spiritual objects of another world, himself and Christ ; alas, the fancy is not able to take in the image of himself and of Christ ; it will not serve the understanding to
any other knowledge of him than merely notional or literal, hence therefore he hath put in that grace of faith, which is not phantasia to the understand
ing, but it is liyiwstasis, so the word is, Heb. xi. 1. It doth not give an
appearance, but a real subsistence to the things the mind would know ; and
as the fancy helpeth natural knowledge in the understanding of natural
things, so doth faith spiritual knowledge, and indeed is all one with it. And hence therefore the beholding of Christ, and of the glory of God by a
believer, is not by way of fancy merely, but it is by way of subsistence ; the
heart findeth a reality in what it believeth, and it hath so great an impres
sion, as it changeth the heart into the same image, which all the fancies of
natural knowledge in the world will never do. And, my brethren, this is
plainly Jesus Christ in you, in one sense ; and therefore now we find in
Eph. iii. 17, that Christ is said to dwell in our hearts by faith ; for faith
hath, by the help of the Holy Ghost, that sight of him that makes him real
to a man s soul. As now how doth the sun dwell in the eye, or in a house ? The sun is in the heavens ; so is Jesus Christ, as Acts iii. hath it, the heavens must receive him, until the times of restitution of all things ; and
yet he is in the heart of a Christian, Christ in you, saith the apostle. How comes this to pass ? Why, look as though the sun is in heaven ; if it
shine into the eye, it dwells there, for there is the real image of the sun
begotten in the eye ; and as it is said to be in the house, when it comes in
with its beams and its light, which if a man put his eye to he may see the
CHAP. VII.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 337
sun ; so is it here, there is the light of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ, that shines into the heart. And I say, this is the first thing that is here intended, when he saith,
* which is Christ in you ; he doth
appeal to those that had known Christ in the gospel, if there were not an unsearchable riches of glory, a vast glory in him, even so far as they had known him, which did give them a hope of infinite glory yet to come, though this knowledge was yet imperfect, and therefore was ordained to be
built up in the world to come ; for (as I hope to make plain and clear to
you) there is nothing is a greater evidence of a hope of glory to come in
heaven, than that knowledge we have now of so great a glory in Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ in us now is an imperfect thing, and yet hath so much riches and glory in the sight of him, as gives us a certain hope that
there is a perfection of it to be one day. So you have it in 1 Cor. xiii. 12,
* Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face ; now we know but in part ; it is an imperfection which must be built up ; but, saith he,
* then shall we know, even as we are known. So now that is the first
meaning of this phrase, why it is that he having spoken of the riches of the
glory of the gospel in itself afore, addeth, which is Christ in you ; that
is, that knowledge which the gospel hath begotten of Jesus Christ in you, I appeal to you how rich and glorious it is, though you do not see all of it, and it doth give you a hope of a future glory to come.
Now to cast in other additional imports, which will come in and stand with this, and help to fill up the meaning of it.
* Christ in you; that is (he speaks still by way of applica tion to them for their comfort), this is for your comfort, that whatsoever
Secondly, It is
glory, and whatsoever riches of Jesus Christ the gospel lays open, it is all
yours, it is all in you, and for you. Which riches of glory, and which
mystery, and all, is Christ in you, and in you the hope of a further glory. When Marcion the heretic had wrote a gospel, as the rest of the evangelists had done, said an orthodox Christian of him, it is my Christ that is in your gospel ; implying, that he had no part in him, though he had written so of him. But all that this gospel saith of Christ is your Christ, it is Christ in
* All is yours, for ye are Christ s, and Christ is God s. The gospel (saith he) which I commend to you, it doth not only tell you of riches and glory, it doth not only talk of it as other stories do, but it makes all this yours ;
you; as the apostle saith, 1 Cor. iii. 23,
* The riches of the glory of
this mystery among the Gentiles, which riches is Christ in you, Christ made yours. It is a deep phrase this, and it imports the possession that a Christian hath of Christ, and of all riches of glory in him.
I shall open, as parallel to my text, another scripture, Col. iii. 11, Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision ; Barbarian,
Scythian, bond nor free : but Christ is all and in all. His scope is this, as Bollock hath well observed upon the place, that all outward external privi
leges, belonging to the new creature, were nothing at all valued by him ;
it is not the privilege of any nation that is so much to be considered,
* it is neither Greek nor Jew. It is not the privilege of any profession of religion, that a man is of this opinion, or of that
therefore, saith he,
opinion, that he is circumcised or uncircumcised. It is not the privilege of tongues, or learning, or wit,
* neither Greek nor Barbarian. The Greeks were a wise and learned people, the Barbarians rude, but men of spirit, as the Turkish nation now. It is not riches or honour, or any external con
dition, that is valued by the _ew creature, there is neither bond nor free, eaith he. But then what hath the new creature, that undervalueth all these VOL. iv. Y
338 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. VII.
privileges, in lieu of them ? He hath Christ, -who is all in himself, and is in all. He doth not only say, that Jesus Christ alone is all, the meaning whereof is this : Go take the old man, though it hath a thousand things to make it happy, yet it hath not one thing alone that is instead of all to make
it happy, but it hath several thousand things that must always go to make
a creature happy ; but saith he, one Jesus Christ doth it, Jesus Christ is
all. But that I note it for is this, to remark the phrase in all; he is not
only said to be all unto all, but he is all in them all, He is all, and in all, saith the apostle. He puts an emphasis upon it by way of difference from
all outward things whatsoever. He is not only instead of all to Christians, but he is all in all Christians, and in every Christian. He is all in them, that is, they may find Jesus Christ in themselves to be that to them which
all things else are. As for example, go take a king, or any great person in the world, though he hath all things that this world can afford him, yet all these things are but all to him ; they are not all in him, for all that goes to make them comfortable are out of himself : honour is out of himself, riches out of himself, dainty fare and beauty all out of himself, the wisdom he
hath, indeed, that is in himself. But now take a Christian, as Jesus Christ
is all things to him, so Jesus Christ is in him. All other things and a man may be severed, because they are but all to a man, but if all things were
all in a man, a man could never be but completely happy. But so it is
here, which is Christ in you. He is not only all to you, but all in you ; go whither you will go, you carry him about with you, that is all to you. And so now, that is a second thing which this phrase importeth, why the
apostle addeth it here ; saith he, if you have Christ in you, you carry about with you, wherever you go, him that is all to you ; come what will to you, you can never be parted from this Christ, for he is in you. He is Christ
in you, all these riches, and the hope of glory likewise.
Again, this phrase, which is Christ in you, Jis thus added upon the commendation of the gospel ; because, when a man comes fully to know the gospel, the more still he knows of the gospel and of Jesus Christ
savingly, the more he comes to be nothing else in himself, and to himself, but Christ. My meaning is this : take a man that hath his spirit evange lised (as the Scripture phrase is), that is, that is gospelised, the more his
spirit takes the gospel in, the more all he is, and all he hath, and all he
doth, becomes to him nothing but Christ. Let the gospel have its full and
perfect work, and Jesus Christ full admission into your hearts by faith, if he be fully formed in you, you shall see neither law nor nothing else in
comparison of Christ, he will swallow up all ; that though other things be
in you, the law is written in your hearts, and the image of Christ is in you,
yea, but Christ is all ; Christ in you, saith the apostle, all things are turned into Christ, and he gives the glory of all to Christ, all is Christ in
* I live, saith the apostle, and yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, Gal. ii. 20. He doth not only say, he lived a life to Christ, as you have it
you.
in 2 Cor. v. 15, that we should not live to ourselves, but to him that died
for us, but he saith, that Christ liveth in him. What life is it that is in
the branch or in the buds ? It is the life of the root. So saith he, It is not I that live, I am but a branch, it is Christ that liveth in me. Jesus
Christ converteth the life of nature, the civil life, assimilateth all the actions
of a Christian to himself, he liveth in him. When a man cometh to be
perfectly evangelised, it is Christ in him. Even as the members of the
body do live a reasonable life, but the reasonable life they live is merely from the head, it is the life of the head in the members. The tongue
CHAP. VII.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 339
talketh reason. Where hath the tongue that reason ? It is the life of the head in the tongue. That these dull members of ours live rationally, it is
because they live the life of the reasonable soul. So now thus doth Jesus
Christ to me, he liveth in me ; it is not I that lives that spiritual life that I have in all that I do in matters of religion, it is Christ that liveth in me. He doth not only say that he liveth with Christ, as if Christ was the author
of his life (and so it is, for I having had a life from him, I live with him), no ; but he is the author of my life, as he is the root of my life, and he
liveth in me, rather than I live, as having had life from him. And his
scope was to shew that he was dead to the law ; saith he, I can never be a Jew again while I live. Why ? Because I have received Christ into me, and there is a life of Christ in me, so that I can never return to my works, return to the law again. That is his scope in that coherence. And there
fore, you know, he defineth one that is of the true circumcision, that he
rejoiceth in the Lord Jesus Christ : Philip, iii. 3, And God forbid that I should rejoice in anything, saving in the cross of Christ; so Gal. vi. 14. Why ? If I live, it is Christ that liveth in me ; and if I die, to me to die is Jesus Christ, is gain ; if I act anything, it is not I, but the grace of Jesus
Christ in me ; if I have any strength, it is the strength of Christ, Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, 2 Tim. ii. 1. If I be sanctified, it is
not grace, so much as Christ, is made sanctification. The truth is, that as a man still grows up more and more gospelised in his spirit, so Jesus Christ
is in him, and works out all things else, till there be nothing but Christ in
him, melteth the soul into Christ as sugar is melted into wine. All a man s
graces, whatsoever he doth, he turns it all into Christ, as it is all from
Christ. As a beam is nothing if it be cut off from the sun, so there is
nothing in what the soul is, or desireth to be, but so far forth as it is knit
to Christ, and cometh from him, and is received from him. My brethren, I use to say that grace is nothing but a company of nothings, and a com
pany of alls, as I may so express it to you. It makes the heart to be
nothing in its own righteousness, but Jesus Christ to be all. It makes the
heart to be nothing in its own abilities to do anything, but Jesus Christ to be all. It makes the heart to be nothing in its own ends, but to set up Jesus Christ in all. It makes the heart to be nothing, in respect of being accepted for anything in itself, but to be graciously accepted in the beloved, to be all in that respect. It brings the heart to be nothing in comfort, to
I seek for nothing of comfort, but what is to be had in Christ, in the face of
I Christ. It makes the heart to be nothing in valuation of itself, but Jesus
i Christ to be all. These things indeed we all fall short of, but this will be
your pitch, that there shall be nothing but Christ in you, not you in Christ, but Christ in you, if your spirits be truly and fully turned to the gospel, if
* the riches of the
they be evangelised. That you may know, saith he,
I glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you.
Lastly, It may also come in here by way of special instance, to shew
Ithat that union which Jesus Christ hath with the saints, and in the saints, whereby he and they are all one, and by which all the glory he hath, and
riches in him, are made theirs ; that that union, I say, of Jesus Christ and
* Christ in them, is one great and eminent mystery of the gospel, and the greatest hope of glory. There are, saith he, a world of glorious riches and mysteries in the gospel, but I will give you one instance, which
his saints,
of all other is the greatest, or at least the comfortablest to you, and that is
jthis, that Christ and you are one, that Jesus Christ is in you, and so the
"lope of glory. So that he speaks, I say, of the union that is between Jesus
340 A DISCOURSE OF THE [CHAP. VII.
Christ and believers, as of all other the greatest and the richest mystery, at
least the most comfortable unto us which the gospel holds forth, and is the foundation of all glory and of all grace, it is the hope of glory. He instanceth, I say, in that, both because it so much concerned them, and their comfort by way of application ; and also, because in itself it is one of the greatest mysteries, and a thing of the greatest moment for
believers to know.
First, It is one of the greatest mysteries of the gospel. I observe this, that all divines, when they come to speak of the union
that we have with Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ with us, they do generally make this apology, if they handle it anything largely, that of all others it is one of the greatest mj^steries. Still, I say, they make that apology, that
great is the mystery of our union with Christ, and Christ with us. There
fore the apostle might well, in the close of all, say, by way of one instance
of the greatness of this mystery, which is Christ in you. There are two things in the New Testament which the Holy Ghost doth
put an emphasis upon, and calleth them great mysteries, and they are two unions. The first is, the union of the human nature with the Godhead in the person of Christ, 1 Tim. iii. 16, Without controversy, great is the
mystery of godliness. What is that mystery? God manifest in the
flesh, that is, the Godhead was manifested in the human nature of Christ,
uniting it to itself, and in that human nature shining gloriously as God. This thing, that God was made flesh, that the Son of God was made man, he saith, is a great mystery. The second great mystery is, that this Son
of God made man should be united to a body of men, his church, his
saints ; that Christ should be in them as God is in Christ ; and for that
you have Eph. v. 32, This is a great mystery, saith he, having discoursed
before of the union of Christ and his church under the representation of
the first marriage of Adam and his wife in paradise, and so he interpreted himself; and saith he, I speak of Christ and his church, for the but there
is not adversative, but explicative, that is, when I speak of a great mystery, I mean the union of Christ and his church. It was a mystery that that union should be infolded in Adam s marriage, and it is a great mystery in
respect of the thing itself. To give you a scripture or two for this. The mystery of the union of Christ with his church is so great, that
Christ himself parallels it, and setteth it out by the union which the God head had with him, and his union with the Father. So you have it in John vi. 56, He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, he dwelleth
in me, and I in him. Here is now the union between us and Christ, here
is Christ in us. How doth he parallel thisTunion ? Read ver. 57, As
the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
1 shall live by me. The scope is plainly this, All life, saith he,
me, even he
is by union with the fountain of life. I being united to my Father, who is
the living Father, do live by my Father. He speaks of himself as he is
sent, as he is man, as he took up a human nature. The living Father,
saith he, hath sent me, and so knit and united me to himself, and to the
Godhead, and as thus sent, I live by him ; and you, saith he, do live
* because I live, you shall live also. Why ? Because, as it is John xiv. 20, I am in the Father, and you in
by me, and (as he saith elsewhere)
me, and I in you. That which I quote it for at this time is this, that he
parallels our union, and the life we have by virtue of our union with him,
wtih that union of his human nature with the Godhead, and with the
Father.
CHAP. VII.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 841
And because I am fallen upon this place of John vi., I shall a little open
it to you. You shall find that this is the great mystery that stumbled the
world, yea, that stumbled his very disciples, many of them, so that they went and left him. In that chapter you have a sermon of his, in which he told them that they must, by eating his flesh and drinking his blood, come to be united to him, and whosoever did so was united to him. Now
* Many of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This
saith ver. 60,
is a hard saying ; who can bear it ? It is a hard saying, for how can one
believe it ? Nay, say they, it is an intolerable, an insufferable saying ; whose ears can bear it ? And they were disciples too, many of his dis
ciples said. And the saying is not only the eating his flesh, but it is all
his whole sermon about it, that he would dwell in them, and they should dwell in him, by eating of his flesh. Saith Christ, Doth this offend you ?
I will make the wonder yet greater ; ver. 62, What and if you shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before ? He poseth them with a greater mystery, and that is the near union of the human nature with the
divine, so near that he that is now on earth is also in heaven by com munion of properties, though all those that were reprobates did not see him ascend with bodily eyes, nor all the saints neither ; but I am gone, saith
he, and when ye hear that I am gone to heaven, verily you will think then
that there can be no union between me and those that believe in me, for there can be no eating of my flesh or drinking of my blood. If therefore you wonder at it now, how will you conceive of it when I am gone up to heaven ? But, saith he, I will solve the mystery to you, if you will under stand it ; It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing. I have a Godhead in me, a divine nature (for that is meant by Spirit often, when Christ is spoken of, as, He was put to death in the flesh, that is, in his human nature, but quickened by the Spirit, that is, by his God
head), I have, saith he, a Godhead dwelling in this human nature, though this flesh you cannot eat ; and though, if I have nothing else but flesh, I could not dwell in you, nor quicken you, nor give life to you, yet having a
Spirit, a Godhead in me, it is that which quickeneth. And how doth he
quicken ? And how doth he cause you to dwell in him, and himself in you ? Why, saith he, by the words which I speak unto you, while you by faith chew upon the word that describeth me, as I am the Saviour of the world, as I give my flesh for the salvation of the world, the Godhead that is in me, and the Holy Ghost that dwelleth in me, causeth me by faith to dwell in
* The words which I speak unto you, they are spirit, and spiritually to be understood ; and saith he, they are life. There is a great question amongst divines, whether we are first united to the human nature of Christ, and by it to the Godhead, or immediately to the Godhead ? For my part, this place mightily helpeth me to resolve the question. It is the Spirit, saith he, that quickeneth, that is, the Godhead (now he had spoke of union before) ; and so by virtue of uniting to the Godhead of Christ, there is a quickening of us, and though we are united to whole Christ, yet to the Godhead first.
you, and so to give you life ; for so it follows in that 68d verse
I shall give you another scripture that this is the great mystery of the
gospel, it is in John xiv. 20 (a place I named afore, and did but name it). The greatest mystery that is in the gospel was reserved for the apostles to know it, when Jesus Christ ^hould be ascended, for then the Holy Ghost fell upon them, for to reveal to them the great and glorious things of the gospel. Now what eaith Christ there ?
* At that day, saith he, (namely, when the
842 A DISCOUESE OF THE [CHAP. VII.
Holy Ghost is come, for he had promised to send the Comforter in the words
before) ye shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you. These two are made parallels. The apostles had had their union with the Father and with Christ before now, they had it at this time when he spake unto them ; but saith he, then you shall know it, you shall under stand it, both experimentally in your own hearts, and you shall know the
mystery of it, so as to teach it unto others ; for so the apostles did, they re ceived this knowledge by the Holy Ghost to communicate it to others. And
this great mystery (which the apostles then did not so clearly understand, but should fully know it when they received the Holy Ghost) he reduceth, you
see, to three heads, and all are matters of union, and indeed the one de-
pendeth upon the other. First, saith he, you shall understand this great mystery, that there is an union between me and my Father, and the human nature and the Son of God, and so that I am one with him, and that is the foundation of all your comfort. This they understood not at first.
* Ye be
lieve in God, believe also in me, saith he. Secondly, You shall know that
as I am in my Father, so you are in me ; that is, that God the Father did from everlasting make me a public person for you, and I stood in your stead, and you all were in me, when I did whatsoever I did here upon the
earth, and you are in me when I go to heaven ; it is an union representa tive between you and me. And thirdly, you shall know that I am in you, and you shall feel it ; and that is a communicative union, as I may so ex
press it. And every one of these is the foundation of the other ; you shall
find, saith he, that as the union of myself with the Father, and the union
of the human nature with the Son of God, is the foundation of my being a
public person for you, why I was able to die, and my death to be effectual, so you shall find the power and virtue of all these communicated to you by my being in you ; you shall be sensible of this union. This, I say, is the
great mystery, which was reserved for the Holy Ghost to reveal unto the
apostles themselves. And because that the comfort of all lies in this latter, to feel Christ is in me, for by that I climb up to the other, hence the
apostle singleth it out, when he would hold forth and bring home to their
hearts the riches of the glory of the gospel as theirs, and that Christ is
theirs, and that they are one with the Father, and that Christ did represent them from everlasting, &c. He instanceth only in the latter,
* which is
Christ in you.
My brethren, this is so great a mystery, as that the angels do not know
it as we do, for they are not united with so near an union to Jesus Christ
as we are. As he took up our nature into a greater nearness with God, and did not take up the nature of angels, so he takes us up into a nearer union with himself, and so with God. It is a mystery indeed, that the angels stand and admire at ;
* seen of angels, saith the apostle, and so it is ad mired by them, that Christ should be in us ; but they do not feel it as we
do, and. therefore of all mysteries it is the greatest.
CHAP. VIII.] GLORY OF THE GOSPEL. 313