Nor, lastlv, 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 not knit 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 believers ; it is no Ens ration is empty notion, or cunningly devised fable, but a most certain de- monstrable truth, which appears,
First, From the communion which is betwixt Christ and be- lievers ; in this the apostle is express, 1 John i. 3. " Truly our " fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ ;" xotvuvia. It signifies such fellowship or copartnership, as persons have by a joint interest in one and the same enjoyment, which is in common betwixt them. So Heb. iii. 14. we are f^ro^oi, partakers of Christ. And Psal. xlv. 7. -puma, here the saints are called the companions, consorts or fellows of Christ ; " and " that not only in respect of his * assumption of our mortality, and " investing us with his immortality, but it hath a special reference " 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 in- tirely 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
* Ij>$e venit in sorfevi nostra: mortalitatis, ut in sortem yios addveeret sues immorktlitis, ilonim aiitem est, hie agi de consorlibus uvctionis : qnales sunt omnes Jidelcs qui unctionis i>articipesji)ivl. Rivet.
36 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SEEM. U.
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 see how all our participation of Christ's benefits is built upon our union with Christ's person.
Secondly, The reality of the believer's union with Christ, is evi- dent from the imputation of Christ's righteousness to him for his justification. That a believer is justified before God by a righte- ousness 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 are ye (in Christ Jesus) who of God is made unto us wis- a dom and righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." He communicates his merits unto none but those that are in him. Hence all those vain cavils of the Papists, disputing against our justification by the righteousness of Christ, and asserting it to be by inherent righteousness, are solidly answered.
When they demand, How can we be justified by the righteous- ness of another ? Can I be rich with another man's money, or pre- ferred by another man's honours ? Our answer is, Yes, if that other be my surety or husband. Indeed Peter can not be justified by the righteousness of Paul ; but both may be 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 are one body, branch and stock are one tree ; and it is no strange thing to see a graft live by the sap of another stock, when once it is in- grafted 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 was behind," ra -j^^/xarcc, the remainders of the
" sufferings of Christ in his flesh :" not as if Christ's sufferings were imperfect, (" for by one offering he hath perfected for ever " them that are sanctified," Heb. x. 14.) but in these two scrip- tures, Christ is considered in a twofold capacity ; he suffered once in corpore pfoprxo, in his own person, as Mediator ; 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 saint for his sake ; and though these sufferings in his mystical body are not equal to the other, either pondere et mensura, in their weight and value, nor yet design- ed (\v officio, for the same use and purpose, to satisfy by their proper
SERM. II. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 3?
merit, offended justice ; nevertheless they are truly reckoned the sufferings of Christ, because the head suffers when the members do ; and without this supposition, that place, Acts ix. 5. is never to be understood, when Christ, the Head in heaven, cries out, " Saul, Saul, why persecutest 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 influen- ces into their dead bodies, which are united to him as well as their souls. For so we find it, Rom. viii. 11. "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 that dwelleth in you ;" even as it is in our awaking out of natural sleep, first the animal-spirits in the head begin to rouse 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 resur- rection, 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 apprehen- sions we have of so sublime a 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.