It is true, there is an avaxz<pa}.aic,rfic, 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 saints, but in different respects. To angels he is an head of dominion and government, but to saints he is both an head of dominion, and of vital influence too ; they are his chief and most honourable subjects, but not his mystical mem- bers : 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 dishonour to them to serve the Saints ; for to this honourable office they are appointed, Heb. i. 14. to be ministering or serviceable spirits, for the good of them that shall be heirs of salvation. The chiefest servant dis- dains not to honour and serve the heir.
Some imperious grandees would frown, should some of these per- sons 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 a strict and inseparable union betwioct
* If thou wouldst 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 mayest be one spirit with him, and then thou shalt become a man of power, Orig. Horn, m Kum. xxxi.
SF.KM. II. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 43
Christ and believers, then the graee of be/levers can never total/// fail; ImmortaUtj) is the privilege of grace, because sanctified per- sons arc inseparably united to Christ the Fountain of life : " Your " life is hid with Christ in God,"" Col. iii. 3. Whilst the sap of life is in the root, the brandies live by it. Thus it is betwixt Christ nm\ believers, John xiv. 19- " Because I live, ye shall live also.*1 See how Christ binds up their life in one bundle with his own, plainly intimating, that it is as impossible for them to die, as it is for him- self; he cannot live without them.
True it is, the spiritual life of believers is encountered by many strong and fierce oppositions : It is also brought to a low ebb in gone, but we are always to remember, that there are some things which pertain to the essence of that life, in which the very being of it lies, and some tilings 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, vea, and grace itself may suffer great losses and remissions in its degrees, notwithstanding our union with Christ ; but still the essence of it is immortal, which is no small relief to gracious souls. When the means of grace fail, as it is threatened, Amos viii. 11. when tem- porary formal professors drop away from Christ like withered leaves from the trees in a windy day, 2 Tim. ii. 18. and when the natural union of their souls and bodies is suffering a dissolution from each other by death, when that silver cord is loosed, this golden chain holds firm, 1 Cor. iii. 23.
Inf. 3. Is the union so intimate betivixt Christ and believers t How great and powerful a motive then is this, to make us open- handed and liberal in relieving the necessities and wants of every gracious person ! For in relieving them, we relieve Christ himself.
Christ 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 refresh- ed, 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, Matt. xxv. 35, 40. A text believed and un- derstood by very few, " I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat : " I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink : I was a stranger, and ye " took me in. Then" shall the righteous answer, Lord, when saw " we thee an hungered, &c. And the KingpShall answer, and say
• He who is not moved with the condition of a brother in the church, let him be moved with the contemplation of Christ : and he who does not regard his fellow servant in straits and want, let him regard the Lord, dwelling in that man whom he despises. Cyprian on Iforks and Charity.
41 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SEEM. II
" unto them, verily I say unto you, in as mucli as ye have done " it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it " unto me."'
It was the saying of a great divine, that he thought scarce any man on earth did fully understand and believe this truth, and he conceives so much hinted in the very text, where the righteous themselves reply, " Lord, when saw we thee sick," &c. intimating in the question, that they did not thoroughly understand the near- ness, yea, oneness of those persons with Christ, for whom they did these things. And, indeed, it is incredible that a Christian can be hard-hearted and close-handed to that necessitous Christian, in re- freshing and relieving of whom, he verily believes, that he mini- sters refreshment to Christ himself.
O think again and again upon this scripture ; consider what for- cible and mighty arguments are here laid together, to engage relief to the wants of Christians.
Here you see their near relation to Christ ; they are mystically one person ; what you did to them, you did to me. Here you see also how kindly Christ takes it at our hands, acknowledging all those kindnesses that were bestowed upon him, even to a bit of bread : He is, you see, content to take it as a courtesy, who might demand it by authority, and bereave you of all immediately upon refusal.
Yea, here you see 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 manifested this way to the saints.
O then, let none that understand the relation the saints have to Christ, as the members to the head, or the relation they have to each other thereby, as fellow-members of the same body, from hence- forth 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 saints affords an argument beyond all other arguments in the world to prevail with us. Methinks, a lit- tle rhetoric might persuade a Christian to part with any thing he hath for Christ, who parted with the glory of heaven, yea, and his own blood for his sake.