1. There is a union with Christ the head. That ye may conceive of it, take these propositions.
[1.] The whole Trinity is concerned in this union. By the com- munion of the Spirit we are mystically united to Christ, and by Christ to God. The Father is, as it were," the root, Christ the trunk, the Spirit the sap, we the branches, and our works the fruits, John xv. This is the great mystery delivered in the scriptures. Christ doth not only ' dwell in us by faith,' Eph. iii. 17, but ' God dwelleth in us, and we in God,' 1 John iv. 16, and 'the Spirit dwelleth in us;' Rom. viii. 11. We are consecrated temples, wherein the whole Trinity take up their residence. We are children of God, members of Christ, pupils to the Holy Ghost ; God's family, Christ's body, and
* Qu. 'in one another ? ' — Ed.
VeR. 21.] SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 25
the Spirit's charge. We are united to the Fatlier as the fountain of grace and mercy, to the Son as the pipe and conveyance, and the Spirit accomplisheth and effecteth all. The Father sendeth the Son to merit this grace, and the Son sendeth the Spirit to accomplish it; therefore we are said ' by one Spirit to be baptized into the same body.'
[2.] Though all the persons be concerned in it, yet the honour is chiefly devolved upon Christ the second person. Christ, as God- man, is head of the church upon a double ground — because of his two natures, and the union of these in the same person. It was need- ful that our head should be man, of the same nature with ourselves : Heb. ii. 11, 'He that sanctifieth, and they that are sanctified, are of one ; ' the same stock. It were monstrous to have a head and members of a different nature ; as in Nebuchadnezzar's image, the substance of the head and body differed ; the head was of fine gold, the arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, part of the feet of clay ; here was a monstrous body indeed, made up of so many metals differing in nature and kind. But Christ took our nature that he might be a suitable head, and so have a right to redeem us, and be in a capacity to give himself for the body, and sympathise with us. All these are fruits of the Son's being of the same nature. And again, God he needed to be, to pour out the Spirit, and to have grace suffi- cient for all his members. Mere man was not enough to be head of the church, for the head must be more excellent than the body ; it is above the body, the seat of the senses, it guideth the whole body, it is the shop of the thoughts and musings. And so Christ the head must have a pre-eminence ; in him * the fulness of the Godhead dwelt bodily, that we might be complete in him,' Col. ii. 8, 9 ; and ' it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell,' Col. i. 19. The grace of God is most eminent in him, as life is most eminent in the head. Now there must be a union of these two natures in the same person. If Christ had not been God and man in the same person, God and we had never been united and brought together ; he is ' Emmanuel, God with us,' Mat. i. 23. God is in Christ, and the believer is in Christ ; we have a share in his person, and so hath God ; he descendeth and cometh down to us in the person of. the mediator ; and by the man Christ Jesus we ascend and climb up to God. And so you see the reason why the honour of head of the church is de- volved upon Christ.
[3.] Whole Christ is united to a whole believer. Whole Christ is united to us, God-man, and wliole man is united to Christ, body and soul. Whole Christ is united to us ; the Godhead is the fountain, and the human nature is the pipe and conveyance. Grace cometh from him as God, and tlirough him as man : John vi. 56, 57, ' He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.' God is a sealed fountain, his humanity is the pipe, so that his flesh is the food of the soul. Christ came from heaven on purpose, and sanctified oin* flesh, that there might be one in our nature to do us good, that righteous- ness and life might pass from him, as sin and death from Adam ; but our faith first pitcheth upon the manhood of Christ, as they went into
26 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XXXV.
the holy place by the veil. And then a whole christian is united to Christ, body and soul. The soul is united unto him, because it re- ceiveth influences of grace, and the body also is taken in ; therefore the apostle disputeth against fornication, because the body is a member of Christ : 1 Cor. vi. 15, ' Shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot ? God forbid ! ' It is a kind of dismembering and plucking a limb froni Christ ; you defile Christ's body, the disgrace redounds to him. And hereupon elsewhere doth the apostle prove the resurrection by virtue of our union with Christ : Eom. viii. 10, 11, ' If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin ; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. 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.' You may die, but you shall not be brought to nought, because the body hath a principle of life in it ; it is a part of Christ, and he will lose nothing : John vi. 39, ' And this is the Father's will, which sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day.' As plants live in the root, though the leaves fade, and in winter they appear not, so doth the body live in Christ. So that it is a ground of hope, and a motive to strictness, that you may not wrong a member of Christ, nor seek to pluck a joint from his body.