144 SERMONS UPON JOHN XVII. [SeR. XLV.
9. It is not a mixture, as if Christ and we were confounded, and mingled our substances together. That is a gross thought, and suiteth with the carnal fancies of a corporeal eating his flesh and drinking his blood. We are not mixed, his substance with ours, and ours with his ; he remaining still a distinct person, and we distinct persons.
10. It is not a personal union, as of the two natures in the person of Christ. We are not united to Christ so as to make one person, but one mystical body : 1 Cor. xii. 12, ' For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.' The whole is Christ mystical, but every believer is not Christ.
Thus I have endeavoured to remove all gross and unworthy thoughts.
But now —
Secondly, Positively. What it is. I answer — We cannot fully tell till we come to heaven ; then we shall have perfect knowledge of it ; then Christ is all in all : John xiv. 20, ' At that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.' Then our union is at the height. But for the present we may call it a union of concretion and coalition, for we are avfKJ^uTOi, ' planted into him,' Eom. vi. 5, and KoW(t)/j,€vot, 'joined to the Lord,' 1 Cor. vi. 17. It is immediately with Christ ; we are united to Father and Spirit, but by Christ, as the foot is united to the head, but by the intervention of other members ; so we are united to the Father and the Spirit, but by Christ ; as an arm or foot of the Son belongeth to the Father, but as the Son belongeth to the Father. The love of the Father is the mov- ing cause of it, the Spirit is the efficient cause of it, but it is with Christ. And it is by way of coalition, as things are united so as they may grow and live in another, as the branches grow in the vine, and the members, being animated and quickened by the soul, grow in the body ; so are we united with Christ as our vital principle, that we may live and grow in him, that we might live in him : Gal. ii. 20, ' I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; ' and grow in him : Eph. iv. 15, 16, ' But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, unto the edifying of itself in love.' So that this is enough in general to call it a union of concretion and coalition, such a union whereby Christ remaineth and liveth and dwelleth in us as a vital principle. As the soul is rov ^wvTO'i acofxaTo<; alrla koI ap'xr], a cause and principle of life to the body, so is Christ to us. Before God breathed the soul into Adam, his body, though otherwise organised and formed, lay but as a dead lump, witliout breath and life ; but no sooner was the soul put into him, but he began to live. So Christ, being mystically united, enableth us to live, to act, to grow, and increase more and more. More particularly to open it to you is hard, because it is a great mystery. Life natural is a mystery not sufficiently ex- plained, much more life spiritual. But now —
1. I shall show how it is wrought and brought about, and in what order ; for there is a difficulty there to be cleared. For since union is said to be by faith : Eph, iii. 17, ' That Christ may dwell in your
VeR. 26.] SEUMONS UPON JOHN XVII. 145
hearts by faith , ' and faith is an act of spiritual life, it seemeth there is life before our union with Christ ; so that this union seemeth to be the effect rather than the cause of the spiritual life ; and some say it is the effect of the beginning, and the cause of the continuance and increase of it, and conceive the order thus : That Christ is offered in the gospel, and by receiving Christ we come to be united to him, and then to be possessed of his righteousness, and receive further influences of grace ; and that the first beginning of spiritual life is not from union, but regeneration, by virtue of which faith is given to us, that ■we may be united to Christ. But I suppose this method is not right. Briefly, then, for the manner and order how it is wrought, take it thus : Union it is by the Spirit on Christ's part, and faith on ours ; he be- ginneth with us as the most worthy, as having a quickening and life- making power in himself : 1 Cor. xv. 45, * The last Adam was made TTvev/jLu IcooTToiovv, a quickening spirit.' By the Spirit he infuseth spiritual life, the first act of which is faith ; that is the first grace that acteth upon Christ, and maketh the union reciprocal, that so in him we may have righteousness and grace : Phil. iii. 9, ' And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.' All graces flow from union with Christ, so doth faith. Be- lieving is an act of the spiritual life, but it is at the same instant of time, and not before. The first band of union is the Spirit, for the gift of the Spirit is the cause of faith, and every cause is before the effect in nature, though not in time ; for, posita causa in actu, ponitur effectus. But the Spirit is not given us in the least moment of time before the being of faith ; for the Spirit being infused, immediately excites faith to take hold of Christ.