Doct. 2. Christ is in all believers.
His further dwelling and discovering himself to believers is the end of this manifestation of God's name in the gospel. Christ is in them, as the vine is in the branches ; as the head is in the members, Christ is in them all.
Christ is in all believers.
Here is a notable bond of union between them, Christ by his Spirit is in them all, therefore they should all labour to be one. Christ is one in them all, not divided ; his Spirit is the same spirit in them all. It were an excel- lent thing, if all the men in the world had the same thoughts, the same religion, the same aims, the same affection to good things, all as one man. How strongly would they then be carried against any opposition whatso- ever ! And how comfortable would they be in themselves, if all had one heart, one afl'ection, one aim ! This should bo, and this is the end of Christ's prayer. It is the end of all, to bring us all to be one in ourselves, to be one in him and in the Father. Now here is one argument to enforce it, that all may agree in good things, in our aims, love, and affections. There is one Christ, there is one head of all the members. ' I in them.' We must take heed that we do not think this phrase to be a shallow phrase, as it is in common life. We say of two friends, there is one soul in two bodies, because the soul lives in the party loved ; and so to make it nothing but a matter of affection.* No ; ' I in them ;' that is, I dwell in them, because I love them ; so it would be, that we are in Christ because we love him ; and so Christ and we make one soul in two bodies, as though it were nothing but an unity, a dwelling in regard of the affection he bears to us. No ; I am in them, and I have manifested thy truth, that I may be further in them. It argues more than union in affection, as in marriage there is more than the union of love, there is the bond that interesteth the wife in all the goods of her husband. Christ is in us more than in love, for he is in us indeed.
Quest. Ay, but is he in us body and soul, and Godhead, and all ? What need this, as the papists will have him in the sacrament ?
Sol. No ; but he is in us in regard of his human nature, because his Spirit is in us, and the same Spii'it that sanctified that nature, the same Spirit sanctifieth us. So there is an union between us and his human nature, though it be in heaven. As I said, the last day, of the sun ; the sun is in the house when the beams of the sun is there ; so when we find the efficacy of Christ, that Christ dwells in us by his Spirit, though his human nature be not there, yet, notwithstanding, the power of the grace of Christ is there, because the same Spirit that sanctified his human nature sanctifies and comforts us, and doth all. It is a wonderful working and operative being when Christ is said to bo in us. Even as the vine doth * Cf. uote b, Vol. II. p. 194.-G.
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transfuse juice and life to the branch, whereupon it comes to be fruitful, so we must conceive deeply of this phrase, ' I in them.' To omit other things ;
Quest. How shall we know that Christ is in us ?
Sol. 1. This is one way, if Christ be born in us once. If he be in us by his Spirit, he will work f/reat matters in us, there will presently he tumults in the soul. For Christ when he is in us, he comes not to friends, but he finds all in rebellion and in opposition ; when he is in us therefore, pre- sently there are stirs in the soul. Even as, as soon as ever he was born into the world, you know Herod was mightily troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Mat. li. 3. Herod had little cause, but much troubled he was. He thought one was born that would have dispossessed him, and therefore he was jealous, much troubled, and labours to kill him if he could. So it is when Christ is born in the soul, there are tumults. Those lusts that bare sway before, those desires, down they go, they plead prescription, and are loath to yield. Natural desires, that have been from before, are loath to yield to Christ, a new comer. He is as a new conqueror that comes with new laws, fundamentally new. He overturns all the laws of lust and of the flesh. He comes in more strongly ; and thereupon in conversion, wheresoever Christ is born, there is first a strife, the soul doth not presently yield to him. This is spoken of those that have not been converted from the beginning. There are some now in the bosom of the church, that have no violent conversion from a wicked estate to a good. But from a less degree to a greater, they grow more and more. They have the Spirit of Christ from the beginning. They are not much troubled with such inward oppositions.