There be divers evidences whether we have any ground of comfort in this Emmanuel or no. This shall be one.
(1.) We may know we have benefit by the first coming of Emmanuel, if we have a serious desire of the second coming, if we have a desire to be with him ; if, as he came to us in love, we have desires to be with him in his ordinances as much as may be, and in humble resignation at the hour of death. How shall we be with him here ? Be with him in thoughts, in meditation, in faith and prayer ; meet with him wheresoever he is. He is in the congregation : ' Where two or three are gathered together in his name,' he is amongst them. Mat. xviii. 20. Be with them in all things where he vouchsafeth his gracious presence. It is the nature of love to desire perfect union, and therefore the Christian soul, touched with the Spirit of God, will desire ' to be dissolved and to be with Christ, as best of all,' Philip, i. 23 ; ' Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly,' Rev. xxii. 20 ; and therefore in the hour of death is willing to resign himself to God that he may go to Emmanuel, and enjoy his presence, that left the presence of his Father, to take our nature, and to be with us on earth.
(2.) But the main thing I desire you to observe, is matter of comfort from this Emmanuel, that now he having taken our nature upon him, that he might take our persons into unity of his mystical body, we might have comfort in all conditions. For he took our nature upon him, besides his other ends, that he might take our persons to make up mystical Christ. Qu. ' baseness ' ? — Ed.
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He married our nature to marry our persons. And therefore if he did it for this end, that we might be near him as our nature is near him, shall not we make it a ground of comfort, that our persons shall be near Christ as well as our natures ?
As Christ hath two natures in one person, so many persons make up one mystical Christ, so that our persons are wonderfully near to Christ. The wife is not near* the husband, the members are not nearer the head, the building is not nearer the foundation, than Christ and his church are. And therefore comfort ourselves in this ; Christ is Emmanuel, God with us in our nature. And will he suffer his church to want, that he hath taken so near to himself? Can the members want influence when the head hath it ? Can the wife be poor when the husband is rich ? Whatsoever Christ did to his own body, to his human nature taken into the unity of his person, that he will do in some proportion to his mystical body.
I will shew you some particulars. He sanctified his natural body by the Holy Ghost, and he will sanctify us by the same Spirit. For there is the same Spirit in head and members. He loveth his natural body, and so as never to lay it aside to eternity. And loveth his mystical body now in some sort more, for he gave his natural body to death for his mysti- cal body. And therefore, as he will never lay aside his natural body, he will never lay aside his church, nor any member of his church. For with the same love that he loved his natural body he loveth now his mystical members. As he rose to glory in his natural body, and ascended to heaven, so he will raise his mystical body, that it shall ascend as he ascended. I beseech you, therefore, consider what a ground of comfort this is. God took our nature on him, besides the grand end of satisfaction, that he might make us like himself in glor}^, that he might draw us near to himself. And therefore now Christ being in heaven, having commission and authority over all things put into his hand ; he ' having a name above all names in heaven and earth, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,' Philip, ii. 10, 11 ; that is, every subjection should be given ; will he suffer any member of his body to suffer more than he thinks fit? No; seeing he is in heaven and glory, for his church's good. For all that he hath done and suffered is for the church and the church's use.
To conclude all, let us consider what we are. Let not a Christian be base-minded. Let him not be dastardly in any cause that is good, or God's. Let him be on God's side. Who is on his side ? A Christian is an impregnable person. He is a person that can never be conquered. Emmanuel became man to make the church and every Christian to be one with him. Christ's nature is out of danger of all that is hurtful. The sun shall not shine, the wind shall not blow, to the church's hurt. For the church's head ruleth over all things, and hath all things in subjection. Angels in heaven, men on earth, devils in hell, all bow to Christ. And shall anything befall them that he loveth, unless for their greater good ? Therefore though they may kill a Christian and imprison him, yet hurt Mm they cannot. ' If God be on our side, who can be against us ? ' Rom. viii. 30. But God is on our side, and on what grounds ? God-man hath procured him to be our friend, he hath satisfied God, and therefore if we believe, we be one with Christ, and so one with God.