CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 521
our union. That now which is expected from you is, that ye brino- forth fruit ; that is, that ye live in hoHness and obedience, unto the glory of God. Unless ye do so ye are no true, real branches in me, whatever outward profession ye may make of your so being." But how shall this be effected? how shall they be able to bring forth fruit? This can be no otherwise done but by their .abiding in Christ, and thereby continually deriving spiritual nourishment, — that is, grace and supplies of holiness, — from him; "for," saith he, ;^wp/V IfMov, " separate," or apart, " from me, ye can do nothing of this kind." And that is, because nothing becomes fruit in the branch that was not nourishment from the vine. Nothing is duty, nothing- is obedience in believers, but what is grace from Christ communi- cated unto them. The preparation of all fructifying grace is in Christ, as the fruit of the branches is naturally in the vine. And the Lord Christ doth spiritually and voluntarily communicate of this grace unto all believers, as the vine communicates its juice unto the branches naturally ; and it is in the new nature of believers to derive it from him by faith. This being done, it is in them turned into particular duties of holiness and obedience. Therefore, it is evident that there is nothing of evangelical holiness in any one person what- ever but what is, in the virtue, power, and grace of it, derived imme- diately from Jesus Christ, by virtue of relation unto him and union with him; and it may be inquired whether this be so with moral virtue or no. The same is taught by our apostle under the similitude of an olive-tree and its branches, Rom. xi. 16-24 ; as also where he is affirmed to be a living stone, and believers to be built on him, as lively stones, into a spiritual house, 1 Pet. ii. 4, 5.
Particular testimonies do so abound in this case as that I shall only name some few of them : John i. 14, 16, He is " full of grace and truth. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace." It is of the person of Christ, or the " Word made flesh," the Son of God incarnate, that the Holy Ghost speaketh. He was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. It is not the fulness of the Deity, as it dwelt in him personally, that is here intended, but that which was in him as he was made flesh, — that is, in his human nature, as inseparably united unto the divine ; an all-fulness that he received by the good pleasure or voluntary disposal of the Father, Col. i. 19, and, therefore, belongeth not unto the essential fulness of the Godhead. And as to the nature of this fulness, it is said to con- ist in "grace and truth," — that is, the perfection of holiness, — and knowledge of the whole mind, counsel, and mystery of the will of God. Of this fulness do we "receive grace for grace," — all the grace, in every kind, whereof we are made partakers in this world. That this fulness in Christ expresseth the inconceivable fulness of his human nature,
522 THE POSITIVE WOEK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV.
by virtue of his inclissolute personal union, witb all graces in their perfection, wherein he received not the Spirit by measure, John iii. 34, is, as I suppose, by all Christians acknowledged; I am sure cannot be denied without the highest impiety and blasphemy. Hence, therefore, the Holy Ghost being witness, do we derive and receive all our grace, every one according to his measure, Eph. iv. 7. Wherefore, grace is given unto the Lord Christ in an immeasurable perfection by virtue of his personal union. Col. ii. 9 ; and from him is it derived unto us by the gracious inhabitation of his Spirit in us, 1 Cor. vi. 19, Eph. iv. 7, according unto the degree of participa- tion allotted unto us. This, in the substance of it, is contained in this testimony. There was and is in Jesus Christ a fulness and per- fection of all grace ; in us of ourselves, or by any thing that we have by nature or natural generation, by blood, or the flesh, or the will of man, John i. 13, there is none at all. Whatever we have is received and derived unto us from the fulness of Christ, which is an inex- haustible fountain thereof, by reason of his personal union.
To the same purpose is he said to be " our life," and " our life to be hid with him in God," Col. iii. 3, 4. Life is the principle of all power and operation. And the life here intended is that whereby we live to God, the life of grace and holiness; for the actings of it consist in the setting of our affections on heavenly things, and mor- tifying our members that are on the earth. This life Christ is. He is not so formally; for if he were, then it would not be our life, but his only. He is, therefore, so efficiently, as that he is the immediate cause and author of it, and that as he is now with God in glory. Hence it is said that we live, that is, this life of God, yet so as that we live not of ourselves, but " Christ liveth in us," Gal. ii. 20, And he doth no otherwise live in us but by the communication of vital prin- ciples and a power for vital acts ; that is, grace and holiness from himself unto us. If he be our life, we have nothing that belongs thereunto, — that is, nothing of grace or holiness, — but what is derived imto us from him.