It is by union with the Lord Jesus Christ that the whole Church subsists —
[There is the same union betwixt Christ and his Church as there is betwixt the head and members of the natural body. From the head the vital spirits may be said to flow throughout the whole body : nourishing every part, diffusing strength throughout the whole system, and combining all the members, so as to call forth and concentrate their respective offices for the good of the whole. Thus it is that all the members of Christ's mystical body receive life and strength from him : all are fitted for the discharge of their several duties : all are made to possess one common interest, and to act for one common end. There is not one life in the head, and another in the members : it is one life that pervades them all : and this, too, in the mystical body of Christ, no less than in our own natural body. It is " not we that live, but Christ that liveth in usc:" yea, " Christ himself is our lifed :" and by his continued agency within us, we " increase with the increase of God."
What then must be the event, if we be cut off from him ? We perish of necessity, as the members when severed from the head. Is this, then, no reason why we should guard against the introduction of error, especially of such errors as will have the effect of separating us from him ?
But we may further observe, that,]
It is by union with Christ that the whole work of grace is carried on in the soul of every believer —
[As there is " a body of sin, called the old man," in us by nature, so is there " a new man " in us by grace : and all the different graces, of which this new man consists, are nou- rished by the same divine principle ; and either decline or grow together, according as this is communicated to us, or withheld. A man may have in his natural body a greater measure of force and vigour in some one organ or member than in others: the eye, the ear, the hand, the foot, may possess some appropriate and distinguished excellence : but, whatever affects the system generally, must affect the body in every part, and produce a corresponding diminution or increase of its powers. Now, if our connexion with the Lord Jesus Christ is kept close, and our communications from him abound, we shall have all our graces lively, and vigorous, and active : but if there be any thing to intercept the communications of his grace, every grace will languish and decay.
Say, then, whether in this view also we are not concerned
■ Gal. h. 20. d Col. iii. 4.