The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
by John Flavel
File 3
(... continued from file 2)
Sermon 2.
Wherein the Union of the Believer with Christ, as a principal Part
of effectual Application, is stated and practically improved.
John 17: 23.
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.
The design and end of the application of Christ to sinners is
the communication of his benefits to them; but seeing all
communications of benefits necessarily imply communion, and all
communion as necessarily presupposes union with his person: I shall
therefore, in this place, and from this scripture, treat of the
mystical union betwixt Christ and believers; this union being the
principal act, wherein the Spirit's application of Christ consists,
of which I spake (as to its general nature) in the former sermon.
In this verse (omitting the context) we find a threefold union,
one betwixt the Father and Christ, a second betwixt Christ and
believers, a third betwixt believers themselves.
First, Thou in me: This is a glorious ineffable union, and is
fundamental to the other two. The Father is not only in Christ, in
respect of dear affections, as one dear friend is in another, who is
as his own soul; nor only essentially, in respect of the identity
and sameness of nature and attributes, in which respect Christ is
the express image of his person, Heb. 1: 8. But he is in Christ also
as Mediator, by communicating the fulness of the Godhead, which
dwells in him as God-man, in a transcendent and singular manner, so
as it never dwelt, nor call dwell in any other, Col. 2:9.
Secondly, I in them. There is the mystical union betwixt Christ
and the saints, q. d. Thou and I are one essentially, they and I are
one mystically: and thou and I are one by communication at the
Godhead, and singular fulness of the Spirit to me as Mediator; and
they and I are one, by my communication of the Spirit to them in
measure.
Thirdly, From hence results a third union betwixt believers
themselves; that they may be made perfect in one; the same Spirit
dwelling in them all, and equally uniting them all to me, as living
members to their Head of influence, there must needs be a dear and
intimate union betwixt themselves, as fellow-members of the same
body.
Now my business, at this time, lying in the second branch,
namely the union betwixt Christ and believers, I shall gather up the
substance of it into this doctrinal proposition, to which I shall
apply this discourse.
Doct. That there is a strict and dear union betwixt Christ and
all true believers.
The scriptures have borrowed from the book at nature four
elegant and lively metaphors, to help the nature of this mystical
union with Christ into our understandings; namely, that of pieces of
timber united by glue, that of a graff taking hold of its stock, and
making one tree; that of the husband and wife, by the
marriage-covenant, becoming one flesh; and that of the members and
head animated by one soul, and so becoming one natural body. Every
one of these is more lively and full than the other: and what is
defective in one, is supplied in the other; but yet neither any of
these singly, or all at them jointly, can give us a full and
complete account of this mystery.
Not that of two pieces united by glue, 1 Cor 5: 17 "He that is
joined to the Lord is one spirit," "kollamenos", glued to the Lord
For though this cements, and strongly joins them in one, yet this is
but a faint and imperfect shadow of our union with Christ; for
though this union by glue be intimate, yet not vital, but so is that
of the soul with Christ.
Nor that of the graft and stock, mentioned Rom. 6: 5. for
though it be there said, that believers are "sumfutoi", implanted,
or ingrafted by way of incision, and this union betwixt it and the
stock be vital, for it partakes of the vital sap and juice of it;
yet here also is a remarkable defect, for the graft is of a more
excellent kind and nature them the stock, and, upon that account,
the tree receives its denomination from it, as from the more noble
and excellent part, but Christ, into whom believers are ingrafted,
is infinitely more excellent than they, and they are denominated
from him.
Nor yet that conjugal union, by marriage-covenant, betwixt a
man and his wife; for though this be exceeding dear and intimate, so
that a man leaves father and mother, and cleaves to his wife, and
they two become one flesh; yet this union is not indissolvable, but
may and must be broken by death; and then the relict lives alone
without any communion with, or relation to, the person that was once
so dear; but this betwixt Christ and the soul can never be dissolved
by death, it abides to eternity.
Nor, lastly, that of the head and members united by one vital
spirit, and so making one physical body, mentioned Eph. 4: 15, 16.
for though one soul actuates every member, yet it does not knit
every member alike near to the head, but some are nearer, and others
removed farther from it; but here every member is alike nearly
united with Christ the Head; the weak are as near to him as the
strong.
Two things are necessary to be opened in the doctrinal part of
this point. 1. The reality. 2. The quality of this union.
First, For the reality of it, I shall make it appear, that
there is such a union betwixt Christ and believers; it is no Ens
rationis, empty notion, or cunningly devised fable, but a most
certain demonstrable truth, which appears,
First, From the communion which is betwixt Christ and
believers, in this the apostle is express, 1 John 1: 3 "Truly our
fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ;"
"koinonia". It signifies such fellowship or copartnership, as
persons have by a joint interest in one and the same enjoyment,
which is in common betwixt them. So Heb. 3: 14. we are "metochoi",
partakers of Christ. And Psal. 45: 7, "mechaverecha", here the
saints are called the companions, consorts or fellows of Christ;
"and that not only in respect of his assumption of our mortality,
and investing us with his immortality, but it has a special
reference and respect to the unction of the Holy Ghost, or graces of
the Spirit, of which believers are partakers with him and through
him." Now this communion of the saints with Christ is entirely and
necessarily dependent upon their union with him, even as much as the
branch's participation of the sap and juice depends upon its union
and coalition with the stock: take away union, and there can be no
communion, or communications, which is clear from 1 Cor. 3: 22, 23.
"All is yours, and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." When you
see how all our participation of Christ's benefits is built upon our
union with Christ's person.
Secondly, The reality of the believer's union with Christ, is
evident from the imputation of Christ's righteousness to him for his
justification. That a believer is justified before God by a
righteousness without himself; is undeniable from Rom. 3: 24. "Being
justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus." And that Christ's righteousness becomes ours by
imputation is as clear from Rom. 4: 23, 24. but it can never be
imputed to us, except we be united to him, and become one with him:
which is also plainly asserted in 1 Cor. 1: 30. "But of him are ye
(in Christ Jesus) who of God is made unto us wisdom and
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." He communicates his
merits unto none but those that are in him. Hence all those vain
cavils of the Papists, disputing against our justification by the
righteousness of Christ, and asserting it to be by inherent
righteousness, are solidly answered.
When they demand, How can we be justified by the righteousness
of another? Can I be rich with another man's money, or preferred by
another man's honours? Our answer is, yes, if that other be my
surety or husband. Indeed Peter can not be justified by the
righteousness of Paul; but both may be justified by the
righteousness of Christ imputed to them; they being members, jointly
knit to one common Head. Principal and surety are one in obligations
and constructions of law. Head and members are one body, branch and
stock are one tree; and it is no strange things to see a graff live
by the sap of another stock, when once it is ingrafted into it.
Thirdly, The sympathy that is betwixt Christ and believers,
proves a union betwixt them; Christ and the saints smile and sigh
together. St. Paul in Col. 1: 24. tells us, that he did "fill up
that which was behind, 'ta ustermata' - the remainders of the
sufferings of Christ in his flesh:" or not as if Christ's sufferings
were imperfect, ("for by one offering he has perfected for ever them
that are sanctified," Heb. 10: 14.) but in these two scriptures,
Christ is considered in a twofold capacity; he suffered once in
corpore proprio, in his own person, as Mediator; these sufferings
are complete and full, and in that sense he suffers no more: he
suffers also in corpore mystico, in his church and members, thus he
still suffers in the sufferings of every saint for his sake, and
though these sufferings in his mystical body are not equal to the
other, either pondere et mensuria, in their weight and value, not
yet designed ex officio, for the same use and purpose, to satisfy by
their proper merit, offended justice; nevertheless they are truly
reckoned the sufferings of Christ, because the head suffers when the
members do; and without this supposition, that place, Acts 9:. 5. is
never to be understood, when Christ, the Head in heaven, cries out,
"Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?" when the foot was trod upon
earth: How does Christ sensibly feel our sufferings, or we his, if
there be not a mystical union betwixt him and us?
Fourthly, and lastly, The way and manner in which the saints
shall be raised at the last day, proves this mystical union betwixt
Christ and them; for they are not to be raised as others, by the
naked power of God without them, but by the virtue of Christ's
resurrection as their Head, sending forth vital, quickening
influences into their dead bodies, which are united to him as well
as their souls. For so we find it, Rom. 8: 11. "But if the Spirit of
him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised
up Christ from the dead, shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by
his Spirit that dwelleth in you;" even as it is in our awaking, out
of natural sleep, first the animal-spirits in the head begin to
rouse and play there, and then the senses and members are loosed
throughout the whole body.
Now it is impossible the saints should be raised in the last
resurrection, by the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, if that
Spirit did not knit and unite them to him, as members to their head.
So then by all this, it is proved, that there is a real union of the
saints with Christ.
Next, I shall endeavour to open the quality and nature of this
union, and show you what it is, according to the weak apprehensions
we have of so sublime a mystery; and this I shall do in a general
and particular account of it.
First, More generally, it is an intimate conjunction of
believers to Christ, by the imparting of his Spirit to them, whereby
they are enabled to believe and live in him.
All divine and spiritual life is originally in the Father, and
comes not to us, but by and through the Son, John 5: 26. to him has
the Father given to have an "autodzoe", - a quickening enlivening
power in himself; but the Son communicates this life which is in him
to none but by and through the Spirit, Rom. 8:2. So. "The Spirit of
life which is in Christ Jesus, has made me free from the law of sin
and death."
The Spirit must therefore first take hold of us, before we can
live in Christ; and when he does so, then we are enabled to exert
that vital act of faith, whereby we receive Christ; all this lies
plain in that one scripture, John 6: 57. "As the living Father has
sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, (that is by
faith applies me) even he shall live by me." So that these two,
namely, the Spirit on Christ's part, and faith, his work on our
part, are the two ligaments by which we are knit to Christ.
So that the Spirit's work in uniting or ingrafting a soul in
Christ, is like the cutting off the graff from its native stock
(which he does by his illuminations and convictions) and closing it
with the living, when it is thus prepared, and so enabling it (by
the infusion of faith) to such and draw the vital sap, and thus it
becomes one with him. Or as the many members in the natural body,
being all quickened and animated by the same vital spirit, become
one body with the head, which is the principal member, Eph. 4: 4.
"There is one body and one spirit."
More particularly, we shall consider the properties of this
union, that so we may the better understand the nature of it. And
here I shall open the nature of it both negatively and
affirmatively.
First, Negatively, by removing all false notions and
misapprehensions of it. And we say,
First, The saints union with Christ is not a mere mental union
only in conceit or notion, but really exists extra mentem, whether
we conceit it or not. I know the atheistical world censures all
these things as fancies and idle imaginations, but believers know
the reality of them, Johns 14: 20. "At that day you shall know that
I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you." This doctrine is
not fantastical, but scientifical.
Secondly, The saints union with Christ is not a physical union,
such as is between the members of a natural body and the head; our
nature indeed is assumed into union with the person of Christ, but
it is the singular honour of that blessed and holy flesh of Christ,
to be so united as to make one person with him; that union is
hypostatical, this only mystical.
Thirdly, Nor is it an essential union, or unions with the
divine nature, so as our beings are thereby swallowed up and lost in
the Divine being.
Some there be indeed that talk at that wild rate, of being
godded into God, and christed into Christ; and those unwary
expressions of Greg. Naz. "Theopoiein", and "Chrisopoiein". but do
much countenance those daring spirits; but oh, there is an infinite
distance betwixt us and Christ, in respect of nature and excellency,
notwithstanding this union.
Fourthly, The union I here speak of, is not a foederal union,
or an union by covenant only: such an union indeed there is betwixt
Christ and believers, but that is consequential to and wholly
dependant upon this.
Fifthly, and lastly, It is not a mere moral union by love and
affection; thus we say, one soul is in two bodies, a friend is
another self; the lover is in the person beloved; such an union of
hearts and affections there is also betwixt Christ and the saints,
but this is of another nature; that we call a moral, this is a
mystical union; that only knits our affections, but this our persons
to Christ.
Secondly, Positively. And, First, Though this union neither
makes us one person nor essence with Christ, yet it knits our
persons most intimately and nearly to the person of Christ. The
church is Christ's body, Col. 1: 24. not his natural, but his
mystical body; that is to say, his body is a mystery, because it is
to him as his natural body. The saints stand to Christ in the same
relation that the natural members of the body stand to the head, and
he stands in the same relation to them, that the head stands in to
the natural members; and consequently they stand related to one
another, as the members of a natural body do to each other.
Christ and the saints are not one, as the oak and the ivy that
clasps it are one, but as the graff and stock are one; it is not an
union by adhesion, but incorporation. Husband and wife are not so
dear, soul and body are not so near, as Christ and the believing
soul are near to each other.
Secondly, The mystical union is wholly supernatural, wrought
the alone power of God. So it is said, 1 Cor. 1: 30. But of him are
ye in Christ Jesus." We can no more unite ourselves to Christ, than
a branch can incorporate itself into another stock; it is of him,
i.e. of God, his proper and alone work.
There are only two ligaments, or bands of union betwixt Christ
and the soul, viz. the Spirit on his part, and faith on ours. But
when we say faith is the band of union on our part, the meaning is
not, that it is so our own act, as that it springs naturally from
us, or is educed from the power of our own wills; no, for the
apostle expressly contradicts it, Eph. 2: 8. "It is not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God." But we are the subjects of it,
and though the act on that account be ours, yet the power enabling
us to believe is God's, Eph. 1: 19, 20.
Thirdly, The mystical union is an immediate union; immediate I
say, not as excluding means and instruments, for several means and
many instruments are employed for the effecting of it; but
immediate, as excluding degrees of nearness among the members of
Christ's mystical body.
Every member in the natural body stands not as near to the head
as another, but so do all the mystical members of Christ's body to
him: every member, the smallest as well as the greatest, has an
immediate coalition with Christ, 1 Cor. 1: 2. "To the church of God,
which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus,
called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name
of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours."
Among the factions in this church at Corinth, those that said,
I am of Christ, as arrogating Christ to themselves, were as much a
faction, as those that said I am of Paul, 1 Cor. 1: 30. To cure this
he tells them, he is both theirs and ours. Such enclosures are
against law.
Fourthly, The saints mystical union with Christ is a
fundamental union; it is fundamental by way of sustentation; all our
fruits of obedience depend upon it, John 15: 4. "As the branch
cannot bear fruit except it abide in the vine, no more can ye,
except ye abide in me." It is fundamental to all our privileges and
comfortable claims, 1 Cor. 3: 23. All is yours, for ye are
Christ's." And it is fundamental to all our hopes and expectations
of glory; for it is "Christ in you the hope of glory," Col. 1: 27.
So then, destroy this union, and with it you destroy all our fruits,
privileges, and eternal hopes, at one stroke.
Fifthly, The mystical union is a most efficacious union, for
through this union the divine power flows into our outs, both to
quicken us with the life of Christ, and to conserve and secure that
life in us after it is so infused.
Without the union of the soul to Christ, which is to be
conceived efficiently as the Spirit's act, there can be no union
formally considered; and, without these, no communications of life
from Christ to us, Eph. 4: 16. And as there is that "energeia", or
effectual working of the spirit of life in every part, which he
there speaks of, (as though you should say, the first appearances of
a new life, a spiritual vitality diffused through the soul, which
ere while was dead in sin) yet still this union with Christ is as
necessary to the maintaining, as before it was to the producing of
it.
For why is it that this life is not again extinguished, and
wholly suffocated in us, by so many deadly wounds as are given it by
temptations and corruptions? Surely no reason can be assigned more
satisfying than that which Christ himself gives us, in John 14: 19.
"because I live, ye shall live also:" q d. whilst there is vital sap
in me the root, you that are branches in me cannot wither and die.
Sixthly, The mystical union is an indissoluble union: there is
an everlasting tye betwixt Christ and the believer; and herein also
it is beyond all other unions in the world; death dissolves the dear
union betwixt the husband and wife, friend and friend, yea, betwixt
soul and body, but not betwixt Christ and the soul, the bands of
this union rot not in the grave. "What shall separate us from the
love of Christ?" saith the apostle, Rom. 8: 35, 38, 39. He bids
defiance to all his enemies, and triumphs in the firmness of his
union over all hazards that seem to threaten it. It is with Christ
and us, in respect of the mystical union, as it is with Christ
himself, in respect of the hypostatical union; that was not
dissolved by his death, when the natural union betwixt his soul and
body was, nor can this mystical union of our souls and bodies with
Christ be dissolved, when the union betwixt us and our dearest
relations, yea, betwixt the soul and body, is dissolved by death.
God calls himself the God of Abraham, long after his body was turned
into dust.
Seventhly, It is an honourable union, yea, the highest honour
that can be done unto men; the greatest honour that was ever done to
our common nature, was by its assumption into union with the second
person hypostatically, and the highest honour that was ever done to
our single persons, was their union with Christ hypostatically. To
be a servant of Christ is a dignity transcendent to the highest
advancement among men; but to be a member of Christ, how matchless
and singular is the glory thereof! And yet, such honour have all the
saints, Eph. 5: 30. "We are members of his body, of his flesh, and
of his bones."
Eighthly, It is a most comfortable union: yea, the ground of
all solid comfort, both in life and death. Whatever troubles, wants,
or distresses befal such, in this is abundant relief and support,
Christ is mine, and I am his; what may not a good soul make out of
that! If I am Christ's, then let him take care for me, and, indeed,
in so doing, he does but take care for his own. He is my head, and
to him it belongs to consult the safety and welfare of his own
members, Eph 1: 22, 23. He is not only an head to his owns by way of
influence, but to all things else, by way of dominion, for their
good. How comfortably may we repose ourselves, under that cheering
consideration, upon him at all times and in all difficult cases!
Ninthly, It is a fruitful union; the immediate end of it is
fruit, Rom. 7: 4. "We are married to Christ, that we should bring
forth fruit to God." All the fruit we bear before our ingrafture
into Christ is worse than none; till the person be in Christ, the
work cannot be evangelically good and acceptable to God: "We are
made accepted in the beloved," Eph. 1: 6. Christ is a fruitful root,
and makes all the branches that live in him so too, John 15: 8.
Tenth1y, and lastly, It is an enriching union; for, by our
union with his person, we are immediately interested in all his
riches, 1 Cor. 1: 30. How rich and great a person do the little arms
of faith clasp and embrace! "All is yours," 1 Cor; 3: 22. All that
Christ has becomes ours, either by communication to us, or
improvement for us: His Father, John 20: 17. His promises, ,2 Cor.
1: 20. His providence, Rom. 8: 28. His glory, John 17: 24. It is all
ours by virtue of our union with him.
Thus you see briefly what the mystical union is. Next we shall
improve it.
Inference 1. If there be such, a union betwixt Christ and
believers, Oh then what transcendent dignity has God put upon
believers.
Well might Constantine prefer the honour of being a member of
the church, before that of being head of the empire; for it is not
only above all earthly dignities and honours, but, in some respect,
above that honour which God has put upon the angels of glory.
Great is the dignity of the angelical nature: the angels are
the highest and most honourable species of creatures; they also have
the honour continually to behold the face of God in heaven, and yet,
in this one respect the saints are preferred to them, they have a
mystical union with Christ, as their head of influence, by whom they
are quickened with spiritual life, which the angels have not.
It is true, there is an "anakefalaiosis", or gathering together
of all in heaven and earth under Christ as a common head, Eph. 1:
10. He is the Head of angels as well as saints, but in different
respects. To angels he is an head of dominion and government, but to
saints he is both an head of dominion, and of vital influence too;
they are his chief and most honourable subjects, but not his
mystical members: they are as the Barons and Nobles in his kingdom,
but the saints as the dear Spouse and Wife of his bosom. This
dignifies the believer above the greatest angel. And as the nobles
of the kingdom think it a preferment and honour to serve the Queen,
so the glorious angels think it no degradation or dishonour to them
to serve the saints; for to this honourable office they are
appointed, Heb. 1: 14. to be ministering or serviceable spirits, for
the good of them that shall be heirs of salvation. The chiefest
servant disdains not to honour and serve the heir.
Some imperious grandees would frown, should some of these
persons but presume to approach their presence; but God sets them
before his face with delight, and angels delight to serve them.
Infer. 2. If there be such a strict and inseparable union
betwixt Christ and believers, then the grace of believers can never
totally fail; Immortality is the privilege of grace, because
sanctified persons are inseparably united to Christ the Fountain of
life: "Your life is hid with Christ in God," Col. 3: 3. Whilst the
sap of life is in the root, the branches live by it. Thus it is
betwixt Christ and believers, John 14: 19. "Because I live, ye shall
live also." See how Christ binds up their life in one bundle with
his own, plainly intimating, that it is as impossible for them to
die, as it is for himself; he cannot live without them.
True it is, the spiritual life of believers is encountered by
many strong and fierce oppositions: It is also brought to a low ebb
in some, but we are always to remember, that there are some things
which pertain to the essence of that life, in which the very being
of it lies, and some things that pertain only to its well-being. All
those things which belong to the well being of the new-creature, as
manifestations, joys, spiritual comforts, &c. may, for a time, fail,
yea, and grace itself may suffer great losses and remissions in its
degrees, notwithstanding our union with Christ; but still the
essence of it is immortal, which is no small relief to gracious
souls. When the means of grace fail, as it is threatened, Amos 8:
11. when temporary formal professors drop away from Christ like
withered leaves from the trees in a windy day, 2 Tim. 2: 18. and
when the natural union of their souls and bodies is suffering, a
dissolution from each other by death, when that silver cord is
loosed, this golden chain holds firm, 1 Cor. 3: 23.
Inf. 3. Is the union so intimate betwixt Christ and believers?
How great and powerful a motive then is this, to make us open-handed
and liberal in relieving the necessities and wants of every gracious
person! For in relieving them, we relieve Christ himself:
Christ personal is not the object of our pity and charity, he
is as the fountain-head of all the riches in glory, Eph. 4: 10. but
Christ mystical is exposed to necessities and wants, he feels hunger
and thirst, cold and pains, in his body the church; and he is
refreshed, relieved, and comforted, in their refreshments and
comforts. Christ the Lord of heaven and earth, in this consideration
is sometimes in need of a penny; he tells us his wants and poverty,
and how he is relieved, Matt. 25: 35, 40. A text believed and
understood by very few, "I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I
was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me
in. Then shall the righteous answer, Lord, when saw we thee an
hungered, &c. And the King shall answer, and say unto them, verily I
say unto you, in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of
these my brethren, ye have done it unto me."
It was the saying of a great divine, that he thought scarce any
man on earth did fully understand and believe this truth, and he
conceives so much hinted in the very text, where the righteous
themselves reply, "Lord, when saw we thee sick," &c. intimating in
the question, that they did not thoroughly understand the nearness,
yea, oneness of those persons with Christ, for whom they did these
things. And, indeed, it is incredible that a Christian can be
hard-hearted and close-handed to that necessitous Christian, in
refreshing and relieving of whom, he verily believes, that he
ministers refreshment to Christ himself.
O think again and again upon this scripture; consider what
forcible and mighty arguments are here laid together, to engage
relief to the wants of Christians.
Here you see their near relation to Christ; they are mystically
one person; what you did to them, you did to me. Here you see also
how kindly Christ takes it at our hands, acknowledging all those
kindnesses that were bestowed upon him, even to a bit of bread: He
is, you see, content to take it as a courtesy, who might demand it
by authority, and bereave you of all immediately upon refusal.
Yea, here you see one single branch or act of obedience, (our
charity to the saints) is singled out from among all the duties of
obedience, and made the test and evidence of our sincerity in that
great day, and men blessed or cursed according to the love they have
manifested this way to the saints.
O then, let none that understand the relation the saints have
to Christ, as the members to the head, or the relation they have to
each other thereby, as fellow-members of the same body, from hence
forth suffer Christ to hunger, if they have bread to relieve him, or
Christ to be thirsty, if they have wherewith to refresh him: this
union betwixt Christ and the saints affords an argument beyond all
other arguments in the world to prevail with us. Methinks, a little
rhetoric might persuade a Christian to part with any thing he has
for Christ, who parted with the glory of heaven, yea, and his own
blood for his sake.
Inf. 4. Do Christ and believers make but one mystical person?
How unnatural and absurd then are all those acts of unkindness,
whereby believers wound and grieve Jesus Christ! This is as if the
hand should wound its own head, from which it receives life, sense,
motion, and strength.
When satan smites Christ by a wicked man, he then wounds him
with the hand of an enemy; but when his temptations prevail upon the
saints to sin, he wounds him as it were with his own hand: As the
eagle and tree in the fable complained, the one that he was wounded
by an arrow winged with his own feathers; the other, that it was
cleaved asunder by a wedge hewn out of its own limbs.
Now the evil and disingenuity of such sins are to be measured
not only by the near relation Christ sustains to believers as their
Head, but more particularly from the several benefits they receive
from him as such; for in wounding Christ by their sins,
First, They wound their Head of influence, through whom they
live, and without whom they had still remained in the state of sin
and death, Eph. 4: 16. Shall Christ send life to us, and we return
that which is death to him! O how absurd, how disingenuous is this!
Secondly, They wound their Head of government. Christ is a
guiding, as well as a quickening Head, Col. 1: 18. He is your
wisdom, he guides you by his counsels to glory: but must he be thus
requited for all his faithful conduct! What do you, when you sin,
but rebel against his government, refusing to follow his counsels,
and obeying, in the mean time, a deceiver, rather than him.
Thirdly, They wound their consulting Head, who cares, provides,
and projects, for the welfare and safety of the body. Christians,
you know your affairs below have not been steered and managed by
your own wisdom, but that orders have been given from heaven for
your security and supply from day to day. "I know, O Lord, (saith
the prophet) that the way of man is not in himself, neither is it in
him that walks to direct his own steps," Jer. 10: 23.
It is true, Christ is out of your sight, and you see him not:
but he sees you, and orders every thing that concerns you. And is
this a due requital of all that care he has taken for you? Do you
thus requite the Lord for all his benefits? What recompense evil for
good! O let shame cover you.
Fourthly, and lastly, They wound their Head of honour. Christ
your Head is the fountain of honour to you: This is your glory that
you are related to him as your head: You are, on this account, (as
before was noted) exalted above angels.
Now then consider, how vile a thing it is to reflect the least
dishonour upon him, from whom you derive all your glory. O consider
and bewail it.
Inf. 5. Is there so strict and intimate a relation and union
betwixt Christ and the saints? Then surely they can never want what
is good for their souls or bodies.
Every one naturally cares and provides for his own, especially
for his own body: yet we can more easily violate the law of nature,
and be cruel to our own flesh, than Christ can be so to his mystical
body. I know it is hard to rest upon, and rejoice in a promise, when
necessities pinch, and we see not from whence relief should arise;
but O! what sweet satisfaction and comfort might a necessitous
believer find in these considerations, would he but keep them upon
his heart in such a day of straits.
First, Whatever my distresses are for quality, number, or
degree, they are all known even to the least circumstance, by Christ
my Head: He looks down from heaven upon all my afflictions, and
understands them more fully than I that feel them, Psal. 38: 9.
"Lord all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from
thee."
Secondly, He not only knows them, but feels them as well as
knows them; "We have not an High-priest that cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities," Heb. 4: 15. In all your afflictions
he is afflicted; tender sympathy cannot but flow from such intimate
union; therefore in Matt. 25: 35. he saith, I was an hungered, and I
was athirst, and I was naked. For indeed his sympathy and tender
compassion gave him as quick a resentment, and as tender a sense of
their wants, as if they had been his own. Yea,
Thirdly, He not only knows and feels my wants, but has enough
in his hand, and much more than enough to supply them all; for all
things are delivered to him by the Father, Luke 10: 22. All the
storehouses in heaven and earth are his, Phil. 4: 19.
Fourthly, He bestows all earthly good things, even to
superfluity and redundance upon his very enemies, "They have more
than heart can wish," Psal. 73: 7. He is bountiful to strangers; he
loads very enemies with these things, and can it be supposed he will
in the mean time starve his own, and neglect those whom he loves as
his own flesh? It cannot be. Moreover,
Fifthly, Hitherto he has not suffered me to perish in any
former straits; when, and where was it that he forsook me? This is
not the first plunge of trouble I have been in; have I not found him
a God at hand! How oft have I seen him in the mount of difficulties!
Sixthly, and lastly, I have his promise and engagement that he
will never leave me nor forsake me, Heb. 13: 5. and John 14: 18. a
promise which has never failed since the hour it was first made. If
then the Lord Jesus knows and feels all my wants, has enough, and
more than enough to supply them, if he gives even to redundance unto
his enemies, has not hitherto forsaken me, and has promised he never
will? Why then is my soul thus disquieted in me! Surely there is no
cause it should be so.
Inf. 6. If the saints be so nearly united to Christ, as the
members to the head: 0 then, how great a sin, and full of danger is
it for any to wrong and persecute the saints! For in so doing, they
must needs persecute Christ himself.
"Saul, Saul, (saith Christ) why persecutes thou me?" Acts 9: 4.
The righteous God holds himself obliged to vindicate oppressed
innocency, though it be in the persons of wicked men; how much more
when it is in a member of Christ? "He that toucheth you toucheth the
apple of mine eye," Zech. 2: 8. And is it to be imagined that Christ
will sit still, and suffer his enemies to hurt or injure the very
apples of his eyes? No, "He has ordained his arrows against the
persecutors," Psalm 7: 13.
O it were better thine hand should wither, and thine arm fall
from thy shoulder, than ever it should be lifted up against Christ,
in the poorest of his members. Believe it, sirs, not only your
violent actions, but your hard speeches are all set down upon your
doom's day book; and you shall be brought to an account for them in
the great day, Jude 15. Beware what arrows you shoot, and be sure of
your mark before you shoot them.
Inf. 7. If there be such an union betwixt Christ and the
saints, as has been described, upon what comfortable terms then may
believers part with their bodies at death?
Christ your Head is risen, therefore you cannot be lost: nay,
he is not only risen from the dead himself, but is also "become the
first-fruits of them that slept," 1 Cor. 15: 20. Believers are his
members, his fulness, he cannot therefore be complete without you: a
part of Christ cannot perish in the grave, much less burn in hell.
Remember, when you feel the natural union dissolving, that this
mystical union can never be dissolved: the pangs of death cannot
break this tye. And as there is a peculiar excellency in the
believer's life, so there is a singular support, and peculiar
comfort in his death; "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,"
Phil 1: 21.
Inf. 8. If there be such an union betwixt Christ and believers,
how does it concern every man to try and examine his state, whether
he is really united with Christ or not, by the natural and proper
effects which always flow from this union?, As,
First, The real communication of Christs holiness to the soul.
We cannot be united with this root, and not partake of the vital sap
of sanctification from him; all that are planted into him, are
planted into the likeness of his death, and of his resurrection,
Rom. 6: 5, 6. viz. by mortification and vivification.
Secondly, They that are so neatly united to him, as members to
the head, cannot but love him and value him above their own lives;
as we see in nature, the hand and arm will interpose to save the
head. The nearer the union, the stronger always is the affection.
Thirdly, The members are subject to the head. Dominion in the
head must needs infer subjection in the members, Eph. 5: 24. In vain
do we claim union with Christ as our head, whilst we are governed by
our own sins, and our lusts give us law.
Fourthly, All that are united to Christ do bear fruit to God,
Rom. 7: 4. Fruitfulness is the next end of our union; there are no
barren branches growing upon this fruitful root.
Inf. 9. Lastly, How much are believers engaged to walk as the
members of Christ, in the visible exercises of all those graces and
duties, which the consideration of their near relation to him exacts
from them. As,
First, How contented and well pleased should we be with our
outward lot, however providence has cast it for us in this world? O
do not repine, God has dealt bountifully with you; upon others he
has bestowed the good things of this world; upon you, himself in
Christ.
Secondly, How humble and lowly in spirit should you be under
your great advancement! It is true, God has magnified you greatly by
this union, but yet do not swell. "You bear not the root, but the
root you," Rom. 11: 18. You shine, but it is as the stars, with a
borrowed light.
Thirdly, How zealous should you be to honour Christ, who has
put so much honour up you! Be willing to give glory to Christ,
though his glory should rise out of your shame. Never reckon that
glory that goes to Christ, to be lost to you: when you lie at his
feet, in the most particular heart breaking confessions of sin, yet
let this please you, that therein you have given him glory.
Fourthly, How exact and circumspect should you be in all your
ways, remembering whose you are, and whom you represent! Shall it be
said, that a member of Christ was convicted of unrighteousness and
unholy actions! God forbid. "If we say, we have fellowship with him,
and walk in darkness, we lie", 1 John 1: 6. "And he that saith he
abideth in him, ought also himself to walk even as he also walked,"
1 John 2: 6.
Fifthly, How studious should you be of peace among yourselves,
who are so nearly united to such a Head, and thereby are made
fellow-members of the same body! The Heathen world was never
acquainted with such an argument as the apostle urges for unity, in
Eph. 4: 3, 4.
Sixthly, and lastly, How joyful and comfortable should you be,
to whom Christ, with all his treasures and benefits, is effectually
applied in this blessed union of your souls with him! This brings
him into your possession: O how great! how glorious a person do
these little weak arms of your faith embrace!
Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ
The Method of Grace in the Gospel Redemption
(continued in file 4...)
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