A55299:238
An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ,…
An answer to the discourse of Mr. William Sherlock, touching the knowledge of Christ, and our union and communion with him by Edward Polhill ..., Esquire.
London: printed for Ben. Foster, 1675
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
In the Lord's Supper all true Believers feed upon Christ:1 Those words of our Saviour, He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him, 2Joh. 6.56. declare, as the most Reverend Usher hath it, That by a mystical and supernatural Union we are as truly conjoined with him, as the meat and drink we take is with us: And what this Mystical Union is, the same Author tells us, That it is made by the Spirit and Faith. But, saith our Author, This ⟨p. 217⟩spiritual feeding on Christ is, when we are transformed into the divine Nature: But, I take it, that transformation cannot possibly exist, without a Mystical Union to Christ, who is the great Treasury of Grace; nor without the Spirit and Faith, which are the bonds of that Union: Therefore our Saviour tells us, He that eateth me shall live by me, Joh. 6.57. Spiritual Life follows after eating or Union to Christ: No man (saith the Reverend Usher) can participate in the benefits of Christ, 3except he first have communion with Christ himself: We must have the Son, before we have Life; and eat him we must, that is, as truly be made partakers of him, as of our food, if we will live by him. The Apostle tells us how the divine Transformation comes; Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord, 2 Cor. 3.18. The heavenly Change is from the two bands of the Mystical Union, that is, from the Spirit, which is called the Spirit of the Lord; and from Faith, which is set forth by a transformative View of Christ. Excellent is that of Calvin, and by him quoted out of St. Chrysostom, 4Vinculum ⟨p. 218⟩istius conjunctionis est Spiritus Christi, cujus nexu copulamur: Et quidem veluti canalis, per quem quicquid Christus ipse & est, & habet, ad nos derivatur: The Spirit of Christ is the Bond of Union between Christ and us, and the Chanel of derivation, whereby Christ and all that he hath is conveyed to us.