Christus in corde, or, The mystical union between Christ and believers considered in its…

1st. Christ is the true food of the Soul; The Jews dreamed, that at the coming of the Messiah they should have a wonderful feast of outward varieties; but he tells them, that he himself was the feast, My flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed, vers. 55, [Greek or Hebrew], it is, though Metaphorically, yet truly such; it doth (what meat and drink are to do) nourish and strengthen the receiver; nay, it hath not only an analogy to, but an eminency above all corporeal food; it nourishes and strengthens us in the Soul, the noblest part of man, and that not for a day, but to all eternity. Hence our Saviour tells them, That they should not labour for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man should give unto them, vers. 27. He is the food of the Soul upon a double account.

1st. Christ is the true food of the Soul; The Jews dream'd, that at the coming of the Messiah they should have a wonderful feast of outward varieties; but he tells them, that he himself was the feast, My flesh is meat indeed, my blood is drink indeed, vers. 55, 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, it is, though Metaphorically, yet truly such; it doth (what meat and drink are to do) nourish and strengthen the receiver; nay, it hath not only an analogy to, but an eminency above all corporeal food; it nourishes and strengthens us in the Soul, the noblest part of man, and that not for a day, but to all eternity. Hence our Saviour tells them, That they should not labour for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man should give unto them, vers. 27. He is the food of the Soul upon a double account.

The one is this, His flesh and blood, as crucified and satisfactory to Divine justice, do strengthen us against the curse and condemnation of the Law. The moral Law is immortalized by its own intrinsical rectitude; the very frame of mans soul puts him under it; his Reason cannot but be ⟨p. 108⟩bound to know the supreme Truth; his Will cannot but be bound to love the supreme Goodness; the respects in his rational powers towards the Creator, are a Law not to be altered; as long as God is God, and man man, this Law cannot but be obligatory, one jot or tittle of it cannot fall to the ground. To make it the more sacred and venerable, Divine Justice fenced it in with a Threatening, and added a Curse against the transgressor; Cursed is he that continueth not in all the points of it. The wages of sin is death: All men being transgressors, Conscience, as soon as it is awakened, tells a man his own; these and these things are sins, thus and thus thou hast done, the offended Law condemns thee, the wrath threatened hangs over thy head; the consequent of this is, That the heart is full of inward wounds and terrors, it knows not which way to look or turn it self. Take a sinful man in these circumstances, where doth his strength lye? what plea or answer hath he to the broken Law? How, or which way may the Curse be avoided, or the Conscience eased? The only thing can be said, is this, Christ was made a Curse for us; he is the end of the Law for righteousness; he hath made a perfect atonement and satisfaction; this is the Believers hope and confidence,