A55302:173
Christus in corde, or, The mystical union between Christ and believers considered in its…
Christus in corde, or, The mystical union between Christ and believers considered in its resemblances, bonds, seals, privileges and marks by Edward Polhil ..., Esq.Christus in corde, or, The mystical union between Christ and believers considered in its resemblances, bonds, seals, priviledges and marks by Edward Polhil ..., Esq.
London: printed by A.M. and R.R. for Tho. Cockerill, 1680
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.
Christs humane nature, though not in actual being in those times, was yet present ⟨p. 148⟩in such sort, that the Ancients were capable of being united to him; it was present with their Faith; though it had not an absolute existence, as a thing put forth out of its causes; yet it had a relative existence in the promise, so as to be an object of their Faith; which, being the hypostasis or subsistence of things hoped for, could not but presentiate the Messiah to them, he being one of the prime things they looked for, and upon that account called the hope of Israel, Acts 28.20. It was also present with God in his Decree, as sure to be as the eternal Rolls could make it. Its satisfactory and meritorious blood did operate before it was shed; upon the account of it, Pardons and the Holy Spirit were communicated unto the ancient believers. That presence, which made them capable of the bonds of union, made them capable of the union it self.
There is a difference between the natural body and the mystical; in the natural body the members are simultaneous; but in the mystical one they are successive. Some members are before others, yet they are all but one body; some were before Christ incarnate, yet were they united unto him as their Head. St. Austin elegantly sets forth this from Jacob, whose hand came out first, ⟨p. 149⟩and then his head;1 Manus a capite praemitti potest, connexio tamen ejus sub capite est, the hand may be first sent forth by the head, yet is it united to the head; all the ancient Saints were but, as it were, manus Christi, the hand of Christ; though they came forth before he the Head came in the flesh, yet they were united to him, and had a virtue and Divine Spirit from him; though they were first in time, yet he was first in dignity and power: Had these not been members of him, there would have been after the fall some holy flesh not in conjunction with him; which to imagine, is to render him useless, as if the forfeited sanctity in man might have been recovered without him.