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

but he is moving upon the heart to bring forth a spiritual one, a glorious new creature, in which more of himself appears than in all other things besides: and when it is brought forth, he sweetly presses in upon it by motions, impulses and influences, to actuate the holy principles, to make the spicy graces flow out; to quicken, strengthen, and enlarge the soul to every good work; and all this against the bias and contradiction of the corrupt flesh, which, however cross and repugnant it be, is potently overborne and overset by his excellent presence. At last he seals up the Believer, marks him out for his own, irradiates him with the beams of his favour, and sheds the sweetness of his incomparable love in his heart; and, which is much to be observed, he doth in all these glorious appearances operate intimately and immediately; he ⟨p. 186⟩penetrates into the inmost spirit, and is more intimate to it, than that is to it self; he operates not only by an immediation of virtue, but by an immediation of essence; for his virtue is not distinct from his essence: Thus there is a communication of the Spirit, an excellent, operative, intimate presence with Believers, as if he were a kind of soul to them, to quicken them unto every good work. But alas! how short are our thoughts in this point! how little a portion of it do we know! The Master of the Sentences out of St. Chrysostom asserts, That we cannot comprehend how God is every where; much less can we comprehend, how he, who is every where, is in a special manner in Believers. I verily think, that those Phrases of Scripture, which express the Spirit to be communicated to them, have in them a mystery much deeper than we can dive into: I shall therefore make no further answer to the Quaere, it is enough for me to say, with Fulgentius, That the inhabitation of the Holy Trinity in us,¹ is non localis, sed immensa, non comprehensibilis cogitatione, sed venerabilis fide; not local, but immense; not comprehensible in thought, but venerable in Faith. I conclude with that of Zanchy, ²Spiritus Sanctus, quia immensus est, ideo ubique est; ⟨p. 187⟩maximè in omnibus fidelibus, speciali quodam, sed incomprehensibili modo. The Holy Spirit, because he is immense, therefore he is everywhere; most of all, he is in all the faithful after a certain, special, but incomprehensible manner.