Having treated of the Seals of the mystical Union; I now come to the Privileges of it, which are great enough, if seen, to attract all men unto Christ. St. Paul was very illustrious in Jewish Privileges; ⟨p. 239⟩he was Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee: Concerning zeal persecuting the Church: touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless, Phil. 3.5, 6. Yet he counted all these but loss and dung, that he might win Christ and be found in him, vers. 7, 8, 9. There was a [Greek or Hebrew], an excellency of privileges above all other to be had in Christ; by union with him the Apostle had an inward circumcision made without hands, he became one of the spiritual stock and tribe of Christ, a Christian so named from Christ his Head and Master, an heavenly Pharisee separated to the Gospel, a right zealot for the Faith which before he destroyed, a person invested with a better righteousness than his own, even with the righteousness of Christ; in comparison of such things as these, all other things were but as dross in his eyes. To be in union with Christ, is to be a subject, spouse, building, branch, member of his; to have the privileges of union, is to have all the good things which the spiritual King, Husband, Foundation, Root, Head affords to those that are joined to him: Christ gives himself to us, and with himself all other good things. Memorable are ⟨p. 240⟩the Words of Dr. Reynolds touching the crucified body of Christ,(a) It was his body by his hypostatical and real; but it is ours by a spiritual and mystical union; whatsoever fullness is in him, of it have we all received.(b) Whatsoever graces and merits flow from him as the Head, they trickle down as far as the skirts of his garment, the meanest of his chosen. The pains of his wounds were his, but ours is the benefit; the sufferings of his death were his, but ours is the mercy; the stripes on his back were his, but the balm that issued from them, ours; the thorns on his head were his, but the crown is ours; the holes in his hands and side were his, but the blood that ran out was ours; in a word, the price was his, but the purchase ours. Thus that excellent man. The excellency of these privileges will best appear by particulars; I shall therefore instance in several things.
HAving treated of the Seals of the mystical Union; I now come to the Priviledges of it, which are great enough, if seen, to attract all men unto Christ. St. Paul was very illustrious in Jewish Priviledges; ⟨p. 239⟩he was Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee: Concerning zeal persecuting the Church: touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless, Phil. 3.5, 6. Yet he counted all these but loss and dung, that he might win Christ and be found in him, vers. 7, 8, 9. There was a 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, an excellency of priviledges above all other to be had in Christ; by union with him the Apostle had an inward circumcision made without hands, he became one of the spiritual stock and tribe of Christ, a Christian so named from Christ his Head and Master, an heavenly Pharisee separated to the Gospel, a right zealot for the Faith which before he destroyed, a person invested with a better righteousness than his own, even with the righteousness of Christ; in comparison of such things as these, all other things were but as dross in his eyes. To be in union with Christ, is to be a subject, spouse, building, branch, member of his; to have the priviledges of union, is to have all the good things which the spiritual King, Husband, Foundation, Root, Head affords to those that are joined to him: Christ gives himself to us, and with himself all other good things. Memorable are ⟨p. 240⟩the Words of Dr. Reynolds touching the crucified body of Christ,(a) It was his body by his hypostatical and real; but it is ours by a spiritual and mystical union; whatsoever fulness is in him, of it have we all received.(b) Whatsoever graces and merits flow from him as the Head, they trickle down as far as the skirts of his garment, the meanest of his chosen. The pains of his wounds were his, but ours is the benefit; the sufferings of his death were his, but ours is the mercy; the stripes on his back were his, but the balm that issued from them, ours; the thorns on his head were his, but the crown is ours; the holes in his hands and side were his, but the blood that ran out was ours; in a word, the price was his, but the purchase ours. Thus that excellent man. The excellency of these priviledges will best appear by particulars; I shall therefore instance in several things.
- (a)Medit. on the Lords Supper. fol. 28.
- (b)Scivit Latro, quod illa in corpore Christi vulnera non essent Christi vulnera, sed Latronis. Ambr. de Sancto Latrone. Ser. 44.
