A89737:1242
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few…
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perilous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begetting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perillous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begeting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.
London: printed by John Macock for Henry Cripps, 1654
Title page typeset from the transcription.
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.
'Tis a true, not an imaginary union; 'tis said to be real, or substantial, in respect of the things that are united, viz. the substance of Christ, and the substance of the Believer. In this union we do not receive the species, or likeness of Christ, as the understanding receiveth the species of the Object, but not the Object it self; not are we thereby made partakers of the Spirit of Christ alone, and not of himself; but we are made partakers of both, the very person of Christ, and the person of the Believer, are (as we saw before) united together, as the person of the Husband, and the person of the Wife (notwithstanding Local distance) are united together.
'Tis a true, not an imaginary union; 'tis sayed to be real, or substantial, in respect of the things that are united, viz. the substance of Christ, and the substance of the Beleever. In this union we doe not receive the species, or likenesse of Christ, as the understanding receiveth the species of the Object, but not the Object it selfe; not are we thereby made partakers of the Spirit of Christ alone, and not of himselfe; but we are made partakers of both, the very person of Christ, and the person of the Beleever, are (as we saw before) united together, as the person of the Husband, and the person of the Wife (notwithstanding Local distance) are united together.
From the nearness of the union between Christ, and his Members, the body Mystical is called by the name of Christ. Christ is considered either Personally in himself, or Collectively, together with the Church, which is his Body; so both Head and Members are required to make one Christ; that is, Christ not Personal, but Mystical, in which latter sense the Scripture calleth the Head and Body taken together, by the name of Christ, 1 Cor. 12.12. For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body being many, are one body, so is Christ, Gal. 3.16. And to thy seed, which is Christ; that is, all his Mystical body. Hence the sufferings of Paul, and of other Believers (which we must yet remember were edificatory, not satisfactory, in way of edification, not in way of satisfaction) are called the sufferings of Christ,