:20( Ageneral ttieVJ af t.~c m;'./flcal Union. F'u s T, In the gener2.l, for underl!a_oding the unio.Qhe- , twixt the Lord Jefus Chrifr, and his el~ct, who bel.ieve in , him and on him : 1. It is a (pirittta! union. Man and wife by their mar- - i·iage- union become on:?. fie!fJ ; Chrift and tr'ue believers by this union become one Jp;rit, 2 Cor . vi. 17. :'\s one fo1,1l or fp irit atl: uates both the head and the members in the oa- . tural body; · fo the one 'pirit of God dwells ir. Chtilt and the Chrirti'ao ; for, lfar-.Y man have not the .Spirit ofChriJl, he iJ none ifbi.f, Rom. 'Viii. 9 . C<n poral un-ion is made by , contraCt; fo the fion.es in a building are united ; but this is an union of another nature. , \Vere · ~t poffible we could eat the flefh anp drink-..the biood of , <;hriH:, in a corporal and carnal manner, it would profit nothing, _J~hn vi. 63. It was not Mary's bearing him in her womb, but her believing on him, that made her a faint, Lttke xi. 27, 28. A certain ~oman--Jaid utJto him, Bl{j{d iJ the ~01Jlb that bare thee. and the pap1 which tbou hafl Jucked. But heJaid, Yea, ra– t'her, bieffed are the;· that hear the rword o(Gad. an-d keep it. 2. lt is a real union. Such is our wea~nefs in our pre• fent fiate, fo much are we immerfed in fi :1, that we are prone t~ form in odr fancy an image of evet y thing prq.:. . pofed to us : and as to wh;nfoever that is denied us, we ar-e apt to fufpeet it to ,be but a fittion, or whathas no reality•. , ~Ut nothing is more real than what is fpirituaJ, as. app roach• ing nearefl to the nature of him _who is the fountain of ·all reality, namely, God himfelf. w·e do not fee with our eyes the union betwixt our own foul and ~ody; n~ither· can we reprefent it ourfclves truly, by imagination , as we .do fenfibie things: yet the real ity of it. is not to be doubted. , Faith ,is no fancy, but the fubflar!ce if tbingr hoped for; Heb. xi. I. Neither 'is the union therebv made betwixt -Chrifl: and hel :ev t ~s imaginary. but moll r~a f : for rwe are member; cf hiJ body, if biJ flejh! and of hi! bone.r, Eph. V • 39• 3 1t is a mofl clofe and intimate_ union. Relievers, rege– nerate perfons , who fiducially cred it him, Cl!J-d rc>ly on him, , hav<: put 011 Chrifl, GaL iii. 27. If that be not enough, he _1s in tht1!1, John xvii . 13. forme:/ in them, as, the,child ill ' tbe . .
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