308 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT tinually deriving spiritual nourishment, that is, grace and supplies of holiness from him; for, saith he, xb1C's iea, separate, or apart from me, ye can do nothing of this kind; and that is, because nothingbecomes fruit in the branch that was not nourishment from the vine. Noth- ing is duty, nothing is obedience in believers, but what is grace from Christ communicatedunto them. Thepre- paration of all fructifying grace is in Christ, as the fruit of the branches is naturally in the vine; and the Lord Christ doth spiritually and voluntarily communicate of this grace unto all believers, as the vine communicates its juice unto the branches naturally; and it is in the newnature of believers to derive it from him by faith: This being done, it is in them turned into particular duties of holiness and obedience. Therefore it is evi= dent, that there is nothing of evangelicalholiness in any one person whatever, but what is in the virtue, power, and grace of it, derived immediately from Jesus Christ, by virtue of telation unto him, and union with him. And it may be inquired, whether this be so with moral virtue or no? The same is taught by our apostle, under the similitude of an olive-tree, and its branches, Rom. xi. As also, where he is affirmed to be a living stone, and believers to be built on him, as lively stones into a spiritual house, 1 Per ii. 4, 5. Sect. 71. Particular testimonies do so abound in this case, as that I shall only name some few of them, John i. 15. lie is full ofgrace and iruth. And of his fulness have all we received, and gracefor grace. It is of the person of Christ, or the Word made flesh, the Son of God incarnate, that the Holy Ghost speaketh. He was made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth. It is not the fulness of the Deity, as it dwelt in him personally, that is here intended, but that which was in him as he was made flesh, that is, in his human nature as inseparably united unto the divine: an all fulness that he received by the good-pleasure or volun- tary disposal of the Father, Col. i. 19. and therefore belongeth not unto the essential fulnessof the Godhead. And, as to the nature of this fulness, it is said to con- sist in grace and truth, that is, the perfectionof holiness and knowledge of the whole mind, counsel, and mystery of the will of God. Of this fulness do we receive grace for grace, all the grace in every kind whereof we are made partakers in this world. That this fulness in Christ expressed)", the inconceivable fulness of his hu- man nature, by virtue of his indissolute personal union with all graces in their perfection, wherein he received not the Spirit by measure, John iii. S4. is, as I suppose, by all Christians acknowledged, I am sure, cannot be de- nied without the highest impiety and blasphemy. Hence, therefore, the Holy Ghost being witness, do we derive and receive all our grace, every one according to his measure, Eph. iv. 7. Wherefore, grace is given unto the Lord Christ in an immeasurable perfection, by vir- tue of his personal union, Col. ii. P. and from him is it derived unto us, by the gracious inhabitation of his Spirit in us, 1 Cor. vi. 19. Eph. iv. 30. according unto the degree of participation allotted unto us. This; in thesubstance of it, is contained in this testimony. There was, and is, in Jesus Christ a fulness and perfection of all grace; in us, of ourselves, or by any thing that we have by nature, or natural generation, by blood, or the flesh, or the will of man, (ver. 13.) there is none at all. Whatever we have is received and derived unto us from the fulness of Christ, which is an inexhaustible fountain thereof, by reason of his personal union. Sect. 72. To the same purpose is he said to be our ` life, and our lift to be hidwith him in God, Col. iii. 3. Life is the principle of all power and operation. And the life here intended, is that whereby we live to God, the life of grace and holiness: for the actings of it con- sist in the setting of our affections on heavenly things, and mortifyingour members that areon theearth. This life Christ is; he is not so formally; for if hewere, then it would not be our life, but his only. He is therefore so efficiently, as that he is the immediate cause and au- thor of it, and that as he is now with God in glory. Hence it is said, that we live, that is, this life of God, yet so as that we live not of ouselves, but Christ liveth in us, Gal. i. 20. And he doth no otherwise live in us, but by the communication of vital principles, and a power for vital acts, that is; grace and holiness from himself unto us. If he be our life, we have nothing that belongs thereunto, that is, nothing ofgrace or ho- liness, but what is derived unto us from him. Sect. 73. To conclude, we have all grace and boli ness from Christ, or we have it of ourselves. The old Pelagian fiction, that we have them from Christ, be. cause we have them yielding obedience unto his doc- trine, makesourselves the only spring and author of them, and, on that account, isvery justly condemned by
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