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 Union to Christ . , 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 I am. the vine, ve are the branches 
 
 BY 
 
 R. TAYLOR, 
 
 PASTOR OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, SHREWSBURY. 
 
 NEW-YORK: 
 
 M. W. D ODD, 
 
 BRICK CHURCH CHAPEL, OPPOSITE THE PARK. 
 
 1846. 
 
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 
 
 M. W. DODD, 
 
 In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District 
 ofNew-York. 
 
 LEAVITT, TROW & CO., PRINT. 
 33 Ann-street. N. Y. 
 
13 e ti I c a t f n . 
 
 TO THB 
 
 HONORABLE DANIEL BONTECOU 
 
 CF SPRINGFIELD, MASS. 
 
 tinder whose hospitable roof the following discourse wa,? 
 
 first penned, "by a student, then struggling up the 
 
 steepest ascent of the " Hill of Science," 
 
 IT 13 sow 
 ArFE'JTTONATELY DEDICATEU 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 It is now more than a year since the au- 
 thor's manuscript on Union to Christ was 
 inspected by a judicious friend. In a note 
 respecting it, he uses the following language, 
 in reference to the ''Method of Grace." 
 •' One of the earlier chapters of which," says 
 he, ''is on the same subject, and contains 
 many of the same ideas." 
 
 That those " ideas " were not taken from 
 that work, will be sufficiently evident when 
 the writer observes that he had not at that 
 time read that work, nor was he aware that it 
 had a chapter on that subject. 
 
 Having his attention thus directed to it, a 
 few thoughts and expressions have been taken 
 from it, for which the usual credit is given. 
 
 May, 1846. 
 
 I* 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Introduction, ..,•,. Paoe 9 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 The nature of the believer's union to Christ, 13 
 
 Negatively. 
 Sec. 1. — It is not such as to make the believer one in 
 
 essence with Christ, 13 
 
 Sec. 2. — It is not such as to make them one in per- 
 son with Christ, 14 
 
 Sec. 3. — It is not a mere union of affections, . . 14 
 Sec. 4. — It is not a mere legal union, ... 14 
 Sec. 5. — It is not a physical union, . . • . 15 
 Sec. 6- — It is not simply a mental union, . . 16 
 
 Positively. 
 Sec. 1. — It is a mystical union . . . .16 
 
 Sec. 2. — This union, between Christ and believers, is 
 
 real, though it is mystical, .... 20 
 
 Sec. 3. — The intimacy of this relation, . . .28 
 Sec. 4. — The spirituality of it, .... 34 
 Sec. 5. — It is a union by faith, . . . .37 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The iivrpoRTANCE of this union, . . . .39 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The perpetuity of this union, . . . . 51 
 
8 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The benefits to be derived from this union, . 66 
 Sec. 1. — We obtain justification by it, ... 68 
 Sec. 2. — Peace with God is the result of it, . . 70 
 Sec. 3. — Adoption into the spiritual family of God, 72 
 Sec. 4. — Sanctification secured by it, , . . 75 
 Sec. 5. — Access to God in prayer, . . . 76 
 
 Sec 6. — It is the foundation of every well-grounded 
 
 hope, . . . , 77 
 
 Sec. 7. — It is the ground of his perseverance in holi- 
 ness, 78 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The evidences of union to Christ, . . . 81 
 
 Sec. 1.— Spiritual fruit, 82 
 
 Sec. 2. — Love for Christ, 84 
 
 Sec. 3. — The possession of his spirit, . . .87 
 Sec. 4. — Cheerful submission to the allotments of Di- 
 vine Providence, 87 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Inferences from the foregoing, ... 89 
 Sec. 1. — The moral dignity of trae Christians, . . 89 
 Sec. 2. — Christians ought to regard the cause of one 
 
 to whom they are thus united as their own, . 91 
 Sec. 3. — Those thus united to Christ can never want 
 
 any real good, 92 
 
 Sec. 4. — The obligations of Christians to abide in 
 
 Christ, 94 
 
 Sec. 5. — Those thus united to Christ ought to be uni- 
 ted in the closest possible manner to one another, 94 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Holy and intimate was the relation which 
 man first sustained to his Maker. But his 
 sin destroyed it. It cut asunder the bonds 
 which bound them together. 
 
 The " Cherubims and the flaming sword, 
 which turned every way to keep the way of 
 the tree of Ufe," expressively declared that 
 there was no longer any union between 
 them. 
 
 Man, thus early, became an exile from 
 God, and from that day to this he has not 
 been able to approach him in the primitive 
 way of holiness. 
 
 The breach between them was wide, and, 
 so far as human wisdom could see, it was 
 one that never could be healed. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Sin had placed him at an infinite distance 
 from the Lord, and there, for aught he could 
 see, he must remain. 
 
 There, while left to himself, he chose to 
 remain. He had no disposition to return. 
 He would hide himself from his Creator, and 
 wander further and further from him. But 
 God dealt with him in infinite mercy. He 
 did not leave him to the way he had chosen. 
 He made provisions for his return. 
 
 There was one most intimately united to 
 the Father, who " was daily his delight." 
 It was Christ. 
 
 They were one in essence, and equal in 
 power and glory. Him, the Father gave for 
 the redemption of man. He cast up a new 
 and living way over that broad abyss that 
 sin had made, so that, by a union with him, 
 the redeemed of the Lord may pass over in 
 safety. 
 
 They might thus be recovered from the 
 ruins of the fall, and be reinstated in the fa- 
 vor of God. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 It is this union of the behever to Christ 
 that is contemplated in the following pages. 
 
 The candid reader of the New Testament 
 will readily admit that there is some relation 
 between them. It is the purpose of the wri- 
 ter to consider the nature, the necessity, and 
 the perpetuity of this union, together with 
 some of the evidence of it, and the benefits 
 to be derived from it. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE NATURE OF THE BELIEVEr's UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 It may be well to prepare the way for 
 the direct consideration of this part of the 
 subject, by showing, in a few sentences, 
 what this union is not. As a builder re- 
 moves the rubbish before he lays the founda- 
 tion of an edifice, so it is well to remove 
 " false notions and misapprehensions" in re- 
 lation to this doctrine before we treat of the 
 true nature of it. 
 
 1. It is not of such a nature as constitutes 
 the believer one, in essence, with Christ. 
 2 
 
14 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 Were such a union possible it would make 
 the creature " a partaker of the divine nature 
 and perfections." Our existence is not swal- 
 lowed upj or absorbed, in the divine exist- 
 ence when we are joined to Christ. 
 
 2. It is not such as to constitute them one^ 
 in person, with Christ. 
 
 Christians do not lose their personality 
 when they are united to Christ, or because 
 they are united to him. 
 
 3. It is not a mere union of affections 
 such as binds intimate friends together. 
 Christians sustain such a relation as that to 
 Christ, but the one we are now contem- 
 plating implies something more than that. 
 
 That would be a mere moral union ; this 
 is mystical. That would only knit our af- 
 fections to Christ ; this unites our persons to 
 him. 
 
 4. It is not simply a legal relation. There 
 is such a relation as that between Christ and 
 his people, by virtue of which he becomes 
 their federal head, in the covenant of grace, 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 15 
 
 as Adam was in the covenant of works. He 
 meets, in his own person, in the place of his 
 people, what abundantly satisfies the claims 
 which the law had on them, and thus frees 
 them from its sentence of condemnation. 
 
 This federal relation is not the main one be- 
 tween Christ and his people. There is anoth- 
 er relation, in the order of nature, prior to that, 
 which may be called the foundation of it. 
 
 We must be united to Christ before he be- 
 comes our federal head. It is in virtue of 
 that previous union to him that he becomes 
 such to us. Hence, it is evident that the 
 relation which believers sustain to Christ is 
 something more than a legal one. 
 
 That, alone, would not secure us the bene- 
 fits which Christ procured for his people. 
 
 5. It " is not a physical union," such as 
 exists between the members of a natural 
 body and the head. 
 
 Christ did indeed assume our nature into 
 union with his person, " but it is the singu- 
 lar honor of that blessed and holy flesh of 
 
16 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 Christ to be so united as to make one person 
 with him/' 
 
 6. It is not simply a mental union, or such 
 as exists only in the conceptions of our own 
 minds. 
 
 Unbelievers may censure the thought of 
 any thing more than that, but believers know 
 the reality of it, as Christ says : At that day 
 ye shall knoio that I am in my Father, and 
 ye in me, and I in you. (John 14 : 20.) 
 
 All these relations may exist, but in order 
 to share in the benefits purchased by the 
 sufferings and death of Christ, we must 
 have something more. There must be a 
 union between us and him, which, though 
 mysterious, is real, spiritual, intimate, and 
 constituted by faith. 
 
 Such, in a word, is the nature of that 
 union, which, according to the Scriptures, 
 exists between Christ and his people. But 
 to treat of this view of it a little more at 
 length. It is, 
 
 1. A mystical relation. This cannot be 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 17 
 
 denied. The apostle Paul admits it. Hav- 
 ing said, in his epistle to the Ephesians, 
 (5 : 30j) We are members of his body, of his 
 flesh, and of his bones, he adds, This is a 
 great mystery. But if it was a mystery to the 
 inspired apostle we must not expect to "com- 
 prehend the mode in which Christ dwells, 
 by his Spirit, in the hearts of believers." 
 
 Partaking so much of that nature, many 
 similitudes are employed in Scripture to 
 illustrate it. 
 
 Some of them transcend it, as when our 
 Lord likens it to the relation which exists 
 between the pei-sons of the Trinity. (John 
 17: 21, (fcc.) We can hardly suppose the 
 relation of Christ to his people, in such cases 
 equals that to which it is compared, for it is 
 * neither absolutely necessary nor self-exist- 
 ent, neither doth it constitute Christ and be- 
 lievers one individual substance.' 
 
 Other comparisons, which may help us to 
 an understanding of it, are not equal to it. 
 Fox example, it is compared to the relation 
 2* 
 
18 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 which exist between a king and his sub- 
 rects. (Rev. 15 : 3, Matt. 25 : 34, &c.) But 
 that relation falls short of the one we sus- 
 tain to Christ. That is not spiritual. It is 
 far less " close and permanent." But the 
 Christian's union to Christ is such that he is 
 spoken of as the head, and his people as the 
 members of his mystical body. (Eph. 1 : 22. 
 1 Cor. 6 : 15.) 
 
 According to that view of it the head and 
 some of the members are in heaven, while 
 others are scattered about on earth. How 
 that can be is a mystery to us. It is not 
 easy or possible for us to comprehend it. 
 But the fact seems well established. 
 
 Again, Christ is spoken of as being in the 
 believer, " living in him," and " walking in 
 him," while the believer is spoken of as 
 dwelling in God, " putting on the Lord Jesus 
 Christ, eating his flesh and drinking his 
 blood." 
 
 We cannot comprehend how these two 
 states, so apparently contradictory, can exist 
 at one and the same time. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 19 
 
 Christ's living and walking in the believer 
 seems to be directly opposed to the believer's 
 dwelling in God, and putting on the Lord 
 Jesns Christ. 
 
 Both of these views are presented in Scrip- 
 ture, but we are not able to harmonize them 
 with our views of things. They are points 
 that are both too high for us and too deep 
 They make the Christian a mystery to the 
 world, and a mystery to himself. Some 
 have made this characteristic of the relation 
 we are contemplating an objection to it, and 
 it might be urged against it with great 
 plausibility were it the only thing in the 
 range of our knowledge which partakes of 
 mystery. But we are encompassed with 
 them. The union of three persons in the 
 Trinity, of two natures in Christ, the relation 
 which exists between our souls and our 
 bodies, as well as the mode in which God 
 exists and acts throughout the universe ; 
 these all partake in the highest degree of 
 mystery. Yet we believe them, and many 
 
20 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 things which are, in this respect, more or 
 less hke them. 
 
 Where the facts are clearly revealed, we 
 must receiv^e them on the divine testimony, 
 though we cannot see how they are. We 
 do so in relation to other things, we must 
 in relation to our imion with Christ. If we 
 discard the belief of it because it is mysteri- 
 ous, we must for the same reason discard 
 the belief of our own existence, and many 
 other things which we unhesitatingly be- 
 lieve, not because they are a mystery, but 
 because there are other sufficient reasons for 
 our credence. 
 
 2. This union of which we speak is a 
 reality. 
 
 It is not an " empty notion or cunningly 
 devised fable." It is a most certain, blessed 
 truth. 
 
 The Scriptures afford us ample evidence 
 of this. Though mysterious, it is therein 
 clearly revealed in the following, among 
 other passages. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 2.1 
 
 Our Saviour prays to the Father in relation 
 to his apostles, and those who should be- 
 lieve on him through their word, " That 
 they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in 
 me, and I in thee, that they also may be one 
 in us. I in them, and thou in me, that they 
 may be made perfect in one." (John 17 : 
 21, 23.) 
 
 Of him, says the apostle, that is, of God. 
 are ye in Christ. 
 
 In these and similar passages of Scripture 
 the doctrine of our union to Christ is clearly 
 implied where it is not formally expressed. 
 
 And for that cause alone, we believe in 
 the reality of it. We want no better reason 
 for such a belief. 
 
 This single fact, were there nothing more^ 
 should be enough to secure our faith in it, 
 though it were, if possible, involved in much 
 more mysteiy than it is. 
 
 But the Scriptures afford us ample evi- 
 dence of the reality of this relation also, in 
 those figures and forms of expression by 
 which the nature of it is unfolded. 
 
22 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 One of these figures is that which the 
 apostle Paul uses when he says, we are 
 members of his body, of his flesh, and of 
 his bones. It has been introduced before 
 for another purpose, but it is here brought 
 in again, to illustrate the point now in hand. 
 
 As there is a reality in the relation which 
 the members of the body, the flesh and the 
 bones sustain to the body and to the head, 
 so there is in that union which Christ sus- 
 tains to his people. 
 
 Another figure employed for the same 
 purpose, is that of a foundation, or chief cor- 
 ner stone, to the building, fitly framed to- 
 gether, resting upon it. 
 
 The apostle Paul speaks of the Ephesian 
 Christians, as built upon the foundation of 
 the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ him- 
 self being the chief corner stone. 
 
 But as the relation which exists between 
 the foundation and the building which rests 
 upon it must be real, in order to give sup- 
 port to the building, so the comparison itself 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 23 
 
 teaches us to iDfer the reaUty of our union 
 to Christ. 
 
 We may glance at one more comparison, 
 which shows the same thing. It is the one 
 so beautifully employed by our blessed Re- 
 deemer, the vine and the branches. 
 
 I am the vine, says he, ye are the branch- 
 es. 
 
 But the relation which exists between the 
 branch and the vine must be real, in order 
 to support the vine, cause it to grow and 
 yield fruit. Such, says Christ to his disci- 
 ples, is the relation which exists between us. 
 
 Again, the communion of the saints with 
 Christ, shows the reality of this relation. 
 Truly, says the apostle John, (1 Epistle, 1 : 
 3.) Truly our fellowship is with the Fa- 
 ther, and with his Son Jesus Christ. The 
 fellowship {xoirmvia) here contemplated is a 
 partaking, sharing, or participating, in com- 
 mon, of an employment or enjo^Tnent. 
 
 It is such a copartnership as indicates a 
 joint interest in one and the same thing. 
 
Q4 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 We are made partakers of Christ, (Heb. 3 : 
 14j) not simply of his benefits, but of Christ 
 himself. 
 
 In the book of Psalms (45 : 7,) it is sup- 
 posed the saints are intended by the fellows, 
 companions, or consorts of Christ. This 
 has reference not only to his taking upon 
 himself our nature and bringhig hfe and im- 
 mortality to Hght, but to the graces of the 
 Spirit, of which believers are partakers 
 through him. 
 
 But this communion of the saints with 
 Christ as much depends upon their union 
 with him, as the life and properties of the 
 vine, in the branch, depend upon the union 
 of the one to the other. 
 
 There is no communication between them, 
 in either case, unless they are really united. 
 
 The imputation of Christ's righteousness 
 to believers, establishes still further the real- 
 ity of their union to him. 
 
 Having no righteousness of their own, be- 
 lievers share in this ''act of God's free 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 25 
 
 grace," only on account of the imputed 
 righteousness of Christ. 
 
 If justified at all, it is " freely by his grace 
 through the redemption that is in Christ Je- 
 sus." But we do not share in the righteous- 
 ness of Christ, unless it is imputed to us. 
 
 Imputation is the way in which his right- 
 eousness becomes ours. This is evident 
 from what the apostle says to the Romans, 
 (4 : 23, 24.) 
 
 But, from what is elsewhere said, it is evi- 
 dent that the righteousness of Christ cannot 
 be imputed to us unless we are so united to 
 him as to become one with him. " Of him 
 are ye in Christ Jesus." (1. Cor. 1 : 30.) 
 And it is only as we are in him that we are 
 made partakers of his benefits. He does not 
 communicate them to any others. There is 
 no channel or medium by which they can 
 flow to them. The union to Christ must be 
 real in order to constitute such a medium. 
 
 Again. " The sympathy that exists be- 
 3 
 
26 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 tween Christ and his people/' shows the re- 
 ahty of their- union to him. 
 
 It is a beautiful remark of a pious and 
 learned writer, that " Christ and the saints 
 smile and sigh together." 
 
 Though in his own human nature Christ 
 suffers no more, since " by one offering he 
 hath perfected for ever them that are sancti- 
 fied," as head of his mystical body, he parti- 
 cipates in the sufferings that any member 
 endures for him. ' He sensibly feels the suf- 
 ferings of the feeblest and the most obscure 
 member, though he is in heaven and they 
 are upon earth.' 
 
 It was in this sense that he said to Saul, 
 when persecuting the church, " Why perse- 
 cutest thou me ?" 
 
 He regarded what that bold persecutor did 
 to his people, because they were his, as done 
 to himself. 
 
 Such is the degree of sympathy between 
 Christ and his people. But such a state of 
 sympathy indicates a real union between 
 them. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 27 
 
 The reality of this union is also evident 
 from the mode " in which the saints are to 
 be raised up at the last day." It is said in 
 the epistle to th€ Romans, that "if the Spirit 
 of him that raised up Jesus from the dead 
 dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from 
 the dead shall also quicken your mortal bo- 
 dies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." 
 (Rom. 8 : 11.) 
 
 It seems to be intimated here that the 
 pious are not to be raised up as the wicked 
 are, • by the naked power of God, without 
 them, but by virtue of Christ's resurrection 
 as their head, who sends forth a vital quick- 
 ening influence into their bodies, which are 
 joined to him, as well as their souls.' 
 
 But if they are raised up by the Spirit of 
 Christ dwelling in them, it is because that 
 Spirit unites them to him, as the members of 
 the mystical body, of which, he is the head. 
 
 It is on account of this real union to him 
 which believers have, that he is said to be 
 in them and they in him, being partakers of 
 him, and having him for their life. 
 
28 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 It is difficult to conceive what foundatioii 
 there could be for such divine expressions 
 unless there is a real relation between Christ 
 and his people. 
 
 Such is the substance of the evidence of 
 the reality of this union. 
 
 3. The intimacy of this relation. 
 
 There is not only a real union between 
 Christ and his people, but there is one that 
 is in its nature intimate. 
 
 This view of our union to Christ is fully 
 sustained by the illustrations of it whicli we 
 find in the Scriptures. 
 
 '• As it imports mutual knowledge, choos- 
 ing, solemn self-dedication, and issues in 
 mutual love, delight and interest, it is likened 
 to the marriage union betwixt husband and 
 wife.'' 
 
 Says the prophet Isaiah, (51 : 5.) when 
 speaking of the enlargement of the church, 
 For thy ]Maker is thy husband ; the Lord 
 of Hosts is his name ; and thy Redeem- 
 er, the Holy One of Israel. This figure is 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 29 
 
 considerably enlarged upon in the Prophe- 
 cy of Ezekiel, (16 : 8-14,) and in the Songs 
 of Solomon, as it is generally supposed. 
 It is frequently introduced in other parts 
 of Scripture. 
 
 Christ is often spoken of as the bridegroom 
 of his church. He acknowledges the rela- 
 tion. I will betroth thee unto me, says he, 
 in righteousness and in judgment, and in 
 loving-kindness and in mercies. I will even 
 betroth thee unto me in faithfulness. (Hos. 
 2 : 19, 20.) 
 
 On the other hand the church is spoken 
 of as the bride, the Lamb's wife. (Rev. 21 : 
 9.) 
 
 And when God's ancient people wandered 
 from him, he said to them. Turn, O back- 
 sliding children, for I am married unto you. 
 (Jer. 3 : 14.) 
 
 In these places, and others that are like 
 them, the Spirit of the Lord introduces a re- 
 lation so intimate that those who are joined 
 in it are " no more twain but one flesh," to 
 
30 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 illustrate that which exists between Christ 
 and his people. They not only become the 
 children of God, but the spouse of Christ. 
 '• He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,-' 
 as those who are joined in marriage, are 
 " one flesh." 
 
 As in the case of Boaz and Ruth, the mar- 
 riage relation unites them so closely that, by 
 virtue of it, she who was before poor, at 
 once becomes rich. She who was before 
 only a gleaner in the field, at once becomes 
 the mistress of the harvest. She who before 
 abode with the maidens, henceforth has a 
 seat at the master's table. 
 
 So with those who are joined to Christ. 
 
 A union so intimate binds them together 
 that those who were before poor become 
 rich in him, yea those who before had no- 
 thing, are made, in Christ, to possess all 
 things ; those who before dwelt in the dust 
 are made to sit together in heavenly places 
 in Christ Jesus.* Intimate as the marriage 
 
 * See Harvey's Work's, p. 317. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 31 
 
 relation is. it fails in several particulars to 
 express the nature of that whicli hinds the 
 heliever to Christ, but it serves to ihustrate 
 that one aspect of it which we are now con- 
 templating. Through this union Christians 
 receive all their '• supporting, quickening, 
 beautifying, fructifying influence," from 
 above. Hence it is compared to the relation 
 which exists between the root of a tree or 
 a vine and the branches. (John 15 : 1-7. 
 Rom. 11: 17, &c. Coh 2: 7.) 
 
 One of these figures is employed by our 
 Lord himself, and the other by one of liis 
 inspired apostles. 
 
 "What can be more intimate than these 
 relations seem to be ? They are not a 
 union of diflerent things, but of ditferent 
 parts of the same thing, in either case so 
 intimately united together that the one lives 
 in, or upon the other, each part possesses the 
 same properties of life, they yield the same 
 kind of fruit. The fibres and the pores of 
 ^he one are only a continuation of those of 
 
32 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 the other. So intimate is the union between 
 the branch and the vine. No external 
 bonds can form one Uke it. Yet equally 
 intimate, and, in some respects, more inti- 
 mate is the relation between Christ and his 
 people. 
 
 As the life of the branch is derived from 
 the vine by virtue of the iinian between 
 them, so the new and spiritual life of every 
 Christian, which is primarily in God the 
 Father, comes to us through God the Son, 
 by virtue of that union which we sustain to 
 him. 
 
 The branch abides in the vine, so be- 
 lievers must abide in Christ, would they 
 live and thrive and bring forth fruit. They 
 have need to partake of his Spirit, without 
 which they are none of his, (Rom. 8 : 9) — 
 to have their wills swallowed up in his, and 
 to exhibit more and more of that meekness 
 of wisdom which was so characteristic of 
 Christ when on earth. 
 
 But if any illustration can express the 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 33 
 
 intimacy of that union which believers sus- 
 tain to Christ, more fully and perfectly than 
 any other, it seems to be that of the mem- 
 bers of the body to the head. 
 
 Since Christians are enlightened, govern- 
 ed, honored, and receive their spiritual 
 nourishment and breath, through Christ, 
 this relation which exists between the 
 members of the hum.an body and the 
 head is employed to aid us in understand- 
 ing that which saints sustain to Christ. 
 The head and the members constitute but 
 one natural bod}^, so Christ and his people 
 constitute but one spiritual body. It is not 
 in either case a union of different bodies into 
 one and the same body, but of different 
 parts of the same thing, every one of which 
 is in its place essential to the perfection of 
 the whole and conductive to it. 
 
 In a word, this union is so intimate that 
 life as it were touches life, and spirit, spirit. 
 
 " Husband and wife are not so near, soul 
 and body are not so near as Christ and the 
 believing soul are to each other." 
 
34 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 4. The spirituality of this union. 
 
 It is iUustrated by material figures to aid 
 our conceptions of it, but we are not to re- 
 gard the relation itself as of so gross a na- 
 ture. 
 
 " There is an apparent union between 
 Christ and all the members of the visible 
 church, which is formed by their receiving 
 common gifts and influences from him" 
 while they profess to receive his truth and 
 to engage in his service. There is too a 
 " moral union, of mutual affections, between 
 him and believers," but that, upon which 
 the enjoyment of the benefits purchased by 
 his sufferings and death depends, is spiritual. 
 
 It includes a " legal union between us, as 
 ruined sinners, and Christ as our surety. 
 The everlasting love of God and the cove- 
 nant of grace are the bonds of it, and the 
 placing of our sins to Christ's account, that 
 his satisfaction might be placed to ours, in 
 the eye of the law, is the effect of it." 
 
 'It also includes the personal imion of 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 35 
 
 Christ to our nature, in order that he might 
 meet the requirements which his legal union 
 to us drew upon him. But all these would 
 fail of securing us the great object for which 
 Christ died unless, in addition to all other 
 relations, we have a union to him which is 
 spiritual. 
 
 It is the spiritual characteristic of this re- 
 lation that clothes it with many of its pe- 
 culiar difficulties, and leads some to reject it 
 entirely as imaginary. 
 
 It differs from the ordinary relations of 
 life, with which we are acquainted, and 
 under the influence of our senses we are a^t 
 to think of it as material ; or if we '' study 
 more refinement" we are apt to regard it as 
 nothing more than the bonds which bind 
 kindred spirits, on earth, together. 
 
 But it is of vital importance to keep in 
 mind the spiritual nature of it, notwithstand- 
 ing the similitudes by which it is illustrated 
 for us. 
 
 Then if we take the figure of the vine 
 
36 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 and the branches, which Christ himself uses, 
 it shows that as there is a natural, intimate, 
 vital union between them, so there is a spir- 
 itual, intimate, vital union between Christ 
 and all true Christians — that as the vine and 
 its branuhes have but one common principle 
 of natural life, our Lord and his followers 
 h^ve but one common principle of spiritual 
 life. One common purpose actuates them, 
 as it does the leader and all the followers in 
 any great secular enterprise. Or, to use 
 another figure, as the head. and all the mem- 
 bers of the natural body, are actuated by 
 one common principle of life, which makes 
 it one, so the spirit of Christ dwells with all 
 his people and makes them one with him. 
 There is a common principle of spiritual 
 life among them. This creates a oneness, 
 not only between Christ and his people, but 
 between the different members of the family 
 of Christ, as the members of the body, though 
 many, under the influence of the same soul, 
 arc one with the head and with each other. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 37 
 
 By one spirit are we all baptized into one 
 body, and have been all made to drink into 
 one spirit. (1 Cor. 12: 13.) 
 
 There is one body and one spirit. (Eph. 
 4 : 4.) 
 
 It is thus seen that it is in truth, and not 
 simply by figure of speech, that Christ and 
 his people are one. 
 
 The Spirit of Christ so dwells in them 
 that they receive not simply his benefits, 
 but Christ himself. They have him for 
 their life, and are partakers of him. He 
 lives in them, and they abide in him. 
 
 5. Our union to Christ is one of faith. 
 
 The Spirit is the principal bond of it, on 
 the part of God. It must first " take hold 
 of us before we can live in Christ." Still 
 our union to him is not consummated till we 
 have faith in him. The Spirit on the part 
 of Christ, and faith on our part, are the "two 
 ligaments by which we are knit" to him. 
 
 But this faith is not of ourselves. It is 
 4 
 
38 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 the gift of God. It is not without his help 
 that we can exercise it. 
 
 But when the Spirit " takes hold of us . . . 
 we are enabled to exert that vital act of 
 faith whereby we receive Christ." 
 
 As the living Father hath sent me, and I 
 live by the Father, so he that eateth me, (or 
 " by faith applies to me,") even he shall live 
 by me. (John 6 : 57.) 
 
 It is this divine gift, faith, that on our part 
 seals our union to Christ, and renders it 
 complete. He dwells in us by faith. 
 
 A union thus formed with Christ is en- 
 tirely supernatural. We can no more form 
 it ourselves than a branch can engraft itself 
 into a vine. It is the work of the Holy 
 Spirit. But Avhen it is once formed it is the 
 foundation of every " solid comfort both in 
 life and in death." Whatever "troubles, 
 wants or distresses," such may have, they 
 will find sufficient support in that union 
 which binds them to Christ, if they only 
 live near him. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS UNION. 
 
 There are some things which cannot he 
 overrated. They cannot be estimated too 
 highly. In their hearing upon the great 
 leading objects with which they are con- 
 nected they are all-important. Those ob- 
 jects could not be secured without them. 
 And if we look at the subject now under 
 contemplation in the true light in which it 
 is connected with salvation and eternal life, 
 it will evidently be one of those things. 
 
 We cannot estimate the importance of it, 
 in that light, too highly. If Ave look at the 
 expense at which the way was prepared for 
 this union, it will be very natural to attach 
 the greatest importance to it. 
 
 The Son of God leaves the glories of 
 
40 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 heaven, he veils himself in flesh, he toils 
 amidst poverty and want, he suffers and dies 
 the most ignominious of all deaths, amid 
 the hidings of his Father's face, in order to 
 prepare the way for it. The scheme was 
 devised in heaven. It meets with the ap- 
 probation of the Father, on account of the 
 love he bore to souls. The Son offers to un- 
 dertake the work. The Father accepts the 
 offer, and consents to lay upon him the 
 mighty load of human woes. 
 
 The whole plan was one that angels de- 
 sire to look into. It was one which we 
 have no reason to think would ever have 
 been adopted by divine Avisdom unless the 
 believer's union to Christ, for which it was 
 to prepare the way, were a thing of infinite 
 moment. 
 
 Such would be the conclusion which one 
 would naturally draw who carefully con- 
 siders the circumstances by which that 
 union is rendered possible. 
 
 And every other correct view which it 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 41 
 
 were possible for him to take would serve to 
 strengthen him more and more in the im- 
 pressions which he thus receives. 
 
 The metaphors which the Scriptures make 
 use of to help us to understand the nature of 
 this union, show us the importance of it. 
 
 He is the life of his people. Because I live, 
 says he. ye shall live also. (John 14 : 19.) 
 
 I am crucified, says the apostle Paul, 
 (Gal. 2 : 20.) I am crucified with Christ, 
 nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liv- 
 eth in me, and the life I now live in the flesh 
 I live by the faith of the Son of God. 
 
 In the vision of the golden candlestick 
 contained in the prophecy of Zechariah, 
 (chap. 4,) the seven lamps attached to it 
 were supplied with oil from '' two olive trees 
 upon the right side of the candlestick and 
 upon the left side thereof." They emptied 
 the oil out of themselves, through two golden 
 pipes. So Christ, who is, a little before, 
 called the Branch, imparts spiritual life to 
 believers through their union to him. 
 4# 
 
42 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 After the an-angement had been made for 
 supplying those lamps, in the vision, with 
 oil, and while it existed to the exclusion of 
 all others, we may say that those golden 
 pipes were essential to that supply. If they 
 were removed, or cut off, the lamps that 
 were to be fed by them would go out, though 
 the olive trees were still as rich in oil as be- 
 fore. 
 
 So the believers' more than golden union 
 to Christ is essential in order for them to re- 
 ceive that constant supply of grace which 
 they need. 
 
 It is only to those who are united to Christ 
 that he says, because I live ye shall live 
 also. (John 14 : 15.) They live on account 
 of their union to him. 
 
 Myriads of the hunij^n race, we have 
 reason to apprehend, die eternally, but not 
 one of those who are united to Christ by 
 that spiritual union upon which we have 
 before dwelt. And those who live, live not 
 simply because Christ does, but by virtue of 
 their union to him. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 43 
 
 The others die solely for the want of this 
 union, though Christ still lives and reigns. 
 
 So in that expression of the apostle Paul's, 
 just quoted. Though crucified with Christ, 
 he assures us that he lives, or rather, that 
 Christ lives in him, and he lives by the faith 
 of the Son of God. 
 
 But this mode of life could only be by 
 virtue of his union to Christ. 
 
 Christ does not live in the multitude of 
 the human race who are not united to him, 
 neither do they live by the faith of the Son 
 of God. 
 
 Hence, this union to Christ is essential to 
 spiritual life in a much higher sense than 
 that in which the two golden pipes, in the 
 vision, were essential to the supply of the 
 lamps with oil. 
 
 We can conceive of other arrangements 
 that might have been made to supply them 
 if that one had failed, but we cannot con- 
 ceive of any other way than that of union 
 to Christ, in which spiritual life could be 
 
44 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 imparted to souls once dead in sin, or main- 
 tained in tliose souls after they had been 
 made alive from the dead. 
 
 Hence, it is essential to Hfe in the highest 
 sense in which that word can be emplo^^ed. 
 There is no other way to obtain that spiritual 
 life which is here intended. 
 
 It is the only foundation of well grounded 
 hope. There is no other way of salvation. 
 This is the only door, the only name, " for 
 there is none other name under heaven giv- 
 en among men, whereby we must be saved." 
 (Acts 4: 12.) 
 
 If that union were destroyed, after it had 
 once been formed, and the soul had received 
 a new and spiritual life by means of it, that 
 life could not be maintained. It would have 
 no medium through which it could receive 
 those heavenly supplies ^which were needful 
 to perpetuate it. 
 
 The live coal which grace had laid upon 
 the altar of God, within our hearts, must go 
 out — the gentle flame must expire. We 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 45 
 
 cannot devise any other way by which it 
 can be kept burning. We have every reason 
 to think that there is no other way. The 
 importance which has been attached to our 
 union with him is fully sustained by the 
 apostle, when he speaks of Christ as the 
 head, and believers as the members of his 
 spiritual body. He clearly intimates that 
 as a natural union of the head and members 
 is essential to natural life, as nothing can be 
 a substitute for it, so a spiritual union be- 
 tween Christ and his people, is essential to 
 spiritual life. Nothing else can secure it, or 
 preserve it. 
 
 If we separate the body from the head, in 
 either case, the members must expire. They 
 have no other source of life. 
 
 Whether then we look at Christ as the 
 head of the body of which his followers are 
 members, or as the foundation, on which his 
 followers are built up as a spiritual edifice, 
 the importance of this union to him is ap- 
 parent. 
 
46 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 If he is the foundation he is the only one 
 upon which that edifice can rest. Other 
 foundation can no man lay than that is laid, 
 which is Jesus Christ. (1. Cor. 3 : 11.) 
 
 He is the chief corner-stone, elect, precious. 
 
 Now if the only foundation, which a 
 building can have, be removed, whether it 
 be a natural one or a spiritual one, the build- 
 ing as surely falls, as the body dies when 
 separated from the head. 
 
 It has no longer any support, and accord- 
 ing to one of the established laws of nature, 
 a material building, so situated, must come 
 down. 
 
 So must a spiritual one, according to the 
 principles of grace. The brightest hopes 
 which it is possible for one to cherish, must, 
 in truth, come to nothing, just as soon as he 
 ceases to be really, closely, spiritually united 
 to Christ, by a genuine, evangelical faith. 
 The sweet psalmist of Israel asks. If the 
 foundation be destroyed, what can the 
 righteous do ? And he of whom that sweet 
 
UNI«N TO CHRIST. 47 
 
 psalmist was in many respects a striking 
 type, says, without me, or as the margin is. 
 severed from me ye can do nothing. 
 
 That there may be no want of evidence 
 in relation to the point now before us, we 
 may introduce one other figure, which, per- 
 haps, shows the importance of it with as 
 much distinctness as either of those which 
 have been introduced for the same purpose. 
 
 It is our Saviour's figure of the vine and 
 the branches, which will not be the less ap- 
 propriate on this point, because it has been 
 previously introduced to illustrate others. 
 It is hoped it may not be the less interesting 
 on that account, since it will tend directly 
 to strengthen the view, which we have just 
 taken, of the importance of our union to 
 Christ. 
 
 What can the branch do without an inti- 
 mate, inwrought connection with the vine ? 
 Can it bring forth fruit? Can it thrive? 
 Can it live, without such a connection with 
 the vine? Evidently none of these ends 
 
48 UNION TO ClflRIST. 
 
 can be secured unless they are really uni- 
 ted. 
 
 The branch is nourished by the vine, but 
 an apparent union is not enough to secure 
 nourishment. There must be a reality in it, 
 and without that, instead of growth or fruit, 
 the dresser would soon find only a withered 
 branch, fit for the flames. 
 
 It is so with the bond that unites believers 
 to Christ. 
 
 They must be in him and abide in him, 
 if they would live the life of faith, and yield 
 fruit to the praise of God. If a man abide 
 not in me, says our Lord, he is cast forth as 
 a branch and is withered. 
 
 As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, 
 except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, 
 except ye abide in me. He that hath the 
 Son hath life, but he that hath not the Son 
 hath not life. (1 John 5 : 12.) 
 
 But the only way in which we can have 
 the Son, or have an interest in him, is by a 
 union to him. We have no natural claim 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 49 
 
 to such an interest. Such is the importance 
 of our union to Christ. 
 
 It is the primary source of divine Ufe. It 
 is the only source of that hfe, and essential 
 to it. Without it Christ will profit us noth- 
 ing. The riches of redeeming love will 
 never enrich us. The eternal blessings of 
 redemption will never eternally bless us. 
 The mansions which Christ went to prepare 
 for those that love him we never shall in- 
 habit. Of the waters of life we never shall 
 drink. In the song of redeeming love in 
 heaven we never shall share. The peace 
 of God, which passeth all understanding, 
 will never possess our souls. It is the hinge 
 upon which salvation turns. 
 
 Unless we are united to Christ, it had 
 been infinitely better for us, whatever else 
 we may be, or whatever else we may have, 
 infinitely better for us if we had never been 
 born. 
 
 Without it we may in one sense see hea- 
 ven, but it will be as Dives saw Abraham, 
 5 
 
50 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 " afar off." It will not be for us. It will not 
 be nigh. As he was far removed from that 
 happiness which Lazarus found in Abra- 
 ham's bosom, so all who are not united to 
 Christ by faith, will be far removed from the 
 exalted privileges of heaven. All who live 
 without this relation to him, and die without 
 it, must be separated from all that is good 
 and desirable, by a distance which they can 
 never repass. 
 
 This union, then, is truly all-important. 
 Those who are yet destitute of it should seek 
 for it as such. Those who have once re- 
 ceived spiritual life from Christ, by virtue of 
 it, should guard with the utmost care against 
 every thing which tends to mar it. They 
 must suffer even by a partial separation from 
 him, as the branch does that is partly sepa- 
 rated from the vine, or the stream that is 
 partly cut off from the fountain. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PERPETUITY OF THIS UNION. 
 
 We have spoken of the importance of pre- 
 serving this relation between Christ and the 
 Christian when it was once formed, by 
 guarding against every thing which tended 
 to mar or destroy it. But this remark was 
 not made because it was supposed that those 
 who were once joined to the Lord, by faith, 
 would ever be permanently separated from 
 him. 
 
 Those who had every appearance of being 
 united to Christ, as far as men can see, may 
 be permanently separated from him. But 
 appearance and reality are different things. 
 True Christians might sever the bonds that 
 bind them to Christ, and cease to be Chris- 
 tians, if they were the keepers of those bonds. 
 
52 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 But as the whole scheme is divine, not 
 human, the bonds of it are kept under the 
 watchful eye of Him, who, by grace, joins 
 us unto himself. We have reason to be un- 
 feignedly grateful that we were not made 
 the keepers of them. 
 
 Yet we have as much reason to guard 
 against what is opposed to it, as if we were, 
 lest God himself should give us up before 
 that union was formed, or leave us to great 
 and continued darkness after we were joined 
 to the Lord. 
 
 As then this union is divinely preserved 
 no less than divinely formed, we speak of it 
 from the character of the being who unites 
 us to himself, if for no other cause, as an 
 eternal union. 
 
 We have spoken of the nature of it, but 
 it seemed too much to regard it as eternal, in 
 that sense, since some relations which once 
 existed analogous to this have ceased. I 
 refer to the case of those angels, who though 
 once holy, kept not their first estate, and to 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 53 
 
 man, who was originally created in the im- 
 age of God J but lost that image by means of 
 sin. Since then two classes of perfectly 
 holy beings have fallen, we can see nothing 
 in the nature of that union which binds an 
 imperfectly holy being to Christ, that neces- 
 sarily keeps him from relapsing into a state 
 of sin. A Christian is but partially sancti- 
 fied, at the best, in this world. 
 
 If a natural branch may be cut off, there 
 is nothing in the nature of an engrafted one, 
 when but partially knit to the stem in which 
 it is placed, that necessarily shields it from 
 that liability. 
 
 If it is fostered with greater tenderness 
 than the natural branch, and thus saved, 
 while that was removed to make room for 
 k, the cause of this difference, in the two 
 cases, is something foreign from the nature 
 of an engrafted branch. And so of our union 
 to Christ. If perfectly holy beings could 
 be brought under the influence of sin, and 
 be alienated from God by it, we see nothing 
 5* 
 
54 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 in the nature of that relation which partially 
 holy beings sustain to him. that necessa- 
 rily causes them to persevere. The tenden- 
 cy of sin is every where the same. It is to 
 separate those in whom it dwells from all 
 fellowship with God, from all union with 
 Christ, and to remove them further and fur- 
 ther from holiness, and consequently from 
 the happiness of heaven. 
 
 We do not find any thing in the nature of 
 a believer's union to Christ, that is of itself 
 a pledge of the perpetuity of it ; — nothing 
 that assures us that those who are once thus 
 joined to the Lord, shall not be separated 
 from him. 
 
 But leaving the nature of this union out 
 of the question, we have so much evidence, 
 of another character, upon this point, that 
 we are prepared to say, there are few if any 
 of the doctrines of the Bible more clearly 
 established than the eternity of that relation 
 which joins believers to Christ. That evi- 
 dence is in part the positive testimony of 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 55 
 
 Scripture. " If any man be in Christ he is 
 a new creature." But from a state of nature 
 we become " in Christ," by our divine union 
 to him. 
 
 There is an indissoluble connection be- 
 tween spiritual Uf^, or holiness, and that 
 relation which is essential to a new creature 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 As a consequence of this, our union to 
 him and our state of grace stand or fall 
 together. Whatever establishes the certain- 
 ty of eternal life, to those who are once in 
 Christ, establishes, at the same time, and 
 to the same degree, the perpetuity of our 
 union to him. Viewing the subject in that 
 Ught, the following passages of Scripture are 
 a few of the many that clearly support us 
 in the view of this relation, which we have 
 now taken. 
 
 The righteous shall hold on his way, and 
 he that hath clean hands shall be stronger 
 and stronger. Job, 17 : 9. Though he (that 
 is, a good man) fall, he shall not be utterly 
 
56 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 cast down ; for the Lord upholdeth him with 
 his hand. Ps. 37 : 24. " All that the Father 
 giveth me shall come unto me, ahd him that 
 Cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." 
 Christ. 
 
 The apostle Peter speaks of the elect as 
 those who are kept by the power of God 
 through faith unto salvation, 1 Epistle 1 : 5. 
 They, that is the saints, " are preserved for- 
 ever." Ps. 37: 28. The righteous "shall 
 never be moved." Ps. 15: 5. The path of 
 the just is as the shining light, that shineth 
 more and more unto the perfect day. Prov. 
 4: 18. 
 
 It would seem that nothing could be plain- 
 er than that the perseverance of the saints 
 is here explicitly declared. They shall hold 
 on their way. Though they fall they shall 
 rise again. They shall not be utterly cast 
 down. 
 
 They shall be kept, not by any thing in 
 the nature of their union to Christ, but by 
 the power of God through faith. They are 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. SHf 
 
 thus preserved for ever, or in other words 
 then- union to Christ is for ever maintained, 
 by the power of God, through faith. 
 
 But further, the promise of God in the 
 covenant of grace seems to put this matter 
 beyond a doubt. 
 
 Speaking by the prophet Jeremiah, (32 : 
 40,) he says, I will make an everlasting cov- 
 enant with them, that I will not turn away 
 from them to do them good ; but I will put 
 my fear in their hearts, that they shall not 
 depart from me. This was addressed at 
 first to the captive Jews, but it is to be taken 
 as a promise of the evangelical covenant, 
 generally. Consequently it is applicable to 
 all who are united to Christ. It discovers 
 the purpose of God to maintain his cause 
 in the hearts of his people, or to maintain 
 the relation which subsists between them 
 and Christ. He will make or " cut out with 
 them a covenant of perpetuity," that he 
 will never cease to follow them with his 
 favor, while he implanted a holy fear or 
 
58 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 reverence of liim in their hearts, which 
 should *' rivet them to Christ and keep them 
 close to him for ever." 
 
 Such is the purpose of God ; and his coun- 
 sel shall stand ; he will do all his pleasure. 
 
 He will graciously carry out his purpose 
 by the continued exercise of his power, by 
 the continued intercession of his Son, and 
 the continued efficacy of his spirit. 
 
 True, the enemies of holiness will leave 
 no means untried by which they may hope 
 to achieve the final and complete overthrow 
 of the saints. As this precious relation which 
 they sustain to Christ is the point upon 
 which their salvation turns, the most vigor- 
 ous efforts of their enemies may be employ- 
 ed to separate them from him. 
 
 If they were left to resist these efforts 
 alone, they would undoubtedly be vanquish- 
 ed. They have no might of themselves. 
 Standing alone, in their very best estate they 
 are but a bundle of weakness. 
 
 But it is when they feel their weakness, 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 59 
 
 when they look to heaven for aid, that the 
 cheering truth which has sustained many a 
 sinking heart appHes to them. ^' God is our 
 refuge and strength, a very present help in 
 trouble." Ps. 46: 1. 
 
 They may have feared before, but the 
 word of God removes from them all grounds 
 to fear that their enemies will ultimately 
 prevail. 
 
 I give unto them, says Christ, eternal life, 
 and they shall never perish, neither shall 
 any pluck them out of my hand. My Fa- 
 ther which gave them me isgreaterthan all, 
 and none is able to pluck them out of my 
 Father's hand. John 10 : 28-30. Many 
 may try to do it, but they are not able. 
 The purpose and the power of God secure 
 the perpetuity of the saints' union to Christ. 
 
 It is also secured by the intercession of 
 the Son. 
 
 He was pointed out by the prophet Isaiah 
 (53 : 12) as one that made intercession for 
 the transgressors. 
 
 He is spoken of in the epistle to the He- 
 
60 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 brews (7 : 25) as able to save them, to the 
 uttermost, that come unto God by him, see- 
 ing he ever liveth to make intercession for 
 them. He Hves, he ever hves, it would 
 seem, for this purpose. Having once loved 
 his own, he loves them unto the end. We 
 h"ave no reason to fear that he will ever be 
 weary of interceding for those who are once 
 united to him. 
 
 The benevolence that led him to under- 
 take for them when far from the covenant 
 of promise, leaves us no grounds to fear that 
 he will ever grow weary of interceding for 
 those who are brought nigh to him once by 
 grace. He will continue to intercede for 
 them. The Father will hear him. He always 
 hears him. His intercessions will prevail : 
 they will secure the perpetuity of the Chris- 
 tian's union to Christ. It will be eternal. It 
 is rendered eternal also by the efficacy of 
 the Holy Spirit. The divine seed, or prin- 
 ciple of grace, remains in those who have 
 once been renewed. (1 John 3:9.) 
 
 The time will never come when it can, 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 61 
 
 in truth, be said of such that they are in 
 an unrenewed state, any more than it can 
 be said that any are naturally unborn who 
 have passed years in this world. Such per- 
 sons may swoon, they may die, but that will 
 not alter the matter of fact in relation to 
 their birth. So grace may decline in the 
 hearts of those who have been renewed by 
 the Spirit of God. It may appear to expire, 
 but it still remains an unalterable truth that 
 they are in a renewed state. '^ His seed 
 remaineth in him." 
 
 It may be buried, and for a time cease to 
 exert any visible influence, but the principle 
 is still there. It is not extinguished. This 
 principle restrains them, so that they do not 
 sin by the full consent of their wills, as 
 they would otherwise do ; or if they fall un- 
 der the power of sin for a time, it will sooner 
 or later effectually recover them. It will 
 bring them back to God. 
 
 It does not allow them to continue in a 
 course of willing obedience to sin. 
 6 
 
62 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 We have thus not only the fact that those 
 who are once spiritually united to Christ by 
 faith, are eternally united to him, but we 
 have the way in which that union is ren- 
 dered eternal. 
 
 There may be, and there too often is, a 
 temporary apostacy from Christ, in the case 
 of true Christians ; but while there is such a 
 threefold cord, divinely wrought, that binds 
 them to Christ, they have the strongest pos- 
 sible assurance that it will be only tempo- 
 rary, that saints cannot fall totally away, 
 that their union to Christ cannot, consist- 
 ently with the divine purpose, ever be dis- 
 solved. It is so guarded and secured on 
 every side from which danger may be ap- 
 prehended, that all who have evidence that 
 they are in Christ, may adopt as their own 
 the language of the apostle when writing 
 to the Romans, (8 : 35-39,) " Who shall sep- 
 arate us from the love of Christ ? shall trib- 
 ulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, 
 or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? Nay, in 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 63 
 
 all these things we are more than conquer- 
 ors through him that loved us ; for I am 
 persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor 
 angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
 things present, nor things to come, nor 
 height, nor depth, nor any other creature, 
 shall be able to separate us from the love of 
 God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
 
 How precious the truth, that there is an 
 " everlasting tie betwixt Christ and the be- 
 liever"— a tie that death itself cannot dis- 
 solve. It may break all others, it may sepa- 
 rate husband and wife, friend and friend, 
 yea, even soul and body, but that which 
 binds the Christian to his Redeemer, it can- 
 not reach. The Christian not only lives in 
 Christ ; he dies in him, and sleeps in him, till 
 God brings them with him to the mansions 
 prepared for them. 
 
 The believer is never more closely united 
 to Christ, than when his body moulders in 
 the dust of the earth. 
 
 Others may oppose this view of our union 
 
64 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 lo Christ, as much as they will ; they may 
 derive as much comfort from such opposi- 
 tion as they can ; but deprive us of it, and of 
 the glorious doctrines that cluster around it 
 and diverge from it, and you deprive us of 
 the sheet-anchor of our hope. All is hence- 
 forth uncertain, even to the child of God. 
 
 Deprive us of it, and you may proclaim 
 that sinners all over the earth are flocking, 
 in countless numbers, to the Lord ; but 
 whether to rejoice, angels know not, nor 
 could we know any further than that we 
 saw them gathered home to heaven. The 
 glory of Christ, which they might reflect to- 
 day by their union to him, might be sullied 
 to-morrow, by having those bonds that 
 bound them to him, severed for ever. The 
 joy of men and angels that did rejoice might 
 all be premature. 
 
 But let us be assured that if we are once 
 in Christ, we are ever there, by a union that 
 will never be dissolved ; and then just as we 
 have evidence that we or that others are in 
 
ONION TO CHRIST. 65 
 
 him, we may rejoice for ourselves and for 
 them. Angels may then rejoice over one 
 sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety 
 and nine just persons who need no repent- 
 ance. 
 
 6* 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE BENEFITS OF UNION WITH CHRIST. 
 
 There is often much benefit to be de- 
 rived from a connection with the great ; let 
 us now see of what benefit it may be to us to 
 be connected with the greatest of all. 
 
 It is often of much benefit to be connected 
 with the wise ; let us now see the advan- 
 tages which we may hope for from a union 
 so intimate and lasting with the wisest of 
 all. 
 
 It is often of advantage to be connected in 
 some way with the good ; let us see then 
 how great will be the advantage of a con- 
 nection w^ith the best of all. 
 
 By looking at the privileges and prospects 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 67 
 
 of those thus in Christ, in contrast with the 
 condition of those who have no connection 
 with him, we may see much benefit that is 
 confidently to be hoped for from being 
 joined unto the Lord. 
 
 And yet this much must be httle, infinitely 
 little, in comparison with what every Chris- 
 tian will experience when he reaches his 
 final home, as the result of being joined to 
 the Lord. It doth not yet appear what we 
 shall be. Our vision, though spiritual, is not 
 clear and penetrating enough to see it ; our 
 thoughts are not comprehensive enough to 
 grasp it ; neither have we words to utter it. 
 
 By nature we are not like Christ ; we have 
 not his spirit. But when he shall appear, 
 those who are united to him will '• be like 
 him." 
 
 Without attempting therefore to specify 
 all these benefits, a work which eternity will 
 not be too long to unfold, we may see enough 
 to be derived from it to impress our minds 
 with the unspeakable imi'ortance of it. 
 
68 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 Among these benefits, as the most import- 
 ant, we must place justification, and the 
 peace that flows from it, sanctification, adop- 
 tion, access to God in prayer, perseverance 
 in hoUness, and final, complete, eternal frui- 
 tion in heaven. 
 
 1. As the immediate result of this union 
 we are justified. 
 
 The state of nature is a state of condem- 
 nation. This is one of the plainest truths 
 of the Scriptures. He that believeth not is 
 condemned alread}^, because he hath not be- 
 lieved in the name of the only begotten Son 
 of God. (John 3: 18.) 
 
 As faith in Christ is the bond of our 
 union to him, it distinguishes those in a state 
 of nature from those in a state of grace. 
 On the one side, all are under condemnation, 
 because they do not believe. On the other, 
 all who believe are not condemned. That 
 is, they ace justified. A state of justification 
 is opposed to one of condemnation. 
 
 Those who are united to Christ are spo- 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 69 
 
 ken of as in him, and the apostle Paul as- 
 sures us, that there is no condemnation to 
 them that are in Christ Jesus. 
 
 They were condemned with the world, but 
 the sentence of condemnation under which 
 they lay is removed, and they are justified. 
 The faith of every believer, like that of 
 Abraham, is counted to him for righteousness. 
 
 He that heareth my word, and belie veth 
 on him that sent me, says Christ, hath 
 everlasting life, and shall not come into 
 condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
 life. 
 
 There are many passages of Scripture 
 that bear directly upon this subject, especially 
 in the writings of the apostle Paul. It 
 would be too much to quote them all here. 
 The reader who would see more proof on 
 this point is referred to the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles, 13 : 39, Rom. 3 : 21, 22, 25, 26, 28, and 
 to many other places, to which a reference 
 Bible will readily conduct him. 
 
 This justification is all of grace, but it is 
 
70 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 a grace that is bestowed upon those only 
 who are united to Christ by faith ; hence, 
 beUevers partake of it by virtue of their union 
 to him. As great then as is the privilege of 
 being freed from the sentence of condemna- 
 tioUj and justified in the sight of God, so 
 great is the benefit of that union to Clirist 
 without which there is no justification. 
 
 2. As a consequence of this union, and 
 one of the leading benefits of it, we have 
 peace with God. 
 
 Being justified by faith, we have peace 
 with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 (Rom. 5 : 1.) 
 
 To them that have obtained like precious 
 faith with us, grace and peace be multiplied. 
 (2 Peter 1 : 1, 2.) 
 
 To be spiritually minded is life and peace. 
 (Rom. 8: 6.) 
 
 To be united to Christ is to love the law 
 of God, and " great peace" have such. (Ps. 
 119 : 165.) This peace is the gift of God. 
 
 He has ordained peace for his people. But 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 71 
 
 as it is by virtue of their union to Christ 
 that they become his, so it is on account of 
 that relation that they obtain peace. 
 
 Here then we may say, that as great as is 
 the privilege of being delivered from the 
 state of those to whom there is no peace, 
 who are like the troubled sea when it cannot 
 rest, so great is the privilege or the benefit 
 of being united to Christ. There is no sub- 
 stantial peace without it. Any thing that 
 may bear the name, is but as the temporary, 
 dreaded calm, that precedes the gathering 
 storm. It is not worthy of the name. 
 
 But with this union there is often great 
 peace, peace that flows like a river, in this 
 life, which is uninterrupted and eternal in 
 the world to come. 
 
 The impenitent may not covet this peace 
 much, or prize it much, while they have 
 health, access to the various sources of 
 worldly amusement, a prospect of long life, 
 and blindness to their deplorable state as 
 sinners. 
 
72 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 While they are so situated, they may not 
 think this heavenly peace worthy of much 
 sacrifice. 
 
 But the views of those Avho are brought 
 up under the light of the Gospel are gener- 
 ally greatly changed when they come to see 
 themselves on the bed of death. 
 
 Many of them then lament their folly in the 
 bitterest strains. " O for a moment's peace 
 before I die," said one who had toiled, 
 through a long life, to find peace in the 
 things of the world. And the anguish of 
 his soul, in the want of it, shook the couch 
 on which he lay ; but no moment of peace 
 came. It was too late. 
 
 Multitudes earnestly desire it at such a 
 time, who would not seek it through the di- 
 vinely appointed way, while there was hope. 
 
 And all will prize it infinitely above every 
 thing else, when they come to open their 
 eyes upon eternal things. 
 
 3. Adoption into the spiritual family of 
 God is another privilege of those who are 
 united to Christ. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 73 
 
 That it is a privilege or a benefit, none 
 can doubt who seriously contemplate the 
 condition in which they naturally are, in 
 contrast with that into which this grace 
 brings them. 
 
 As the word adoption appears to have been 
 borrowed from the civil law, we may refer 
 for a moment, for the sake of illustration, to 
 the custom of adopting as it has prevailed 
 among men. 
 
 It has been common, both in ancient and 
 modern times, for those who had no children 
 of their own, to take one of another family 
 into their own, to regard it, as near as possi- 
 ble, as their own, and to give it the rights 
 and privileges that belong to a child. 
 
 Sometimes those who had children did it. 
 
 This was adopting them. 
 
 Now we can scarcely conceive of a greater 
 privilege that could be conferred upon a 
 child that was poor, and parentless, and 
 homeless, than to be adopted into a family 
 that was able and willing to instruct him 
 7 
 
74 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 and to provide for him as the}^ would for 
 one of their own. It was a privilege greatly 
 to be coveted by the poor. But in every 
 view we can take of it, those receive an in- 
 finitely greater favor who are taken from the 
 unregenerate children of men, and adopted 
 into the family of God. 
 
 By an act of God's free grace, on account 
 of the relation which they sustain to his 
 only Son, Jesus Christ, they are " received 
 into the numter of his children, have his 
 name put upon them, the spirit of his Son 
 given to them, are under his fatherly care 
 and dispensations, are admitted to all the 
 liberties and privileges of the sons of God, 
 are made heirs of all the promises, and fel- 
 low-heirs with Christ in glory." 
 
 Such is adoption, or the benefits which the 
 Scriptures show that those have who are 
 adopted into the family of God. But as 
 those only are adopted who are united to 
 Christ, it is obvious that all the children of 
 God partake of these benefits, solely because 
 they are united to Christ, his eternal Son. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 1 5 
 
 As many as received him, to them gave 
 he power, right or privilege, according to the 
 margin, to become the sons of God. (John 
 1 : 12.) 
 
 Christ is the adopting vine, into whom 
 those who were, by their connection with 
 Adam, degenerate plants of a strange vine, 
 are spiritually engrafted, and become the 
 sons of God by grace. 
 
 Contrary to the analogy of nature, they 
 partake of the characteristics of the vine into 
 which they are engrafted, instead of main- 
 taining their own and giving, it to the fruit 
 they bear. 
 
 4. Sanctification is another benefit of 
 union to Christ. 
 
 There is in Christ a fullness of grace. 
 
 It is the fullness of a living fountain, 
 which is not exhausted, how much soever 
 may be drawn from it. 
 
 It may always send forth its healing 
 waters, and yet always be full. 
 
 Union to Christ brings us to that fountain. 
 
76 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 It opens between us and him a channel of 
 communication, by means of which the re- 
 storing streams of salvation flow into our 
 polluted souls, to cleanse them, in the end, 
 from all the defitements of sin. 
 
 Believers are thus assimilated to Christ, 
 who, of God, is made unto them sanctifica- 
 tion. 
 
 5. By means of their union to Christ, be- 
 lievers have access to God in prayer. 
 
 The person that is not united to Christ 
 has no way to a throne of grace. There is 
 no other way in which he can cross that im- 
 mense moral distance which separates the 
 impenitent soul from God, than to seek that 
 union with Christ which we have been con- 
 templating. 
 
 We believe that there is no other way in 
 which prayer can find its way up to a mer- 
 cy-seat above, or blessings descend from the 
 Father of hghts to us below. But united to 
 him in the eternal covenant of redemption, 
 there is a way at once opened in which the 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 77 
 
 prayer of the feeblest saint can ascend to a 
 throne of grace — a way in which copious 
 blessings, both spiritual and temporal, can 
 come down to us. 
 
 6. This union is the foundation of every 
 well-grounded hope. There are, indeed, 
 many other hopes in this world that have a 
 reference to the life to come. We find all 
 manner of hopes, and hopes resting upon all 
 manner of foundations. We may say that 
 the world is full of them, but all others are 
 doomed to disappointment. None will en- 
 dure the great day of trial but that which is 
 based upon our union to Christ by faith. 
 This is their only title to the benefits which 
 he purchased. They have no claim to any 
 of them on any other ground. 
 
 It is this that gives them a place upon 
 the chief corner-stone, where they may safe- 
 ly stand, undismayed, when all things else 
 fail. 
 
 On the precious truth that they are in 
 Christ and that he is in them, " the hope of 
 7* 
 
78 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 glory," and on this truth alone, they may 
 build their hopes, and look up to heaven 
 with unshaken confidence that their home 
 is there. 
 
 7. This union is the ground of the be- 
 Hever's perseverance in holiness. 
 
 It is by reason of " their inseparable union 
 to Christ" that true beUevers " are kept by the 
 power of God through faith unto salvation." 
 They are thus " confirmed, unto the end, 
 that they may be blameless in the day of 
 the Lord Jesus." (1 Cor. 1 : 8.) 
 
 Because I liv€, says Christ to all who are 
 united to him, ye shall live also. 
 
 As long as believers are united to Christ, 
 their spiritual life is maintained. 
 
 But why should we specify the benefits 
 which result from this union ? It makes 
 Christ and all his purchase the believer's, 
 "Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the 
 world, or life, or death, or things present, or 
 things to come ; all are yours, and ye are 
 Christ's." (I Cor. 3 : 22, 23.) 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 79 
 
 Every good gift and every perfect gift is 
 from above, and cometh down from the Fa- 
 ther of hghts, with whom there is no varia- 
 bleness, neither shadow of turning. (Jam. 1 : 
 17.) But if we > inquire for the medium 
 through which they come down, so as to be 
 good and perfect to those who receive them, 
 we apprehend the answer must be, their 
 union to Christ. Others may share in those 
 gifts from heaven which are in themselves 
 good and perfect, but unless they are united 
 to Christ, and receive them through him, 
 these good things will not be ultimate bless- 
 ings to them. But not to enlarge on this 
 point, the benefits of union to Christ are 
 such that every thing, with each one of us, 
 is depending upon it. 
 
 We cannot sustain this relation to Christ 
 without having all that is essential to salva- 
 tion ; we cannot want it without wanting the 
 one thing needful. 
 
 United to him we stand approved and 
 saved. 
 
80 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 Separated from him we are without spir- 
 itual life, condemned and lost. 
 
 Through it comes every spiritual good, 
 our comfort in life, our support in death, 
 our final, complete, and eternal fruition in 
 heaven. 
 
 All things are the believer's, because the 
 believer is Christ's. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE EVIDENCES OF UXION TO CHRIST. 
 
 We have seen that this relation is one of 
 vital importance, or essential to salvation. 
 
 It is but reasonable to suppose that all 
 who view it in that light, will be eager to 
 know whether they are personally joined 
 to the Lord. 
 
 With the humble hope of aiding such, it is 
 here proposed to present a brief outline of 
 the evidences of this union, that by a care- 
 ful application of it to ourselves, we may be 
 helped to determine whether we are united 
 to the Lord by faith or not. 
 
 A brief outline is all that can be attempt- 
 ed, for the doctrine that has been discussed 
 occupies so important a place in the work 
 
82 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 of salvation, that to present the evidences 
 of it fully would be to introduce most 
 of the points that indicate a state of grace. 
 But it does not come within my plan to at- 
 tempt that here. It will be sufficient for 
 my present purpose to present a few of 
 those evidences which are naturally sug- 
 gested by those figures, borrowed from the 
 Scriptures, which have been introduced for 
 the purpose of illustrating the reality, the 
 nature, and the necessity of this relation. 
 
 1. Spiritual fruit is a clear evidence that 
 those who bear it are united to Christ. 
 
 This relation, wherever it exists, is di fruit- 
 ful one. Fruit, abundant fruit to the praise 
 and glory of divine grace, is the great object 
 of it, in this world, as well as our salvation 
 in the world to come. 
 
 " Christ is a fruitful root," and we are 
 married to him, or engrafted into him, that 
 " we should bring forth fruit unto God.' 
 (Rom. 7 : 4.) 
 
 Christ says, as the branch cannot bear 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 83 
 
 fruit of itself except it abide in the vinCj 
 no more can ye except ye abide in me. He 
 that abideth in me and I in him, the same 
 bringeth forth much fruit. (John 15:4, 5.) 
 
 He is not only a- " fruitful root," but he 
 " makes all the branches that live in him 
 fruitful too." 
 
 We cannot ask for clearer proof that the 
 branch abides in the vine, than to see it 
 yielding fruit, especially if the clusters of it 
 are rich and abundant. 
 
 Other things may indicate it, but this 
 proves it beyond controversy. 
 
 So of our union to Christ. He says we 
 cannot bear fruit except we abide in him, 
 while those who abide in him and he in 
 them, do bear fruit. In other words, if they 
 bear the fruits of the Spirit, they are in 
 Christ. The fruit which they yield is a 
 proof of it. We can want no better. 
 
 We may scrutinize what we regard as 
 the fruits of the Spirit as closely as possible. 
 We ought to do it, lest we mistake the bitter 
 
84 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 grapes of Sodom for the rich clusters of Esh- 
 col ; but where we find evidence that one 
 yields the legitimate fruits of the Spirit, we 
 have proof of union to Christ. 
 
 We cannot bring forth such fruit in a state 
 of separation from him. But the fruit of the 
 Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gen- 
 tleness, goodness, faith, meekness, tempe- 
 rance." (Gal. V. 22, 23.) 
 
 Wherever such a cluster is found, whe- 
 ther it be in the incipient stages of its growth, 
 or near maturity, there is a real, intimate, 
 spiritual, eternal union of that soul to Christ. 
 A want of such fruit indicates a want of this 
 union. It should be so regarded by all. 
 
 2. Love for Christ is an evidence of our 
 union to him. It is no ordinary love that 
 we here contemplate. It should be such as 
 will lead us, if need be, to lay down our 
 lives for his sake. He laid down his for us, 
 and he says we ought to lay down ours for 
 the brethren. Much more we ought to for 
 the Master if he requires it. As in nature 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 85 
 
 the hand or arm instinctively exposes itself 
 to save the head, so should our love for 
 Christ lead us* to expose ourselves for his 
 cause. Christians arc only tlie members of 
 that body of which he is the head. It seems 
 not too much to make this love the essence 
 of piety. Christ evidently made it the crite- 
 rion of it, in his. interview with Peter, after 
 his resurrection, when he openly restored 
 that fallen disciple to his favor. 
 
 The only question which he put to him, 
 as that upon which every tiling depended, 
 was " Lovest thou me ?" 
 
 In other places the inspired penmen give 
 it a peculiar prominence. It is not only 
 reckoned among the fruits of the Spirit, but 
 it is placed first among them. 
 
 It, at least, occupies so important a place 
 in the work of grace that we are nothing 
 without it, whatever else we have, or what- 
 ever else we are. 
 
 The apostle Paul takes this view of it 
 where he treats of charity, (1 Cor, 13,) by 
 
OO UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 which he evidently means love to God hi 
 the first place, and then those subordinate 
 degrees of love to which that gives rise. 
 The existence of this love therefore, wherever 
 it is found, is a proof of union to Christ. 
 
 This includes love for his word, love for 
 his people, as such, aside from every other 
 consideration, and love for his cause. Hence 
 love for either of these objects serves the two- 
 fold purpose, at the same time, and to the 
 same degree, of proving our love to Christ 
 and our indissoluble union to him. On the 
 one hand this love for Christ will not be 
 found where there is not a union to him, on 
 the other it will be found where there is. 
 
 To the first, he is as a root out of dry 
 ground, having no form, or comeliness^ or 
 beauty that they should desire him. To 
 the other he is the chief among ten thou- 
 sands, the one altogether lovely. 
 
 In proportion then as we find evidence 
 that we have a love for Christ stronger than 
 we have for any thing else — a love that 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 87 
 
 leads us to love all that bear his image, be- 
 cause they bear it — that leads us to love his 
 cause and labor to promote it — to love his 
 word to such a degree that we aim to obey 
 it, have we evidence that we are united to 
 Christ by bonds that wi[l never be dissolved. 
 
 3. The possession of the Spirit of Christ 
 is a clear indication of a union of the soul, 
 that has it, to him. 
 
 As the vine and the branch possess the 
 same properties of vegetable Ufe, so do 
 Christ and his people the same principle of 
 spiritual life. -^ If any man have not the 
 Spirit of Christ he is none of his." In other 
 words, if he has the spirit, the mind, the 
 temper, the disposition, which so remarka- 
 bly characterized the great Head and Foun- 
 der of our holy religion, he is united to 
 Christ by those ties which constitute him 
 the Lord's. 
 
 4. Cheerful submission to the allotments 
 of Providence indicates this union to Christ. 
 
 The language of our Redeemer, in the 
 
bo UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 most trying of all circumstances was. "Noi 
 my will, but thine be done.'' That was the 
 spirit of Christ. His will was swallowed 
 up in the will of the Father. 
 
 He himself says, " I seek not mine owii 
 will, but the will of the Father which hath 
 sent me." 
 
 If we are so united to him that we possess 
 his spirit, we shall, in some measure be like 
 him. 
 
 Hence in proportion as we find we are 
 Uke him, in this respect, we find reason to 
 think we are united to him. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 INFERENCES FROM THE FOREGOING REMARKS UPON 
 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 I. We may infer the moral dignity of all 
 true Christians. 
 
 Some worldly situations naturally have 
 an idea of dignity attached to them. They 
 impart dignity to those who occupy them, 
 and to those who are united to the occu- 
 pants, whether by marriage or by blood. A 
 prince has honor because he is connected to 
 a royal father. 
 
 There is great dignity in the "angelic na- 
 ture," 
 
 ^ Angels are the highest and the most hon- 
 orable of all the creatures of God. They 
 have the honor of beholding his face in glo- 
 8* 
 
90 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 ry.' Bat there is no honor conferred upon 
 creatures, no not upon angels, equal to that 
 which the beUever derives from union to 
 Christ. 
 
 Angels '' are his chief and most honorable 
 subjects," but saints are his own mystical 
 members, and spouse. 
 
 Angels are appointed to serve them. They 
 delight to do it. 
 
 Christ is their common head, but he is the 
 head of saints in a sense different from that 
 in which he is the head of angels. Of both 
 he is the head of dominion, but of the former 
 he is the head of " vital influence too." 
 
 ^The great ones of this world might frown^ 
 should the humble Christian presume to ap- 
 proach them, but God sets the meanest sub- 
 jects of his spiritual dominion before his face 
 with delight.' 
 
 With him the Christian, however humble 
 his sphere, is before the prime minister of 
 any state, or the prince himself The pulpit 
 where his word is faithfully preached^ how- 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 91 
 
 ever mean its structure, is to him above the 
 throne, though set amidst the most precious 
 gems. 
 
 The humble but sincere Christian may 
 well prefer the sphere in which he is destined 
 to move, to that of Gabriel before the throne 
 of the Most High. 
 
 2. If believers are so intimately united to 
 Christ, we infer that they ought to regard 
 his cause as their own. 
 
 It is to be feared that many who profess 
 to be united to Christ regard all they do for 
 him or for his cause as lost. But all such 
 persons lack correct views, if they do not 
 lack the spirit of Christ, and union to him, 
 
 Christ himself has gone away from us 
 into heaven^ where he neither hungers or 
 thirsts, or wants any more. But his mem- 
 bers and his cause have 3^et many wants. 
 In them he often hungers and thirsts, and 
 has need to be taken in and warmed and 
 fed. 
 
 And he regards what is done to them as 
 
92 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 done to himself. And so what is done for 
 his cause is done both for those who do it 
 and for him. 
 
 When they extend, or beautify, or enrich 
 the kingdom of the Redeemer, they extend 
 and beautify and enrich a kingdom of which 
 they themselves are heirs. 
 
 When they promote the interests of that 
 kingdom they promote their own. So they 
 ought ever to view it. 
 
 It would seem almost incredible that pro- 
 fessed followers of Christ should be close and 
 niggardly in relation to their brethren and 
 the interests of Christ's kingdom on earth, if 
 they really believe that what they do for 
 these, Christ absolutely regards as done for 
 himself. Every one should be as much 
 knit to the cause of Christ as to Chiist him- 
 self. 
 
 3. Those who are so closely united to 
 Christ can never want any real good. They 
 may want much which they naturally de- 
 sire, much that appears to be good, but no- 
 ihing that is for their real good. 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. yo 
 
 They may want what would be good for 
 others, but not what would be good for them. 
 My God. shall supply all your need. (Phil. 
 4 : 19.) 
 
 They that seek the Lord shall not want 
 any good thing. (Ps. 34 : 10.) 
 
 There is no lack in our heavenly Father's 
 house, and Christ will not suffer his own 
 members to want while there is a fullness 
 there. 
 
 " Every ono naturally cares and provides 
 for his own, especially for his own body.^ 
 Though it may be hard for us to rest upon 
 the divine promise when " necessities pinch'^ 
 closely, yet all our desires and wants, though 
 many and great, are before him, and our 
 groanings are not hid from him. (Psalm 
 39:9.) ■ 
 
 " We have not an High Priest that cannot 
 be touched with the feelings of oyr infirmi- 
 ties." (Heb. 4 : 15.) He knows them and 
 feels them. He hungers and thirsts, and is 
 naked and imprisoned and persecuted with 
 
94 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 those who are united to him. (Acts 9 : 4, 
 Matt. 25 : 35.) He has the tenderest sympa- 
 thy for them, and this will flow forth for the 
 supply of all the wants of his people. Their 
 cup will be full with that which is best 
 adapted . to their wants. It will often over- 
 flow. 
 
 While his enemies " have more than heart 
 can wish," it cannot be supposed that he will 
 starve those whom he loves as his own flesh. 
 
 4. We infer the obligations of Christians 
 to abide in Christ. 
 
 Since he has graciously taken them from 
 the wild olive tree, and engrafted them into 
 the new and living vine, they ought to live 
 in him and to walk in him. 
 
 Nothing should ever be allowed to come 
 in, to separate them from Christ. 
 
 Cheerful, contented, happy, they should 
 move quietly on in the sphere that grace has 
 marked out for them. 
 
 5. Thus united to Christ the head, we in- 
 fer that the whole body of Christ ought to 
 
UNION TO CHRIST. 95 
 
 be united to one another in the closest possi- 
 ble manner, 
 
 ' It is a great sin and full of danger' for 
 the loicked even to wrong and persecute the 
 church. In so doing they persecute Christ. 
 But how much more aggravated the sin for 
 the pious to persecute or injure, or not to 
 harmonize one with another. 
 
 The whole body of Christ, by whatever 
 name they are known, ought to see eye to 
 eye. They ought to be so closely united to 
 Christ and to one another that nothing could 
 ever separate them. 
 
 The love that binds the members not only 
 to the head, but to one another, should be 
 such as " many waters cannot quench," nei- 
 ther the " floods drown." 
 
 O that God would hasten the day when 
 the hearts of all his people would be filled 
 and overflowing with such love. It is the 
 first legitimate fruit of that spirit which 
 unites to Christ. 
 
 The Lord grant unto every reader this 
 
96 UNION TO CHRIST. 
 
 blessed union, and lead us constantly to a 
 close and impartial examination of our 
 hearts, till we have the most satisfactory- 
 evidence that we are no longer in the depths 
 of sin, hut delivered therefrom by a union to 
 Christ, that is real, spiritual, intimate, eter- 
 nal 
 
Books published and for sale by M. W. Dodd. 
 
 CHARLOTTE ELIZABETH'S WORKS. 
 
 A NEW UNIFORM EDITION. 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 
 
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 Malting three large elegant octavo volumes. 
 
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 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
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Books published and for sale by M. W. Dodd. 
 
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 " In justice to the publisher and to the public, we add 
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 Her merits and defects are too well known to need reca- 
 pitulation here." — Newark D. Adv. 
 
 " This third volume completes this elegant octavo edi- 
 tion of the works of this popular and useful author. It 
 embraces Judaea Capta ; The Deserter ; Falsehood and 
 Truth ; Judah's Lion ; Conformity ; and the Wrongs of 
 Women. The works themselves are so well known as 
 not to need commendation. The edition we are disposed 
 to speak well of. It is in clear type, on fine paper, and 
 makes a beautiful series. It is, moreover, very cheap." — 
 N. Y. Evangelist. 
 
Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dodd. 
 
 THE DESERTER. 
 
 "We have never (we speak advisedly) read a stor>- that more entirely 
 enchained us than this. We are not quite sure how much of it is 
 fancy, and how much fact ; but we rather suppose that the outline is 
 ventable history, while the filling up may have been drawn partly from 
 tne author s imagination. The principal hero of the storv Is a youn«» 
 Irishman, who was lead through the influence of one of liis comrades" 
 lo enlist in the British Army, contrary to the earnest entreaties of h\< 
 mother, and who went on from one step to another in the career of crime 
 till he was finally shot as a deserter : tlioueh not till after he had nracti- 
 nlly embraced the Gospel. The account of the closing scene is one of 
 the hnest examples ot pathetic description that we remember to have met 
 with. The whole work illustrates with great beauty and power the 
 downward tendencies of profligacy, the power of divine grace to subdue 
 the hardest heart, and the entxiurairemeat that Christians have never 
 to despau- of the salvation, even of those who seem to have thrown 
 themselves at the greatest distance from divine mercy."— .i/6a;i« Dailv 
 Citizen. j ^ 
 
 *• This is one of the happiest efforts of this exceedinsrly popular writer. 
 Its great aim appears to be to exhibit the irulv benevolent influence of 
 real pier>-upon the heart of man, as well as the degrading nature of sin 
 Ihe narrative is admirably sustained— the waywardness of the unre- 
 generate exhibited in living colors, and so interspersed with sketches of 
 the so dier s life, as to add a thrilling interest to the whole. It forms 
 a neat hbrary volume of near -250 pages, and is handsomely printed and 
 bound in c\o\hy— Auburn Journal. 
 
 "One of the happiest productions of the author. The narrative is 
 well sustained, and the personages and character are true to nature " 
 — Commercial Advertiser. 
 
 COMBINATION. 
 
 "This is a tale founded on facts, from the gifted pen of Charlotte Eliz- 
 abeth. It IS well written, and confciins the very best of ad\ice. It lays 
 down with great force the mighty truth, that without Religion there 
 can be no virtue : and that without the fear and love of God. man will 
 inevitably be dashed on the rocks of irredeemable ruin. Religion is the 
 f.r!^ or " 7' /^/ ?''K ^''''^ection to hold by in the hour of violent 
 temptation ; but if that be lost, all is over. Such little works as these 
 are eminent y calculated to produce a vast amount of good ; and there- 
 of ThSS- chuIlrTn °^^^'""'^' P'-'^"'^ ''^^™ "P»'» '^^''' t^l^le for the benefit 
 .\1}a f,? ^^^^^ ^^''^^' '^^^''^ '■^" evening be spent than by having it rend 
 ?1^2 CO. ir e wh'Th"" ,'"P.^" '^*'^*^" '"^""' 'he fblly of others, and that 
 ^efnnv .vnH'5 ,^^^i^^/heni to ignominy and disgrace may be most 
 careltilly avoided.' —Boston American Traveller 
 
 THE DAISY— THE YEW TREE, 
 
 Chapters on Flowers. 
 Three most delisrhtful Utile volumes, made np in part from 
 her very popular Flower Garden Tales for those who prefei 
 them in smaller volumes. 
 
 (7) 
 
Books Published and for Sale by M. W. Dndd. 
 
 JUD/EA CAPTA. 
 
 • Jiulasa Capta,' the last offering from the pen of this pfted and pop- 
 ular writer, will be esteemed as one of her best works. It is a graphic 
 narrative of the invasion of Judea by the Roman legrions under Vespa- 
 sian and Titus, presenting affecting views of the desolation of her towns 
 and cities, by the ravages of iron-hearted, bloodthirsty wildiers, and of 
 tiie terrible caUistrophe witnessed in the destruction of Jerusalem 
 The narrative is interspersed with the writer's views of the literal ful 
 fiinient of prophecy concerning the Jews, as illustrated in their e.vtra- 
 oriiinary history, and with remarks contemplating their returning pros- 
 perity. Her occasional strictures on thehistory of the apostate Josephus. 
 who evidently wrote to please his imperial masters, appear to h«\e 
 been well merited. The work is issued in an attractive and handsome 
 volume." — Christian Observer. 
 
 '•If the present should prove to be Charlotte Elizabeth's last work, 
 she could not desire to take her departure from the field of literature 
 with a better grace ; and we doubt not that it will he considered, if not 
 the best, yet among the best of her productions. It is full of scripture 
 truth, illustrated by the charm of a most powerful eloquence ; and no 
 one, we should suppose, could read it without feeling a fresh interest 
 in behalf of the Jewish nation, and a deeper impression of the truth 
 and greatness, and ultimate triumph of Christianity." — Albany Daily 
 Advertiser. 
 
 "This volume contains a description of some of the most terrific 
 scenes of which this earth has been the theatre. Rut instead of con 
 lemplating them merely as a part of the world's history, it takes into 
 view their connection with the great scheme of Providence, and shows 
 how the faithful and retributive hand of God is at work amidst the 
 fiercest tempest of human passion. The work contains no small por- 
 tion of liistory, a very considerable degree of theology, and as much 
 beautiful imagery and stirring eloquence as we often find within the 
 same limits. Those who have the other works from the same pen, 
 will purchase this almost of course ; and they need have no fear that 
 It will disappoint any expectation which its predecessors may havfl 
 fiwakened." — Albany Religious Spectator. 
 
 Also just published — 
 
 **THE CHURCH VISIBLE IN ALL AGES." 
 A work, making attraction to the youthful as well as the 
 more mature mind, a deeply interesting and important subject. 
 
 All the foregoing are printed on clear, xchite paper, and 
 hound to match, making an attractive and beautiful set of 
 hooks. They are sold in sets or separately, varying frcm 
 25 to 50 cents per volume. When purchased for Sahfialk 
 Schools, a liberal deduction is made from the above prices. 
 (8) 
 
Princeton Theological Seminary Libraries 
 
 1 1012 01251 1897