of atonement, is pacified, and sweetly quieted: "he shall pray unto God-and see his face with joy;" which before he beheld with horror, ver. 26. That is in New Testament language, "Having a High-priest over the house of God," he shall "draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having his heart sprinkled from an evil conscience," Heb. x. 21, 22. But, then what becomes of the body, the weak and weary flesh? Why, "his flesh shall be fresher than a child's, he shall return to the days of his youth, ver. 25. Yea, all his bones, (which were chastened with strong pain, ver. 19,) shall say, Lord, who is like unto thee?" Psal. xxxv. 10.

A third benefit flowing from union with Chrsit, is Adoption. Believers, being united to Christ, become children of God, and members of the family of heaven. By their union with him, who is the Son of God by nature, they "become the sons of God," by grace, John i. 12. As when a branch is cut off from one tree, and grafted in the branch of another, the ingrafted branch, by means of its union with the adopting branch, (as some not unfitly have called it) is made a branch of the same stock, with that into which it is ingrafted; so sinners, being ingrafted into Jesus Christ, whose name is the Branch, "his Father is their Father; his God their God," John xx. 17. And thus they who are, by nature, children of the devil, become the children of God. They have the spirit of adoption, Rom. viii. 15, namely, the Spirit of his Son, which brings them to God, as children to a father, to pour out their complaints in his bosom, and to seek necessary supply, Gal. iv. 6, "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father." Under all their weaknesses, they have fatherly pity and compassion shown them, Psal. ciii. 13. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him." Although they were but foundlings, found in a desert land, yet now that to them belongs the adoption, "he keeps them as the apple of his eye," Deut. xxxii. 10. Whosoever pursue them, they have a refuge, Prov. xiv. 26, "His children shall have a place of refuge." In a time of common calamity, they have chambers of protection, where they may be hid, until the indignation be overpast," Isa. xxvi. 20. And he is not only their refuge for protection, but their portion for provision, in that refuge, Psal. cxlii. 5, "Thou art my refuge, and my portion in the land of the living." They are provided for, for eternity, Heb. xi. 16, "He hath prepared for them a city." And what he sees they have need of for time, they shall not want, Matt. vi. 31, 32, "Take no thonght, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Where

withal shall we be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things." Seasonable correction is likewise their privilege, as sons: so they are not suffered to pass with their faults, as happens to others, who are not children, but servants of the family, and will be turned out of doors for their miscarriages at length, Heb. xii. 7, "If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?" They are heirs of, and shall inherit the promises, Heb. vi. 12. Nay, they are heirs of God, who himself is "the portion of their inheritance," Psal. xvi. 6, "and joint heirs with Christ," Rom. viii. 17. And because they are the children of the great King, and young heirs of glory, they have angels for their attendants who are "sent forth to minister for them that shall be heirs of salvation," Heb. i. 14.

A fourth benefit is Sanctification, 1 Cor. i. 30, "But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification." Being united to Christ, they partake of his Spirit, which is the Spirit of holiness. There is a fulness of the Spirit in Christ; and is not like the fulness of a vessel, which only retains what is poured into it; but it is the fulness of a fountain, for diffusion and communication; which is always sending forth its water, and yet is always full. The Spirit of Christ, that spiritual sap, which is in the stock, and from thence communicated to the branches, is the Spirit of grace, Zech. xii. 10. And where the Spirit of grace dwells, there will be found a complication of all graces. Holiness is not one grace only, but all the graces of the Spirit: it is a constellation of graces; it is all the graces in their seed and root. And as the sap conveyed from the stock into the branch, goes through it, and through every part of it, so the Spirit of God sanctifies the whole man. The poison of sin was diffused through the whole spirit, soul and body of the man, and sanctifying grace pursues it into every corner, 1 Thess. v. 23. Every part of the man is sanctified, though no part is perfectly so. The truth we are sanctified by, is not held in the head, as in a prison, but runs, with its sanctifying influences, through heart and life. There are indeed some graces in every believer, which appear as top branches above the rest; as meekness in Moses, patience in Job, but seeing there is in every child of God, a holy principle going along with the holy law, in all the parts thereof loving, liking, and approving of it; as appears from their universal respect to the commands of God: it is evident they are endued with all the graces of the Spirit; be

cause there can be no more in the effect, than there was in the cause.

Now, this sanctifying Spirit, whereof believers partake, is unto them, (1.) A Spirit of mortification. "Through the Spirit they mortify the deeds of the body," Rom. viii. 13. Sin is crucified in them, Gal. v. 24. They are "planted together (namely, with Christ,) in the likeness of his death," which was a lingering death, Rom. vi. 5. Sin in the saint, though not quite dead, yet is dying. If it were dead, it would be taken down from the cross, and buried out of his sight; but it hangs there as yet, working and struggling under its mortal wounds. Like as when a tree has got such a stroke as reaches the heart of it, all the leaves and branches thereof begin to fade and decay: so, where the sanctifying Spirit comes, and breaks the power of sin, there is a gradual ceasing from it, and dying to it, in the whole man; so that he "no longer lives in the flesh to the lusts of men." He does not make sin his trade and business; it is not his great design to seek himself, and to satisfy his corrupt inclinations; but he is for Immanuel's land; and is walking in the high way to it, the way which is called "The way of holiness:" though the wind from hell, that was on his back before, blows now full in his face, makes his travelling uneasy, and often drives him off the high-way. (2.) This Spirit is a spirit of vivification to them; for he is the Spirit of life, and makes them live unto righteousness, Ezek. xxxvi. 27, "And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." These that have been "planted together with Christ, in the likeness of his death, shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection," Rom. vi. 5. At Christ's resurrection, when his soul was re-united with his body, every member of that blessed body was enabled again to perform the actions of life: so, the soul, being influenced by the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, is enabled more and more to perform all the actions of spiritual life. And as the whole of the law, and not some scraps of it only, is written on the holy heart, so believers are enabled to transcribe that law in their conversation. And although they cannot write one line of it without blots, yet God, for Christ's sake, accepts of the performances, in point of sanctification: they being disciples of his own son, and led by his own Spirit. This sanctifying Spirit, communicated by the Lord Jesus to his members, is the spiritual nourishment the branches have from the stock into which they are ingrafted; whereby the life of grace, given them in regeneration, is preserved, continued, and actuated. It is the nourishment whereby the new creature liveth and is nourished up towards perfection. Spiritual life

needs to be fed, and must have supply of nourishment: and believers derive the same from Christ their head, whom the Father has constituted the head of influences to all his members, Col. ii. 19, "And not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, have nourishment ministered, are supplied," &c. Now, this supply, is the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, Phil. i. 19. The saints feed richly, eating Christ's flesh, and drinking his blood, for their spiritual nourishment: yet our Lord himself teacheth us, that "It is the Spirit that quickeneth: even that Spirit who dwells in that blessed body," John vi. 63. The human nature is united to the divine nature, in the person of the Son, and so (like the bowl in Zechariah's candlestick, Zech. iv.) lies at the fountain-head, as the glorious means of conveyance of influences from the fountain of the Deity; and receives not the Spirit by measure, but ever hath a fulness of the Spirit, by reason of that personal union. Hence, believers being united to the Man Christ, (as the seven lamps to the bowl, by their seven pipes, Zech. iv. 2,) "his flesh is to them meat indeed, and his blood drink indeed:" for, feeding on that blessed body, i. e. effectually applying Christ to their souls by faith, they partake more and more of that Spirit, who dwelleth therein, to their spiritual nourishment. The holiness of God could never admit of an immediate union with the sinful creature, nor (consequently) an immediate communion with it: yet, the creature could not live the life of grace, without communion with the Fountain of Life. Therefore, that the honour of God's holiness, and the salvation of sinners, might jointly be provided for, the second person of the glorious Trinity, took into a personal union with himself, a sinless human nature; that so his holy, harmless, and undefiled humanity might immediately receive a fulness of the Spirit, of which he might communicate to his members, by his divine power and efficacy. And, as if there were a tree, having its root in the earth, and its branches reaching to heaven; the vast distance betwixt the root and the branches, would not interrupt the communication betwixt them. What though the parts of mystical Christ (viz. the head and the members) are not contiguous, as joined together in the way of a corporal union? The union therefore is not the less real and effectual. Yea, our Lord himself shows us, that albeit we should eat his flesh, in a corporal and carnal manner, yet it would profit nothing, John, vi. 63, we would not be one whit holier thereby. But the members of Christ on earth, are united to their head in heaven, by the invisible bond of the self-same Spirit dwelling in both: in him as the head, and in them as the members, even

as the wheels, in Ezekiel's vision, were not contiguous to the living creatures, yet were united to them by an invisible bond of one spirit in both; so that when the living creatures went, the wheels went by them; and when the living creatures were lifted from the earth, the wheels were up lifted up, Ezek. i. 19. "For" says the Prophet, "the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels," verse 20.

Hence we may see the difference betwixt true sanctification, and that shadow of it, which is to be found amongst some strict professors of Christianity, who yet are not true Christians, are not regenerate by the Spirit of Christ, and is of the same kind with what has appeared in many sober heathens. True sanctification is the result of the soul's union with the Holy Jesus, the first and immediate receptacle of the sanctifying Spirit; out of whose fulness the members do, by virtue of their union with him, receive sanctifying influence. The other is the mere product of the man's own spirit, which, whatever it has, or seems to have of the matter of true holiness, yet does not arise from the supernatural principles, nor to the high aims and ends thereof; for, as it comes from self, so it runs out into the dead sea of self again; and lies as void of true holiness, as nature doth of grace. They who have this bastard holiness, are like common boatmen, who serve themselves with their own oars: whereas, the ship bound for Immanuel's land, sails by the blowings of the divine Spirit. How is it possible there should be true sanctification without Christ? Can there be true sanctification without partaking of the Spirit of holiness? Can we partake of that Spirit, but by Jesus Christ, "the way, the truth, and the life?" The falling dew shall as soon make its way through the flinty rock, as influences of grace come from God to sinners, in any way, but through him whom the Father has constituted the head of influences, Col. i. 19, "For it pleased the Father, that in him should all fulness dwell:" and, chap. ii. 19, "And not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." Hence see how it comes to pass, that many fall away from their seeming sanctification and never recover: It is because they are not branches truly knit to the true vine. Meanwhile, others recover from their decays, because of their union with the life-giving stock, by the quickening Spirit, 1 John ii. 19, "They went out from us, but they were not of us: for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us."

A fifth benefit is Growth in Grace. "Having nourishment ministered, they increase with the increase of God," Col. ii. 19.