1 Cor. x. 16, 17. the Body of Christ, and Members, in particular. The Bread which we break, is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ? For we being many, are one Bread and one Body; for we are all Partakers of that one Bread. God hath put all things under bis (Chrift's) feet, and gave him to Eph. i. 22, 23. Chap. iii. 6. Chap. iv. 4, 5, 6. Ver. 15, 16. be the head over all things to the Church which is bis Body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. That the Gentiles should be Fellow-heirs, and of the fame Body, and Partakers of his Promise in Chrift, by the Gospel. There is one Body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God aud Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. That we may grow up into him in all things, which is the Head, even Chrift: from whom the whole Body fitly joined together, and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase in the Body unto the edifying of it felf in Love; for we are Members one of another. The Head of every Man is Cbrift. Christ is the Head of the Church, Ephef. v. 23. and he is the Saviour of the Body. For we are Members of his Body, of his Flesh, and of his Bones. So again, He is the Head of the Body, the Church: from whose DoEtrine and Unity they, who depart, are faid not to hold the Head, from which all the Body, by joints and bands having nourishment ministred and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Ver. 24. 1 Cor. xi. 3. Ver. 30. Coloff. i. 18. Chap. ii. 19. I have chosen to set these several Texts in one view, by reason of the mutual Illustration they give to each other. And, that from all, thus taken and compared together, the Inferences may more easily be drawn, which are neceffary for establishing the Point now in hand. A 3 In In particular, What fort of Union this we are speaking of is, What are the Grounds or Bands of it, and How the Metaphor is answered, by the mutual relation between the several Parts, concerned in the Similitude. 1. As First, No doubt at all can be made, but that This, above all other Allusions, was intended to figure the near, the infeparable, the entire Concern and Intereft we have, in our Blessed Lord, and in one another. When called Fellow-Soldiers, we are reprefented, as so many engaged in the fame common Caufe, and lifted to serve under the fame Leader: When Fellow-Servants, as belonging to the fame Family: When Sons, as descended from one Father: When Heirs, as partaking in the Rights and Claims of the fame elder Brother: But, when Members of the fame Body, this is the clofeft of all the rest: For it scarce leaves us the liberty, which all the rest do, of confidering our selves, any longer as diftinct Persons. It presents us with an Image, of every one thus cemented being a part of Chrift, and every Christian a part of our own selves ; as if He without Us, and We without Them, must want that perfection of Being, which the nature of a Body requires. 2. Secondly, It is very manifest from hence, that this Union is peculiar to Chriftians. From hence it is, that we find the Church so often mentioned as Christ's Body. Consequently, as They who are not of the Church, are not of the Body: fo what Methods foever those be, which have been instituted, as Instruments and Means for grafting Men into, or signifying their continuance and common Rights in, the Congregation of Christians; The fame make them Members of, and the Denial, or the Want of the fame, exclude them from any part in, this Body. 3. Hence it comes to pass, Thirdly, that in the Passages above cited, we find fuch express Mention, not 1 Cor. xii. 13. Chap. x. 17. not only of the same Principles of Religion, the fame Laws, the fame Privileges of Grace, the fame Hopes of Glory: But of the fame Sacraments too. For These are necessary Attestations of our confefsing, and submitting to the Forner, and Instruments, entitling us to a reasonable Expectance of the Latter. Nothing indeed less than this, can be the meaning of those Texts, One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism. By one Spirit we are all Baptized into one Body, Ephef. iv. 5. and have been all made to drink into one Spirit; and, We being many are one Bread, and one Body; for we are all Partakers of that one Bread. So vain and presumptuous is the Delusion of Those, who, because they call Chrift Lord, and profess to believe the Doctrine he hath taught, arrogate to themselves the Name and Privileges of Christians, without that initiating Sacrament of Baptifm, which he hath ordained, as the Instrument of making them Members of his Visible Body. So profane, so pernicious, is the Neglect of that other confirming Sacrament, the Blessed Supper of our Lord; ordained by him likewife for their Strength and Nourishment, and necessary to preserve them true Members of his Invisible Body. Rom. ix. 6. 4. For it is fit we be put in mind, Fourthly, that it is one thing to have the Appearance and external Privileges, and another to difcharge the part, and attain all the Benefits, of this Union. As the Apostle says, in a like cafe, all are not Ifrael that are of Ifrael; fo our Saviour supposes, that many who call him Lord, will not do the things which he commands. Now Matters are in some proportion with this Mystical, as with our Natural Body. An Arm or a Leg may be stupified with a Palfie or a Lethargy; an Eye may be out, or an Ear deaf; and these still keep their Place, though not their Ufe, in the Body. And A 4 Luke vi. 46. thus thus a number of careless, or prophane, or hypocritical Professors. shall retain the Name, and fill up the room of Members, by virtue of those outward Signs and Sacraments, which placed them in the Body of Chrift; while yet they want that inward Holiness, which those Sacraments are Emblems of, and Engagements to; and which alone can render them of a piece with the Head, and wherein not only the Health, but the very Life, of the Body, and of each Member of it, confifts. Now because this Holiness depends chiefly upon the Disposition of the Mind; and confequently may be fometimes greater than appears, and at other times may, by a falfe and pompous shew, be made to appear where it really is not: Hence it must needs follow, that many may, and ought to enjoy the Privileges, and the common Eftimation of Members, who strictly are not such. Because the Perfons, intrusted with the Power of admitting into, and cutting off from this Body, may be imposed upon by such Diffimulation, and can proceed upon outward Appearances only. But then it follows 2 Tim. ii. 19. too, That since the Lord knoweth them that are his; these prefumptive Members shall certainly be disowned by, as in truth they are not united to, Him. Hence so many preffing Exhortations to Men, acknowledged for Saints, and Brethren, and Members, to walk worthy of those Titles; to be in Truth, what they are in Profession, and Shew, and general Repute. Hence that very substantial Diftinction of the Visible, and Invisible, Members and Body of Chrift, and the Difference of those Qualifications necessary for each. A Distinction founded in the nature of things; Which cannot be otherwise, while this Body upon Earth is composed of, and govern'd by, Men, capable of deceiving, and of being deceived: While this Field must be content to hold Tares with the Wheat, till that Harvest, and those Reapers Matt. xiii. 30. pers come, which are appointed to make the final Separation. 5. From hence it is evident, Fifthly, that a very confiderable Difference is to be made, between the feveral Instances of Union, mentioned, and recommended in Scripture. Some of these are absolutely necessary to the Being, Others enjoined, as expedient to the Growth, and Well-being, of this Body. Of the Former fort are, Submitting to the fame Lord, Agreeing in the Fundamentals of the fame Faith, and, as a mark of this Submission and Agreement, Administration of the fame Saeraments. Of the Latter, that Holiness of Life, that Exemplariness of Practice, that mutual Charity and Concord, that Peaceableness and Order, that Consent in Discipline, that ready Compliance in all lawful Matters, which, though not Effential, shall yet (by the Constitution of particular Churches, and the Judgment of Persons, thought proper to give Rules in such Cafes,) be enjoined, as proper for Decency and Edification. And This Authority, being derived from our Lord upon his Apostles, and from Them upon their Successors, in the Government of this Society so incorporated; the Contempt of It is a Contempt of Him: A Breach of that Union, which every Christian is bound to preferve, under all the Penalty, those Declarations of our Master can be supposed to involve every wilful Violater of it in: As my Father hath fent me, even fo fend I you: and, He that despiseth you despiseth me, and be that despiseth me, despiseth him that fent me. John xx. 21. 6. But that part of this Union, which we are in a more especial manner concerned to observe, is, Sixthly, that between All these Members and Chrift: Whom we find, in the Texts above cited, to be represented as their common Head. And this resemblance is made good, with Allusion to our Natural Body, as he took upon |