Meditations and discourses concerning the glory of Christ applyed unto unconverted sinners, and saints under spiritual decayes : in two chapters, from John XVII, xxiv / by the late Reverend John Owen ...

CHAP. X.

The Glory of Christ in the Communication of himself unto Believers.

ANOTHER instance of the Glory of Christ which we are to behold here by Faith, and hope that we shall do so by sight hereafter, consists in the Mysteri∣ous Communication of himself and all the Benefits of his Me∣diation, unto the souls of them that do believe, to their present happiness and future eternal Blessedness.

HEREBY he becomes theirs as they are his; which is the Life, the Glory and Consolation of the Church, Cant. 6. 3. Chap. 2. 16. Chap. 3. 10. He and all that he is be∣ing appropriated unto them by vertue of their Mystical Union; There is, there must be some Ground, formal Reason and Cause of this Relation between Christ and the Church, whereby he is theirs, and they are his; he is in them, and they in him; so as it is not between him and other Men in the World.

THE Apostle speaking of this Communication of Christ unto the Church, and the Union between them, which doth ensue thereon, affirms that is a Great Mystery; for I speak, saith he, concerning Christ and the Church, Ephes. 5. 32.

I SHALL very briefly enquire into the Causes, Ways and Means of this Mysterious Communication whereby he is made to be ours, to be in us, to dwell with us, and all the benefits of his Mediation to belong unto us: For, as was said, it is evident that he doth not thus communicate himself unto all by a natural Necessity, as the Sun gives light equally unto the whole World; nor is he present

withall by an Vbiquity of his humane Nature; nor as some dream, by a Diffusion of his rational Soul into all; nor doth he become ours by a carnal eating of him in the Sa∣crament; but this Mystery proceeds from, and depends on other Reasons and Causes, as we shall briefly declare.

BUT yet before I proceed to declare the way and manner whereby Christ communicateth himself unto the Church, I must premise something of Divine Communica∣tions in General, and their Glory. And I shall do this by touching a little on the harmony and Correspondency that is between the Old Creation and the New.

1. ALL Being, Power, Goodness, and Wisdom were originally, essentially, infinitely in God: And in them with the other Perfections of his Nature, consisted his Essential Glory.

2. THE Old Creation was a Communication of Be∣ing and Goodness by Almighty Power, directed by In∣finite Wisdom, unto all things that were created for the manifestation of that Glory. This was the first Commu∣nication of God unto any thing without himself, and it was exceeding glorious, see Psal. 19. 1. Rom. 1. 21. And it was a curious Machine, framed in the subordination and dependency of one thing on another, without which they could not subsist, nor have a continuance of their Beings. All Creatures below live on the Earth, and the products of it; the Earth for its whole production depends on the Sun and other Heavenly Bodies, as God declares, Hos. 2. 21, 22. I will hear, saith the Lord, I will hear the Heavens and they shall hear the Earth, and the Earth shall hear the Corn, and the Wine, and the Oil, and they shall bear Jez∣reel. God hath given a subordination of things in a Concatenation of Causes whereon their Subsistence doth depend. Yet,

4. IN this mutual Dependency on, and Supplies un∣to one another, they all depend on, and are influenced from God himself, the Eternal Fountain of Being, Power, and Goodness. He hears the Heavens; and in the Conti∣nuation of this Order by constant Divine Communication of Being, Goodness and Power, unto all Things, God is no less glorified than in the first Creation of them, Act. 14. 15, 16, 17. Chap. 17. 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29.

5. THIS Glory of God is visible in the Matter of it, and is obvious unto the Reason of Mankind; for from his Works of Creation and Providence they may learn his Eternal Power and Godhead, wherein he is essentially glorious.

6. BUT by this divine Communication God did not intend only to glorifie himself in the essential Properties of his Nature, but his Existence also in Three Persons, of Fa∣ther, Son and Spirit. For although the whole Creation in its first framing, and in its Perfection, was and is by an Emanation of Power and Goodness from the Divine Na∣ture in the Person of the Father, as he is the Fountain of the Trinity, whence he is said peculiarly to be the Crea∣tor of all things; yet the immediate Operation in the Creation was from the Son, the Power and Wisdom of the Father, Joh. 1. 1, 2, 3. Col. 1. 16. Heb. 1. 3. And as upon the first Production of the Mass of the Creation, it was under the especial care of the Spirit of God to pre∣serve and cherish it, unto the production of all distinct sorts of Creatures, Gen. 1. 2. So in the Continuance of the whole there is an especial Operation of the same Spirit in all things. Nothing can subsist one Moment by vertue of the Dependance which all things have on one another, without a continual Emanation of Power from him, see Psal. 104. 29, 30.

BY these divine Communications in the production and preservation of the Creature, doth God manifest his Glo∣ry,

and by them alone in the way of Nature he doth so; and without them, although he would have been for ever essentially glorious, yet was it impossible that his Glory should be known unto any but himself. Wherefore on these divine Communications doth depend the whole Mani∣nifestation of the Glory of God. But this is far more eminent, though not in the outward Effects of it so visi∣ble in the new Creation, as we shall see.

1. ALL Goodness, Grace, Life, Light, Mercy and Pow∣er, which are the Springs and Causes of the New Creati∣on, are all originally in God, in the divine Nature, and that infinitely and essentially. In them is God eternally or essentially glorious, and the whole Design of the New Creation was to manifest his Glory in them by external Communications of them and from them.

2. THE first Communication of, and from these things, is made unto Christ as the Head of the Church. For in the first place, it pleased God that in him should all the fulness of these things dwell, so as that the whole New Creation might consist in him, Col. 1. 17, 18, 19. And this was the first Egress of divine Wisdom for the Manifestation of the Glory of God in these holy Properties of his Na∣ture. For,

3. THIS Communication was made unto him as a Repository and Treasury of all that Goodness, Grace, Life, Light, Power and Mercy which were necessary for the Constitution and Preservation of the New Creation. They were to be laid up in him, to be hid in him, to dwell in him; and from him to be communicated unto the whole Mystical Body designed unto him, that is the Church. And this is the first Emanation of divine Power and Wis∣dom for the Manifestation of his Glory in the New Cre∣ation. This Constitution of Christ as the Head of it, and the Treasuring up in him, all that was necessary for its Production and Preservation, wherein the Church is cho∣sen

and preordained in him unto Grace and Glory, is the Spring and Fountain of divine Glory in the Communi∣cations that ensue thereon.

4. THIS Communication unto Christ is (1.) Unto his Person; and then (2.) With respect unto this Office. It is in the Person of Christ that all Fulness doth originally dwell. On the Assumption of human Nature into perso∣nal Union with the Son of God, all Fulness dwells in him bodily, Col. 2. 9. And thereon receiving the Spirit in all Fulness, and not by Measure, all the Treasures of Wisdom and Knowledge were hid in him, Col. 2. 3. and he was filled with the unsearchable Riches of Divine Grace, Ephes. 3. 8, 9, 10, 11. And the Office of Christ is nothing but the way appointed in the Wisdom of God, for the Communication of the Treasures of Grece, which were communicated unto his Person. This is the end of the whole Office of Christ in all the parts of it, as he is a Priest, a Prophet and a King. They are, I say, nothing but the Ways appointed by in∣finite Wisdom for the Communication of the Grace laid up in his Person unto the Church. The transcendent Glo∣ry hereof, we have in some weak measure enquired into.

5. THE Decree of Election prepared, if I may so say, the Mass of the New Creation. In the old•• Creation, God first prepared and created the Mass or Matter of the whole, which afterwards by the Power of the holy Spirit, was formed into all the distinct Beings whereof the whole Cre∣ation was to consist; and animated according to their distinct Kinds.

AND in order unto the Production and Perfecting of the Work of the new Creation, God did from Eternity in the holy purpose of his Will prepare, and in design set apart unto himself, that Portion of Mankind whereof it was to consist. Hereby they were only the peculiar Mat∣ter that was to be wrought upon by the Holy Ghost, and

the glorious Fabrick of the Church erected out of it. What was said, it may be, of the Natural Body, by the Psalmist, is true of the Mystical Body of Christ, which is principally intended, Psal. 139. 15, 16. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curi∣ously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth: Thine eyes did see my substance yet being imperfect, and in thy Book all my members were written which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. The substance of the Church whereof it was to be formed, was under the Eye of God, as proposed in the Decree of Election; yet was it as such imperfect. It was not formed or shaped into Members of the Mystical Body. But they were all written in the Book of Life. And in pursuance of the Purpose of God, there they are by the holy Spirit in the whole course and continuance of time in their several Generations fashioned into the Shape designed for them.

6. THIS therefore is herein, the glorious Order of divine Communications. From the infinite eternal Spring of Widsom, Grace, Goodness, and Love in the Father, all the Effects whereof unto his end were treasured up in the Person and Mediation of the Son; the holy Spirit unto whom the actual Application of them is committed, communicates Life, Light, Power, Grace and Mercy unto all that are designed parts of the New Creation. Hereon doth God glorifie both the essential Properties of his Na∣ture, his infinite Wisdom, Power, Goodness and Grace, as the only eternal Spring of all these things; and also his ineffable glorious Existence in three Persons, by the Or∣der of the Communication of these things unto the Church, which are originally from his Nature. And herein is the glorious Truth of the Blessed Trinity, which by some is opposed, by some neglected, by most looked on as that which is so much above them, as that it doth not belong unto them, made precious unto them that believe, and

becomes the Foundation of their Faith and Hope. In a View of the glorious Order of those divine Communica∣tions, we are in a steady Contemplation of the ineffable Glory of the Existence of the Nature of God in the Three distinct Persons of Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

7. ACCORDING unto this Divine Order the Elect in all Ages are by the holy Spirit moving and acting on that Mass of the New Creation, formed and animated with spi∣ritual Life, Light, Grace and Power unto the Glory of God. They are not called accidentally according unto the external Occasions and Causes of their Conversion unto God; but in every Age, at his own Time and Sea∣son, the holy Spirit communicates these things unto them, in the Order declared unto the Glory of God.

8. AND in the same manner is the whole New Crea∣tion preserved every Day: every moment there is vital Power and Strength, Mercy and Grace communicated in this Divine Order to all Believers in the World. There is a continual Influence from the Fountain, from the Head, into all the Members, whereby they all consist in him, are acted by him, who worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure: and the Apostle declares that the whole Constitution of Church-order is suited as an external Instrument to promote these Divine Communications, unto all the Members of the Church, it self Eph. 4. 13, 14, 15, 16.

THIS in general is the Order of Divine Communications, which is for the Substance of it continued in Heaven, and shall be so unto Eternity; For God is, and ever will be all and in all. But at present, it is invisible unto Eyes of Flesh, yea, the Reason of Men. Hence it is by the most despised, they see no Glory in it: But let us consider the Prayer of the Apostle, that it may be otherwise with us, Ephes. 1. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23. For the Revelation made of the Glory of God in the old Creati∣on,

is exceeding inferior to that which he makes of him∣self in the New.

HAVING premised these things in general concerning the Glory of Divine Communications, I shall proceed to de∣clare in particular, the Grounds and Way whereby the Lord Christ communicates himself, and therewithal all the Benefits of his Mediation, unto them that do believe, as it was before proposed.

WE on our part are said herein to receive him, and that by Faith, John 1. 11, 12. Now where he is re∣ceived by us, he must be tendred, given, granted, or communicated unto us. And this he is by some divine Acts of the Father, and some of his own.

THE Foundation of the whole is laid in a Soveraign Act of the Will, the Pleasure, the Grace of the Father. And this is the Order and Method of all divine Operati∣ons in the Way and Work of Grace. They originally proceed all from him; and having effected their Ends, do return, rest, and center in him again, see Ephes. 1. 4, 5, 6. Wherefore that Christ is made ours, that he is com∣municated unto us, is originally from the free Act, Grant and Donation of the Father, 1 Cor. 1. 30. Rom. 5. 15, 16, 17. And hereunto sundry things do concur. As (1.) His Eternal Purpose which he purposed in himself to glorifie his Grace in all his Elect, by this Communication of Christ, and the Benefits of his Mediation unto them, which the Apostle declares at large, Ephes. 1. (2.) His granting all the Elect unto Christ to be his own: so to do and suffer for them what was antecedaneously necessary unto the actual Communication of himself unto them. Thine they were, and thou gavest them to me, Joh. 17. (3.) The giving of the Promise, or the Constitution of the Rule and Law of the Gospel, whereby a participation of Christ, an Interest in him and all that he is, is made over and as∣sured unto Believers, Joh. 1. 12. 1 Joh. 1. 1, 2, 3, 4.

(4.) An Act of Almighty Power, working and creating Faith in the Souls of the Elect, enabling them to receive Christ so exhibited and communicated unto them by the Gospel, Ephes. 1. 19, 20. Chap. 2. 5, 6, 7, 8.

THESE things which I have but named, have an In∣fluence into the Glory of Christ herein: For this Commu∣nication of him unto the Church, is an effect of the eter∣nal Counsel, Wisdom, Grace and Power of the Fa∣ther.

BUT they are the Acts of Christ himself herein, which principally we enquire into, as those which manifest the Glory of his Wisdom, Love and Condescention.

AND 1. He gives and communicates unto them his holy Spirit; the holy Spirit as peculiarly his, as granted unto him of the Father, as inhabiting in him in all fulness. This Spirit abiding originally as to his Person, and immea∣surably as unto his Effects and Operations in himself, he gives unto all Believers to inhabit and abide in them also, Joh. 14. 14. 20. 1 Cor. 6. 16, 17. Rom. 8. 8. Hence follows an ineffable Vnion between him and them. For as in his Incarnation he took our Nature into personal Union with his own; so herein he takes our Persons into a Mysti∣cal Vnion with himself. Hereby he becomes ours, and we are his.

AND herein is he unspeakably glorious: For this Myste∣ry of the Inhabitation of the same Spirit in him as the Head, and the Church as his Body, animating the whole, is a transcendent Effect of Divine Wisdom. There is nothing of this Nature in the whole Creation besides; no such Union, no such mutual Communication. The strictest Unions and Relations in Nature are but Shadows of it. Ephes. 5. 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. Here∣in also is the Lord Christ precious unto them that do be∣lieve, but a Stone of stumbling, and a Rock of offence un∣to the Disobedient. This glorious ineffable Effect of his

Wisdom and Grace, this rare, peculiar, singular Way of the Communication of himself unto the Church, is by many despised. They know, it may be, some of them, what it is to be joyned unto an Harlot so as to become one Flesh, but what it is to be joyned unto the Lord so as to become one Spirit, they know not. But this Principle and Spring of the spiritual Life of the Church, and of all vital spiritual Motions towards God, and Things hea∣venly, wherein, and whereby our Life is hid with Christ in God, is the Glory, the Exaltation, the Honor, the Se∣curity of the Church unto the Praise of the Grace of God. The Understanding of it in its Causes, Effects, Operations and Priviledges wherewith it is accompanied, is to be preferred above all the Wisdom in, and of the World.

2. HE thus communicates himself unto us, by the Formation of a new Nature, his own Nature in us; so as that the very same spiritual Nature is in him, and in the Church. Only it is so with this difference, that in him it is in the absolute perfection of all those glorious Graces wherein it doth consist; in the Church it is in various Measures and Degrees, according as he is pleased to commu∣nicate it. But the same Divine Nature it is, that is in him and us; for through the precious Promises of the Gospel, we are made Partakers of his Divine Nature. It is not e∣nough for us, that he hath taken our Nature to be his, unless he gives us also his Nature to be ours; that is im∣plants in our Souls all those gracious Qualifications, as unto the Essence and Substance of them, wherewith he himself in his human Nature is endued. This is that new Man, that new Creature, that Divine Nature, that Spirit which is born of the Spirit, that Transformation into the Image of Christ, that putting of him on, that Workman∣ship of God, whereunto in him we are created, that the Scripture so fully testifieth unto, Joh. 3. 6. Rom. 6. 3, 4,

5, 6, 7, 8. 2 Cor. 3. 18. Chap. 5. 17. Ephes. 4. 20. 24. 2 Pet. 1. 4.

AND that new Heavenly Nature which is thus formed in Believers, as the first vital Act of that Union which is be∣tween Christ and them by the Inhabitation of the same Spirit, is peculiarly his Nature. For both is it so as it is in him the Idaea and the Exemplar of it in us, inasmuch as we are predestinated to be conformed unto his I∣mage; and as it is wrought or produced in our Souls by an Emanation of Power, Vertue, and Efficiency from him.

THIS is a most heavenly Way of the Communication of himself unto us, wherein of God he is made unto us Wisdom and Sanctification. Hereon he says of his Church, This now is Bone of my Bone, and Flesh of my Flesh; I see my self, my own Nature in them, whence they are comely and desirable. Hereby he makes way to present it to himself a glorious Church, not having Spot or Wrin∣kle, or any such thing, but holy and wi••hout Blemish. On this Communication of Christ unto us by the forming of his own Nature in us, depends all the Purity, the Beau∣ty, the Holiness, the inward Clory of the Church. Here∣by is it really, substantially internally separated from the World, and distinguished from all others, who in the outward forms of things, in the Profession and Duties of Religion seem to be the same with them. Hereby it be∣comes the First Fruits of the Creation unto God, bearing forth the Renovation of his Image in the World: Herein the Lord Christ is, and will be glorious unto all Eternity. I only mention these things, which deserve to be far more largely insisted on.

3. HE doth the same by that actual Insitition or Implan∣tation into himself, which he gives us by Faith; which is of his own Operation. For hereon two Things do en∣sue; one by the Grace or Power, the other by the Law

or Constitution of the Gospel, which have a great Influ∣ence into this Mystical Communication of Christ unto the Church.

AND the first of these is, that thereby there is com∣municated unto us, and we do derive Supplies of spiritual Life, Sustentation, Motion, Strength in Grace, and Per∣severance from him continually. This is that which him∣self so divinely teacheth in the Parable of the Vine and its Branches, Joh. 15. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Hereby is there a continual Communication from his All fulness of Grace Vn∣to the whole Church, and all the Members of it, unto all the Ends and Duties of spiritual Life. They live, neverthe∣less not they, but Christ liveth in them; and the Life which they lead in the Flesh, is by the Faith of the Son of God. And the other, by vertue of the Law and Constitution of the Gospel, is, that hereon his Righteousness, and all the Fruits of his Mediation, are imputed unto us; the Glory of which Mystery the Apostle unfolds, Rom. 3. 4, 5.

I MIGHT add hereunto the mutual Inbeing that is between him and Believers by Love; for the way of the Communication of his Love unto them, being by the shedding of it abroad in their Hearts by the Holy Ghost, and their returns of Love unto them being wrought in them by an Almighty Efficiency of the same Spirit, there is that which is deeply mysterious and glorious in it. I might mention also the Continuation of his Discharge of all his Offi∣ces towards us, whereon all our Receptions from him, or all the Benefits of his Mediation, whereof we are made Partakers, do depend. But the few Instances that have been given of the Glory of Christ in this Mysterious Com∣munication of himself unto his Church, may suffice to give us such a View of it, as to fill our Hearts with holy Admira∣tion and Thanksgiving.