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had told them, he would drink no more of the fruit of the vine, till he fhould drink it new with them in his Father's kingdom: and now he fhews himself to be the Vine, from whence the wine of their confolation thould come. The vine hath lefs beauty than many other trees: but is exceeding fruitful; fitly reprefenting the low condition our Lord was then in, yet bringing many fons to glory. But that which is chiefly aimed at, in his comparing himfelf to a vine, is to represent himself as the fupporter and nourisher of his people, in whom they live, and bring forth fruit. (2.) He compares them to the branches, ye are the branches of that Vine. Ye are the branches knit to, and growing on this flock: drawing all your life and fap from it. It is a beautiful comparifon; as if he had faid, I am as a Vine, ye are as the branches of that Vine Now there are two forts of branches: (1.) Natural branches, which at firft fpring out of the ftock: thefe are the branches that are in the tree, and were never, out of it. (2) There are ingrafted branches, which are branches broken off from the tree that first gave their life; and put into another to grow upon it. Thus branches come to be on a tree, which originally were not on it. The branches mentioned in the text, are of the latter fort; branches broken off, (as the word in the original language denotes) namely, from the tree that firit gave them life. None of the children of men are natural branches of the fecond Adam, viz. Jefus Chrift the true Vine; they are all the natural branches of the first Adam, that degenerate vine; but the elect are all of them fooner or later broken off from the natural ftock, and ingrafted into Chrift the true Vine.

DOCT. They who are in the state of grace, are ingrafted in, and united to, the Lord Jefus Chrift. They are taken out of their natural stock, cut off from it; and are now ingrafted into Chrift as the new ftock. In handling of this, I fhall fpeak to the Mystical Union, (1.) More generally. (2.) More particularly.

A general View of the Myftical Union.

FIRST, In the general, for understanding the union betwixt the Lord Jefus Chrift, and his elect, who believe in him, and on him. 1. It is a fpiritual union. Man and wife, by their marriage-union, become one fleth: Chrift and true believers, by this union, become. one fpirit, 2 Cor. vi. 17. As one foul or fpirit actuates both the head, and the members, in the natural body; fo the one Spirit of God dwells in Chrift and the Chriftian; for, If any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his, Rom viii. 9. Corporal union is made by contract; fo the ftones in a building are united: but this is an union of another nature. Were it poffible we could eat the flesh, and drink the blood of Chrift, in a corporal and carnal manner; it would profit nothing, John vi. 63. It was not Mary's bearing him in her womb, but her believing on him, that made her a faint, Luke xi. 27, 28.

Adam was made a living foul, the laft Adam was made a quickning Spirit. Ver. 47. The fift man is of the earth, earthy: the fecond man is the Lord from heaven. And the reafon is, there were never any, that were not branches of one of thefe two; all men being either in the one stock or in the other; for in thefe two forts all mankind ftands divided; Ver. 48. As is the earthy, fuch are they alfo that are earthy and as is the heavenly, fuch are they alfo that are heavenly. The arft Adam then is the natural ftock: on this ftock are the branches found growing at firft; which are afterwards cut off, and ingrafted into Chrift. As for the fallen angels, as they had no relation to the firft Adam, fo they have none to fecond.

There are four things to be remembered here, (1.) That all mankind (the man Chrift excepted) are naturally branches of the first Adam, Rom. v. 12. By one man fin entered into the world, and death by fin: and fo death paffedrupon all men. (2.) The bond which knit us unto the natural frock, was the covenant of works. Adam being our natural root, was made the moral root alfo; bearing all his pofterity as reprefenting them in the covenant of works. For, by one man's difabedience many were made finners, Rom. v. 19. Now, there behoved to be a peculiar relation betwixt that one man and the many, as a foundation for imputing his fia to them. This relation did not arife from the mere natural bond betwixt him and us, as a father to his children; for fo we are related to our immediate parents, whofe fins are not thereupon imputed to us as Adam's fin is. It behoved then to arife from a moral bond betwixt Adam and us; the bond of a covenant, which could be no other than the covenant of works, wherein we were united to him as branches to a flock. Hence Jefus Chrift, though a fon of Adam, Luke i 23, 38. was none of thefe branches; for feeing he came not of Adam, in virtue of the bleffing of marriage, which was given before the fall, (Gen. i 28. Be fruitful and multiply, &c.) but in virtue of a fpecial promife made after the fall, (Gen. iii. 15. The jeed of the woman fhall bruife the ferpent's head.) Adam could not reprefent him in a covenant made before his fall. (3) As it is impoffible for a branch to be in two flocks at once; fo no man can be, at one and the fame time, both in the first and second Adam. (4) Hence it evidently follows, that all who are not ingrafted in Jefus Chrift, are yet branches of the old flock; and fo partake of the nature of the fame. Now, as to the firft Alam, our natural ftock: Confider,

Fift, What a flock he was originally. He was a vine of the Lord's planting, a choice vine, a noble vine, wholly a right feed. There was a confultation of the Trinity, at the planting of this vine, Gen. i. 26. Let us make man in our own image, after our own liken fs. There was no rottennefs at the heart of it. There was fap and juice enough in it, to have nourished all the branches, to bring forth fruit unto God. My meaning is, Alam was made able perfectly to keep the commandments of God, which would have procured eternal life to limfelf, and

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to all his pofterity; for feeing all die by Adam's difobedience; all fhould have had life, by his obedience, if he had stood. Confider, . Secondly, What that flock now is: ah! moft unlike to what it was, when planted by the Author and Fountain of all good. A blaft from hell, and a bite with the venomous teeth of the old ferpent, have made it a degenerate stock, a dead stock; nay, a killing stock.

ft, It is a degenerate naughty frock. Therefore the Lord God fuid to Adam, in that difinal day, Where art thou? Gen. iii. 9. In what condition art thou now? How art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a ftrange vine, unto me? Or, where waft thou? Why not in the place of meeting with me? Why fo long a-coming? What meaneth this fearful change, this hiding of thy felf from me? Alas! the ftock is degenerate, quite fpoiled, become altogether naught, and brings forth wild grapes. Converfe with the devil is preferred to communion with God. Satan is believed; and God, who is truth' itfelf, difbelieved. He who was the friend of God, is now in confpiracy against him. Darkness is come into the room of light: ignorance prevails in the mind, where divine knowledge thone: the will, fome. time righteous or regular, is now turned rebel against its Lord: and the whole man is in dreadful disorder.

I go further, let me ftop and obferve, Here is a mirror both for faints and finners. Sinners, ftand here and confider, what you are: and faints learn ye, what once ye were. Ye, finners, are branches of a degenerate flock. Fruit you may bear indeed; but now that your vine is the vine of Sodom, your grapes muft, of courfe, be grapes of gall, Deut. xxxii. 32. The Scripture fpeaks of two forts of fruit, which grow on the branches upon the natural ftock: and it is plain enough, they are of the nature of their degenerate ftock. (1.) The wild grapes of wickedness, Ifa. v. 2. Thefe grow in abundance by influence from hell. See Gal. v. 19, 20, 21. At their gates are all manner of these fruits, both new and old. Storms come from heaven to put them back; but they ftill grow. They are ftruck at with the fword of the Spirit, the word of God: confcience gives them many a fecret blow: yet they thrive. (2.) Fruit to themfelves, Hof, x. I. What clfe are all the unrenewed man's acts of obedience, his reformation, fober deportment, his prayers, and good works? They are all done, chiefly, for himself, not for the glory of God. Thefe fruits are like the apples of Sodom, fair to look at, but fall to aflies, when handled and tried Ye think ye have not only the leaves of a profeffion, but the fruits of a holy practice too; but, if ye be not broken off from the old stock, and ingrafted in Chrift Jefus, God accepts not, ner regards your fruits.

Here I must take occafion to tell you, there are five faults will be found in heaven, with your beft fruits. (1.) Their bitterness; your clufters are bitter, Deut. xxxii. 32. There is a fpirit of bitternels, wherewith fome come before the Lord, in religious duties, living in malice and envy; and which fome profellors entertain against others,

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because they out-fhine them, by holiness of life, or because they are not of their opinion or way. This, wherefoever it reigns, is a fearful fymptom of an unregenerate ftate. But, I do not fo much mean this, as that which is common to all the branches of the old ftock; namely, the leaven of hypocrify, Luke xii. 1. which fowers and embitters every duty they perform. The wildom that is full of good fruits, is without hypocrify, James iii. 17. (2) Their ill favour. Their works are abominable, for themfelves are corrupt, Pfal. xiv. 1. They all favour of the old flock, not of the new; it is the peculiar priviledge of the faints, that they are unto God a fweet favour of Chrift, 2 Cor. ii. 15. The unregenerate man's fruits favour not of Love to Chrift, nor of the blood of Christ, nor of the incenfe of his interceffion; and therefore will never be accepted of in heaven. (3.) Their unripenels. Their grape is an unripe grape, Job xv. 33. There is no influence on them from the Sun of Righteoulness, to bring them to perfection. They have the shape of fruit, but no more. The matter of duty is in them; but they want right principles and ends: their works are not wrought in God, John iii. 21. Their prayers drop from their lips, before their hearts be impregnate with the vital fap of the Spirit of fupplication: their tears fall from their eyes, ere their hearts be truly Toftened their feet turn to new paths, and their way is altered; while yet their nature is not changed. (4.) Their lightness. Being weighed in the balances, they are found wanting, Dan. v. 27. For evidence whereof, you may obferve, they do not humble the foul, but lift it up in pride. The good fruits of holiness bear down the branches they grow upon, making them to falute the ground. I Cor. xv. 10. I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. But the blafted fruits of unrenewed men's performance, hang lightly on branches towering up to heaven, Judges xvii. 13. Now know I, that the Lord will do me good, feeing I have a Levite to my priest. They look indeed so high, that God cannot behold them: Wherefore have we fafted, fay they, and thou feeft not? Ifa. Iviii. 3. The more duties they do, and the better they seem to perform them; the lefs are they humbled, the more they are lifted up. This difpofition of the finner, is the exact reverse of what is to be found in the faint. To men, who neither are in Chrift, nor are folicitous to be found in him, their duties are like windy bladders, wherewith they think to fwim afhore to Immanuel's land: but thefe muft needs break, and they confequently fink; because they take not Chrift for the lifter-up of their head, Pfal. iii. 3. Laftly, They are not all manner of pleafant fruits, Cant. vii. 13. Chrift, as a King, muft be ferved with variety. Where God makes the heart his garden, he plants it as Solomon did his, with trees of all kinds of fruits, Ecclef. ii. 5. And accordingly it brings forth the fruit of the Spirit in all goodness, Eph. v. 9. But the ungodly are not fo: their obedience is never univerfal; there is always fome one thing or other excepted. In

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one word, their fruits, are fruits of an ill tree, that cannot be accepted in heaven.

adly, Our natural flock is a dead ftock, according to the threatning, Gen. ii. 17. in the day thou eateft thereof, thou shalt furely die. Our root now is rottennefs, no marvel the bloffom go up as duft. The ftroke is gone to the heart; the fap is let out, and the tree is withered. The curfe of the first covenant, like a hot thunderbolt from heaven has lighted on it, and ruined it. It is curfed now as the fig-tree, Matth. xxi. 19. Let no fruit grow on thee, henceforth for ever. Now it is good for nothing, but to cumber the ground, and furnish fuel for Tophet.

Let me enlarge a little here alfo. Every unrenewed man is a branch of a dead ftock. When thou feeft, O finnet, a dead stock of a tree, exhaufted of all its fap, having branches on it in the fame condition; look on it as a lively reprefentation of thy foul's ftate. (1.) Where the stock is dead, the branches muft needs be barren. Alas! the barrenness of many profeffors plainly difcovers on what flock they are growing. It is eafy to pretend to faith, but fhew me thy faith without thy works, if thou canft, James ii 17. (2) A dead stock can convey no fap to the branches, to make them bring forth fruit. The covenant of works was the bond of our union with the natural ftock; but now it is become weak through the flesh; that is, through the degeneracy and depravity of human nature, Rom. vii. 3.It is ftrong enough to command, and to biad heavy burdens on the fhoulders of those who are not in Chrift; but it affords no ftrength to bear them. The fap that was once in the root, is now gone: and the law, like a merciless creditor, apprehends Adam's heirs, faying, Pay what thou oweft; when, alas! his effects are riotously spent (3) All pains and coft are loft on the tree, whofe life is gone. In vain do men labour to get fruit on the branches, when there is no fap in the root. First, The gardiner's pains are loft: minifters lofe their labour on the branches of the old flock, while they continue in it. Many fermons are preached to no purpofe; because there is no life to give fenfation. Sleeping men may be awakened; but the dead cannot be raised without a miracle: even fo, the dead finner muft remain so, if he be not restored to life, by a miracle of grace.

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Secondly, The influences of heaven are left on fuch a tree: in vain doth the rain fall upon it: in vain is it laid open to the winter-cold and frofts. The Lord of the vineyard digs about many a dead foul, but it is not bettered. Bruife the fool in a mortar, his folly will not depart. Tho' he meets with many croffes, yet he retains his lufts; let him be laid on a fick-bed, he will there ly like a fick beaft, groaning under his pain; but not mourning for, nor turning from his fin. Let death itself ftare him in the facc; he will prefumptuoufly mainta his hope, as if he would look the grim meffenger out of countenance. Sometimes there are common operations of the divine Spirit performed on him: he is fent home

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