Religion & morality > Human nature in its four-fold state ... in several practical discourses

316 Inferences. State III.
Ifa. xlviii. a. and may be bound up as Branches in
him, John xv. 2. by the outward Ties ofSacraments:
Yet ir the Spirit that dwells in Chrift, dwell not in j
them, they are not one with him. There is a great
Difference ’twixt Adhefion and Ingrafting. The
Ivy clafps, and twifts its fell, about the Oak ; but
Yis not one with it, for it ftill grows on its own
Root : So, to allude to Ifa. iv. 1. many Pro-
Profeffors take hold of Chrift, and eat their own
Bread, and wear their own Apparel, only they are
called by his Name. 'They ftay themfelves upon
him, but grow upon their own Root: They take
him to fupport their Hopes, but their Delights are
elfewhere.
4. The Union betwixt Chrift and his myftical
Members, is firm and indiffoluble. Were it fo
that the Believer only apprehended Chrift, but Chrift
apprehended not him; we could promife little on
the Stability of fuch an Union ; It might quickly
be diffolved: But as the Believer apprehends Chrift
by Faith; fo Chrift apprehends him by his Spirit,
and none fhaU pluck.him out of his Hand. Did the
Child only keep hold of the Nurfc; it might at
length weary and let go its hold, and fo fall away :
But if flie have her Arms about the Child; ’tis in
no hazard of falling away, even tho’ it be not actu¬
ally holding by her. So, whatever finful Intcr-
miflions may happen in the Exercife of Faith, yet
the Union remains fure, by reafon of the conftant
indwelling o{ the Spirit. Bleffed Jefus! AU his Saints
are in thy Hand, Deut. xxxiii. 3. JTis obferved by
fome, that the Word Abba is the fame, whether you
read it forward or backward: Whatever the Belie¬
ver’s Cafe be, the Lord is ftill to him Abba, Father.
Lajily, The