6, 7, 8.

of converfation: adding to their faith virtue, and to vir- 2 Pet. i. 5, tue knowledge, and to knowledge temperance, and to temperance patience, and to patience godliness, and to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness charity, that they may neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jefus Christ. Such perfons then as are called by a holy calling, and not difobedient unto it; fuch as are endued with a holy Faith, and purified thereby; fuch as are fanctified by the holy Spirit of God, and by virtue thereof do lead a holy life, perfecting holiness in the fear of God; fuch perfons, I fay, are really and truly Saints; and being of the Church of Chrift, (as all fuch now must of neceffity be) are the proper fubject of this part of the Article, the Communion of Saints, as it is added to the former, the Holy Catholick Church.

I

33.

Now as thefe are the Saints of the Church of Chrift, from whence they were called the Churches of 1 Cor. xiv. the Saints; fo there was never any Church of God but there were fuch perfons in it as were Saints: we read in the Pfalms (g) of the congregation and the affembly of the Saints; and Mofes affured the people of Ifrael, that all the Saints of God were in his band: we read in the Prophets of the Saints of the most High; and at our Saviour's death the bodies of fuch Saints which flept arofe. Where again we may obferve that they were Saints while their bodies were in the grave; as Aaron in the time of David kept the name of the Saint of the Lord. Such as are holy in their lives Pfal. cvị. do not lose their fanctity, but improve it at their 16. deaths; nor can they lose the honour of that appellation, while that which gives it doth acquire perfection.

Hence grows that neceffary diftinction of the Saints on earth, and the Saints in heaven; the first belonging to the militant, the fecond to the triumphant Church. Of the firft the prophet David fpeaketh exprefsly, Thou art my Lord; my goodness Pfal. xvi. extendeth not to thee, but to the Saints that are in the 3.

2,

earth of thefe do we read in the Acts of the Apoftles, to these did St. Paul direct his Epiftles. Of the feCor. vi. 2. cond doth the Apostle make that question, Do ye not know that the Saints fhall judge the world? And all those which were fpoken of as Saints then in earth, if truly fuch, and departed fo, are now, and fhall for ever continue, Saints in heaven.

Κοινωνία μετὰ τὸ Πατρός.

Having thus declared what is the fanctity required to make a Saint, that is, a man of holiness; having alfo diftinguished the Saints before and under the Gofpel, (which difference is only obfervable as to this expofition of the Creed) and again diftinguishing the fame Saints while they live here with men on earth, and when after death they live with God in heaven; having alfo fhewed that of all thefe, thofe Saints are here particularly understood who in all ages lived in the Church of Chrift, we may now properly defcend to the next confideration, which is, Who are those persons with whom thofe Saints have this communion, and in what the communion which they have confists.

First then, the Saints of God living in the Church of Chrift, have communion with God the Father: for the Apostles did therefore write that they to whom 1 John i. 3. they wrote might have communion with them, (that which we have feen and heard declare we unto you, that ye alfo may have fellowship with us, faith St. John) and did at the fame time declare that their communion was with the Father. Wherefore being all the Saints of God under the Gofpel receiving the doctrine of the Apostles have communion with them; being the communion of the Apostles was the communion with the Father; it followeth that all the Saints of God under the Gospel have a communion with God the Father. As we are the Branches of the Vine, so the Father is the Hufbandman; and thus the Saints parJam. ii. 23. take of his care and inspection. As Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and be was called the friend of God; fo all which are Heirs

of

of the Faith of Abraham are made partakers of the fame relation. Nor are we only Friends, but alfo Sons; for behold what manner of love the Father bath 1 John iii. 1. bestowed upon us, that we should be called the fons of God. Thus must we acknowledge that the Saints of God have communion with the Father, because by the great and precious promifes given unto them, they be- 2 Pet. i. 4. come partakers of the divine nature.

Θείας και

νωνοί φύσε

ως.

20, 21, 23.

Secondly, The Saints of God living in the Church úg of God have communion with the Son of God: for, as the Apostle faid, our communion is with the Fa- 1 John i. 3. ther and the Son; and this connexion is infallible, because he that abideth in the doctrine of Chrift, he hath 2John 9. both the Father and the Son; and our Saviour prayed for all such as should believe on him through the word John xvii. of the Apostles, that they might be one, as the Father is one in him and he in the Father, that they also may be one in both: I in them, faith Chrift, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one. This communion of the Saints with the Son of God is, as most evident, fo moft remarkable. He hath taken unto him our nature and infirmities; he hath taken upon him our fins, and the curfe due unto them; while we all have John i. 16. received of his fulness, and grace for grace; and are all called to the fellowship of his fufferings, that we may be conformable to his death. What is the fellowship of Phil. iii. 10. brethren and co-heirs, of the Bridegroom and the Spouse; what is the communion of members with the Head, of branches with the Vine, that is the communion of Saints with Chrift. For God hath 1 Cor. i. a. called us unto the fellowship of his Son Fefus Chrift our Lord.

.

Κοινωνία

Yie.

Thirdly, The Saints of God in the Church of Christ have communion with the Holy Ghoft; and the Apostle hath two ways affured us of the truth thereof, one rhetorically, by a feeming doubt, if there Ph. ii. 1. be any fellowship of the Spirit; the other devoutly, Kosaría praying for it, The grace of our Lord Jefus Chrift, and veμaтоs. the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, 14.

M m 4

be

Πνεύματος.

2 Cor. xiii.

15.

7.

be with you all. The Saints are therefore fuch, because they partake of the Holy Ghost; for they are therefore holy because they are fanctified, and it is the Spirit alone which fanctifieth. Befide, the communion with the Father and the Son is wrought by the communication of the Spirit; for hereby do we Rom. viii, become the Sons of God, in that we have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; and thereby do we become Coheirs with Christ, in Gal. iv. 6, that because we are fons God hath fent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father; so that we are no more fervants, but fons; and if fons, then heirs of God through Chrift. This is the communion which the Saints enjoy with the three Perfons of the blessed Trinity; this is the heavenly fellowship reprefented unto entertaining Abraham when the Lord appeared unto him, and three men flood by him: for our Saviour hath made us this moft precious promife, If any man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. Here is the Soul of Man made the habi, tation of God the Father, and of God the Son; and the prefence of the Spirit cannot be wanting where Rom. viii. thofe two are inhabiting; for if any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his. The Spirit therefore with the Father and the Son inhabiteth in the Saints; 1 Cor. iii. for know ye not, faith the Apoftle, that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in

Gen. xviii,

J, 2.

John xiy.

23.

9.

16.

you?

Fourthly, The Saints of God in the Church of Christ have communion with the holy Angels. They who did foretel the birth of John the fore-runner of Christ, they who did annunciate unto the bleffed Virgin the conception of the Saviour of the world, they who fung a glorious hymn at the nativity of the Son of God, they who carried the foul of Lazarus into Abraham's bofom, they who appeared unto Chrift from heaven in his agony to ftrengthen him, they who opened the prifon-doors and brought the Apof

tles

tles forth, they who at the end of the world fhall fever the wicked from among the juft, and gather together the elect of God, certainly they have a conftant and perpetual relation to the Children of God. Nay, are they not all miniftering fpirits fent forth to minifter for Heb. i. 14. them who fhall be heirs of falvation? They have a particular fenfe of our condition, for Chrift hath affured us that there is joy in the prefence of the Angels of God Lukexv.10. over one finner that repenteth. And upon this relation the Angels, who are all the Angels, that is, the mesfengers, of God, are yet called the Angels of men, according to the admonition of Chrift, Take heed, Matt. xviii, that ye defpife not one of thefe little ones, for I fay unto you, that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

Thus far have we confidered the Communion of Saints with fuch as are diftinguished from them by nature as they are men; the fellowship which they have in heaven with God, and his holy Angels, while they are on earth. Our next confideration will be, what is the communion which they have with those who are of the fame nature, but not partakers of the fame holinefs with them.

Fifthly therefore, The Saints of God, while they are of the Church of Christ on earth, have some kind of communion with thofe men which are not truly Saints. There were not hypocrites among the Jews alone, but in the Church of Chrift many cry, Lord, Lord, whom he knoweth not. The tares have the privilege of the field, as well as the wheat; and the bad fish of the net, as well as the good. The Saints have communion with hypocrites in all things with which the diftinction of a Saint and Hypocrite can confift. They communicate in the fame Water, both externally baptized alike, they communicate in the fame Creed, both make the fame open profeffion of faith, both agree in the acknowledgment of the fame principles of Religion; they communicate in the fame Word, both hear the fame Doctrine preached;

they

10.