Christ broadly resembled both Bernard and Calvin. They would all be in agreement
that it was spiritual, mystical, deep, real, and indissoluble.^119
However, there is some variation regarding the origin and dynamics of growth
in union with Christ/God. In the last chapter both Brauer and Chan sought to trace
their respective Puritans through the triplex via while Williams adamantly asserted
Hambrick-Stowe sought to overlay a Roman Catholic understanding of union as the
conclusion rather than the origin of the Puritans’ spiritual journey. However, this is a
messy conundrum and it is wiser to recognize that contemporary Roman Catholic
scholarship perceives this topic in a more nuanced manner. Sheldrake asserts, “[a]n
over-emphasis on separate, successive stages, with universal application, conflicts
with a sense of the uniqueness of each person’s spiritual journey as well as with the
freedom of God and unpredictability of grace.” And further, “by focusing exclusively
on union with God as the final stage, we may miss the point that union with God is
not so much a stage above and beyond all others as the precondition of all spiritual
growth.”^120
The Holy Spirit was central to the Puritan development and experience of
spiritual marriage. Preston declares, “Christ sends his Spirit into the heart; therefore
thou must consider, whether thou have the Spirit of thy Husband dwelling in thee or
(^119) Lye, True Believer’s Union (^) , 285-88. Flavel apparently knew Lye’s work and
enlarged this summary by adding this union was also immediate, efficacious,
comfortable, and fruitful. 120 Method of Grace, 38-42.
Sheldrake, Spirituality & History, 181. cf. Rahner, “Gradual Ascent to Perfection.”
McGinn observes that in Bonaventure the stages “are not successive but simultaneous
and mutually interactive.” Flowering of Mysticism, 102-3. Dupré and Wiseman
asserts that both Catherine of Genoa and Hadewych “describe their own experiences
as starting with what would appstages of purgation and illumination.” ear to be a state of union which is then followed by Light from Light, 17.