Absolute Priority of Union
That union with Christ is the first fundamental thing of justification, and sanctification, and all. Christ first takes us, and then sends his Spirit. He apprehends us first. It is not my being regenerate that puts me into a right of all those privileges, but it is Christ takes me, and then gives me his Spirit, faith, holiness, &c. It is through our union with Christ, and the perfect holiness of his nature, to whom we are united, that we partake of the privileges of the covenant of grace.
Thomas Goodwin, The Works of Thomas Goodwin, vol. 5 (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1863), 350.