MY purpose is to open the apostolical benediction or prayer for the Corinthians; for our way of blessing is only to pray for those whom we bless. To love others is to desire their good. They that love best and most desire the best good for their friends; and better good there cannot be desired than that those we love may have God for their God. Now they that have God for their God have all that is in God, and all that is God. God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost will employ all his wisdom, power, and goodness, to save them from all evil, and bring them to eternal blessedness. This is that which is prayed for in this place: 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.'
In the words we have-
The thing prayed for, together with the persons from whom; or rather -
1. The matter of the blessedness wished, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the communion of the Holy Ghost.'
2. The effectual application to the Corinthians, ' Be with you.’
3. The confirmation of these hopes and desires, in the word 'Amen.'
1. The matter of the blessing. It consists of three branches, suited to the persons of the godhead - (1.) The grace of Christ; (2.) The love of God; (3.) The communion of the Holy Ghost.
2. The effectual application, 'Be with you.' These things are with us, or in us, two ways - (1.) In the effects; (2.) In the sense.
[1.] In the effects, when we have the fruits of the Father's love and Christ's grace and the Spirit's operation: 'That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them,' John xvii. 26.
[2.] In the sense and feeling, when we comfortably know it is thus with us: John xiv. 21, 'He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father; and I will love him, and manifest myself unto him;' Rom. v. 5, 'Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us.'
3. The confirmation of these desires and hopes, in the word 'Amen;' which is signaculum fidei, an expression of faith; and votum desiderii, an eruption of our desire and love.
Doct. That all the persons of the blessed Trinity do concur to the happiness and salvation of believers.
Here let me show you - (1.) How they do concur; (2.) Why they do concur.
I. How they do concur. Let us explain in the text.
1. Here are all the persons of the Godhead mentioned. God is taken personally for the Father, and then Jesus Christ and the Spirit are distinctly mentioned. So in other scriptures: 1 Peter i. 2, 'Elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.' The fundamental cause of salvation is the election of God, who, when he had all fallen mankind in his prospect and view, was pleased to choose out some to grace and glory, passing by others. Then there is reconciliation ascribed to Jesus Christ, and sanctification to the Spirit, as the means by which this purpose is brought about. The beginning is from God the Father, the dispensation is by Jesus Christ, and the application is through the Holy Ghost. So also Titus iii. 4-6, 'But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour towards man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' God the Father out of love sent a saviour, by whose grace we are saved; and God the Son, from God the Father, sent God the Holy Ghost, who applieth the love of God, and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, by renewing and healing our natures. So 2 Thes. ii. 13, 14, 'But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth; whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ;' where the three persons are again mentioned, and their concurrence to our salvation.
2. That words proper to their personal operation are used; for there is love ascribed to the Father, grace to the Son, and communion to the Holy Ghost. The Father is represented as the fountain of love and all goodness, and as expressing and exerting his love by the Son and Spirit By the 'grace of Christ' is meant all that gracious provision which he hath made for man's salvation, both in the reconciling God to us, and procuring the mission of the Spirit. 'Communion' is ascribed to the Spirit, because all is applied or communicated to us by him. Or thus, our salvation is ascribed in election to the love of the Father, in redemption to the grace of the Son, in sanctification to the communion or participation of the Holy Ghost.
[1.] 'The love of God.' Love is ascribed to the Father; for the love of God is the cause of all. Consider his giving Christ for us, or giving Christ to us, and us to him. (1.) In giving Christ for us: John iii. 16, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.' Christ did not merit electing love, but love rather moved God to give Christ for sinners. Love appointed the Son to be our Redeemer; there was the bosom and bottom cause. (2.) In giving Christ to us: John vi. 37, 'All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out;' John xvii. 6, 'I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world; thine they were, and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy word.' And in time he doth execute and accomplish this out of his mere love: Jer. xxxi. 3, 'The Lord hath appeared to me of old, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’ As by elective love the heirs of salvation were distinguished from others in God himself, or in his intention and purpose, so by regeneration and converting love they are distinguished from others in themselves, and set apart from the rest of the world, to be the objects of his special love and instruments of his glory. Besides, there is a love of God whereby he loveth us when we are in Christ Jesus, which is the ground of our safety and preservation: Rom. viii. 38, 39, 'For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.'
[2.] 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' What is intended us by the Father is brought about by the grace of the Redeemer, and therefore all the provision Christ had made for our salvation is called grace: 2 Cor. viii. 9, 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich;' that is, ye know his gracious condescension in submitting to such a mean condition for our sakes. So 1 Cor. xvi. 23, 'The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.' Grace is God's favour and love, which was first purchased by Christ by his obedience and bloody sufferings: Rom. iii. 24, 'Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.' Secondly, applied by his intercession, which is also another act of his grace; and therefore we 'come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need,' Heb. iv. 16; namely, 'having a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,' ver. 14, who knoweth our infirmities. Thirdly, as it is bestowed by him, as Lord of the new creation, upon such terms as every way keep up the honour and interest of grace in our salvation: Eph. ii. 8, 'By grace ye are saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.' All the saving benefits we have by Christ are from grace, such as reconciliation with God, the renovation of our natures, and everlasting glory and happiness; they are all dispensed in a gracious way from first to last.
[3.] 'The communion of the Holy Ghost' Communion is ascribed to the Holy Ghost. It may be rendered communion or communication. The Spirit reneweth and changeth our nature, and worketh faith and holiness in us. Light, life, and love are the special benefits which he communicates to us. He doth enlighten our minds, to understand and believe the great things prepared for us by God through Jesus Christ. It is said, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 'But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.' So Eph. i. 17, 18, 'That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.' Life; for we live in the Spirit, and are born of the Spirit; that is, have a new life begotten in us, therefore called a Spirit of life: before we lived as men, now as Christians. And love; the heart is bent and inclined to God. It began in love, and endeth. in love; love of God endeth in love to God. This threefold effect is expressed, 2 Tim. i. 7, 'For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and a sound mind.' Life in power, as light in a sound mind. And it is altogether called the divine nature: 2 Peter i. 4, 'Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature;' for it answereth to the wisdom, power, and goodness of God.
3. That all these words imply riches of goodness, bounty, and liberality. Love noteth a ready inclination to do good to others, without the excitement of external motives; it openeth and enlargeth the heart to another, and then the hand cannot be shut: 2 Cor. vi. 11, ‘O ye Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you; our heart is enlarged.' Grace is some good thing freely given. So koinoonia, communion, noteth a liberal effusion or distribution of the graces of God's sanctifying Spirit; and so it suiteth with agape Theou, and charis Christou, 'the love of God,' and 'the grace of Christ;' elsewhere, koinoonia pneumatos, 'the communion of the Spirit,' is joined with 'bowels and mercies:' Phil, ii. 1, 'If any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies;' that is, if you have received any good from Christ by the Spirit. So Rom. xv. 26, 'For it hath pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.’ What is in our translation to 'make a contribution' for the saints, is in the original koinoonias poièsathai, to make a communion or communication. So 2 Cor. viii. 4, 'Praying us with much entreaty, that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints,' koinoonias tès diakonias. So 2 Cor. ix. 13, 'And for your liberal distribution unto them,’ haplotèti tès koinoonias. So here, 'the communication of the Spirit.' If you will render it 'communion,’ this is the great effect of the love of God and the grace of Christ, that we are made members of Christ's mystical body by the Spirit: 1 Cor. xii. 13, 'For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body;' and so are united to the head, and to one another by this bond of union. The church is a mystical body, whereof Christ is the head, and the Holy Ghost is, as it were, the heart of it; the one guideth this great body, the other quickeneth it. Now in this mystical body we actually come to the participation of what Christ hath purchased for us by the Holy Ghost
4. These make way one for another, or work into each other's hand; for what the Father intended, Christ purchased, and the Spirit applieth. God the Father is as the fountain of grace, Jesus Christ as the conduit or pipe to convey it to us, and the Holy Ghost the immediate operator and worker of it; the Father of his good pleasure electing sinners to grace and glory, the Son by his obedience and sufferings purchasing it, that it may be brought about in a way convenient for God’s honour, the Spirit by his virtue and power working grace in them. There is not a different effect from the Father which is not from the Son, and from the Son which is not from the Spirit, but they concur in an united way, that what cometh from the Father cometh from the Son and the Spirit; the Father makes way for the Son's work, and the Son for the Spirit's. So back again; the Spirit is said to honour the Son: John xvi. 14, 'He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you;' and the Son is said to glorify the Father: John xiv. 13, 'And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.' The Spirit acts as sent by Christ, and Christ as sent by the Father. This is necessary to be regarded by us, because as our salvation in the general is from the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit, so in all our commerce with God, God the Father, as a judge, by the spirit of bondage sendeth us to Christ as mediator, and Christ as mediator by the Spirit of adoption sends us back again to God as a Father. It is a great help to prayer: Eph. ii. 18, 'For through him we both have an access by one Spirit unto the Father.' To whom are we praying? To God as a Father. Whence have we hopes of audience? By Christ. Who giveth us an heart to come? The Spirit.
II. The reasons why they concur.
1. That we may have the higher esteem of the work, which hath such agents concerned in it. It is no slight thing to bring about the salvation of lost sinners; all the persons of the godhead are at work about it; and shall not we, who are the parties interested, be employed about it also? God is in good earnest; for therefore before all worlds he employed the riches of his wisdom and grace to save us in this convenient way: 1 Peter i. 20, 'Who verily was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.' And who are we, that the thoughts of God should be taken up about us so long ago? Jesus Christ hath spared no pains to accomplish the work of our redemption, but freely offered himself to this work: Heb. x, 7, 'Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.' He repented not his undertaking, but was fully contented, if souls may be saved: Isa. liii. 11, 'He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied.' And the Holy Spirit continueth striving with us, though often grieved by our obstinacy and disobedience: Gen. vi. 3, 'My Spirit shall not always strive with man;' Isa, lxiii. 10, 'They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit.' Many a conviction do we smother, and often check, and resist his motions, yet he is importunate to prevail with us.
2. That our hearts may be raised to give equal glory to all the persons concerned. We must honour the Son as we honour the Father, us it is expressly said, John v. 23, 'That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father that hath sent him.' There is an honour due to God only, not to be given to any other. Christ is equal with the Father in participating this honour; he is to have the same glory of believing, love, fear, and invocation. So also for the Spirit; he is an object of invocation; for as the apostle wisheth and desireth love from the Father and grace from Christ so a liberal distribution and communication of gifts and graces from the Spirit. Now, to excite us to give this due inspect to all the persons, every one concurreth in his way to promote our final happiness and salvation. The Father deserveth this esteem from us. Many think of God the Father as all wrath and justice, difficult to be reconciled to man; and of the second person of the Trinity as more gracious and merciful. No; the love of God is the original of our redemption: God 'spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all,' Rom. viii. 32; and 'God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them,' 2 Cor. v. 19; and 'the Father himself loveth you,’ John xvi. 27. Christ came to show the amiable nature of God: 'Being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person,’ Heb. i. 3. Then for the Lord Jesus, in Christ the glory and riches of the grace of God doth more eminently and palpably appear. This is the contemplation of the saints: John i. 14, 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld his glory (the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth;' Eph. iii. 18,19, 'That ye may be able to comprehend, with all saints, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God;' Heb. iii. 1, 'Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Jesus Christ' His grace, thus condescending to men, is more eminently seen: Rom. v. 8, 'But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us;' and Rev. i. 5, 'To him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood.' And for God the Spirit, we also find our hearts raised to give him glory; partly by the motions of his grace, which we feel in our hearts: Ps. cxliii. 10, 'Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God: thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness;' Neh. ix. 20, 'Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them.' The sanctifier, guide, and comforter of believers is God's Spirit; he is the only author and fountain of all goodness and holiness. And partly by the comfortable sense he begets in us of our adoption: Gal. iv. 6, 'And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father;' and of our hopes of glory: 2 Cor. v. 5, 'Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who hath also given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.' And partly by the support and comfort we have from him in all our conflicts and distresses: 1 Peter iv. 14, 'If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil-spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.'
3. That we may with more confidence wait for the beginning, progress, and consummation of our own salvation. There is the eternal love of God, the all-sufficient merit of Christ, and the omnipotent operation of the Holy Ghost. What cannot eternal love, infinite merit, and almighty power do? As Christ is necessary to keep all right between us and God, so the Spirit is necessary to keep all right between us and Christ. As we need a person of the godhead to satisfy the justice of God, so also to overcome our obstinancy and unbelief, and to vanquish temptations, and doubts, and fears, and to settle us in the comfort and hope of the gospel. It is God's prerogative to settle the conscience: Isa. lvii. 19, 'I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, pence, to him that is afar off, and to him that is nigh, saith the Lord.' God is the supreme judge and the wronged party: 'He commands his loving-kindness in the day-time,' Ps. xlii. 8. By a powerful, imperial act of the Spirit, he stilleth our doubts and fears.
4. That the whole glory of our salvation may redound to God alone. Therefore the divine persons carry it on among themselves; love, grace, and communication do all: 'To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved,' Eph. i. 6. Grace is the fountain cause of our election; grace bringeth it about; for who could ransom a soul except Christ had taken the work in hand? There would have been a stop there: Ps. xlix. 7, 8, 'None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him; for the redemption of their soul is precious, and ceaseth for ever.' There would have been a stop there. Grace applies all. What are we before the grace of the Spirit? how unworthy till grace make us lovely! how unable to lay hold on it before the Spirit of God enable us! Rom. v. 6, 'For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.' And how unable are we to make good use of it afterward! For (1.) What was our behaviour before calling? 'Disobedient, serving divers lusts and pleasures,' Titus iii. 3. (2.) In calling, it was slight and refractory: Job xxxiii. 14, 'For God speaketh once, yea twice, but man perceiveth it not.' He often inviteth, but men take no notice of what so much concerneth their soul's good, but slight all warnings and instructions, lay not their condition to heart, and many an opportunity is lost; but God overcometh men's evil by his own goodness, and will not lose his elect; therefore, ver. 16, 'He openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction;' that is, breaketh in upon them in such a powerful way that they cannot withstand it. (3.) Since calling there are frequent interruptions of obedience: James iii. 2, ' For in many things we offend all.’ Our best performances are weak and full of blemishes: Isa. lxiv. 6, 'We are all us an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.' So that from first to last all floweth from God, and all floweth from love, and grace, and communication of the Spirit, that our persons and actions are accepted. Now it is our duty to acknowledge this love, and highly esteem this glorious grace, and to testify our esteem by word and work. By word, in praises; by deed, expressing our thankfulness in our lives, that they may be a constant hymn to God, and a praise of his grace that we are made partakers of.
Use 1. To encourage us to seek after the effects of this love of God, grace of Jesus Christ, and communion of the Spirit.
1. I will plead your want. What will you do if you have not Father, Son, and Holy Ghost for your God? You have your beings from him for a while, but the day of his patience will not always last. You must die, and give an account; and woful, yea, dreadful, will their account be who are not only involved in the common apostasy, but have heard of the transactions of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost about their recovery, and never minded the benefit, or made light of it. Surely it is woful dulness and stupidity not to value it, and to feel no need of it: 2 Cor. vi. 1, 'We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.' What grace was that? ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself,' chap. v. 19. That grace which the Father hath contrived for your salvation; that grace for which Christ laid down his life; that grace which is so affectionately tendered in the gospel; that grace and that free undeserving mercy which is so suitable to your necessities. Will you despise this? It was an act of infinite love of God to design it and reveal it to you; of Christ, to purchase it for you; of the Holy Ghost, to offer it to you; yea, to strive with you to make you capable of it Shall the gospel be cast away upon you. and all those gracious methods of God frustrated? Or have you no need of it? How will you maintain peace in your consciences now without grace? How will you stand before God's tribunal at the last day?
2. Let me plead the worth of it. He that hath this love of God, this grace of Christ, this communion of the Spirit, wanteth nothing to his solid happiness; he hath all necessary things in their cause and fountain; for he hath God, Christ, and the Spirit; for all things come from the love of God, and the grace of Christ, and the communion of the Holy Ghost. And he doth possess all things in that measure that God sees fit for him: Ps. lxxxiv. 11, 'The Lord will give grace and glory, and no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.' It bringeth other mercies with it, and nothing is good without it All things are mercy, even those that fall out contrary to our expectations: Rom. viii. 28, 'All things shall work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose.' Well, then, they that know the want of grace, or the worth of grace, will earnestly seek it.
3. Let me plead the possibility of obtaining it; for the three persons conspire and agree together, not to your ruin, but salvation. Whatever may be expected from infinite love, eternal merit, and almighty power, it is all offered to those that will seek after it. There are none but are sensible that they need to address themselves to God for pardon and a blessing. Now God is an holy God; how shall sinners deal with him? As the prophet said to Ahab, 'If it were not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look towards thee, nor see thee,' 2 Kings iii. 14. Whatever we seek and expect from God, we must seek it from Jesus Christ, who hath purchased all: Isa. liii. 5, 'He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed;' Eph. i. 7, 'In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.' And he is appointed to bestow all that which he hath purchased: Acts v. 31, 'Him hath God exalted with his right hand, to be a prince and a saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and remission of sins.' And by his intercession he doth apply all: Heb. vii. 25, 'Wherefore he is able to save them to the uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' Well, then, if we will go to Christ, he sendeth us to the Spirit, who worketh all, and doth accomplish in us the pleasure of his goodness. Go to the Spirit; he must heal you and help you. The Spirit sendeth us to the means: Acts i. 4, 'And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father.' You shall find him present in the ordinances. Oh, what encouragement have we to be serious, and in the use of the means by which the Spirit worketh!
4. We are obliged by our baptismal covenant: Mat. xxviii. 19, 'Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.’ Father, Son, and Holy Ghost take upon them to convey this love, grace, and power; and we take upon ourselves to accept the Father for our Lord and happiness, Christ for our redeemer and saviour, and the Holy Ghost for our guide, sanctifier, and comforter; to obey his motions, to use those means whereby we may feel his power, to avoid those wilful sins which may grieve the Spirit, and cause him to suspend his operations and comforts. There we are consecrated as children to the true God, consent to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and obey his Spirit. Now make conscience of this vow.
Use 2. Is to put us upon self-reflection. Is the love of the Father, and the grace of Christ, and the communion of the Holy Ghost with us? Do we seek our happiness in Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? Or do you consent that God shall be your God, as reconciled to you in Jesus Christ?
1. As to the Father. Do you own him as your rightful Lord? and are you willing to return to his obedience by Jesus Christ? Do you take him for your portion and felicity? Do you expect to receive all your happiness from him? valuing and preferring his favour and love above all the pleasures, profits, and honours of the world? Ps. iv. 6, 'There be many that say, Who will show us any good? Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.' Admiring it? 1 John iii. 1, 'Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons God!' 'His favour is life,' Ps. xxx. 5. Yea, better than life: Ps. lxiii. 3, 'Because thy loving-kindness i» better than life, my lips shall praise thee.' Willing to forsake all rather than forsake him. Behave yourselves with that thankfulness - as those that owe yourselves and all your happiness to him: 2 Cor. v. 14,15, 'The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.' Carry it as those that are obliged by love.
2. Do you take Christ for your only saviour and redeemer? giving up yourselves to be saved by his merits, righteousness, and intercession, as he hath promised in the word? Do you trust yourselves and souls with him for pardon, peace, and endless happiness? depend upon his covenant and promises for reconciliation with God, and everlasting fruition of him in glory? trampling upon all things, rather than turn your back upon your Redeemer's grace?
3. Do you yield yourselves to the Holy Ghost? Are you unfeignedly desirous to be rid of sin as displeasing to the holy God, how dear soever it hath been to you? And do you submit to the Spirit, to be sanctified and perfected by degrees in the means he hath appointed, being ruled by his motions rather than the desires of the flesh? Do you observe his accesses and recesses, and behave yourselves accordingly?
Home | Sermons | Biography | Writings | Links