tion. Now, now come to Jesus, and gain everlasting glory. Meditation. When the apostle asked, How can we know the way? how full and blessed was the answer of our Lord to his inquiry! I am the way, the truth, and the life! Ọ may I every day walk in Christ as the way, know Christ as the truth, and live in him as the life of my soul! To me to live is Christ; let this be my life and my joy continually, and then if I die, to die will be gain; or if he shall appear before I die, abiding in him, I shall have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. And how wonderful it is that the way of access is not for the righteous, but for sinners! Yes, only for sinners, so that it is not the righteous, but the sinner that comes to the Father through Jesus, and by one Spirit. May I constantly avail myself of this amazing privilege, obtained for me, a sinner, by my divine and righteous Lord! 10. COMMUNION WITH GOD. This is the end of the knowledge of God-the daily and constant enjoyment of his presence; and this only is the creature's happiness. In thy presence is fulness of joy. This the Christian in a measure attains here. Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; and these things write we unto you that your joy may be full. This will be the Christian's joy through eternity. There the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever. How then may we daily walk with God, as Enoch did, as Abraham did, and as David did? There is COMMUNION WITH THE FATHER. Truly our fellowship is with the Father. This is eminently in love; God is love, and his love was manifested in sending his only begotten Son into the world; and the love of God is that which the apostle specially desires might be with the Corinthians. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The Father himself loveth you. John xvi. 27. And when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, (Rom. v. 5;) when we see how eternal, free, unchangeable, and distinguishing it is, it excites corresponding returns of love, and we love him because he first loved us. 1 John iv. 19. And in the flowing in of God's love to our soul, through the word of Christ and by his Spirit, and the going out of our affections to him, consists much of that sweet communion, commerce, and intercourse which subsists between a soul born of God and the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. How blessed, how infinitely blessed, this fellowship is, what tongue can tell! There is COMMUNION WITH THE SON. Truly our fellowship is with his Son Jesus Christ;—a communion so entire and intimate, as to be compared to that of the members and the body, the husband and the wife. This communion is peculiarly in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. He is full of grace and truth, and of his fulness have all we received;-full of grace in his person as God and man, in his life and death for us, in his work, in his kingdom, and glory; full of grace in the gifts of his Spirit, received for us sinners who believe in him. And when this is discovered to us by the Holy Ghost (John xvi. 14, 15), then our hearts are drawn out to him. Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, his love constrains us, and we live not to ourselves, but to him who died for us. He sympathizes with us; in all our afflictions he is afflicted; he bestows his gifts daily upon us, and we desire in all things to look up to him, trust in him, love him, and obey him; and where we do not, grieve and mourn for our guilt and folly. O blessed communion! No communion with any on earth is so perfect and so sweet as this communion between Christ and his people. There is COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST. This is what the apostle closes with in his desire for the Corinthians, The communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all! He is the present administrator of the kingdom of Christ, the Comforter who supplies our wants in the absence of the Saviour. It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. Many and gracious are the offices which he undertakes for us. He is our Quickener, Guide, Teacher, Sanctifier, Comforter and Upholder. The temple in which he delights to dwell is the body of the believer, 1 Cor. vi. 19; where he comes also, he abides for ever, John xiv. 16. O the unspeakable advantage of this Almighty Spirit, who, with multiplied and diversified gifts, distributes as he will to the people of Christ for the good of the whole body! He glorifies Christ, witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God, seals us to the day of redemption, gives the earnest of our heavenly inheritance ; he becomes in us a spirit of supplication and of adoption, of fruitfulness and of holy joy. May we never then, resist or grieve him, and never quench his motions in us? May we worship and love him, and desire his in-dwelling, and walk in the Spirit day by day! This is our communion with the divine Spirit. Communion with God is maintained BY LOVING him and delighting in him all the day. Delight thyself in the Lord. O gracious direction! may we know it in Jesus, and by the Holy Ghost, constantly and experimentally! It is also maintained BY PRAYER to him our life, a life given to prayer; constant rising of the heart's affections to our ever-present God, in holy thirstings, desires, and requests to him. It is, lastly, maintained BY PRAISE, a duty never out of season to the Christian; in every thing give thanks. David's Psalms are full of this thankfulness, and no small part of our communion with God consists in the grateful emotions of a full heart, overflowing with praise and thanksgiving. Prayer for Communion with God. O my God! draw me, and I will run after thee. It is thine own covenant engagement to all that believe in thy Son; I will be their God, and they shall be my people. It is thine own promise to him of a contrite and a humble spirit, that thou will dwell with him, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Do thou, I beseech thee, dwell with me and be in me. O give me the humble and contrite spirit, that I may, through Jesus, have the blessed in-dwelling of God himself, and my body may be the very temple of the Holy Ghost, and my whole life a walking with thee in faith and hope, in joy and love, till I come to see thee as thou art, and to know as I am known. 11. PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE ON THE ATTRIBUTES OF THE GREAT GOD. Greatness, Power, and Omniscience.-Gen. xviii. 14. Exod. xv. 6, 13. Numb. xi. 23. 1 Sam. ii. 2. 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12. Job ix. 32. Ps. xliv. 21; lxxvii. 19; civ. 24; cvii. 29; lxxxix. 1, 2, 7, 8. Prov. v. 21. Jer. v. 22. Dan. ii. 20-22; iv. 3. Joel ii. 11. Matt. xix. 26. Luke i. 37, 38. Justice and Righteousness.-Gen. xviii. 25. Exod. xxxiv. 7. Numb. xxiii. 19. 1 Sam. xv. 29. Deut. xxxii. 4. Ps. xi. 7; xix. 8; xxiii. 4. xxxvi. 6; xiv. 7; xlviii. 10; 1xxi. 19; lxxxix. 14, 34, xcii. 15; xcvii. 2. Isa. xi. 4. Hos. xiv. 9. Rom. xi. 11. Rev. xv. 3. Goodness, Mercy, and Condescension.-Exod. xv. 13; xxxiv. 6, 7. Deut. i. 31. Judges x. 16. 2 Kings xiii. 23. 2 Chron. vi. 18. Neh. ix. 17, 31. Job xi. 6. Ps. xxxiii. 5; xxxv. 10; xxxvi. 5; lvii. 10; xxxvi.7; lxii. 12; lxxviii. 38; lxxxvi. 15; lxxxix. 14; xcviii. 3; ciii. 3, 4, 9-13; evi. 4, 5; cxiii. 5, 6; cxvi. 5; cxxx. 7; cxlv. 8, 9. Isa. xxx. 18. Jer. xii. 15, iii. 12. Lam. iii. 21. Hos. xi. 4. 14. Luke i. 50. Eph. ii. 4. James i. 17; ii. 13; v. 11. 1 Pet. i. 3. Micah vii. 18. Matt. xviii. 2 Cor. i. 3. His great Love to Man.-John xvi. 17. Rom. viii. 32. Eph. ii. 4, 7. 1 John iii. 16; iv. 7-11, 19. Job xvi. 20. Ps. He is our Portion and Refuge.-2 Sam. xxii. 19, 31. ix. 9; xvi. 5; xxvii. 7, 8; xxxi. 3, xxxvii. 39; xlvi. 1; liv. 4; lix. 9, 16, 17; lxi. 3; lxii. 7; lxxiii. 26; lxxxiv. 11; xc. 1; cxix. 57; cxxi. 2; cxlii. 5. Prov. xviii. 10. Isa. xxv. 4. Lam. iii. 24. Hos. xiii. 9. Joel iii. 16. Nah. i. 7. Ps. iii. 8; cxviii. 14; cxliv. Salvation is from God.-Job xiii. 16. 10. Isa. xliii. 11. Jer. iii. 23. Hos. xiii. 4. Invitations to come to God. -Isa. lv. 1-3. God expostulates with us.-Deut. v. 29. 2. Lam. iii. 39. Ezek. xviii. 23, 29, 32; James iv. 8. Isa. i. 5-18; v. 4; 1. 2; lv. xxxiii. 11. John v. 40. LIST OF BOOKS FOR THOSE WHO WISH FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE SUBJECT OF THIS CHAPTER. Preston (John), Life Eternal, 4to. 1534. Church (Henry), God and Man, 4to. 1637. Stock (Richard), Divine Knowledge, 4to. 1641. Owen (John), On Communion with God, 4to. 1657. Swinnock (George), Incomparableness of God, 8vo. 1672. |