T 4 OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PEllSON DISTINCTLY.
■ — that is, with divine love, the love of religious worship; which is the only incorrupt love of the Lord Jesus.
Farther: that faith, hope, and love, acting themselves in all man- ner of obedience and appointed worship, are peculiarly due from the saints,^ and distinctly directed unto the Son, is abundantly mani- fest from that solemn doxology, Eev. i. 5, 6, " Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Which yet is set forth with more glory, chap. v. 8, " The four living creatures, aud the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints : " and verses 13, 14, "Every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and gloiy, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." The Father and the Son (he that sits upon the throne, and the Lamb) are held out jointly, yet distinctly, as the ade- quate object of all divine worship and honour, for ever and ever. And therefore Stephen, in his solemn dying invocation, fixeth his faith and hope distinctly on him. Acts vii. 59, 60, " Lord Jesus, re- ceive my spirit;" and, " Lord, lay not this sin to their charge;" — for ho knew that the Son of man had power to forgive sins also. And this worship of the Lord Jesus, the apostle makes the discriminating character of the saints, 1 Cor. i. 2, " With all," saith he, " that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours;" that is, with all the saints of God. And invocation gene- rally comprises the whole worship of God.^ This, then, is the due of our Mediator, though as God, as the Son, — not as Mediator,
3. Thus also is it in reference unto the Holy Spirit of gi-ace. The closing of the great sin of unbelief is still described as an opposition unto, and a resisting of that Holy Spirit. And you have distinct mention of the love of the Spirit, Eom. xv. 30. The apostle also pcculiai'ly directs his supplication to him in tliat solemn benediction, 2 Cor. xiii. 14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and tlie love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." And such benedictions are originally supplications. He is likewise en- titled unto all instituted worship, from the appointment of the admi- nistration of baptism in his name, Matt, xxviii. 19. Of which things more afterward.
• Pfl. ii. 7, 12; Dan. iii, 25; Matt. iii. 17. xvii. 5, xxii. 4a; John iii.36, v. 19-26, viii. ;J6; 1 Cor. i. 9; Gal. i. 16, iv. 6; 1 John ii. 22-24, v. 10-13; Ueb, i. 6; Phil, ii. 10; John v. 23.
- Isii. Ivi. 7; Itoni. x. 12-14, ■' Acts vii. 51.
OF COMMUNION WITH EACH PERSON DISTINCTLY. 15
Now, of the tilings wliicli have been delivered this is the sum: — there is no grace whereby our souls go forth unto God, no act of divine worship yielded unto him, no duty or obedience performed, but they are distinctly directed unto Father, Son, and Spirit. Now, by these and such like ways as these, do'^ we hold communion with God ; and there- fore we have that communion distinctly, as hath been described.
This also may farther appear, if we consider how distinctly the persons of the Deity are revealed to act in the communication of those good things, wherein the saints have communion with God.'^ As all the spiritual ascendings of their souls are assigned unto them respectively, so all their internal receivings of the communications of God unto them are held out in such a distribution as points at dis- tinct rises and fountains (though not of being in themselves, yet) of dispensations unto us. Now this is declared two ways: —
(1.) When the same thing is, at the sanw time, ascvihed joiyitly and yet distinctly to all the persons in the Deity, and respectively to each of them. So are grace and peace, Rev. i. 4, 5, " Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come ; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne ; and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness," etc. The seven Spirits before the throne, are the Holy Spirit of God, considered as the perfect fountain of every perfect gift and dispensation. All are here joined together, and yet all mentioned as distinguished in their communication of gxace and peace unto the saints. " Grace and peace be unto you, from the Father, and from," etc.
(2.) When the same thing is attributed severally and singly unto each person. There is, indeed, no gracious influence from above, no illapse of light, life, love, or grace upon our hearts, but proceedeth in such a dispensation. I shall give only one instance, which is very comprehensive, and may be thought to comprise all other particulars; and this is TEACHING. The teaching of God is the real communica- tion of all and every particular emanation from himself unto the saints whereof they are made partakers. That promise, " They shall be all taught of God," inwraps in itself the whole mystery of grace, as to its actual dispensation unto us, so far as we may be made real possessors of it. Now this is assigned, —