2. The benefit of self-devotion —
[We suppose that some of you at least are giving up yourselves to the Lord in a way of holy and unreserved
b Rom. viii. 9.
obedience : look up then to heaven, and there you may see the Saviour interceding for you. There too you may see the Holy Spirit of God just ready to come down at the very first inti- mation of the Father's will, to take possession of your bosom, and to make your soul his habitation. From thence will he come with all his consolations and supports, so that there shall be nothing in the whole universe able to depress you, or to stop your progress in the divine life. With him shall you enjoy the sweetest fellowship, such as no worldly man can have the least idea of; and by him you shall be progressively prepared for the enjoyment of your God in heaven. Only wait on the Saviour in the way of his appointment ; and his promises shall be fulfilled to you in all their boundless extent. You have seen how they were accomplished to the Apostles, and in what felicity they issued : and to those who trust in them, not one jot or tittle of them shall ever fail.]
John xiv. 19. Because I live, ye shall live also.
AMONGST the various sources of consolation which our Lord opened to his Disciples, to support them under the disappointment that would be occa- sioned by his death, a very principal one seems to have been, that they themselves would be greatly benefited by his departure: for that he would send to them his Spirit, who should more than supply the want of his bodily presence ; and that he himself would more effectually advance their eternal interests than he could do if he were to continue upon earth. He assures them, that though dead as to the body, he would still live ; and that, " because he lived, they should live also."
From this declaration of his we shall make two inquiries ;
I. What connexion has the life of Christ with his people's life —
Those who are not altogether ignorant of Christ art1 yet more apt to think of him as a dying, than as