and bj him be filled with all the fulness of God"^. Come, then, to the table of the Lord, that ye may receive " a supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" !" for " He has the residue of the Spirit"," and will send Him to you from the Father p, in answer to your prayers'). Come, all of you ; and ye shall par- take more richly of his vital energies, and be confirmed more strongly in the principles ye have imbibed, and be quickened more abundantly in your pursuit of heaven, and be rendered still more heavenly in all your tempers and affections. Thus shall the whole work of God be perfected in your souls : and in due time you shall resemble the saints above ; yea, and be partakers with them in holiness, and felicity, and glory.]
m John vi. 56, 57. Eph. iv. 15. " Phil. i. 19. <> Mai. ii, 15. P John XV. 26. and xvi, 7. ^ Luke xi. 13
1 Cor. xii. 31. Covet earnestly the best gifts : and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.
SUCH is the weakness of human nature, that we can scarcely possess any thing that distinguishes us from others, without priding ourselves in it; as though it had sprung from some efforts of our own, or at least had been given us for our superior desert. Even miraculous powers, which could manifestly originate in nothing but God's sovereign will and pleasure, were to the Corinthians a ground of boasting and self-complacency. We, at this time, are perfectly amazed at the indecorous way in which many in the apostolic age abused their powers, and at the manner in which they conducted their religious assemblies. St. Paul, as might well be expected, set himself to reform those abuses, and so to regulate their proceed- ings, that " all things might be done decently and in order." With this view, he shewed them, that, what- ever the number or quality of " their gifts" might be, whatever '' the differences of their administrations," and whatever " the diversities of their operations," they all proceeded from " the same God who wrought all in all." He acknowledged the benefit arising from