his own Sovereign will and pleasure. God is not moved by anything in His people to make choice of them; for it is without regard to deservings or undeservings. It is our persons, not our state or circumstances, nor for anything in us to recommend, or any grace hereafter to be given to us to recommend. The Sovereignty of God is hereby fully demonstrated, in that it acts solely from Himself, and from nothing out of Himself. "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious." This is the unalterable language of God. So that the persons of the Lord's people are chosen in Christ, and that without regard to merit or demerit, being "chosen in Christ before the world began."

From these particulars, which may be considered as so many leading points in the doctrines of grace,-and the very first principles in these doctrines concerning the Persons in Trinity, the regenerated Church of Christ, under Divine teaching, may be led to the same conclusion, namely, that God, in acts of personal communion with his people in Christ, is, and must be, the only source of all blessedness to his people, both in the "life that now is, and in that which is to come." And as each glorious PERSON hath, in a most plain and palpable manner, shown His own Sovereign act in all that relates to the Church, in proof of that distinctness, while the whole form the undivided will, purpose, and pleasure of the Holy Trinity; the Church of God in Christ is enabled, through Divine teaching, to receive the several tokens of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and to go forth in acts of faith, love, and praise, to each glorious Person, and to all, as the one, undivided, Holy Trinity.

CHAPTER IX.

The Acts of Jehovah in His Trinity of Persons manifest by the Work of the Holy Spirit to the Church-equally Interested, and alike Blessed.

I would now consider, that the source of all blessedness to the children of God ariseth, and must arise, from the goings forth of God in his Trinity of Persons, in acts of personal communion with His people in Christ; as is evident from the following considerations :-That in the "most sacred sitting of the Holy Trinity," as one calls it, when in those ancient settlements of Eternity, God purposed to go forth in acts of creation, and to raise up a Church for His glory; each glorious Person took part in that vast design, and adopted this most gracious purpose of making each distinctly to be known to the individual members of Christ's mystical body. God the Father chose to be revealed, as choosing, adopting, and accept

And God the Son no

ing the Church in His dear Son. less endeared himself to the affections of His people, by marrying the persons of His people, and redeeming them from the Adam-fall transgression by His blood. And the promise of God the Holy Ghost became manifested, in anointing both head and members, and regenerating the Lord's people, when "dead in trespasses and sin,” to a new and spiritual life in Christ. And nothing can more fully testify the sense and apprehension in which Jehovah, in his Trinity of Persons, would have these acts of the Godhead considered and accepted by the Lord's people, than having appointed that the Church, in every in

dividual member, should be baptized into the joint name, and be blessed by the joint blessing, of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. So palpable a testimony can need no further evidence; that as the whole Persons in the Godhead, and each, have taken equal parts in the Covenant of grace as relating to the Church; so the whole and each are to have equal glory; and all and every regenerated child of God is to find blessedness in communication from each, and the returns of actings of faith, and love, and praise with each and all, in grace, love, and glory hereafter.

The goings forth of Jehovah in unceasing acts of grace, to the highly favoured objects of Divine love, "chosen in Christ before the world began," become the highest assurances of the gracious designs of Jehovah in his Trinity of Persons in this matter. The Word of God is full of the tenderest expressions to this amount, from each and all the Persons in the Godhead. Hence all the acts of God the Father to his Church in Christ, are agreeable to this tender appellation. He first becomes our Father, having adopted the Church in Christ as children to Himself, and then manifests his Fatherly love in endless love-tokens as our Father. He is specially and personally called the "Father of lights," the "Father of glory," the "Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;" as if, and which is indeed the case, as a Father he begets all those, and every other blessing as his children need; yea, they come from Himself, and are a part of Himself, for he not only communicates every blessing, but is Himself the blessing. He makes his chosen in Christ part of Himself, from having taken them into union with Himself in

Christ; so that having made himself over to them, and making all their concerns his, every day, and all the day, He is going forth in communion and fellowship, and "blessing them with all spiritual blessings, in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.”*

In like manner of God the Son, all the tenderness of His love are personal. The very purpose for which He took our nature, was to open and to keep up a continued intercourse, communion, and fellowship with His people. And in that twofold nature, God and man in one Person, He is eminently qualified to go forth in acts of personal communion every moment. For as man, He knows and feels what our nature is by His own; and as God, He hath all the power and grace of God to communicate what is needful for ever.

His body the Church, he in all."†

And thus, by being “Head of is the fulness which filleth all

And in relation to the manifestation of God the Holy Ghost, all and every act of love and grace from the Person of the Father, and the Person of the Son, to the Church in Christ, in the sweet and full enjoyment of them, become the immediate work of the Person of the Holy Ghost. He is the great spring of all spiritual life and enjoyment; of all spiritual blessings, in first giving the Church an apprehension of the Father's love and the Son's grace, and then sweetly directing the soul He hath warmed with that knowledge into lively actings of faith upon both, so as to open, and keep open, holy communion and fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. There is a particular glory in that verse of * Ephes. i. 3. † Ephes. i. 23.

Scripture, and I have often found a blessedness in it, in which the Lord Jesus, speaking of the Holy Ghost, saith, "He shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak."* And how beautifully do all regenerated children of God prove this in all their instances of prayer, when, from having made intercession in our hearts according to the will of God, we "know the things that are freely given to us of God!" And I have no less often found a peculiar loveliness in the Holy Ghost being called the Comforter. For in the exercise of this office, the Church receives all the comforts in the Covenant. God our Father is called, and is indeed, the God of all comfort. And God the Son is in himself the whole consolation of Israel. But He who emphatically is called the Comforter, is God the Holy Ghost, to whose efficient ministry is personally committed to bring home and apply all the Father's comforts, and all the Son's consolations, in the souls of His people.

If I trespass one moment longer, it shall be to observe, that the whole Church of Christ are all equally interested, and all equally blessed, in those goings forth of Jehovah in his Trinity of Persons, in communion with His people. However different in age or stature, however distinguished in gifts or attainments, the "household of faith," when brought into a state of regeneration, is the same; and to every one is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ." And therefore, as the Apostle John speaks, whether fathers, or young men, or little children, all are equally near and dear to Jehovah in his Trinity of Persons; and should daily study, under † Ephes. iv. 7.

*John xvi. 15.