Without
this water of life, communion is weak, flat, cold, dead, fruitless,
lifeless; there is nothing seen, felt, heard, or understood, in a
spiritual, heart-quickening way. Now ordinances are burdensome, sins
strong, faith weak, hearts hard, and the faces of our souls dry,
like the dry and parched ground.
This drink also revives us when tempted, when sick, when persecuted,
when in the dark, and when we faint for thirst. The life of religion
is this water of life; where that runs, where that is received, and
where things are done in this spirit, there all things are well--the
church thrifty, the soul thrifty, graces thrifty, and all is well.
You that are spiritual, you know what a high and goodly lifting up
of heart one small gale of the good Spirit of God will make in your
souls; how it will make your lusts to languish, and your souls to
love and take pleasure in the Lord that saves you. You know, I say,
what a flame of love, and compassion, and self-denial, and endeared
affection to God and all saints, it will beget in the soul: "Oh, it
is good to be here," saith the gracious heart.
This is the reason why so many are carried away with the errors that
are broached in these days, because they have not indeed received
the Lord Jesus by the revelation of the Spirit and with power, but
by the relation of others only; and so having no other witness to
set them down withal, but the history of the word and the relation
of others concerning the truths contained in it, yet not having had
the Spirit of the Lord to confirm these things effectually to them,
they are carried away with delusions.
Pages:
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180