of his Majesty, and of his wondrous works. To utter forth the memory of his great goodness, and to sing of his righteousness. They will do so. They cannot but act thus, if they have seen Him: if they have conversed with Him if they have heard Him: if they have been taught by Him as the Truth is in Jesus. They and we cannot but speak what we have seen in Him: received from Him: and been taught by Him. And to whom will they make their declaration of Him? To sinners, and saints. To the former they will sound forth this most solemn declaration, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners;" which, when received by the power of the Holy Ghost into the heart, they will add, "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life:" and these words also, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life:" then the ministers of Christ will proceed to shew them what they are in Christ. How they stand in him. What views the Father hath of them in Christ. How he loves them in his Son. How he hath accepted their persons in Him the Beloved. How completely saved they are in Christ. That they are blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings. And are called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The apostle here speaks for all his brethren, and in their names he speaks to all saints. Let them be distinguished as they might, by their age, and state in christianity: fathers, babes, or young men in Christ. which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. As they had themselves been feasted with a sight of Christ, with his having opened his heart unto them, with the words which he had spoken in their hearing, and personally unto them, so they make in, and by their writings, a free, full, and clear discovery of the same, for the universal benefit of the whole church of God. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you. This brings me

That

2. To speak of the end and design of the apostle John in this. That ye also may have fellowship with us.

Church fellowship, which is the communion of saints, is an inexpressible blessing. It consists in imparting to each other an account of what the Lord hath done for our souls: how he opened our eyes to behold Him: how he made way for us to receive Him, by giving us to hear his voice in the everlasting gospel, and by that very means entering our hearts, and possessing, dwelling, and continuing to abide in them. We receiving the same truths, enjoying the same spiritual apprehensions of Christ, and loving each other in Christ, by the same Spirit, who revealed Christ in us, and to us, it is hereby we are one spirit with each other in the Lord. We have fellowship with each other in the same Spirit; with the same Christ; in the same salvation : with the same God and Father: in the same ordinances. We are one family to the Lord. The apostle sets this forth most sweetly to the saints at Ephesus, whom he thus addresseth. "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you, that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." iv. 1-6. It is said

of the members of the first apostolic church, "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts ii. 42. Saints are not all of them embodied into a church state. Yet as saints they have fellowship with each other in Christ, at the Throne of his grace; in praying for each other; in praising and blessing God for what he hath done for each other; and in conversing with each other. And sometimes without having the least knowledge of each other. As they are importunate before the Lord, for his blessing on his church universally. The fellowship our text is speaking of, it is wholly and altogether supernatural and divine. It is with the Father, and the Son. It is with the apostles in their fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And this is his very eud and design in his writing unto them. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.. John and the rest of the apostles, being of one spirit in the Lord, he brings them in, as uniting with himself, in what he here inserts. We is the term he uses. So it was in the former verses. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and shew unto you that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Most assuredly, his design in declaring to the saints, all he, and the rest of the apostles knew of Christ, in his Person, as from everlasting He was with God, and was God-of what He was, as God and Man in one Christ -of what he was in his Incarnate state-of what he spake and did in our world, in the days of his flesh-of what He did, and spake in his Resurrection state-and of what they knew of Him, and the communion which they had with Him; now that He was in his exalted state-with the fellowship he continued to hold with them, and which He was most graciously pleased to admit them to hold with Him, must be very interesting to the saints. If it had not been so, it had not been declared by him to them. It is well therefore here to remark, that the Holy Ghost intended by this very epistle, to admit real saints, into proper views and perception of this great subject, and what is contained in communion with God, in all his Persons. And this as suited to the relation they stand in to us. It is a personal communion. It is the very perfection of grace and glory. We cannot reach higher this side heaven. We cannot go beyond it, No, not in glory. It is the very perfection of the life of faith. It is the utmost blessedness of the life of glory. On earth we enjoy it by faith. In heaven by sense. Now, by spiritual perception, then, by supernatural sense and vision. That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. We cannot enjoy God the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, any further than we have the true knowledge of them. The saints to whom John wrote and declared these important truths, might know them as truly, and intellectually in their own renewed minds, as the very apostles themselves did. Yet they did not know them so comprehensively. This being the case, the one could impart a

knowledge of these vast subjects, so, as thereby to be improving to the mind, and lead them further and more apprehensively into the subject. Hereby way would be made, for real saints, to be led to apprehend the blessedness, of real, free, open, manifestative communion with the Persons in Godhead, in all their glorious acts of grace, and outgoings of their love, to the church in Christ, from everlasting. This therefore was the great and gracious design of the apostle to effect by this epistle. As also by his gospel, and the whole of his ministry. He, and the rest of his brethren, had but this one end and design. That as they knew Christ, the church might know Him too. As truly, fully, and comprehensively, as to all true spiritual commuuion as they did. That the saints with them, might have the same holy fellowship, with themselves, and that they might also enjoy amongst themselves, with each other, and in their own souls, the same blessed fellowship with the Holy Ones, which the apostles did. It being their birth-right, their one common privilege, as being of one and the same spiritual community. And God in all his Persons, love, salvation, and Glory, being their portion and inheritance, he would have them to have clear apprehensions of the same, and know themselves as truly invested into right and title to all these blessings, as any of the apostles were. These being the ends and design of the apostle towards them, in his saying, That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us, is very expressive of the generosity and greatness of his mind unto them. That you, to whom I write may have fellowship with us, in all the mysteries of grace: in all the communicable blessings of everlasting love in all the riches of Christ's most glorious mediation in all the efficacy of his most perfect righteousness, and most precious bloodshedding. In his fulness. That there may be a free access to Him, and to the Father in Him, through the gracious guidance and influxes of the Holy Ghost, within you, and upon you. So as that what we have said, concerning his Person, in every particular, may have its inbeing and indwelling in your minds; so as to operate within you, and upon you, and be the very means of drawing out your hearts, affections, and desires after Him, who is the very centre and circumference of all our desires: and of yours also, so far as our account of Him, and declaration made, and given by us concerning Him, have been received, and are embraced, and believed by you. I conceive we may distinguish the real fellowship the apostles had with Christ, from what other saints have. They were favoured with personal converses with Christ. They received their knowledge of Him, more immediately, and intuitively from the Holy Spirit. In consequence of which, their faith was more simple. It was always, at all times, in every case, and circumstance, in act and exercise, after the descent of the Holy Ghost upon them. All other saints, and we with them, receive the grace of faith and the subject of faith from the written word. That is the glass, and the ordinance of worship, in the which we behold the Lord. It is but at the best, but through a glass darkly. Whilst their sight of Him was most clear. And whilst in his incarnate state, they took in but very imperfect conception of Him; yet when the Holy Ghost came in upon them fully, after our Lord was fully invested with eternal glory, they were then so enlightened into the true knowledge of what they had seen, and heard of Him, as led them into such personal fellowship in a way of com

munion with Him, as I should conceive, none beside were ever favoured with in a time state. There was an absolute necessity it should be thus with them. They were to speak and write on every article of faith, and state the same, as exactly as it was stated in the mind and will of God. They were to express everlasting love, in all its glorious fruits and effects, and in all the gracious discoveries made of the same by God himself, to the hearts of his people, in the real communion he is pleased to hold with them, and in the gracious manifestations of Himself to their minds. Their writings were to be immutable records of what God is in Christ, and to his Church in Him. And the very way and manner in which it pleases Him to make the same known unto them. Now most assuredly, in proportion to their knowledge of Christ, such must have been their faith in Christ. Such also must have been their confidence in Christ. Such their enjoyments of Him. Such their aspirations after Him. Such their high prizings of Him. Such their valuation of Him. Such their cleavings unto Him. Such their communion with Him. They knew Him to be their supreme life. Whilst we who acknowledge Him to be our life, scarce apprehend what is contained in the very expression. They obtained many blessed interviews with Him, in a way of personal communion with Him, in an immediate and direct way: whilst we are generally looking to our own inherent graces, to encourage, and bring about this holy communion between Him, and us. As they could write fully and freely on this subject, so they had a very large and comprehensive knowledge of the same. The end of John, as an apostle of Jesus Christ, in writing as he did, which was altogether under the influence and immediate unction of the Holy Ghost, was, that all the saints in Christ Jesus, throughout the whole world, might have fellowship with Him, and the rest of the apostles in this blessedness, which consisted in fellowship with the Father, and the Son. This brings me to my

3d. Particular, to consider those with whom the apostles had fellowship. I ask, who were they? the reply is, the Father, and the Son. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ This is now to be particularly discoursed on, to be opened, and explained. May the Lord assist herein. It being a point of vast importance. It may be best in going through this part of my discourse, to speak in a distinct manner on the same. In the first place, the apostle speaks in a very positive manner, and asserts for himself, and the other apostles, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. This is here to be observed. The sacred writers speak in very positive terms on the most important subjects. They do not go about to explain the subjects they declare. But they utter the same, and there leave it, setting their apostolic seal thereto. Communion with God-it must be the supreme corner-stone of christianity. Yet our apostle does not say what it is, wherein it consists, nor by what means he, and the we in whose names he expresses this great truth, enjoyed it. He only says, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. I should apprehend, the we spoken of, enjoyed communion with the Father, in the knowledge they had of his everlasting love, which they had clear apprehensions of in the Person of Christ. In the views they had of Christ, as the gift of the Father's love. As his salvation. In whom was all his delight. In whom he shone forth in all the glorious beams of his everlasting love. This they had a real knowledge of. And so they had of the

E

Person of Jesus Christ. They knew him to be the Son of God. The God-Man, the Head, the Life, the Husband, the Saviour of his church and people. And so they had of the real and actual blessedness of having communion with Him. So that they could most truly say, Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. As this was declared for the benefit of the whole church, down to the very end of this present time state, and the blessed fruits and effects of the same will remain in the minds of saints in heaven to all eternity, it may not be amiss to open this truth which is here asserted concerning fellowship with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ, and point out what it consists in. It may here be asked, is not the Holy Ghost a Person in the Godhead equal with the Father, and the Son? Is it not by Him, we have communion with the Father and the Son? Why then is he not named by the apostle? The reply to each of these particulars is this. The Holy Ghost is a Person in the Godhead. He is spoken of by our Lord Jesus Christ as such, again and again in the 14th, 15th, and 16th chapters of John's gospel. It is by Him as the sole efficient cause, we have communion with the Father, and the Son, and we read of the communion of the Holy Ghost, in the apostle's benediction. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. And the reason why He is not here named by the apostle is this. The Father, and Christ are the Persons on whom our faith is exercised, and with whom we converse. The Holy Ghost his work is all within us. He is an indweller in our souls. It is by his indwelling in us that He puts forth his life and power within us. He reveals Christ to us. He sheds abroad the Father's love in our hearts, He leads us into fellowship with the Father and the Son, therefore it is, He being the author of all this, He is not mentioned. So as that thereby the subject of communion with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ might not be broken in upon, or interrupted. I would here ask, what is communion with the Father, and his Son Jesus Christ? The answer is this. It is an unity of mind. So as for God to let in Himself upon our minds, as to give us such apprehensions of his love, as afford us a real, spiritual knowledge of and acquaintance with the same, so as for us to partake of the reality thereof. Our fellowship with the Father, consists in having spiritual sensations of his love imparted to our minds. Our Lord expresses himself on this great subject thus. "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him." And again, "If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." John xiv. 21-23. The Father, and the Son, possessing the renewed mind, with thoughts of their great love, and this to such a degree, as for the child of God to enjoy the real apprehension of the same, this is for the Father and the Son to have and hold communion with us. And our fellowship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ, is the blessed fruit and effect of this. Our minds being thus spiritually enlightened and enlarged towards the Father for his love, and towards his Son Jesus Christ for saving us in Himself, with an everlasting salvation, we have free and blessed accesses to the Father and the Son, in the which we have real fellowship with them in our prayers, praises, and acknowledgements of them, in their everlasting favour and good will towards us. It may here be observed that the union we have with the Person of Christ, is the foundation of all the communion we have with Him