ON HOSEA XIV.- VERSES 2, 3. 101 Vsa. lxiv. 5. lxxxiii. 5. 8. Prov. i. 10, 11. Eve was no sooner caught herself, than she became a kind of ser- pent to deceive and to catch her husband. A tempter had no sooner made a sinner, than that sinner became a tempter. As therefore God's enemies hold com- munion to dishonour him ; so great reason there is that his servants should hold communion to praise him, and to animate and hearten one another unto duty, as men that draw at an anchor, and soldiers that set upon a service use to do with mutual encourage- ments, Isa. ii. 3. Zec. viii. 21. Mal. iii. 16. The holy oil for the sanctuary was made of many spices, com- pounded by the art of the perfumer, Exod. xxx. 23 -25. to note unto us that those duties are sweetest which are made up in a communion of saints, each one con- tributing his influence and furtherance unto them : as in winds and rivers where many meet in one they are strongest ; and in chains and jewels where many links and stones are joined in one, they are richest. All good is diffusive, like leaven in a lump, like sap in a root ; it will find the way from the heart to every faculty of soul and body, and from thence to the ears and hearts of others. Every living creature was made with the seed of life in it ; to preserve itself by multiplying, Gen. i. 11, 12. And of all seeds, that of the Spirit, and the word, 1 John iii. 9. 1 Pet. i. 23. is most vigorous, and in nothing so much as in glorifying God, when the joy of the Lord, which is our strength, doth put itself forth to derive the praises of his name, and to call in others to the celebration of them. From all which we learn, 1. By what means (amongst many others) to try the truth of our conversions ; namely, by the life and workings of true thankfulness unto God for pardon of 13
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=