Chapter VI
That since assurance is attainable, it is our duty earnestly to desire and endeavour
the attainment of it.
Since then, as we have seen, assurance of our salvation may be attained, let us not rest and content ourselves in abiding in this wiiderne&s of faith
372 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PAKT II. BOOK II.
of reliance only, though it be that which brought us out of Egypt, and will
lead us to Canaan, and is that by which God translateth us from death to
life. Say of that state, This is not my rest, though I have much rest and
quietness of heart in it and by it.
It is the duty of every one that doth believe to grow up to assurance, and it is his sin not to make out for it ; it is his sin to sit down on this
side of it. There is this difference between a believer and one in an unre-
generate condition, that a man who doth not yet believe, and is not imme
diately (in that state) obliged to acts of assurance, yet is obliged immediately to believe on the name of the Son of God ; but to be assured, cannot be
the first act required of one that doth not yet believe. But now when once
a man hath believed on the name of the Son of God, then the next and
great duty that lies upon him, is to endeavour to know that he hath eternal
life, and by all ways and means to seek after the knowledge of it. There
are many duties which a man is bound to, but not bound to immediately. Every man in the world that hears of the gospel, is bound indeed to receive
the sacraments, of baptism first, and then the Lord s supper, &c., but he
is not bound to these immediately, but he is bound to be in the state of
grace first, to be in Christ first ; he is bound to repent, and to turn to God, and to believe on the name of the Son of God. But when once he is in
the state of grace, all these things lie upon him then as duties. The
apostle, 1 John v. 10, urgeth it as a duty, for a man that already believeth
to seek after the knowledge that he hath eternal life; saith he, ver. 10, He that believeth on the Son of God (if he have but that faith of reli
ance) hath the witness in himself; the meaning whereof is not that he
hath the prevailing act of witnessing, for then, if that were the meaning,
every man that believes on the Son of God should have an act of assurance ; but the meaning is, he hath the matter of it in himself; he hath the spirit of adoption within him, and he hath the blood of Christ sprinkled upon his
conscience ; and therefore, having the matter of assurance in himself, if he
do not grow up unto it, it is through his own default ; it is because he
neglects or turns a deaf ear to the continual whisperings and secret
suggests of the Holy Ghost concerning his condition, and rather willingly
listens to Satan, and saith of all the Spirit s impressions, that they are but
the voice and savings of his own heart, and doth not listen to the voice of
the blood of Christ, which speaks, though with a still voice, better things than his conscience doth or can do, whenever he hath recourse to it by
faith : for he never goes to Christ, and throws and bathes himself in his
blood, but still there is a secret witness comes off with it, 1 John v. 8, more or less to the quieting of his heart. Now
7 when men are as negligent in cherishing the dictates of the Spirit as they are in complying with his motions to good, when they regard not the voice behind them, but though God speaks once or twice, as Job says in another case, yet they never mind it ; when they who have the matter of the witness in themselves thus
go and throw it all off, and are in love with the contrary despairing and
doubting thoughts, they are guilty of a great sin, which the apostle lays before them. He who doth this makes God a liar ; for as in that other
part of God s record, wherein God hath set forth his Son Jesus Christ as
a sufficient Saviour, and hath given that record of him, that he is his Son, and that in him is life, and that there is a propitiation in his blood, every man now that is in his natural estate that hears this, and comes not in and
believeth, that receiveth not this record, he makes God a liar, he openly contradicts God s testimony, and proclaims that he believeth not that
Christ is such a Christ as God hath testified he is, so on the other side, in
CHAP. VI. J OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 373
a man that is in a state of grace, that hath faith, and so hath the Son and
eternal life, all the fears and doubts that man hath to the contrary do in
like manner make God a liar. The apostle John speaks that of not receiv
ing God s record upon occasion of both ; for as the six witnesses serve to shew us that Christ is the Son of God, so that we are the sons of God, and have eternal life when we do believe ; and therefore that speech of his, He that believeth not the record God gave of his Son makes God a liar,
it holdeth as well of a believer s not believing he hath eternal life after he hath believed, as of his not believing on the Son of God. So that as it is the duty of every man to believe on Christ for salvation, and to believe this record that God hath given of his Son and it is the great damning sin not
to believe this, John iii. 18, and John xvi. 8, 9, and by not doing it men do make God a liar so also it is the duty of every one that believeth, having the witness in himself, to grow up unto assurance; and if
; they encourage all fears and doubts to the contrary, so far they do in their measure and proportion make God a liar, in this respect, that they believe not the record that God hath given concerning believers, as well as his Son Jesus ; for the not believing God, ver. 10, hath reference to this
record, that God hath given us eternal life, ver. 11, so that the apostle, upon the very same ground, in the 10th and llth verses of this chapter, urgeth those in whom God hath wrought faith, and to whom he hath given his Spirit, to grow up to assurance, and to know they have eternal life, that he urgeth those that are not believers to believe on the Son of God, he urgeth this common ground to both of them, of making God a liar.
Obj. But here will one thing be said, Are the meanest Christians obliged to this ? and may the lowest Christians attain to this ?
Ans. Yes, all sorts may ; for you see John here writeth his epistle to
all sorts: 1 John ii. 14, I write unto you babes, as well as unto you young men and fathers, because your sins are forgiven you, for his name s sake, and because ye have known the Father. And, saith he, your sins being forgiven you, I write these things even unto you, that you may grow up to the knowledge of this, and that you may know that you have
eternal life ; and though it be true, as I said, that the first act of faith which those that are newly converted do put forth cannot be assurance,
yet it may be the very next act. Our Saviour Christ pronounceth to the
poor palsy man even at the first that his sins were forgiven him, Mat. ix. 2, and so to Mary, Luke vii. 37, 48, when she was newly converted (yet she had believed first, which occasioned her coming to him), that her sins were
forgiven ; so that even babes in Christianity are capable of it. There are many things we attain not, because we do not set them up as our mark, but we rest below them, as in the case of perfection ; as many, saith the
apostle, as are thus minded, let them aim at that mark that I aim at. Men are [as] their endeavours, and as their mark and aims are. Now then, go home, and set this up for your mark and aim from this time forth ; say with yourselves, I do see it is my duty to grow up to assurance that I have
eternal life, it is my great sin to do otherwise ; I see that it will improve all graces in me, it will help me to confidence in prayer, it will perfect my love unto God, it will make me serve him without fear, it will make me more holy, besides all the comfort it will bring in to me ; this, therefore, I
will set up as my mark, I will never pray but I will seek this in a more eminent manner ; I will never receive the Lord s Supper but I will put this in, that the Lord would come in to bestow it on me ; I will listen to
all the witnesses I find whispering to my heart by the Spirit, or by the
promises suggested to me, and that is this, of what it is that assurance
374 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
be attained in this life, as far as this Epistle of John holds it forth. Let me first give this as a premiss to all that follows, that you may understand my meaning more distinctly, that though a man is assured of all implicitly at once, yet the Holy Ghost oftentimes doth distinctly set on first one thing and then another ; you have experience of it in all your whole con verse with God, that one truth is set on at one time, and another at another ; so it, is with the object matters of assurance.
First, He hath assurance of all those benefits which God hath bestowed, and of all the privileges which a man enjoys in Christ, as to know the pardon of his sins, and that I am justified, that I have right in eternal life, that I am a son ; this you see the text holds forth : That you may know, saith he, that you have eternal life; so chap. iii. ver. 1, 2, Now are we the sons of God. To see the privileges of a man s sonship, and to be assured of it, this is the first degree of assurance, or at least the lowest
actings of it.
Now, to come to know that my sins are forgiven me, and that I have eternal life, &c., what is this ? It is but implicitly the assurance of the
privileges which I have in Christ, which, I say, is the lowest degree of assurance. Why? Because this is it which more suiteth self-love; all this while the soul may not have explicit sense so much of the love of God shed abroad in the heart, but explicitly or distinctly in his own considera
tion, his thoughts are taken up rather with view of the privileges which he hath in Christ, and he triumpheth therein. Now, as to love Christ for his benefits is the lowest degree of love, though there may be true love in it, so to have assurance of the benefits we have by Christ is the lowest degree of assurance.
Secondly, Besides assurance of my interest in all the benefits and privi leges of a man who is in Christ, there is explicit assurance of the love of God in Christ ; and this assurance John also holds forth in this Epistle, when he says, We have known and believed the love that God hath to us, John iv. 16. It is not only a knowing and believing that I have eternal
life, and that I am the son of God, &c., but withal explicitly to know also and believe the love that God hath to me, and to have my heart taken and swallowed up with that, which in the next words he calls dwelling in love, so as a man walks in it, works in it, lies down in it, shelters himself in it, as a man doth in his house. Now the love of God is brought home to the heart in and by two things (which also John here holds forth, for I confine myself to what he saith), 1, in those benefits which the Lord out of love hath bestowed upon me, and given me the assurance of, and over and above this, his love with them ; and, 2, also in those works that God hath done to procure those benefits and privileges to me.
1. There is assurance of God s love in the benefits themselves: Behold, saith he, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God, 1 John iii. 1. He calls upon believers to behold, to consider it again and again, not to admire the love of God
indefinitely. He calleth them not to an indefinite consideration of the love of God unto some, or what may be their lot, which, indeed, may draw in faith of recumbency, or reliance upon God for his love, but to a con sideration of a determinate special love which God at the present bore to themselves in particular, and had settled on them, and had bestowed upon them, and is now at present estated on them : Now, saith he, we are the sons of God. And he calls them to consider the infinite greatness of this love : Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Here is not only the
CHAP. VI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 875
privilege of sonship, and the glory of it, set on upon the heart with assur
ance, but here is an admiration of that love set on more than the benefits
themselves.
2. We ought especially to regard the works and actings of God for us, and to rejoice in the assurance of his love seen herein, and to have this
love shed abroad in our hearts. This you have 1 John iv. 9, 10, where he speaks of the love both of the Father and the Son in what they have done for us: Herein is love, saith he, on the Father s part in election, that he loved us first, ver. 9, and also that he sent his only begotten Son into the world to die for us, and to be the propitiation for our sins,
ver. 9, 10 ; and herein is love on the Son s part, as in these common to him with the Father, in giving himself so willingly for us : Hereby we
perceive the love of God, because he laid down his life for us. It is the Son s love, whose life it was, he speaks of. Now for the heart to be taken with this love of God in what he hath done for us, and to have the heart
steeped and dipped in that love, so as to taste and relish the love more than what is purchased by it, this is a further thing than the former ; it is an higher degree of assurance; this is called, Eom. v. 5,
* the shedding of
the love of God abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, which is another
thing than by way of consequence to apprehend this love, and the greatness of it, from the .benefits bestowed, when we have them. This is when all
the powers do taste that love as in itself diffused and brought home by the
Holy Ghost, which all the arguments in the world and rational discourses can never do. When I have an assurance that my sins are forgiven, and
that I am a son, &c., though if the Holy Ghost spake no more, yet I
might, by way of argument, argue what a love this is ; but to have the
love itself brought home, and shed abroad in my heart, this is more, for
the love is more than all the benefits, or than all that God hath done
for us.
Thirdly, That which the apostle holds forth here, and intends in this
Epistle, is not only an assurance of the benefits that they are ours, that we
are sons, and have eternal life; it is not only the assurance of the love of God shewn in these benefits, and in what he hath done for us, and what
love he hath borne to us, but it is a fellowship with God the Father and God the Son ; so he tells you, 1 John i. 3, 4, These things we write unto
you, that ye also may have fellowship with us ; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. Now, to have fellowship with God, and with Jesus Christ, is more than simply to know and believe
the love that God hath to us. It is when all the excellencies of God and
of Christ are made known to us, and our interest therein, and all in an
appearance of love. It is not only when God manifesteth his love in the
benefits he hath bestowed on us, and in that which he hath done for us, but when all that is in God, and all the beauty and glory in him, appears to us clothed and apparelled with love, as he saith, 1 John iv. 6,
* God is
love. We know and believe, saith he, the love that God hath to us; in what he hath done, that is one thing; but then it follows,
* God is love;
himself, and all in himself, is thus manifested to us, this is another. There is, 1, the love that God hath to us; and then, 2, God himself is
said to be love, and God is so to be apprehended by us, and so we ought to have fellowship with him, and to have an interest in all the excellencies and glory that are in him, and then the heart dwelleth in God (as it follows
there), and God dwelleth in him. It is not a burning up of the flesh, as some speak, or that the creature ceaseth to be a creature, and is one with
the Creator, God with God. No; that is an higher union than Jesus
OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [PART II. BOOK II.
Christ himself had in the flesh, by whom our redemption was purchased, and by virtue of which it was called the blood of God, and the righteous ness of God (which can be said of no man in the world). But though the man Christ Jesus was one person with the Son of God, and so all his obedience was the obedience of God, yet he had a distinct being, and he had a distinct will from that of the Father, a will of his own : Not my will be done/ saith he, Mat. xxvi. 39, but thine. Whereas now that other notion is of a higher union than the union that Christ had, and if men were raised up to such a union, then they might by their death redeem sinners, as
_ Christ himself did. I therefore mean only that the glory of God objectively, and all that is in God in a way of love presented to the soul, filleth it, dwelleth in it; as if the sun should come down into a house, and dwell in it, instead of dwelling in heaven, and yet still the house remain what it^was before; so it is here: God dwells in the heart, and the heart dwells in God, and yet still the heart remains what it was ; that this is a further thing than that I spake of afore, and that it is more than for a mun to know the love of God in what he hath bestowed on him, and done for him, is evident by that place in John xiv. 21, He that loveth me, shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. And the apostle speaks of this too, Eph. iii. 18, 19, where, besides knowing the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, there is a phrase of being
filled^with all the fulness of God; that is, whenas all the fulness that is in God is presented to a man in a way of love ; not that he is swal lowed up^into God, but God filleth him. He dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him, yet he remaining still what he was, and God remaining what he is too. It is not the fulness of God dwelling in us bodily, or per sonally, as it dwelt in the man Christ Jesus. No; that is proper to Christ by distinction, Col. ii. 9, from God s dwelling in us: In him, saith he, 4 dwelt the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Now by body there is meant person, as they that understand the idiom of the Greek tongue know; as soul in the Hebrew is put for person, so many souls are said to come out of Jacob s loins, Exod. i. 5 ; so bodily in the Greek is taken [for] per sonally. There is, I say, a personal union between the fulness of the God head dwelling in Jesus Christ and himself, and therefore in the same place it is said to dwell in him, as the head of all principalities and powers; and all that is in God filleth him as our head, and dwelleth personally in him ; which phrase, I say, is used by way of distinction from the creature. And yet all this while that the Godhead dwelt bodily or personally in him, he remained in the flesh, whereas the union that is now cried up is higher than this of Christ s, and while men seek to be spiritual, they detract from God, and run into blasphemy against God and Christ. But this communi cation of which I speak is objectively, when all that is in God is presented to the soul in a way of love; and when the soul hath fellowship and com munion with him, all that is in God is his, and he sees himself an heir of God, Rom. viii. 16, 17, and he hath all that is in God to delight in ; and God manifesteth the beauty and glory that is in himself unto him in love, and so the soul dwells in God, and God in him, and all in love.
<
Fourthly, Add this to it, that there is communion and fellowship with all the persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and their love, severally and
distinctly. This is that communion that John held forth, and which the Comforter, promised unto the apostles, brought them into, and which the apostle here would wind us up to, and put us upon the seeking after. Now there is an implicit communion with all these persons, so that if my heart be affected with the love of one, I may know the love of all the rest
CHAP. VI.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 377
implicitly, as appears from John xiv. 7, 9, If ye had known me, you should have known my Father also ; but this is but implicitly, and there
* At that day ye shall know both me and my Father, and that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you.
fore he saith afterwards,
1 Shew us the Father, saith Philip, and it sufficeth us. The poor man
spake he knew not what, spake ignorantly, as oftentimes they did; but
Christ here promiseth more, I will give you the Spirit, saith he, and he shall be in you, and I will love you, and my Father shall love you, and we will make our abode with you. Do not then stint yourselves
here, that it sufficeth that you know the Father. No ; Christ putteth you upon labouring after a distinct knowing of, and communion with all three
persons ; and the apostle John also speaks in the same strain : 1 John
i. 3, That we may have fellowship with the Father, and with the Son ; not only with the Father by having fellowship with the Son, and by having
fellowship with the Son so to have fellowship with the Father, and so to have fellowship with the one in the other implicitly, but distinctly with the one and with the other, and distinctly with the one as with the other, and
so to be acquainted with all, and to view the love of one as well as of the
other; as Christ saith, John xiv. 1, Ye believe in God, believe also in me ; so have communion with God, and have communion also with me. There is also an implicit knowledge of the Holy Ghost : You know him,
saith Christ to his disciples, John xiv. 17 ; that is, they knew him in his
work, but they knew him not in his love distinctly, and they had not
acquaintance with his person, and they had not;the love of the Holy Ghost
brought home to them. Now we are distinctly to have communion both
: John
with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as he saith in that place
* I will love him, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. As the three angels that came
xiv. 23,
to Abraham were all entertained by him, so for a man to converse with, and entertain into his heart, or rather be entertained by all three persons, and to have the love of them all distinctly brought home to his heart, and
to view the love of them all apart, this is the communion that John here would raise up our hearts unto. And this John here in this chapter, ver.
7, 8, tells us, that there are three witnesses in heaven, who as they witness
that Christ is the Son of God, so they witness to us that we are the sons
of God, and that we have eternal life in his Son : There are three that
bear record in heaven, saith he, and these are three persons in the divine
nature, and not three manifestations only ; for if so, then there would be
as many persons as manifestations ; and when Christ saith, John xiv. 21, I will manifest myself unto you, if Christ were but only the manifestation
of God, then there would be a manifestation of a manifestation. No ; he
* I will manifest mysel/S saith he, and my Father he will
is a person
manifest himself unto you ; and so when it is said, 1 Cor. xii. 7, that
the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal, if
the Spirit himself were but a manifestation, there were a manifestation of
a manifestation. No ; the Spirit is a person, and manifesteth himself, as
Jesus Christ is a person, and therefore speaks of manifesting himself; and
as the Father is a person, and therefore saith he will manifest himself.
They are three persons, and not manifestations only. Neither are they as
the attributes in God, for if so there would be then more than Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; there would be as many as attributes : wisdom is an
attribute, and power is an attribute, and truth, and justice, and holiness ; and therefore if all in God were thus varied there were more than three.
: John
It holds forth therefore persons. Jesus Christ speaks as a person
378 OF THE OBJECT AND ACTS [?AET II. BOOK II.
xiv. 1, Ye believe in God, believe also in me; and the Holy Ghost
speaks as a person, speaks in the language of a person
: Acts xiii. 2,
Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them ; you have the like in Acts x. 19, 20,
* The Spirit said unto Peter, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing
: for I have sent them. Still, I say, the
Holy Ghost speaks as a person. Now as these three are one in nature, so
they become three distinct witnesses, and their very being three witnesses
argue them three persons ; let me also cast that in by the by. There is a notable place for it in John viii. 13, 14. The Jews there excepted
against the testimony of Christ, and they said, that he bore record of him
self, and therefore his record was not true. Why, saith he, I am not
alone, but there is the Father that witnesseth with me, and it is written in
your law, that the testimony of two men is true ; and, saith he, I am one
that bear witness of myself, and the Father that sent me beareth witness
of me ; so that in witnessing he joins himself with his Father, as equal with him therein, and makes himself and his Father two witnesses (you see how he stands upon it in that place), and himself as authentic a
witness as his Father. Now as the Father and the Son thus witness, so saith the apostle in 1 John v. 7, the Holy Ghost also is a witness : There are three, saith he, that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. Now the witness that they bear is : 1, that
Christ is the Son of God ; and 2, that we are the sons of God, and that we have eternal life. When Christ was baptized, all three persons wit nessed that he was the Son of God, and they all owned that nature that was baptized ; the Father from heaven said, This is my beloved Son ; he speaks distinctly, the Holy Ghost he comes down from heaven, and with joy answerably, like a dove descended upon him ; and you heard even now of Christ his witnessing of himself: John viii. 13, 14,
* I bear
witness of myself, saith he ; teste meipso ; he speaks like God, like one
that was as good a witness as the Father. Now what was done to Christ, the same is a believer capable of (for that is John s scope), capable to
receive as distinct a witness, though not in a visible way, and by a voice from heaven, for God speaks not now so to the spirits of men, but yet in as
distinct a manner. For the three persons, as they loved us distinctly (as might be shewn at large), so they bring home their love distinctly and
apart to the soul, and the communion that John would raise us up unto is with all three persons distinctly, to view their love severally, and have it
all severally brought home to our hearts, all of them manifesting their love unto the soul. Besides the three witnesses that are on earth, the water, and blood, and immediate testimony of the Spirit in common, there are
these three witnesses of the persons in heaven, and therefore hast thou had
the love of the Father brought home to thee ? Best not in that ; get the love
of the Son brought home to thee too, and then rest not until all three per sons manifest their love to thee.
As in believing, sometimes a man s heart is drawn out to believe in God
the Father ; that is, look what is said of God the Father s love, and con
cerning his giving Christ, and choosing men to life, and in this his election
regarding neither sin in them nor good (for free grace is properly the Father s), a man hath support from all such considerations, and he believeth
in God, but whilst he doth so his heart it may be is not so distinctly drawn
out to Jesus Christ at that time ; so it is in assurance : sometimes a man s communion and converse is with the one, sometimes with the other ; some
times with the Father, then with the Son, and then with the Holy Ghost ;
CHAP. VII.] OF JUSTIFYING FAITH. 379
sometimes his heart is drawn out to consider the Father s love in choosing,
and then the love of Christ in redeeming, and so the love of the Holy
Ghost, that searcheth the deep things of God, and revealeth them to us,
and taketh all the pains with us ; and so a man goes from one witness to
another distinctly, which, I say, is the communion that John would have
* grace and peace grace is that love that is in
us to have. And therefore
the nature of God, and peace is that joy that flows from the assurance of it
< from Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Ordinarily you have it from
are wished
the Father and the Son, but John (and he alone) pronounceth it from all
three, Rev. i. 4, 5, witnessing, as the love of God, so the love of themselves
distinctly ; as the grace of God the Father is brought home with peace, so
the grace of God the Son, and of God the Holy Ghost, and therefore as
our fellowship is with the Father and the Son, as he saith, 1 John i. 3, so
also with the Holy Ghost, 1 John iv. 13; and this they in the Old Testa
ment wanted. And this assurance it is not a knowledge by way of argu ment or deduction, whereby we infer that if one loveth me then the other
loveth me, but it is intuitively, as I may so express it, and we should never
be satisfied till we have attained it, and till all three persons lie level m us,
and all make their abode with us, and we sit as it were in the midst of
them, while they all manifest their love unto us; this is John s communion, and this is the highest that ever Christ promised in this life (in his last
sermon, John xiv.), and you must know that this Epistle of John it answers
to that sermon : At that day, saith Christ, ver. 20, namely, when he
would send the Comforter, you shall know that I am in the Father, and
you in me, and I in you. That union and communion with the Father
immediately, which is the whole of some men s religion, whilst it pretends
to more spiritualness (for what more spiritual than for creatures to be
swallowed up into God?), it runs into the highest derogation to God and
to Christ that can be. But that which Christ promiseth is, that they
should know their union with the Father, but he leaves not out the Son.
Poor Philip, he ignorantly said, Shew us the Father, and it sufficeth.
No, saith Christ ; the Comforter shall shew you your union with the Father,
and with me too ; for you must never betake yourselves to the Father only,
aiid leave me out. Therefore now to talk of such a communion, wherein men betake themselves to the Father, and go to him immediately, this is
not the communion which John had; and he that denies the Son, and com
munion with him, denies the Father also. The communion which the
apostle exhorts to, is with all the three witnesses in heaven, which a man
shall find when he comes there, and your communion for ever will lie in
them ; the fulness of the Godhead dwelling then in you by vision, which now you take in by faith, and all three persons will be enjoyed and possessed
by vision. It is by a more high and elevated way, but it is of the same
nature, and hath still the same object.