A53713:65
Of Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Of communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, each person distinctly in love, grace, and consolation, or, The saints fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, unfolded by John Owen ...Of communion with God the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, each person distinctly in love, grace, and consolation, or, The saints fellowship with the Father, Sonne, and Holy Ghost, unfolded by John Owen ...
Oxford: printed by A. Lichfield for Tho. Robinson, 1657
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
4. By asserting this distinct Communion, which merely respects that order in the dispensation of Grace, which God is §. 5 pleased to hold out in the Gospel, I intend not in the least, to shut up all Communion with God under these precincts, (his ways being exceeding broad, containing a perfection whereof there is no end) nor to prejudice that holy fellowship we have with the whole Deity, in our walking before him in Covenant obedience, which also (God assisting) I shall handle hereafter.
4. By asserting this distinct Communion, which merely respects that order in the dispensation of Grace, which God is §. 5 pleased to hold out in the Gospell, I intend not in the least, to shut up all Communion with God under these precincts, (his ways being exceeding broad, containing a perfection whereof there is no end) nor to prejudice that holy fellowship we have with the whole Deity, in our walking before him in Covenant obedience, which also (God assisting) I shall handle hereafter.
These few observations being premised, I come now to declare §. 6 what it is, wherein peculiarly and eminently the Saints have Communion with the Father: And this is LOVE. Free, undeserved, and eternal Love. This the Father peculiarly fixes upon the Saints: this they are immediately to eye in him, to receive of him, and to make such Returns thereof, as he is delighted withal. This is the great discovery of the Gospel. For whereas the Father as the Fountain of the Deity, is not known any other way but as full of wrath, anger, and indignation against sin, nor can the Sons of men have any other thoughts of him Rom. 1. 18. Esa. 33. 15, 16. Hab. 1. 13. Psal. 5. 4, 5, 6. Ephes. 2. 3. Here he is now revealed peculiarly as Love, as full of it unto us; the manifestation whereof is the peculiar work of the Gospel,