“My Dear Companions in Tribulation,—All the children of God I love; but, of all the children of God, none have so great a right to my love as you. Your stated or occasional attendance on my poor ministry, as well as the bonds of neighbourhood, and the many happy hours I have spent with you before the throne of grace, endear you peculiarly to me.
“With tears of grateful joy, I recollect the awful moments when we have bound ourselves to stand to our baptismal vow: to renounce all sin, to believe all the articles of the Christian faith, and to keep God’s commandments to the end of our life. Asking pardon of God for not keeping that vow better, I determine, with new courage and delight, to love our Covenant God,[[391]] Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, with all my mind, heart, and strength; with all the powers of my understanding, will, and affections.
“In my weak state of health, I find much comfort from my relation to my Covenant God: I mean (1) My clear, explicit knowledge of the Father as my Creator and Father; who so loved the world, you and me, as to give His only-begotten Son, that we should not perish, but have everlasting life. (2) I mean my relation to the adorable Person, who, with the strength of His Godhead, and the strength of His pure manhood, took away my sin. O how my soul exults in that dear Mediator! O the comfort of cleaving to Christ by faith, and of finding Christ is our all in all!
“I sometimes feel a desire of being buried where you are buried, and of having my bones lie in a common earthen bed with yours; but I soon resign that wish, and exult in thinking that, whatever distance there may be between our graves, we can now bury our sins, cares, doubts, and fears, in the one grave of our divine Saviour. If I, your poor unworthy shepherd, am smitten, be not scattered; but rather be more closely gathered unto Christ, and keep near each other in faith and love, till you all receive our second Comforter and Advocate, the Holy Ghost, the third Person in our Covenant God. He is with you; but, if you plead the promise of the Father, ‘which,’ says Christ, ‘you have heard of me, He will be in you.’ He will fill your souls with His light, love, and glory, according to that verse, which we have so often sung together,—
“‘Refining fire, go through my heart,
Illuminate my soul,
Scatter thy life through every part,
And sanctify the whole.’
“This indwelling of the Comforter perfects the mystery of sanctification in the believer’s soul. This is the highest blessing of the Christian covenant on earth. Rejoicing in God our Creator, in God our Redeemer, let us look for the full comfort of God our Sanctifier. So shall we live and die in the faith, going on from faith to faith, from strength to strength, from comfort to comfort, till Christ is all in all to us all.
“I earnestly recommend to you my dear brother Greaves. Show him all the love you have shown to me, and, if possible, show him more, who is so much more deserving.”[[392]]