47. The Cause of all Blindness in the Church, as in Paradise, the desire of other Knowledge than comes from God alone.
If it now be asked, whence, or from what, comes all this spiritual blindness, which from age to age thus mistakes and defeats all the gracious designs of God towards fallen mankind? Look at the origin of the first sin, and you see it all. Had Eve desired no knowledge but what came from God, Paradise had been the habitation of her and all her offspring. If after Paradise lost, Jews and Christians had desired no knowledge but what came from God, the Law and Prophets had kept the Jew close to the first tree of life, and the Christian Church had been a kingdom of God, and communion of saints to this day.
But now corruption, sin, death, and every evil of the world, have entered into the Church, the spouse of Christ, just as they entered into Eve, the spouse of Adam in Paradise, in the same way, and from the same cause, namely, a desire of more, or other knowledge, than that which comes from God alone. This desire is the serpent's voice within every man, which does all that to him, and in him, which the serpent at the tree did to Eve. It carries on the first deceit, it shows and recommends to him that same beautiful tree of own will, own wit, and own wisdom, springing up within him, which Eve saw in the garden; and yet so blind is this love of wisdom, as not to see, that his eating of it is in the strictest truth his eating of the same forbidden fruits as Eve did, and keeping up in himself all that death and separation from God, which the first knowledge-hunger brought forth.
Let then the eager searcher into words for wisdom, the book-devourer, the opinion-broker, the exalter of human reason, and every projecting builder of religious systems, be told this, that the thirst and pride of being learnedly wise in the things of God, is keeping up the grossest ignorance of them, and is nothing else but Eve's old serpent, and Eve's evil birth within them, and does no better work in the Church of Christ, than her thirst after wisdom did in the Paradise of God. Speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth, is the only one way by which any man ever did, or ever can attain divine knowledge, and divine goodness. To knock at any other door but this, is but like asking life of that which is itself dead, or praying to him for bread who has nothing but stones to give.
Now strange as all this may seem to the labourlearned possessor of far-fetched book-riches, yet it is saying no more, nor anything else, but that which Christ said in these words, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God." For, if classic gospellers, linguist critics, Scripture logicians, salvation orators, able dealers in the grammatic powers of Hebrew, Greek, and Eoman phrases, idioms, tropes, figures, etc. etc., can show, that by raising themselves high in these attainments, they are the very men that--ate sunk down from themselves into Christ's little children of the kingdom of God, then it may be also said, that he who is labouring, scheming, and fighting for all the riches he can get from both the Indies, is the very man that has left all to follow Christ, the very man that 'labours not for the meat that perishes."
*
48. Only he that lovetli, kuoweth God.
Show me a man whose heart has no desire, or prayer in it, but to love God with his whole soul and spirit, and his neighbour as himself, and then you have shown me the man who knows Christ, and is known of Him; the best and wisest man in the world, in whom the first paradisaical wisdom and goodness are come to life. Not a single precept in the gospel, but is the precept of his own heart, and the joy of that new-born heavenly love which is the life and light of his soul. In this man, all that came from the old serpent is trod under his feet, not a spark of self, of pride, of wrath, of envy, of covetousness, or worldly wisdom, can have the least abode in him, because that love, which fulfilleth the whole Law and the Prophets, that love which is God and Christ, both in angels and men, is the love that gives birth, and life, and growth to everything that is either thought, or word, or action in him. And if he has no share or part with foolish errors, cannot be tossed about with every wind of doctrine, it is because, to be always governed by this love, is the same thing as to be always taught of God.
On the other hand, show me a scholar as full of learning, as the Vatican is of books, and he will be just as likely to give all that he has for the gospelpearl, as he would be, if he was as rich as Croesus. Let no one here imagine, that I am writing against all human literature, arts, and sciences, or that I wish the world to be without them. I am no more an anemy to them, than to the common useful labours 'df life. It is literal learning, verbal contention, and critical strife about the things of God, that I charge with folly and mischief to religion. And in this, I have all learned Christendom, both Popish and Protestant, on my side. For they both agree in charging each other with a bad and false gospel-state, because of that which their learning, logic, and criticism do for them. Say not then, that it is only the illiterate enthusiast that condemns human learning in the gospel kingdom of God. For when he condemns the blindness and mischief of Popish logic and criticism, he has all the learned Protestant world with him; and when he lays the same charge to Protestant learning, he has a much larger kingdom of Popish great scholars, logically and learnedly affirming the same thing. So that the private person, charging human learning with so much mischief to the Church, is so far from being led by enthusiasm, that he is led by all the church-learning that is in the world.
Again, all learned Christendom agrees in the same charge against temporal power in the Church, as hurtful to the very being and progress of a salvation kingdom that is not of this world, as supporting doctrines that human learning has brought into it. And true it is and must be, that human power can only support and help forward human things. The Protestant brings proof from a thousand years' learning and doctrines, that the pope is an unjust usurper of temporal power in the Church, which is Christ's spiritual spouse. The Papist brings the learning of so many ages to show that a temporal head of the Church is an anti-Christian usurpation. And yet (KB.) he who holds Christ to be the one, only head, heart, and life of the Church, and that no man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost, passes with the learned of both these people for a brain-sick enthusiast.
49. The Departure from the one Mystic Way of Salvation the cause of the Corruption of Christendom.
Is it not then high time to look out for some better ground to stand upon, than such learning as this? Now look where you will, through all the whole nature of things, no divine wisdom, knowledge, goodness, and deliverance from sin, are anywhere to be found for fallen man, but in these two points: (1) a total entire entrance into the whole process of Christ; (2) a total resignation to, and sole dependence upon the continual operation of the Holy Ghost, or Christ come again in the spirit, to be our never-ceasing light, teacher, and guide into all those ways of virtue, in which He Himself walked in the flesh. All besides this, call it by what name you will, is but dead work, a vain labour of the old man to new-create himself. And here let it be well observed, that in these two points consists the whole of that mystic divinity, to which a Jewish orthodoxy at this day is so great an enemy. For nothing else is meant, or taught by it, but a total dying to self (called the process or cross of Christ) that a new creature (called Christ in us, or Christ come in the spirit), may be begotten in the purity and perfection of the first man's union with God. Now, let the Christian world forget, or depart from this one mystic way of salvation, let anything else be thought of or trusted to but the cross of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ, and then, though churches and preachers and prayers and sacraments are everywhere in plenty, yet nothing better can come of it than a Christian kingdom of pagan vices, along with a mouthbelief of an holy catholic Church, and communion of saints. To this melancholy truth, all Christendom both at home and abroad bears full witness. Who need be told, that there is not a corruption or depravity of human nature, no kinds of pride, wrath, envy, malice, and self-love; no sorts of hypocrisy, falseness, cursing, swearing, perjury, and cheating; no wantonness of lust in every kind of debauchery, but are as common all over Christendom as towns and villages.1
50. No true Church Reformation but in departing from the Spirit of the World.
In these last ages of fallen Christendom, many reformations have taken place; but alas t truth must be forced to say, that they have been in all their variety, little better than so many runaway births of one and the same mother, so many lesser Babels come out of Babylon the great. For among all the reformers, the one only true reformation has never yet been thought of. A change of place, of governors, of opinions, together with new-formed outward models, is all the reformation that has yet been attempted.
1 Here I omit some pages on serving mammon, oaths, and war as proof of the state of the Church.
The wisdom of this world, with its worldly spirit, was the only thing that had overcome the Church, and had carried it into captivity. For in captivity it certainly is, as soon as it is turned into a kingdom of this world; and a kingdom of this world it certainly is, as soon as worldly wisdom has its power in it. Not a false doctrine, not a bad discipline, not an usurped power, or corrupt practice ever has prevailed, or does prevail in the Church, but has had its whole birth and growth from worldly wisdom.
This wisdom was the great evil root, at which the reforming axe should have been laid, and must be laid, before the Church can be again that virgin spouse of Christ, which it was at the beginning. "If any man," says St. Paul, " will be wise, let him become a fool in this world." This admits of no exception, it is a maxim as universal and unalterable, as that which says, "If any man will follow Christ, let him deny himself." For no man has any more to deny than that, which the wisdom and spirit of this world are, and do in him. For all that is in this world, the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, are the very things in which alone the wisdom of this world lives, and moves, and has its being. It can be no other, it can rise no higher, nor be any better, than they are and do. For as heavenly wisdom is the whole of all heavenly goodness, so earthly wisdom has the whole evil of all the earthly nature.
St. Paul speaks of a natural man, that cannot know the things of God, but to whom they are mere foolishness. This natural man is only another name for the wisdom of this world; but though he cannot know the things that be of God, yet he can know their names, and learn to speak that which the saints of God have spoken about them. He can make profession of them, be eloquent in their praise, and set them forth in such a desirable view, as shall make them quite agreeable to the children of worldly wisdom. This is the natural man, who having got into the Church, and Church power, has turned the things of God into things of this world. Had this man been kept out of the Church, the Church had kept its first purity to this day; for the fallen state is nothing else but its fall into the hands of the natural man of this world. And when this is the state of the Church," the wisdom of this world (which always loves its own) will be in love with it, will spare no cost to maintain it, will make laws, fight battles in defence of it, and condemn every man as heretical, who dares speak a word against this glorious image of a church, which the wisdom of this world has set up.
This is the great Antichrist, which is neither better nor worse, nor anything else, but the spirit of Satan working against Christ, in the strength and subtlety of earthly wisdom.
If therefore you take anything to be Church reformation, but a full departure from the wisdom of this world, or anything to be your entrance into a salvation church, but the nature, spirit, and works of Christ, become living in you, then, whether Papist or Protestant, reformation or no reformation, all will be just as much good to you, as when a Sadducee turns Publican, or from a Publican becomes a Pharisee. For the Church of Christ, as it is the door of salvation, is nothing else but Christ Himself. Christ in us, or we in His Church, is the same thing. When that is alive wills, and works in you, which was alive in Christ, then you are in His Church; for that which He was, that must they be who are His. Without this, it matters not what pale you are in. To everything but the new creature, Christ says, "I know you not"; and to every virtue that worldly wisdom puts on, " Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God." And the reason why it must be thus, why worldly wisdom, though under a religious form, is and can be nothing else, but that which is called Satan, or Antichrist, is because all that we are, and have from this world, is that very enmity against God, that whole evil which separates us from Him, and constitutes all that death and damnation that belongs to our fallen state. And so sure as the life of this world is our separation from God, so sure is it that a total departure from every subtlety and prosperity of worldly wisdom, is absolutely necessary to change an evil son of Adam into a holy son of God.
51. Holiness the Sole End of the Church.
And here it is well to be observed, that the Church of Christ is solely for this end, to make us holy as He is holy. But nothing can do this, but that which has full power to change a sinner into a saint. And he who has not found that power in the Church, may be assured that he is not yet a true son of that Church. For the Church brings forth no other births, but holy children of God; it has no other end, no other nature, or work, but that of changing a sinner into a saint. But this can only be done, just as the change of night into day is done, or as the darkness is quite lost in the light. Something as contrary to the whole nature of sin, as light is to darkness, and as powerful over it, as the light is powerful over darkness, can alone do this. Creeds, canons, articles of religion, stately churches, learned priests, singing, preaching, and praying in the best contrived form of words, can no more raise a dead sinner into a living saint, than a fine system of light and colours can change the night into day. For (KB.) that which cannot help you to all goodness, cannot help you to any goodness, nor can that take away any sin, but that which can take away all sin. On this ground it is that the apostle said, "Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing "; and on the same ground it must be said that Popery is nothing, and Protestantism is nothing, because all is nothing as to salvation, but a sinner changed into a saint or the apostle's new creature. Call nothing therefore your holy salvation-church, but that which takes away all your sins; this is the only way not to be deceived with the cry about churches, reformations, and divisions.
52. The Mark of true Church Membership being dead unto all sin.
Many are the marks which the learned have given us of the true church; but be that as it will, no man, whether learned or unlearned, can have any mark or proof of his own true church membership, but his being dead unto all sin, and alive unto all righteousness. This cannot be more plainly told us than in these words of omr Lord, "He that committeth sin, is the servant of sin "; but surely that servant of sin cannot at the same time be a living member of Christ's body, or that new creature, who dwells in Christ, and Christ in him. To suppose a man born again from above, yet under a necessity of continuing to sin, is as absurd as to suppose that the true Christian is only to have so much of the nature of Christ born in him, as is consistent with as real a power of Satan still dwelling in him. "If the Son," says Christ, "shall make you free, then ye shall be free indeed." What is this but saying, if Christ be come to life in you, then a true freedom from all necessity of sinning is given to you. Now, if this is hindered, and cannot come to pass in the faithful follower of Christ, it must be, because both the willing and working of Christ in man is too weak to overcome that, which the devil wills and works in him. All this absurdity, and even blasphemy, is necessarily implied in that common doctrine of books and pulpits, which teaches, that the Christian can never have done sinning as long as he lives. Well therefore may Christendom sleep as securely as it does, under the power of sin, without any thought, hope, or desire of doing God's will on earth, as it is done in heaven; without any concern at their not being pure, as He who has called them is pure, or walking as He walked.
The Scripture knows no Christian but saints, who in all things act as becometh saints. But now if the Scripture saint did not mean a man that eschewed all evil, and was holy in all his conversation, saint and no saint would have only such difference, as one carnal man will always have from another. Preachers and writers comfort the half Christians with telling them, that God requires not a perfect, sinless obedience, but accepts the sincerity of our weak endeavours instead of it. Here, if ever, the blind lead the blind. For St. Paul, comparing the way of salvation to a race, says, "In a race all run, but one obtaineth the prize: so run that ye may obtain." Now, if Paul had seeing eyes, must not they be blind who teach, that God accepts of all that run in the religious race, and requires not that any should obtain the prize. How easy was it to see, that the sincerity of our weak endeavours was quite a different thing from that, which alone is, and can be the required perfection of our lives. The first God accepts, that is, bears with. But why or how? Not because He seeks or requires no more, but He bears with them, because, though at a great distance from, they are, or may be making towards that perfection, or new creature, which He absolutely requires, which is the fulness of the stature of Christ, and is that which Paul says, is the one that obtains the prize.
The same which Paul says, is said by Christ in other words, "Strive," says He, "to enter in at the strait gate." Here our best endeavours are called for, and therefore accepted by God, and yet at the same time He adds, "that many shall strive to enter in, but shall not be able." Why so, whence comes this? It is because Christ Himself is the one door into life. Here the strivers mentioned by Christ, and those which St. Paul calls runners in a race, are the very same persons; and Christ calling Himself the one door of entrance, is the same thing as when Paul says, that one only receives the prize, and that one, which alone obtains the prize, or that enters through the right door, is that new creature in whom Christ is truly born. For whether you consider things natural or supernatural, nothing but Christ in us, can be our hope of glory.
53. Of the Necessity of Sinning.
The pleader for imperfection further supports himself by saying, No man in the world, Christ excepted, was ever without sin. And so say I too; and with the apostle I also add, "That if we say we have not sinned, we make Him a liar." But then it is as true to say, that we make Him a liar, if we deny the possibility of our ever being freed from a necessity of sinning. For the same word of God says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and (N.B.) to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
But surely he that is left under a necessity of sinning as long as he lives, can no more be said to be cleansed from all unrighteousness, than a man who must be a cripple to his dying day, can be said to be cured of all his lameness. What weaker conclusion can well be made, than to infer, that because Christ was the only man that was born and lived free from sin, therefore no man on earth can be raised to a freedom from sinning; no better than concluding, that because the old man is everyone's birth from Adam, therefore there can be no such thing as a new man, created unto righteousness, through Christ Jesus, living and being all in all in Him; no better sense or .
logic, than to say, that because our Eedeemer could not find us anything else but sinners, therefore He must of all necessity leave us to be sinners.
Of Christ it only can be said, that He is in Himself the true vine; but of every branch that is His, and grows in Him, it must be as truly said, that the life and spirit of the true vine, is the life and spirit of its branches, and that as is the vine, so are its branches. And here let it be well noted, that if the branch has not the life and goodness of the vine in it, it can only be, because it is broken off from the vine, and therefore a withered branch, fit for the fire. But if the branches abide in the vine, then Christ says this glorious thing of them, "Ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (John xv. 7). The very same glorious thing, which He had before said of Himself, "Father, I thank Thee> that Thou hast heard Me," and (KB.) "I knew that Thou hearest Me always" (John xi. 41). Now, say that this new creature, who is in such union, communion, and power with God, because Christ is in him, and he in Christ, as really as the vine is in the branches, and the branches in the vine, say that he must be a servant of sin, as long as he lives in this world, and then your absurdity will be as great, as if you had said, that Christ in us must partake of our corruption.
The sober divine, who abhors the pride of enthusiasts, for the sake of humility, says of himself and all men, we are poor, blind, imperfect creatures; all our natural faculties are perverted, corrupted, and out of their right state; and therefore nothing that is perfect can come from us, or be done by us. Truth enough! And the very same truth, as when the apostle says, "The natural man knoweth not the things that be of God. He cannot know them, they are foolishness to Him." This is the man that we all are by nature. But what Scripture ever spoke of, or required any perfect works from this man, any more than it requires the Ethiopian to change his skin? Or what an instructed divine must he be, who considers this old natural man as the Christian, and therefore rejects Christian perfection, because this old man cannot attain to it? What greater blindness, than to appeal to our fallen state, as a proof of a weakness and corruption which we must have, when we are redeemed from it? Is this any wiser, than saying, that sin and corruption must be there where Christ is, because it is there where He is not?
Our Lord has said this absolute truth, that unless we be born again from above, there is no possible entrance into the kingdom of God. What this new birth is in us, and what we get by it, is as expressly told us by His beloved apostle, saying, "That which is born of God sinneth not." This is as true and unalterable, as to say, that which is born of the devil can do nothing else but add sin to sin. To what end do we pray, that "this day we may fall into no sin," if no such day can be had? But if sinning can be made to cease in us for one day, what can do this for us, but that which can do the same to-morrow? What benefit in praying, that "God's will may be done on earth, as it is in heaven," if the earth as long as it lasts must have as many sinners, as it has men upon it? How vainly does the church pray for the baptized person, "that he may have power and strength to have victory, and to triumph against the devil, the world, and the flesh," if this victorious triumph can never be obtained; if notwithstanding this baptism and prayer, he must continue committing sin, and so be a servant of sin, as long as he lives? What sense can there be in making a communion of saints to be an article of our creed, if at the same time we are to believe that Christians, as long as they live, must in some degree or other follow, and be led by the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life?
54. All Human Imperfection will prevail as much in the Church as in any Human Society, until we know a Continual Inspiration as the power of Deliverance from Sin.
Whence now comes all this folly of doctrines? It is because the church is no longer that spiritual house of God, in which nothing is intended and sought after, but spiritual power and spiritual life, that is become a mere human building, made up of worldly power, worldly learning, and worldly prosperity in gospel matters. And therefore all the frailties, follies, and imperfections of human nature, must have as much life in the church, as in any other human society. And the best sons of such a church, must be forced to plead such imperfections in the members of it, as must be where the old fallen human nature is still alive. And alive it there must be, and its life defended, where the being continually moved, and led by the Spirit of God, is rejected as gross enthusiasm. For nothing but a full birth, and continual breathing and inspiration of the Holy Spirit in the new-born creature, can be a deliverance from all that which is earthly, sensual, and devilish in our fallen nature. This new creature, born again in Christ, of that eternal word which created all things in heaven and on earth, is both the rock and church, of which Christ says, "The gates of hell shall never prevail against it." For prevail they will, and must against everything, but the new creature. And every fallen man, be he where he will, or who he will, is yet in his fallen state, and his whole life is a mere Egyptian bondage, and Babylonian captivity, till the heavenly church, or new birth from above, has taken him out of it
55. The True Salvation Church.
See how St. Paul sets forth the salvation church, as being nothing else, and doing nothing else, but merely as the mother of this new birth. "Know ye not," says he, "that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life." Here we have the one true church, infallibly described, and yet no other church, but the new creature. He goes on, "For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection." Therefore to be in Christ, or in His church, belongs to no one, but because the old man is put off, and the new creature risen in Christ, is put on. The same thing is said again in these words, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that (N.B.) henceforth we should not serve sin "; therefore the true church is nowhere but in the new creature, that henceforth sinneth not, nor is any longer a servant to sin. Away then with all the tedious volumes of church unity, church power, and church salvation. Ask neither a Council of Trent, nor a Synod of Dort, nor an Assembly of Divines, for a definition of the church. The apostle has given you, not a definition, but the unchangeable nature of it in these words. But now "Being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruits unto holiness, and the end everlasting life." Therefore to be in the true salvation church, and to be in Christ that new creature which sinneth not, is strictly the same thing.
What now is become of this true church, or where must the man go, who would fain be a living member of it? He need go nowhere; because wherever he is, that which is to save him, and that which he is to be saved from, is always with him. Self is all the evil that he has, and God is all the goodness that he ever can have; but self is always with him, and God is always with him. Death to self is his only entrance into the church of life, and nothing but God can give death to self. Self is an inward life, and God is an inward Spirit of life; therefore nothing kills that which must be killed in us, or quickens that which must come to life in us, but the inward work of God in the soul, and the inward work of the soul in God. This is that mystic religion, which, though it has nothing in it but the same spirit, that same truth, and that same life, which always was, and always must be the religion of all God's holy angels and saints in heaven, is by the wisdom of this world accounted to be madness. As wisely done, as to reckon him mad, who says, that the vanity of things temporal cannot be, or give life to the things that are eternal; or that the circumcision of the flesh is but as poor a thing, as the whetting the knife, in comparison of that inward mystic circumcision of the heart, which can only be done by " that word of God, which is sharper than any two-edged sword, and pierces to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit" (Heb. iv. 12). Now fancy to yourself a Eabbi-doctor, laughing at this circumcision of the two-edged sword of God, as gospel madness, and then you see that very same Christian orthodoxy, which at this day condemns the inward working life of God in the soul, as mystic madness.
Look at all that is outward, and all that you then see, has no more of salvation in it, than the stars and elements. Look at all the good works you can think of, they have no goodness for you, but when the good Spirit of God is the doer of them in you. For all the outward works of religion may be done by the natural man, he can observe all church duties, stick close to doctrines, and put on the semblance of every outward virtue; thus high he can go. But no Christian, till led and governed by the Spirit of God, can go any higher than this feigned, outward formality of this natural man; to which he can add nothing, but his own natural fleshly zeal in the defence of it. For all zeal must be of this kind, till it is the zeal of that which is born of God, and calls every creature only to that same new birth from above. "My little children," says St. Paul, "of whom I travail again in birth, till Christ be formed in you." This is the whole labour of an apostle to the end of the world. He has nothing to preach to sinners, but the absolute necessity, the true way, and the certain means, of being born again from above.
56. The New Life by the Holy Spirit living in us, the Sole End of Christ's coming.
The eternal Son of God came into the world, only for the sake of this new birth, to give God the glory of restoring it to all the dead sons of fallen Adam. All the mysteries of this incarnate, suffering, dying Son of God, all the price that He paid for our redemption, all the washings that we have from His all-cleansing blood poured out for us, all the life that we receive from eating His flesh, and drinking His blood, have their infinite value, their high glory, and amazing greatness in this, because nothing less than these supernatural mysteries of a God-man, could raise that new creature out of Adam's death, which could be again a living temple, and deified habitation of the Spirit of God.
That this new birth of the Spirit, or the divine life in man, was the truth, the substance, and sole end of His miraculous mysteries, is plainly told us by Christ Himself, who at the end of all His process on earth, tells His disciples, what was to be the blessed, and full effect of it, namely, that the Holy Spirit, the Comforter (being now fully purchased for them) should after His ascension, come in the stead of a Christ in the flesh. "If I go not away," says He, "the Comforter will not come; but if 1 go away, I will send Him unto you, and He shall guide you into all truth." Therefore all that Christ was, did, suffered, dying in the flesh, and ascending into heaven, was for the sole end, to purchase for all His followers a new birth, new life, and new light, in and by the Spirit of God restored to them, and living in them, as their support, Comforter, and Guide into all truth. And this was His, "Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."
