Ephesians 2:22

REFLECTIONS

READER! while you, and I, hear what God the Spirit hath here said, to the Church at Ephesus; can we both, from the same divine assurance, say: the Lord hath quickened us, who were by nature, dead in trespasses and sins? Can we look back, and remember, how the prince of the power of the air, once wrought in our mind, as he doth now, in the children of disobedience ? Had we our conversation in times past with such, and when we were dead in sins, were we quickened together with Christ? Oh! what a melting sense ought we to have, of divine mercies, in calling to mind, what we once were; and what, through grace, we now are ? Oh! the blessedness of ascribing all to grace, and giving to God all the glory. And, must it not be God's workmanship, and not our's? Hath not God ordained all our works in us, and made both the preparation, and the performance of them, his own ? And shall we seek acceptance in them, when they are not our's; or expect to be saved by them, when we are wholly saved in the Lord?

Precious LORD JESUS! It is thou, and thou alone, which hast brought us nigh by thy blood, when we were afar off, and enemies to God, by wicked works! Oh! Lord, keep us ever nigh, by thy power; that through Thee, we may always have access, by One Spirit unto the Father!

Lord! bless thy whole building the Church, in heaven, and earth; all founded on Christ, and all one in Christ. Dwell in thy mystical body thy temple, and make it by grace, a suited habitation for thy self: Father, Son, and Spirit, both here, and hereafter! Amen.