nd in it have
reached to the spirits in prison, and been the instruments of the
convincing of others of the way of God, if we keep not as low and poor in
ourselves, and as depending upon the Lord, as ever: since no memory, no
repetitions of former openings, revelations, or enjoyments, will bring a
soul to God, or afford bread to the hungry, or water to the thirsty,
unless life go with what we say, and that must be waited for.

O that we may have no other fountain, treasure, or dependence! That none
may presume at any rate to act of themselves for God, because they have
long acted from God; that we may not supply want of waiting, with our own
wisdom, or think that we may take less care and more liberty in speaking
than formerly; and that where we do not feel the Lord by his power, to
open us and enlarge us, whatever be the expectation of the people, or has
been our customary supply and character, we may not exceed or fill up the
time with our own.

I hope we shall ever remember, who it was that said, "Of yourselves you
can do nothing;" our sufficiency is in him. And if we are not to speak
our own words, or take thought what we should say to men in our defence,
when exposed for our testimony; surely, we ought to speak none of our own
words, or take thought what we shall say in our testimony and ministry,
in the name of the Lord, to the souls of the people: for then, of all
times, and of all other occasions, should it be fulfilled in us, "For it
is not you that speak, but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you."

And, indeed, the ministry of the Spirit must and does keep its analogy
and agreement with the birth of the Spirit: that as no man can inherit
the kingdom of God, unless he be born of the Spirit; so no ministry can
beget a soul to God, but that which is from the Spirit. For this, as I
said before, the disciples waited before they went forth; and in this our
elder brethren and messengers of God in our day, waited, visited, and
reached to us; and having begun in the Spirit, let none ever hope or seek
to be made perfect in the flesh: for what is the flesh to the Spirit, or
the chaff to the wheat? And if we keep in the Spirit, we shall keep in
the unity of it, which is the ground of true fellowship. For by drinking
into that one Spirit, we are made one people to God, and by it we are
continued in the unity of the faith, and the bond of peace. No envying,
no bitterness, no strife, can have place with us. W