to meet him in the
spirit. The Spirit of Christ must indeed prevent you, and take you out of
that natural posture you are born into, and bring you a great journey from
yourselves, that you may be joined unto him.

This Spirit of Christ is his messenger and ambassador, sent beforehand to
fit you and suit you for the day of espousals, and, therefore, he must
have a dwelling and constant abode in you. This indwelling imports a
special familiar operation, and the perpetuity or continuance of it. The
Spirit is everywhere in his being, and he worketh everywhere too, but here
he hath a special and peculiar work in commission--to reveal the love of
God in Christ, to engage the soul to love him again, to prepare all within
for the great day of espousals, to purify and purge the heart from all
that is displeasing to Christ, to correspond between Christ and his
spouse, between heaven and earth by making intercession for her when she
cannot pray for herself as you find here, ver. 26, and so sending up the
news of the soul's panting and breathing after Christ, sending up her
groans and sighs to her Beloved, giving intelligence of all her
necessities to him who is above, in the place of an advocate and
interceder, and then bring back from heaven light and life, direction from
her Head--for the Spirit must lead into all truth--and consolation, for
Christ hath appointed the Spirit to supply his absence, and to comfort the
soul in the mean time till he come again. You have this mutual and
reciprocal knot in 1 John iv. 13, "Hereby we know that we dwell in him,
and he in us, by the Spirit that he hath given." It is much nearness to
dwell one with another, but much greater to dwell one in another. And it
is reciprocal, such a wonderful interchange in it, we in him, and he in
us, for the Spirit carries the soul to heaven, and brings Christ, as it
were down to the earth. He is the messenger that carries letters between
both--our prayers to him, and his prayers for us and love tokens to us, the
anointing that teacheth us all things, from our Husband, (1 John ii. 27,)
and revealing to us the things of God, (1 Cor. ii. 12.) giving us the
first fruits of that happy and glorious communion we must have with Christ
in heaven as you see, verse 23 of this chapter, and sealing us to the day
of redemption, 1 Pet. i. 13, and iv. 30, supplying us with divine power
against our spiritual enemies, fetching along from heaven that strength
whereby our Lord an