THE FIRST AND GENERAL WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IS TO BRING TO MIND THE WORDS AND PROMISES OF CHRIST. (John 14:26).

There are two promises in this verse. There is the promise of the Spirit's teaching, which I will deal with under his work of anointing believers, and there is the promise of 'bringing to remembrance all things that Jesus said'.

"Having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end" (John 13:1). How did He love? He loved His own more than Himself, and this is really the "love of Christ." Natural love loves according to its own inclination; the love which the Law commands loves because God wills it. It loves from duty and loves its neighbor as itself (Luke 10:27). But the love of Christ loves others more than itself. How far we still come short of that! So many times we have begun to love, but have soon grown weary and proved unfaithful to the sacred task. Only in the school of Christ...

The Gospel breathes the spirit of love. Love is the fulfilling of its precepts, the evidence of its power, the pledge of its joys, and the ripe fruit of the Spirit. "A new commandment," saith our Lord to His disciples, "give I unto you, that ye love one another" (John 13:34). "And this is his commandment, that we should believe on his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another" (I John 3:23). This is emphatically a new commandment. It has a new object, not specified in the original law of love and obviously a different affection than that which is required in the moral law. Brotherly love is...

"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets"—Matthew 22:37-40

"God... gave him glory; so that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing ye have purified your souls in obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love of the brethren, love one another from the heart fervently" (1 Peter 1:21-22)

As truly as the Father loveth us, as truly as the Son loveth us, so truly does the Spirit love us. The grace or free love which a sinner needs, and which has been revealed and sealed to us through the Seed of the woman, the “Word made flesh,” belongs equally to Father, Son, and Spirit. That love which we believe to be in God must be the same in each Person of the Godhead, else the Godhead would be divided; one Person at variance with the others, or, at least, less loving than the others: which is impossible.

Can you find a more excellent object for your love than Christ? If you search through the whole creation of God is there any like to Christ? Whatsoever you think, who dare say there is? Are riches, honours, pleasures, relations, which you have loved, comparable to Christ, whom you ought to love? If good be only the object of love, is not the best good the best object? can you love the lesser good, and not the greater? yea, the greatest of all? Is not all the goodness in the creature but as a drop to the sea, as a candle to the sun...

We should not be satisfied unless we come to this state of heart, that we know nothing less among the disciples than that the precious blood of Christ has made us clean. That is the bond of union—that belonging to Christ. One with Christ—that is the great bond to keep before us...

"WHAT is the greatest spiritual gift?", you may ask. Is it preaching the Word of God with eloquence? Is it great knowledge and understanding of the Word of God? Is it faith that moves mountains? Or is it sacrificial giving of oneself to the poor or even to be a martyr for Christ?