Nor is it enough that we have known the Divine gift, and 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, treasury 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 shall 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. We shall watch always for good, and not for evil, over one another and rejoice exceedingly and not begrudge one another’s increase in the riches of the grace with which God replenisheth his faithful servants.