THE HOLY SPIRIT
CONVINCING THE WORLD OF
SIN, RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND JUDGMENT
by:
GEORGE WHITEFIELD — 1714-1770
"And when he is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.—John 16:8,
THESE
WORDS CONTAIN PART of a gracious promise, which the blessed Jesus was pleased
to make to his weeping and sorrowful disciples. The time was now drawing near,
in which the Son of man was first to be lifted up on the cross, and afterwards
to heaven. Kind, wondrous kind! Had this merciful High-priest been to his
disciples, during the time of his tabernacling amongst them. He had compassion
on their infirmities, answered for them when assaulted by their enemies, and
set them right when out of the way, either in principle or practice. He neither
called nor used them as servants, but as friends; and he revealed his secrets
to them from time to time. He opened their understandings, that they might
understand the scriptures; explained to them the hidden mysteries of the
The
person referred to in the words of the text, is plainly the Comforter, the Holy
Ghost; and the promise was first made to our Lord's apostles. But though it was
primarily made to them, and was literally and remarkably fulfilled at the day
of Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost came down as a mighty rushing wind, and also
when three thousand were pricked to the heart by Peter's preaching; yet, as the
Apostles were the representatives of the whole body of believers, we must
infer, that this promise must be looked upon as spoken to us, and to our
children, and to as many as the Lord our God shall call.
My
design from these words, is to show the manner in which the Holy Ghost
generally works upon the hearts of those, who, through grace, are made vessels
of mercy, and translated from the kingdom of darkness into the
I say,
GENERALLY: For, as God is a sovereign agent, his sacred Spirit bloweth not only
on whom, but when and how it listeth. Therefore, far be it from me to confine
the Almighty to one way of acting, or say, that all undergo an equal degree of
conviction: no, there is a holy variety in God's methods of calling home his
elect. But this we may affirm assuredly, that, wherever there is a work of true
conviction and conversion wrought upon a sinner's heart, the Holy Ghost,
whether by a greater or less degree of inward soul-trouble, does that which our
Lord Jesus told the disciples, in the words of the text, that he should do when
he came.
If any
of you ridicule inward-religion, or think there is no such thing as our feeling
or receiving the Holy Ghost, I fear my preaching will be quite foolishness to
you, and that you will understand me no more than if I spoke to you in an
unknown tongue. But as the promise in the text, is made to the world, and as I
know it will be fulfilling till time shall be no more, I shall proceed to
explain the general way whereby the Holy Ghost works upon every converted
sinner's heart; and I hope that the Lord, even whilst I am speaking, will be
pleased to fulfill it in many of your hearts. "And when he is come, he
will reprove the world of sin, or righteousness, and of judgment."
The
word, which we translate reprove, ought to be rendered convince; and in the
original it implies a conviction by way of argumentation, and coming with a
power upon the mind equal to a demonstration. A great many scoffers of these
last days, will ask such as they term pretenders to the Spirit, how they feel
the Spirit, and how they know the Spirit? They might as well ask, how they
know, and how they feel the sun when it shines upon the body? For with equal
power and demonstration does the Spirit of God work upon and convince the soul.
And,
Thus our Lord also dealt with the persecutor Saul: he convinced him
first of the horrid sin of persecution; "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me?" Such a sense of all his other sins, probably at the same time revived
in his mind, that immediately he died; that is, died to all his false
confidences, and was thrown into such an agony of soul, that he continued three
days, and neither did eat nor drink. This is the method the Spirit of God
generally takes in dealing with sinners; he first convinces them of some
heinous actual sin, and at the same time brings all their other sins into
remembrance, and as it were sets them in battle-array before them: "When
he is come, he will reprove the world of sin. And was it ever thus with you, my
dear hearers? (For I must question you as I go along, because I intend, by the
Divine help, to preach not only to your heads, but your hearts). Did the Spirit
of God ever bring all your sins thus to remembrance, and make you cry out to
God, "Thou writest bitter things against me?" Did your actual sins ever
appear before you, as though drawn in a map? If not, you have great reason
(unless you were sanctified from the womb) to suspect that you are not
convicted, much more not converted, and that the promise of the text was never
yet fulfilled in your hearts.
Farther: When the Comforter comes into a sinner's heart, though it
generally convinces the sinner of his actual sin first, yet it leads him to see
and bewail his original sin, the fountain from which all these polluted streams
do flow. Though every thing in the earth, air, and water; every thing both
without and within, concur to prove the truth of that assertion in the
scripture, "in Adam we all have died;" yet most are so hardened
through the deceitfulness of sin, that notwithstanding they may give an assent,
to the truth of the proposition in their heads, yet they never felt it really
in their hearts. Nay, some in words professedly deny it, though their works
too, too plainly prove them to be degenerate sons of a degenerate father. But
when the Comforter, the Spirit of God, arrests a sinner, and convinces him of
sin, all carnal reasoning against original corruption, every proud and high
imagination, which exalteth itself against that doctrine, is immediately thrown
down; and he is made to cry out, "Who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" He now finds that concupiscence is sin; and does not so much
bewail his actual sins, as the inward perverseness of his heart, which he now
finds not only to be an enemy to, but also direct enmity against God.
And did the Comforter, my dear friends, ever come with such a
convincing power as this unto your hearts? Were you ever made to see and feel,
that in your flesh dwelleth no good thing; that you are conceived and born in
sin; that you are by nature children of wrath; that God would be just if he
damned you, though you never committed an actual sin in your lives? So often as
you have been at church and sacrament, did you ever feelingly confess, that
there was no health in you; that the remembrance of your original and actual
sins was grievous unto you, and the burden of them intolerable? If not, you
have been only offering to God vain oblations; you never yet prayed in your
lives; the Comforter never yet came effectually into your souls: consequently
you are not in the faith properly so called; no, you are at present in a state
of death and damnation.
Again, the Comforter, when he comes effectually to work upon a sinner,
not only convinces him of the sin of his nature, and the sin of his life, but
also of the sin of his duties.
We all naturally are Legalists, thinking to be justified by the works
of the law. When somewhat awakened by the terrors of the Lord, we immediately,
like the Pharisees of old, go about to establish our own righteousness, and
think we shall find acceptance with God, if we seek it with tears: finding
ourselves damned by nature and our actual sins, we then think to recommend
ourselves to God by our duties, and hope, by our doings of one kind or another,
to inherit eternal life. But, whenever the Comforter comes into the heart, it
convinces the soul of these false rests, and makes the sinner so see that all
his righteousness are but filthy rags; and that, for the ;most pompous
services, he deserves no better a doom than that of the unprofitable servant,
"to be thrown into outer darkness, where is weeping, and wailing, and
gnashing of teeth."
And was this degree of conviction ever wrought in any of your souls?
Did the Comforter ever come into your hearts, so as to make you sick of your
duties, as well as your sins? Were you ever, with the great Apostle of the
Gentiles, made to abhor your own righteousness which is by the law, and
acknowledge that you deserve to be damned, though you should give all your
goods to feed the poor? Were you made to feel, that your very repentance needed
to be repented of, and that every thing in yourselves is but dung and dross?
And that all the arguments you can fetch for mercy, must be out of the heart
and pure unmerited love of God? Were you ever made to lie at the feet of
sovereign Grace, and to say, Lord, if thou wilt, thou mayest save me; if not,
thou mayest justly damn me; I have nothing to plead, I can in no wise justify
myself in thy sight; my best performances, I see, will condemn me; and all I
have to depend upon is thy free grace? What say you? Was this ever, or is this
now, the habitual language of your hearts? You have been frequently at the
temple; but did you ever approach it in the temper of the poor Publican, and,
after you have done all, acknowledge that you have done nothing; and, upon a
feeling experimental sense of your own unworthiness and sinfulness every way,
smite upon your breasts, and say, "God be merciful to us sinners?" If
you never were thus minded, the Comforter never yet effectually came into your
souls, you are out of Christ; and if God should require your souls in that
condition, he would be no better to you than a consuming fire.
But there is a fourth sin, of which the Comforter, when he comes,
convinces the soul, and which alone (it is very remarkable) our Lord mentions,
as though it was the only sin worth mentioning; for indeed it is the root of
all other sins whatsoever: it is the reigning as well as the damning sin of the
world. And what now do you imagine that sin may be? It is that cursed sin, that
root of all other evils, I mean the sin of unbelief. Says our Lord, verse 9.
"Of sin, because they believe not on me." But does the Christian
world, or any of you that hear me this day, want the Holy Ghost to convince you
of unbelief? Are there any infidels here? Yes, (O that I had not too great
reason to think so!) I fear most are such: not indeed such infidels as
professedly deny the Lord that bought us (though I fear too many even of such
monsters are in every country); but I mean such unbelievers, that have no more
faith than the devils themselves. Perhaps you may think you believe, because
you repeat the Creed, or subscribe to a Confession of Faith; because you go to church
or meeting, receive the sacrament, and are taken into full communion. These are
blessed privileges; but all this may be done, without our being true believers.
And I know not how to detect your false hypocritical faith better, than by
putting to you this question: How long have you believed? Would not most of you
say, as long as we can remember; we never did disbelieve? Then this is a
certain sign that you have no true faith at all; no, not so much as a grain of
mustard-seed: for, if you believe now, &unless you were sanctified from
your infancy, which is the case of some) you must know that there was a time in
which you did not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost, if ever
you received it, convinced you of this. Eternal truth has declared, "When
he is come, he will convince the world of sin, because they believe not on
me."
None of us believe by nature: but after the Holy Ghost has convinced us
of the sin of our natures, and the sin of our lives and duties, in order to
convince us of our utter inability to save ourselves, and that we must be
beholden to God, as for every thing else, so for faith (without which it is
impossible to please, or be saved by Christ) he convinces us also, that we have
no faith. "Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" is the grand
question which the Holy Ghost now puts to the soul: at the same time he works
with such power and demonstration, that the soul sees, and is obliged to
confess, that it has no faith.
This is a thing little thought of by most who call themselves
believers. They dream they are Christians, because they live in a Christian
country: If they were born Turks, they would believe on Mohammed; for what is
that which men commonly call faith, but an outward consent to the established
religion? But do not you thus deceive your own selves; true faith is quite
another thing. Ask yourselves, therefore, whether or not the Holy Ghost ever
powerfully convinced you of the sin of unbelief? You are perhaps so devout (you
may imagine) as to get a catalogue of sins; which you look over, and confess in
a formal manner, as often as you go to the holy sacrament: but among all your
suns, did you ever once confess and bewail that damning sin of unbelief? Were
you ever made to cry out, "Lord, give me faith; Lord, give me to believe
on thee; O that I had faith! O that I could believe!" If you never were
thus distressed, at least, if you never saw and felt that you had no faith, it
is a certain sign that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, never came into and
worked savingly upon your souls.
But is it not odd, that the Holy Ghost should be called a Comforter,
when it is plain, by the experience of all God's children, that this work of
conviction is usually attended with sore inward conflicts, and a great deal of
soul-trouble? I answer, The Holy Ghost may well be termed a Comforter, even in
this work; because it is the only way to, and ends in, true solid comfort.
Blessed are they that are thus convicted by him, for they shall be comforted.
Nay, not only so, but there is present comfort, even in the midst of these
convictions: the soul secretly rejoices in the sight of its own misery, blesses
God for bringing it our of darkness into light, and looks forward with a
comfortable prospect of future deliverances, knowing, that, "though sorrow
may endure for a night, joy will come in the morning."
Thus it is that the Holy Ghost convinces the soul of sin. And, if so,
how wretchedly are they mistaken, that blend the light of the Spirit with the
light of conscience, as all such do, who say, that Christ lighteth every man
that cometh into the world, and that light, if improved, will bring us to Jesus
Christ? If such doctrine be true, the promise in the text was needless: our
Lord's apostles had already that light; the world hereafter to be convinced,
had that light; and, if that was sufficient to bring them to Christ, why was it
expedient that Christ should go away to heaven, to send down the Holy Ghost to
do this for them! Alas! all have not this Spirit: it is the special gift of
God, and, without this special gift, we can never come to Christ.
The light of conscience will accuse or convince us of any common sin;
but the light of natural conscience never did, never will, and never can,
convince of unbelief. If it could, how comes it to pass, that not one of the
heathens, who improved the light of nature in such an eminent degree, was ever
convinced of unbelief? No, natural conscience cannot effect this; it is the
peculiar property of the Holy Ghost the Comforter: "When he is come, he
will reprove (or convince) the world of sin, or righteousness, and
judgment." We have heard how he convinces of sin: we come not to show,
By the word righteousness, in some places of scripture, we are to
understand that common justice which we ought to practice between man and man;
as when Paul is said to reason of temperance and righteousness before a
trembling Felix. But here (as in a multitude of other places in holy writ) we
are to understand by the word righteousness, the active and passive obedience
of the dear Lord Jesus; even that perfect, personal, all- sufficient
righteousness, which he has wrought out for that world which the Spirit is to
convince. "Of righteousness, (says our Lord) because I go to the Father,
and ye see me no more." This is one argument that the Holy Spirit makes
use of to prove Christ's righteousness, because he is gone to the Father, and
we see him no more. For, had he not wrought out a sufficient righteousness, the
Father would have sent him back, as not having done what he undertook; and we
should have seen him again.
O the righteousness of Christ! It so comforts my soul, that I must be
excused if I mention it in almost all my discourses. I would not, if I could
help it, have one sermon without it. Whatever infidels may object, or Arminians
sophistically argue against an imputed righteousness; yet whoever know
themselves and God, must acknowledge, that "Jesus Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness, (and perfect justification in the sight of God) to every
one that believeth," and that we are to be made the righteousness of God
in him. This, and this only, a poor sinner can lay hold of, as a sure anchor of
his hope. Whatever other scheme of salvation men may lay, I acknowledge I can
see no other foundation whereon to build my hopes of salvation, but on the rock
of Christ's personal righteousness, imputed to my soul.
Many, I believe, have a rational conviction of, and agree with me in
this: but rational convictions, if rested in, avail but little; it must be a
spiritual, experimental conviction of the truth, which is saving. And therefore
our Lord says, when the Holy Ghost comes in the day of his power, it convinces
of this righteousness, of the reality, completeness, and sufficiency of it, to
save a poor sinner.
We have seen how the Holy Ghost convinces the sinner of the sin of his
nature, life, duties, and of the sin of unbelief; and what then must the poor
creature do? He must, he must inevitably despair, if there be no hope but in
himself. When therefore the Spirit has hunted the sinner out of all his false
rests and hiding-places, taken off the pitiful fig-leaves of his own works, and
driven him out of the trees of the garden (his outward reformations) and place
him naked before the bar of a sovereign, holy, just, and sin-avenging God;
then, then it is, when the soul, having the sentence of death within itself
because of unbelief, has a sweet display of Christ's righteousness made to it
by the Holy Spirit of God. Here it is, that he begins more immediately to act
in the quality of a Comforter, and convinces the soul so powerfully of the
reality and all-sufficiency of Christ's righteousness, that the soul is
immediately set a hungering and thirsting after it. Now the sinner begins to
see, that though he has destroyed himself, yet in Christ is his help; that,
though he has no righteousness of his own to recommend him, there is a fullness
of grace, a fullness of truth, a fullness of righteousness in the dear Lord Jesus,
which, if once imputed to him, will make him happy for ever and ever.
None can tell, but those happy souls who have experienced it, with what
demonstration of the Spirit this conviction comes. O how amiable, as well as
all-sufficient, does the blessed Jesus now appear! With what new eyes does the
soul now see the Lord its righteousness! Brethren, it is unutterable. If you
were never thus convinced of Christ's righteousness in your own souls, though
you may believe it doctrinally, it will avail you nothing, if the Comforter
never came savingly into your souls, then you are comfortless indeed. But; What
will this righteousness avail, if the soul has it not in possession?
By the word judgment, I understand that well-grounded peace, that
settled judgment, which the soul forms of itself, when it is enabled by the
Spirit of God to lay hold on Christ's righteousness, which I believe it always
does, when convinced in the matter before-mentioned. "Of judgment (says
our Lord) because the Prince of this world is judged;" the soul, being
enabled to lay hold on Christ's perfect righteousness by a lively faith, has a
conviction wrought in it by the Holy Spirit, that the Prince of this world is
judged. The soul being now justified by faith, has peace with God through our
Lord Jesus Christ, and can triumphantly say, It is Christ that justifies me,
who is he that condemns me? The strong man armed is now cast out; my soul is in
a true peace; the Prince of this world will come and accuse, but he has now no
share in me: the blessed Spirit which I have received, and whereby I am enabled
to apply Christ's righteousness to my poor soul, powerfully convinces me of
this: why should I fear? Or of what shall I be afraid, since God's Spirit
witnesses with my spirit, that I am a child of God? The Lord is ascended up on
high; he has led captivity captive; he has received the Holy Ghost the
Comforter, that best of gifts for men: and that Comforter is come into my
heart: he is faithful that hath promised: I, even I, am powerfully, rationally,
spiritually convicted of sin, righteousness and judgment. By this I know the
Prince of this world is judged.
Thus, I say, may we suppose that soul to triumph, in which the promise
of the text is happily fulfilled. And though, at the beginning of this
discourse, I said, most had never experienced any thing of this, and that
therefore this preaching must be foolishness to such; yet I doubt not but there
are some few happy souls, who, through grace, have been enabled to follow me
step by step; and notwithstanding the Holy Ghost might not directly work in the
same order as I have described, and perhaps they cannot exactly say the time
when, yet they have a well-grounded confidence that the work is done, and that
they have really been convinced of sin, righteousness and judgment in some way,
or at some time or another.
And now, what shall I say to you? O thank God, thank the Lord Jesus,
thank the ever-blessed Trinity, for this unspeakable gift: for you would never
have been thus highly favored, had not he who first spoke darkness into light,
loved you with an everlasting love, and enlightened you by his Holy Spirit, and
that too, not on account of any good thing foreseen in you, but for his own
name's sake.
Be humble therefore, O believers, be humble: look to the rock from
whence you have been hewn: extol free grace; admire electing love, which alone
has made you to differ from the rest of your brethren. Has God brought you into
light? Walk as becometh children of light. Provoke not the Holy Spirit to
depart from you: for though he hath sealed you to the day of redemption, and
you know that the Prince of this world is judged; yet if you backslide, grow
lukewarm, or forget your first love, the Lord will visit your offenses with the
rod of affliction, and your sin with spiritual scourges. Be not therefore
high-minded, but fear. Rejoice, but let it be with trembling. As the elect of
God, put on, not only humbleness of mind, but bowels of compassion; and pray, O
pray for your unconverted brethren! Help me, help me now, O children of God,
and hold up my hands, as Aaron and Hur once held up the hands of Moses. Pray,
whilst I am preaching, that the Lord may enable me to say, This day is the
promise in the text fulfilled in some poor sinners hearts. Cry mightily to God,
and, with the cords of holy violence, pull down blessings on your neighbors
heads. Christ yet lives and reigns in heaven: the residue of the Spirit is yet
in his hand, and a plentiful effusion of it is promises in the latter days of
the church. And O that the Holy Ghost, the blessed Comforter, would now come
down, and convince those that are Christ-less amongst you, of sin, of
righteousness, and of judgment! O that you were once made willing to be
convinced!
But perhaps you had rather be filled with wine than with the Spirit,
and are daily chasing that Holy Ghost from your souls. What shall I say for you
to God? "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." What
shall I say from God to you? Why? That "God was in Christ reconciling the
world unto himself:" Therefore I beseech you, as in Christ's stead, be ye
reconciled to God. Do not go away contradicting and blaspheming. I know Satan
would have you be gone. Many of you may be uneasy, and are ready to cry out,
"What a weariness is this!" But I will not let you go: I have
wrestled with God for my hearers in private, and I must wrestle with you here
in public. Though of myself I can do nothing, and you can no more by your own
power come to and believe on Christ, than Lazarus could come forth from the
grave; yet who knows but God may beget some of you again to a lively hope by
this foolishness of preaching, and that you may be some of that world, which
the Comforter is to convince of sin, or righteousness, and of judgment?
Poor
Christ-less souls! Do you know what a condition you are in? Why, you are lying
in the wicked one, the devil; he rules in you, he walks and dwells in you,
unless you dwell in Christ, and the Comforter is come into your hearts. And
will you contentedly lie in that wicked one that devil? What wages will he give
you? Eternal death. O that you would come to Christ! The free gift of God
through him is eternal life. He will accept of you even now, if you will
believe in him. The Comforter may yet come into your hearts, even yours. All
that are now his living temples, were once lying in the wicked one, as well as
you. This blessed gift, this Holy Ghost, the blessed Jesus received even for
the rebellious.
I see
many of you affected: but are your passions only a little wrought upon, or are
your souls really touched with a lively sense of the heinousness of your sins,
your want of faith, and the preciousness of the righteousness of Jesus Christ?
If so, I hope the Lord has been gracious, and that the Comforter is coming into
your hearts. Do not stifle these convictions! Do not go away, and straightway
forget what manner of doctrine you have heard, and thereby show that these are
only common workings of a few transient convictions, floating upon the surface
of your hearts. Beg of God that you may be sincere (for he alone can make you
so) and that you may indeed desire the promise of the text to be fulfilled in
your souls. Who knows but the Lord may be gracious? Remember you have no plea
but sovereign mercy; but, for your encouragement also, remember it is the
world, such as you are, to whom the Comforter is to come, and whom he is to
convince: wait therefore at wisdom's gates. The bare probability of having a door
of mercy opened, is enough to keep you striving. Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, the chief of them: you know not but he came to save you.
Do not go and quarrel with God's decrees, and say, if I am a reprobate, I shall
be damned; if I am elected, I shall be saved; and therefore I will do nothing.
What have you to do with God's decrees? Secret things belong to him; it is you
business to "give all diligence to make your calling and election
sure." If there are but few who find the way that leads to life, do you
strive to be some of them: you know not but you may be in the number of those
few, and that your striving may be the means which God intends to bless, to
give you an entrance in. If you do not act thus, you are not sincere; and, if you
do, who knows but you may find mercy? For though, after you have done all that
you can, God may justly cut you off, yet never was a single person damned who
did all that he could. Though therefore your hands are withered, stretch them
out; though you are impotent, sick, and lame, come, lie at the pool. Who knows
but by and by the Lord Jesus may have compassion on you, and send the Comforter
to convince you of sin, righteousness, and of judgment? He is a God full of
compassion and longsuffering, otherwise you and I had been long since lifted up
our eyes in torments. But still he is patient with us!
O
Christ-less sinners, you are alive, and who knows but God intends to bring you
to repentance? Could my prayers or tears affect it, you should have vollies of
the one, and floods of the other. My heart is touched with a sense of your
condition: May our merciful High-priest now send down the Comforter, and make
you sensible of it also! O the love of Christ! It constrains me yet to beseech
you to come to him; what do you reject, if you reject Christ, the Lord of
glory! Sinners, give the dear Redeemer a lodging in your souls. Do not be
Bethshemites; give Christ your hearts, your whole hearts. Indeed he is worthy.
He made you, and not you yourselves. You are not your own; give Christ then
your bodies and souls, which are his! Is it not enough to melt you down, to
think that the high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity, should condescend
to invite you by his ministers? How soon can he frown you to hell? And how know
you, but he may, this very instant, if you do not hear his voice? Did any yet
harden their hearts against Christ, and prosper? Come then, do not send me
sorrowful away: do not let me have reason to cry out, O my leanness, my
leanness! Do not let me go weeping into my closet, and say, "Lord, they
will not believe my report; Lord, I have called them, and they will not answer;
I am unto them as a very pleasant song, and as one that plays upon a pleasant
instrument; but their hearts are running after the lust of the eye, the lust of
the flesh, and the pride of life." Would you be willing that I should give
such an account of you, or make such a prayer before God? And yet I must not
only do so here, but appear in judgment against you hereafter, unless you will
come to Christ. Once more therefore I entreat you to come. What objections have
you to make? Behold, I stand here in the name of God, to answer all that you
can offer. But I know no one can come, unless the Father draw him: I will
therefore address one to my God, and intercede with him to send the Comforter
into your hearts.
O
blessed Jesus, who art a God whose compassions fail not, and in whom all the
promises are yea and amen; thou that sittest between the cherubim, show thyself
amongst us. Let us now see thy outgoings! O let us now taste that thou art
gracious, and reveal thy almighty arm! Get thyself the victory in these poor
sinners hearts. Let not the word spoken prove like water spilt upon the ground.
Send down, send down, O great High-priest, the Holy Spirit, to convince the
world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. So will we give thanks and
praise to thee, O Father, thee O Son, and thee O blessed Spirit; to whom, as
three Persons, but one God, be ascribed by angels and archangels, by cherubim and
seraphim, and all the heavenly hosts, all possible power, might, majesty, and
dominion, now and for evermore.
Amen, Amen, Amen.