THE HOLY SPIRIT,
A
DISCOURSE.
Reform and be immersed every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ in order to the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.— ACTS II. Whom the world cannot receive.— JOHN iv.— New Version.
CHRISTIANITY as developed in the snored ovaries, is sustained by three divine missions; — the mission of the Lord Jesus; the mission of the Apostles; and the mission of the Holy Spirit; these embassies are distinct in three particulars: person, termination and design. Like the branches, flowers and fruit of the same tree, they are indeed nearly and admirably related; still, however like these, they are distinct,— not one, but three missions, connected like the vine, its branches and clusters of grapes.
Of the persons sent on these missions: It may suffice to observe, that although scriptures gives to Jesus, to the Apostles, and to the Holy Spirit, the attitude of missionaries, i. e. speak of them as persons sent by the Father, they never speak of the Father himself in such style. God is said in the New Testament to send the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus to send the Apostles, and the Holy Spirit to be sent of the Father and the Son; but the Father himself is not said to be sent of any one.
Of the termination of these missions: Every embassy political or religious, must and does end somewhere; hence we have political embassies to Spain, Portugal, the Court of St. James St. Cloud, Petersburgh, Naples; and we have religious missions to Japan, the Cape, Hindoostan, to the Indians and to the South Seas. If it be enquired then in what other respect these three divine institutions differed from each other. I answer, they had distinct terminations. Our Lord Jesus was sent personally to the Jewish nation and his personal mission terminated on that people. The Apostles were sent to all the nations, and their mission terminated accordingly: but the Holy Spirit was sent only to the church of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so far as his gifts were enjoyed, his mission terminated in that institution.
Of the design of these missions: In every embassy there is something to be accomplished. We do not send out political and religious ambassadors for nothing; but for the high purpose of negotiation; and therefore, it will he seen in the following discourse, that God in sending forth His Son, the Apostles. and the Holy Spirit, had a great design: also that the ends or designs of the embassies of these high functionaries were alt distinct from each other.
In fine, it will be shown in regard to the Holy Spirit, that he was not sent to dwell in any one, in order to make him a Christian, but because he Lad already become a Christian; or in other terms it will be proved, that the Holy Spirit is not given to men, to make them believe and obey the gospel, but rather because they have believed and obeyed the gospel.
The propositions of the discourse are as follows;
PROPOSITION 1. Jesus Christ was personally a missionary only to the Jews; his mission terminated on that people; and the designs of it were to proclaim the gospel, and to teach those among them who believed it.
PROPOSITION 2. The Apostles were missionaries to the whole world; their mission terminated on mankind and its design was to proclaim the gospel, and to teach those among men who believed it.
PROPOSITION 3. The Holy Spirit was a missionary to the church: His mission terminated on that institution, and the designs of it were to comfort the disciples, glorify Jesus Christ as the true Messiah; and to convince the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.
These are the main propositions of the following discourse, but in the settlement of them, some other points of intense interest to Christians are necessarily introduced, and if neither these, nor indeed the chief propositions themselves are treated in much detail the reader will find an apology for this in the circumscribed form of the pamphlet in which they are contained. There is, I apprehend, enough said to conduct the reader into the truth of the scriptures on this all engrossing topic of the Holy Spirit; and to annihilate in his mind the absurd doctrines still too generally taught: these are the two designs contemplated immediately by the editor in the original publication of this discourse; and he prays, that where ever they obtain, they may operate in reforming and purifying the reader;— may they make him more sober, more righteous, more godly: for it is impossible for the Holy Spirit to dwell with the ungodly, unrighteous and intemperate; these are times, moreover, when the professors of Christianity are but little solicitous of enjoying the consolations of the Spirit of God and Christ, a matter which certainly is much to be regretted by all who know his name in truth and very deed.
PROPOSITION 1. Jesus Christ was personally a missionary to the Jews; his mission terminated on that people; and the designs of it were to proclaim the gospel, and to teach those among the Jews who believed it.
1st. Of the Messiah considered as a missionary or ambassador: One world and but one was to be negotiated for; and therefore, strictly speaking, there is in the Christian religion but one ambassador from God the Father— Jesus Christ our Lord: He is the only personage in the divine institution who has been called of God and sent to the sons of men in this high capacity; it may be enquired however, whether the apostles were not called and sent? I answer, they were not called and sent of God the Father; Jesus alone enjoyed this distinction, and these men were called and sent of Jesus: hence he says, ‘As my Father sent me into the world, so send I you into the world.’ Again it may be asked, ‘was not John sent of God?’ Is it not written, ‘there was a man sent of God whose name was John?’ I answer it is written; but this objection is obviated by the consideration that John was confessedly not of our dispensation; he was not of the kingdom of heaven, but came that it might be introduced, and therefore, it is said, that though the most distinguished of men, the least in the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. The immense importance of Christ’s mission to the Jewish nation, may be inferred from the divine and august character of the royal personage sent, Jesus the son of God; and the preeminent regard of the Father for that nation, may be learnt from the same consideration. Christ was a minister of the circumcision, says Paul, to confirm the promises made unto die fathers.
2. Of the termination of Christ’s mission: Be it observed, that for an ambassador to extend the sphere of his negotiations beyond its prescribed limits, and so transcend his authority, is wholly incompatible with the grave responsibility of such a functionary; the ambassador to St. Cloud, if his instructions restrict him to this court, must not and cannot negotiate with the court of St. James; if one of our statesmen is sent in this high capacity on a special embassy to the Sublime Porte, his commission to that power will not warrant him to negotiate with the Czar of Russia; and an officer of this rank may be sent to Spain with no authority at all to transact national business with the authorities of Naples, or Rome.
It is so in the Christian religion also: Jesus was sent to the Jews; the Apostles to the world, and the Holy Spirit to the church; we do not, therefore, in any instance behold them transcend the bounds of their missions, or do violence to the authority with which they were clothed; all is decorous here, nothing is out of keeping in the modus of these high functionaries.
Jesus did not conceive it in accordance with the solemn reverence, which on every occasion he discovered for the Father, to overleap the limits of Canaan and to preach to the Gentiles; he would not permit this liberty to be assumed even by his disciples, while they aided him in the duties of his personal mission; he was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and his instructions to them in regard to this matter, therefore, are couched in the most intelligible language: ‘Go not, said he to them, into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’
3. Of the design of Christ’s mission: The elevated affairs of law and empire— the affairs of right and liberty, of peace and of war, are of high consideration in the kingdoms of this world; but Jesus stood in the court of Israel with a great design— the purposes of his high negotiations were pardon, reconciliation, and life eternal. Oh! that Jerusalem had known in this the day of her merciful visitation! He would have gathered her as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but she would not, and He wept over her. Jesus, in the synagogue at Nazareth, declares the benign purposes of his mission in the following inimitable expressions;; The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for He has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent me to heal the broken hearted; to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. The sermon on the mount presents him in the attitude of teaching his disciples; so that we may in this manner perceive the great ends or purposes of his mission to be comprehended in preaching the gospel to the poor, and in teaching such as admitted his divine authority.
PROPOSITION 2. The Apostles were missionaries to the whole world; their mission terminated on mankind; and the designs of it were to proclaim the gospel, and to instruct in all the will of God those who obeyed it.
1. Of the Apostles considered as missionaries: Besides that of witnesses to the ministry, miracles, death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Saviour, the apostles were to discharge the functions of ambassadors to the nations in the stead of Christ: and if the divine wisdom is most apparent in selecting as witnesses of the resurrection, men with their sense of vision, &c., washed all their days in the seas of Genesareth, it is no less so in sending abroad to immerse the nations, those who all their lives long, had, by the nature of their civil profession, been constantly habituated to the water and the roaring of the deep. It was in coincidence with this fact, the Redeemer said to Peter: ‘Fear not henceforth, you shall catch men!’ Blessed be his precious name!
But though the Apostles were entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, endowed with power and clothed with the authority necessary to order all things right in the kingdom of Christ, yet they were not ambassadors in the highest sense of that word, but only vice-ambassadors in the absence of him who elected them to officiate in his stead, and who himself was the original and sole ambassador in the Christian institution, called and sent of God the Father.
To this observation it may be objected, that Paul calls himself an ambassador; in answer I admit he does according to our common English version; but the Greek original does not necessarily inculcate this idea: in Eph. vi. chap. v. 20, we read hupcr hou presbeuo en hulusei, ‘For which gospel I discharge the functions of ambassador in a chain;’ but be it observed that in 2d Cor. chap. v. v. 20, the apostles gives us explicitly to understand, that the duties of this high office devolved on him only in a secondary sense, and that he was an ambassador only in the stead of Christ; ‘huper Chris to presbuomen.’ Instead of Christ we discharge the functions of ambassadors. It was in the room of Christ then, and not in the capacity of original ambassadors, the Apostles* negotiated for God with the world to be reconciled.
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* Now if the Apostles themselves were not ambassadors, and I say they are not in scripture called such; what are modern ministers in the kingdom of Christ? are they ambassadors? I answer no; what are they then? are they the servants of Satan? abhorrent question! God forbid that I should even insinuate such an idea concerning them with all their errors! But can a man serve God in no other capacity than that of ambassador? Are all the functionaries of our own general government ambassadors, and can the United States be served by a man in no other capacity but this? are our magistrates, city, and state officers, congressmen, and senators, ambassadors? Surely no. Well, it is agreed at least that the Evangelists and primitive pastors of the church were not ambassadors; and yet they served God in the kingdom of his son, and served him well too; why then should the pastors and teachers of the present day arrogate to themselves this distinction, and pompously call themselves ambassadors?
2. Of the termination of the Apostolic mission: What a splendid field for holy enterprise was laid open to the Apostles when Jesus said to them: ‘Go ye into all the world, proclaim the glad tidings to the whole creation!’ Before his death, and while they aided him in his personal mission, the commandment was. ‘Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not;? but now having consummated his mission and arisen from the dead, the sphere of their ministry was extended to the utmost bounds of the habitable world, ‘Go ye into all the world!’ Great was the field, and we do not read that these illustrious ministers, who alone enjoyed the distinction of being ambassadors instead of Christ, ever addressed to angels or demons the word of reconciliation. Their mission was glorious and extensive, but it was limited to the children of men; and, like their great master, they discovered no desire to transcend the limits to which in his instructions he had restricted them.
3. Of the design of the Apostolic mission: The purposes for which the apostles were sent missionaries to the nations are stated in their commission. ‘All power, says Christ to them, is given to me in heaven and upon earth;’ go ye therefore, disciple the nations, immersing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo! I am with you to the conclusion of this state.— Amen. To preach and to teach, then, formed the business of the Apostles: and the end of their mission was the reconciliation of the world by the administration of pardon in the name of Christ.
PROPOSITION 3. The Holy Spirit was a missionary to the church; his mission terminated on that institution; and the designs of it were to comfort the disciples, glorify Jesus, and to convince the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
1. Of the Holy Spirit as a missionary: The idea of the Holy Spirit’s being a missionary may seem a little odd; still it will be found perfectly scriptural. ‘If I go away, said the Lord Jesus, I will send him to you,’ He is said like Christ, to proceed from the Father, and is called the paraclete or advocate or monitor: however much, therefore, the disciples may repudiate the subtleties and foolish reasoning of modern theologists on the work, divinity and personality of the Holy Spirit, they must not be stumbled at the language and doctrine of the Holy Scriptures: when God speaks, reason should learn to be observantly, but reverentially silent. The Hebrew word for Spirit is Ruach, the Greek Pneuma, and the Latin Spirilus; it is of very frequent occurrence in the Holy Scriptures, and is found in the beginning of Genesis and the end of Revelations. This discourse is intended to treat of that Holy Spirit into which we are immersed, and which came to the disciples on the day of Pentecost, and is now in the church in this world.
2. Of the termination of the Spirit’s mission: The idea of the Spirit’s being a missionary to the church, affords a new and striking argument against that immoral and fatal maxim in popular theology, namely, that special spiritual operations are necessary to faith! In this discourse it is shown that the church was
formed before any of her members received the Spirit; that after the church was formed the Spirit was sent into her on the day of Pentecost; finally, that men did not and do not receive this Spirit to make them disciples, but because they were or are disciples; in a word it is shown, from the express words of Christ himself, that no man that does not first of all believe the gospel, can receive the Holy Spirit. If any man thirst, says Christ, let him come unto me and drink, and out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Now what does this mean; that the Holy Spirit will be given to unbelievers? No; John the Apostles explains it as follows: ‘This he spake of the Spirit which was to be given to those who believed, for the Spirit was not yet given (to believers) because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Concerning the Holy Spirit, the Redeemer said further. ‘It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come; but if I go away, I will send him to you;’ again ‘whom the world cannot receive.’ I will send him to you: to you, my disciples; now the number of disciples must have been at this time very great, for Christ made and baptized, it is said, more than John, there were 120 present on the day of Pentecost, and 500 brethren beheld him at once after his resurrection, and all these were reckoned disciples without having received the Holy Spirit! but if the Holy Spirit had been necessary to make men repent and believe the gospel, then he must have come to them before Jesus left the world, and consequently when he went away he could not send him, from the fact that he had already come— I will send him to you.
The mission of the Spirit then was to those whom the Redeemer designated you, the disciples— the church which he had gathered; and this institution is distinguished from the world by nothing so much as that of receiving the Spirit through faith: for a prime reason why the world does not receive the Spirit, is that it has no faith in God. ‘Whom the world cannot receive because it seeth him not.’ The Spirit then being received by them who believe, and the world being endued with sense, and having no faith, it is impossible that he should be received by the world, or that his mission should be to unbelieving men. He came to the church: and there is no instance on record of the Holy Spirit transcending the limits of his mission, or of operating in a man before faith to produce that principle in his soul.
The doctrine then, alas! the too popular doctrine, which extends the mission of the Spirit beyond the bounds of the church, and teaches the world, which the Saviour says, cannot receive him, to sit and wait for his internal special operations to produce faith, is monstrously absurd and impious; absurd, because it makes the Holy Spirit to transgress by overreaching the limits of his embassy, which is to the church— and impious, because it makes him give the lie to the Lord of Glory, who says, the world cannot receive him. Jesus said, ‘when he is come he will glorify me:’ would it glorify the Redeemer’s character before either angels or men to make him a liar, as the Spirit would and must do, were he, according to the maxims of party theology, to be received by sinners for the purpose of originating in them either faith or repentance. Let minister reflect on this; let all professors reflect on this,.
That those who obey the gospel, that is, believe, repent and are baptized, do and must, by the very nature of the New Covenant, receive the Holy Spirit, is made certain by a ‘thus saith the Lord? but that men, who hear the gospel, cannot believe and obey it, is wholly human and is supported by nothing but a ‘thus says the man?— the preacher; the Episcopalian, the Presbyterian, the Methodist, tile Baptist, the Quaker; for, however these parties differ in other matters, they are all alike here, in this doctrine they are one! And judge for yourself, reader, whether such among us, as are charged with the office of public instructors in the Christian religion, are not chargeable with the grossest perversity, when we refuse to announce the great things of salvation in the sound Words of the New Testament, and cry aloud with brazen insolence, that our audience cannot believe and obey the gospel, on the testimony of the Holy Scriptures without special operations from the Holy Spirit, when Almighty God has caused it to be written in living characters on the intelligible page of his never dying word; ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit!
3. Of the purposes for which the Spirit was sent: These are couched in the following Scriptures: ‘When the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, He will testify of me,— He will guide you into all the truth.’ He shall abide with you forever,— He will reprove, convince the world of sin, of righteousness and judgment. Take notice reader, of sin, because they believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye see me no more; and of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. He will glorify me, for he will take of mine and show it unto you— all that the Father hath is mine.
Thus Jesus gives to the spirit the attitude of a missionary to come from heaven with the three fold design of comforting the disciples, convincing the world, and glorifying Jesus: and as this is the day of missions, the day when missionaries are running to and fro upon the earth increasing knowledge, we conceive ourselves fortunate in having it in our power to present this important subject to the reader under so popular an aspect.
The Spirit’s mission then is briefly comprehended in three words, comfort, glorify, convince; and differs obviously from the first of the three divine missions; for it was no part of Jesus’ embassy to glorify himself.
I seek not mine own glory, said the Redeemer; the Spirit was to glorify him. ‘He will glorify me.’
The mission of the Spirit differed also from that of the Apostles in this very nice but important respect,— that while they were to preach to the world, the Spirit was to convince the world: and mark, reader, there is a very significant difference between the two offices of preaching and Convincing; it is one thing to proclaim a matter to the world as divine, and quite another to prove to the world that it is divine: preaching and convincing are two distinct words, and be assured, reader, they stand for two very distinct ideas: believe me, they do. Any priest may preach that I cannot believe the gospel without special spiritual operations, but all the priests in Christendom could not make me believe it. The Apostles, then, were to preach the gospel, and the Holy Spirit was to confirm the truth of it and so convince the world: thus the third mission is shown to differ materially from the first two in regard to person, termination and design.
OF THE SPIRIT’S MISSION IN PARTICULAR.
At the advent of Messiah, the world, in regard to religion, was divided into Jews and Gentiles. When the church appeared as a third party, she came forth from between the former two like a ship from between a rock, and a whirlpool. Danger menaced her on every side, and it became indispensable that those by whom she was to be steered should be filled with the Spirit of him who launched her on the stormy ocean of time.
Accordingly ”the Holy Spirit was sent down from heaven.’
But as no embassy can be instituted with immediate reference to any establishment, political or religious, until that establishment is first brought into existence; as no tent nor temple can be occupied until it is reared; and no body can receive a spirit until it has been previously organized; for God first made Adam, and afterwards breathed into him the breath of life; so the Spirit of Christ could not come to the church unless that church had been first formed.
It becomes important, then, to determine with accuracy the precise date of the church of Christ. Every institution, civil, political, or religious— every establishment of peace or of war— of arts or arms— is based upon some prime, some fundamental maxim. The American Republic, for instance, stands on this maxim, that ‘all men are born free and equal;’ and into this the whole superstructure of law and government may be resolved. If the foundation is sure, the building will stand, if the materials are in accordance with the foundation; if it be false or inferior, it must give way to the pressure of time, and the superstructure be destroyed together with the foundation.
But it is on Christianity we are writing. Now, then, our holy religion, when contemplated as a unique and distinct institution, resolves itself ultimately into this fact, and is based upon it, viz: ‘Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God.’ If this be false, Christianity is false; if this be true, Christianity must prevail, and earth and hell in vain assail it: for great is truth and mighty above all things, and must prevail. ‘Upon this rock,’ said Jesus to Peter when he publickly confessed this truth— ‘ Upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’ It was for confessing this truth that Jesus was condemned by the Jewish Sanhedrim— he died for this, and was the first martyr to it. The Apostles died for confessing this— men were pardoned of God for confessing it— and congregations which held it were styled the churches of Christ, whether they were in order or no; whether they had ordinances, oracles, or officers, or no; and it is on the confession of this fact that the church, within these few years, has begun, according to the ancient gospel, again to admit sinners to baptism for the remission of their sins. Glory to God and to Jesus Christ!
Besides this, that Jesus is the Son of God, there are many great and invaluable truths in Christianity— such as that he died for sinners; that he is now in
heaven; that there will be a insurrection of the just and unjust, and a general judgment. But mark reader, that while for the revelation of these and other things, God has employed prophets, evangelists, apostles, and his Son Jesus Christ: yet the great fact on which the church is based, viz: that Jesus is, his Son, was not left to flesh and blood to make known, but God the Father revealed it publicly himself at Jordan to the nation of the Jews assembled there, when, on that famous day the heavens opened over the head of the baptized Jesus, and the Spirit from the Eternity beyond, was seen descending like a dove and remaining on him. accompanied with the greatest and most wonderful of all the revelations of God, ‘Behold my Son, the beloved, in whom I am well pleased!’ ‘Flesh and blood,’ said the Lord on one occasion to Peter, ‘has not revealed this to thee, but my Father who is in heaven.’ The great fact on which the church is reared was made known to the sons of men, then, by God himself; and when he made it known, in doing it he proposed Jesus as the first person of a new institution— the chief foundation stone of a new religious building, temple, tabernacle— ‘Behold my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.’
The church is contemplated under various figures in the Holy Scriptures— as a sheepfold, a nation, a priesthood, a temple— ‘Ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.’ But the temple was built before the glory of God filled it, and the origin of the Christian church must be dated anterior to the day when it was filled with the Spirit of God— the day of Pentecost. Some date the origin of the church in eternity; some, at the beginning of the world; others say the law was as much the church of Christ as the gospel; and others, that it began at the resurrection of Jesus. To use the Apostle’s figure we would say, that the first stone of the Christian temple was laid by God— ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone,’ &c., and that it was laid on the day when he said,’ Behold my beloved Son.’ Peter alludes to this when he says to the rulers, ‘This is the stone which you builders rejected, which is now become the head of the corner.’ Those who believed on Jesus as the promised Messiah, however, had no reason to be ashamed of him; for though the rulers and doctors refused him as the commencement of a new economy— though their religious builders rejected him as the foundation stone, God took him to himself, and laid him up in heaven to become the cap-stone, the head of the comer; and when the Christian edifice is about to be finished he shall be brought forth with shouting, crying, ‘Grace! grace!’ for, like Zerubabel of old, God has laid the foundation of this house, and his hand also shall finish it. It is wonderful that a stone should be at the same time both the first and the last in any building— the foundation stone and the head of the corner! ‘This is the doing of the Lord,’ said the Psalmist, ‘and it is marvelous in our eyes.’ Thus is Jesus, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the ending of Christianity. God, then, laid Jesus; Jesus laid Peter; and Peter and his fellow- Apostles laid Jews and Gentiles living stones upon this great foundation. Hallelujah! According to this figure, Christianity commenced when Christ made his first appearance, and it will be finished when he makes his second, and comes to be the last stone in this temple; but according to another figure, viz: that of a bride or wife, the church of Christ was not separated from Judaism until the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came, as will be seen immediately.
Some ask whether John the Baptist did not make Christians; and others seem think it very problematical whether Jesus did not make Baptists for John.
Now we think with the Scriptures, that as also these three personages were at different times sent by the Father— their disciples were under God respectively their own. Hence we hear the Scriptures speak of Moses’ disciples, John’s disciples, and Jesus’ disciples; and when John and Moses’ disciples would become Christians, they had to be baptized over again in the name of Jesus Christ. See Acts xix. As, therefore, the Jews became ostensibly the disciples of Moses when they were all immersed into him in the cloud and in the sea, and as the descendants of these Jews became the disciples of John when they were baptized of him in Jordan, so the disciples of John and of Moses became ostensibly the disciples of Jesus when they were baptized by him; and as the disciples of Moses were the church of Moses, so the disciples of Jesus were the church of Jesus: consequently the church of Christ was formed by himself when he began to make disciples; and having formed her while alive— having brought his bride into existence, ‘he loved her,’ the Scriptures say, ‘and gave himself for her that he might sanctify her,’ (separate her from Jews and Gentiles,) ‘having cleansed her with a bath of water and with the word.’ He, therefore, addressed his disciples after baptism, and before he laid down his life for them, in these memorable words: ‘Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.’ Having washed his bride with water, and bought her with his blood, he arose to separate her from all former and subsequent institutions, whither religious or political, whether Jews or Gentiles: and thus he did effectually by sending down from heaven the Holy Spirit in such marvelous abundance, that ‘of the rest (whether Jews or Gentiles who looked at the new institution) ‘durst no man join himself to them, but the people magnified them.’ This is the true meaning of the word ‘sanctification,’ viz: separation by the Spirit.
But every establishment must rest upon some foundation: God,.therefore, laid Jesus as the foundation of the Christian building; and he is a rock truly.
The church of Christ, then, was formed by himself before ever he left this world; and previous to the day of Pentecost ‘the number of the names together were about one hundred and twenty? all those, not yet having received the Spirit, continued with one accord in prayer and supplication for ten days, until the day of Pentecost. But as there was a day on which Jesus entered upon his personal ministry among the Jews— as there was a day when the Apostles entered upon their mission to the world— so there was a day when the Spirit came to the church. That day was Pentecost. Accordingly it is written, Acts ii. ‘And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place; and suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit,’ &c.
May I entreat the reader to pause a little ever this magnificent event? ‘A sound from heaven as of a mighty rushing wind,’ shaking the house and filling the disciples with the Holy Spirit!* Here, then, we have the descent of the great spiritual missionary into the body of Christ, the church; from which moment he has never left it, and never can leave it; for while the personal mission of Jesus to the Jews, and of the Apostles to the world, were only temporary, the mission of the Spirit into the body of Christ is an eternal matter— even death cannot annul it. ‘For if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you,’ says Paul, ‘he that raised Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ ‘He shall abide with you forever.’ If it be asked why there is no instance of supplication, deprecation, thanksgiving, prayer, or praise being offered to the Holy Spirit in the Scriptures, I answer that the Holy Spirit being in the church, all saints are represented as offering these spiritual sacrifices to God, through Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in them. Hence the Spirit sheds abroad love in our hearts, groans, helps our infirmaries, and snakes intercession for the saints. The word monitor is a better word for the Greek paracletos than ‘Comforter;’ and the gifts of goodness, as we have styled them, may, with equal, if not more propriety, be called the monitions of the Monitor or Spirit. But the best word, because it is the scriptural one, is fruit. These things are styled the fruit of the Spirit. And when the whole church shall be gathered home, there will be seen in heaven this wonderful spectacle— the church glorified; filled with the Holy Spirit, into which she had been baptized: the son at her head, by whom she has been redeemed; and God on his throne, by whom she has been glorified.
The Spirit, then, can do nothing in religion, nothing in Christianity, but by the members of the body of Christ. Even the word of God, the Scriptures have been given by members filled with this Spirit— they spake as the Spirit gave them utterance. But mark, reader, that there is no member of the body of Christ in whom the Holy Spirit dwelleth not; for it will hold as good at the end of the world and in eternity as it does now, and it holds as good now as it did on the day of Pentecost and afterwards, that ‘if any man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his.’ If, therefore, the Spirit convinces the world of sin, or glorifies Jesus, it is all through the agency of the members of the body of Christ, whom he fills— the church. Hence the indispensable duty of all disciples being led by the Spirit of God with which they are sealed, and of holding forth in the language of the New Testament the gospel: for where there are no _____________
* If a person would understand the Scriptures on the subject of the Holy Spirit, he must take great heed to his entrance into the Christian body on the day of Pentecost. This is the day when the church assumed her public standing as a divine institution; and a curious and fundamental difference between her and the institutions of the law of Moses, is, that persons are filled with this Spirit on becoming members; whereas the Jews might be members of the former institution all their life, and never enjoy the Spirit of God. But in Christianity it is said, ‘If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, be is none of his.’ Christianity is therefore, called ‘the ministration of the Spirit.’ christians or where Christians do not do their duties, there are no conversions, as in Tartary, India, some parts of Europe, &c. But wherever there are Christians Christians who hold forth the gospel in the sound words used on Pentecost by the Apostles, there will always be some conversions, more or less.
But now what have we seen in reference to the particular mission of the Holy Spirit? Why, first, that he was to be sent to the church. 2dly, that Christ then formed the church. And, 3dly, that the Holy Spirit was sent accordingly into this institution on the day of Pentecost.
The church is sixteen times spoken of under the figure of a body, the human body; and this analogy is run out at great length by Paul in the 12th chapter of 1st Corinthians:— ‘Now, concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. You know that you were heathens, led away to idols that are dumb even as you happened to be led. Wherefore I inform you, that no one speaking by the Spirit of God, pronounceth Jesus accursed: and that no one can declare Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. Now, there are diversities of gifts but the same spirit. And there are diversities of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of in-workings, but it is the same God who worketh inwardly all in all. And to each is given this manifestation of the Spirit, for the advantage of all. Now, to one indeed, through the Spirit, is given the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit. And to another, faith by the same Spirit; and to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; and to another the in-workings of powers: and to another, prophecy; and to another, discerning spirits; and to another, divers kinds of foreign tongues; and to another, the interpretation of foreign tongues. Now all these the one and the same Spirit in- worketh, distributing to each his proper gifts as he pleaseth. For as the body is one, although it have many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For, indeed, in one Spirit we all have been immersed into one body, whether Jews or Greeks; whether slaves or freemen; and all have been made to drink of one Spirit. Since, therefore, the body is not one member, but many, if the foot shall say. Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it, for this, not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it for this, not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now God hath placed the members every one of them in the body, as he hath pleased. Besides, if all were one member, where were the body? But now, indeed, there are many members, but one body. Therefor.’, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you. Nay, those members of the body which, seem to be more feeble, are much more necessary. And those which we think are less honorable members of the body, around them we throw more abundant honor; and so, our uncomely members have more abundant comeliness. But our comely members have no need. However, God hath tempered the body together, having given to the member which wanteth it more abundant honor; that there may be no schism in the body, but that the members may have the very same anxious care one for another. And so whether one member suffer, all the members jointly suffer; or one member be honored, all the members jointly rejoice. Now you are the body of Christ and members in part.
Therefore, these indeed God hath placed in the congregation; first apostles; secondly, prophets; thirdly, teachers; next, powers; then, gifts of healing; helpers, directors, kinds of foreign languages. Are all apostles?
Are all teachers? Have all powers? Have all the gift of healing? Do all speak in foreign languages? Do all interpret? Now you earnestly desire the best gifts but yet I show you a more excellent way.’ From this analogy we learn that it is in religion as it is in nature. As the human spirit gives to each member of its body all its powers— strength to the arm— skill to the hand— eloquence to the lip, and heaven to the eye; so the Holy Spirit gives to each member of Christ’s church or body severally as he wills— pleases.
On this analogy a number of important inquiries may be instituted.
1. Has the Spirit which was sent down from heaven on the day of Pentecost ever left this body? No; never. A human body without the Spirit is dead; and Christ’s body (the church) without the Spirit in her would be dead also. He shall abide with you for ever.
2. Can he be in any person that is not of this body? No, he dwells in the saints; and as well might we hope for a man’s spirit to occupy a space beyond his person, as for the Spirit of Christ to be found beyond his body— the church. The Spirit of A cannot enter the body of B; neither can the Spirit of Christ enter the body of a worldly man— ‘whom the world cannot receive,’ says Jesus.
3. How does the Spirit of Christ operate? As our spirits operate in our bodies and by their members, so the Spirit of Christ operates in the body of Christ and by its members. Hence the truth of our former observation, that the Spirit can do nothing in Christianity but by Christians. Therefore, Christians, do your duty, or you will either quench or grieve the Holy Spirit of God, as many, alas! have done, and are now doing at this day by their love of this world and by their prejudices. Alas! if disciples grieve the Comforter, who shall comfort them? Alas! that disciples should quench the Holy Spirit by their lusts and worldly emulations.
If the fire is once extinguished, who shall kindle it again? If the salt has lost its savor, wherewithal shall it be salted? It is thenceforth, good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under loot of men.*
4. Finally, how may a man possess himself of the Spirit of Christ? God has appointed a means for communicating every blessing in nature and in religion. He gives us fruit from the tree; water from the fountain; corn from the soil; and wines from the grape. Join yourself, then, to the body of Christ, and you will receive the Spirit of Christ. How am I to do this? If you believe in Christ, and think that God means what he says, I would venture to quote my text as an infallible direction how you may receive the Spirit: ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.’ Does this please you? Then obey God. Disobey him and you are lost.
But now to approach the mission of the Spirit more closely,) The purposes. of it are in a summary way comprehended in three words— comfort, glorify, convince. We shall show, then, that first he comforted the disciples by bestowing upon them gifts— gifts of wisdom, power, and goodness. When we were all very young in the knowledge of the Scriptures, much confused about what was right and wrong in Christianity, about nine years ago, and some time anterior to that most illustrious matter, ‘the Restoration of the Ancient Gospel,’ an important division of the spiritual gifts suggested itself to me, which very much relieved my mind on the subject of the Holy Spirit; for at that time a number of disciples in New York had ceased to believe that the Spirit, originally from heaven, was any longer in the church. The division alluded to is this: all the gifts by which the Spirit comforted the church might, I perceived, be classed under the three general heads of power, wisdom, and goodness: so that, as a human spirit endows the head with wisdom, the heart with goodness, and the hand with power;— so the Spirit filled the body of Christ with these things in order that all the world might be allured or compelled to become Christians. And surely this was a most apt plan for comforting the disciples in the church.
To illustrate this division of the GIFTS, let us arrange a few of them under each head:—
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* The use made of the Apostle’s analogy is, I hope, strictly proper, and the whole affords a fine argument against the popular error concerning the Spirit, that makes him go into a body that is not his, and bids the world hope to receive him before they become members of the church by faith and immersion. The great intention of this discourse is to inculcate this truth, that the Spirit is given to every one who becomes a member, but to no one in order to make him a member.
Discourse on the Holy Spirit. 39
1. The gifts of wisdom were, discerning of spirits, teaching, prophecy, tongues, interpretation, knowledge, and all those gifts which enabled the Apostles and others to understand the prophecies relative to the Messiah, and to recollect all things which the Saviour had told them on that subject when he showed them in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, the things concerning himself.
2. The gifts of power were those of miracles, healings, signs, wonders, &c, &c.
3. The gifts of goodness were, love, joy, gentleness, meekness, long Suffering, fidelity, &c.* The Apostle has divided the world into Jews, Gentiles, and the Church: ‘giving no offence,’ says he, ‘to Jew, nor Gentile, nor to the church of God.’ Now what relation had the three sets of gifts to these three parties, Jews, Gentiles and the Church? Why, in order to render the church all amiable herself, the Holy Spirit poured through the souls of all her members the gifts of goodness, filling them with love, joy, gentleness, meekness, &c. &c. And as the Jews had to be coaxed from the rock on which they had split, and the Gentiles to be snatched from the whirlpool into which they had been plunged, the gifts of wisdom were bestowed in order that the church might win the first, and the gifts of power that she might compel the last; and thus the gospel gave an exhibition of the wisdom of God and the power of God to every one who believed, whether Jew or Gentile. The gifts of wisdom, then, were given to convince the Jews, and the gifts of power to convince the Gentiles; while the gifts of goodness were given an endless and abiding ornament to the church.
The purposes for which the gifts of wisdom and power were given being now accomplished, the Holy Spirit which dwells in the Christians will give no further exhibitions of his wisdom and power until he raises them from the dead. Jews and Gentiles have received the Scriptures, and if the world will not believe them, they would not believe in Christ if a man arose from the dead.
What comfort then! What unbounded comfort must it have yielded to the disciples to have their testimony concerning their beloved Saviour confirmed in the presence of Jews and Gentiles— by both the power of God and the wisdom of God: and to see both parties either won or compelled to bow to the peaceful sway of the Messiah!
The Spirit was to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. † At the coming of Christ, sin and righteousness (i. e. good and evil) were wholly confounded in the Jewish nation; so that the tithing of mint, anise, and cummin, was substituted for the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and the love of God. The Sadducees, comprehending the wealthy and the
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* Of the Spirit’s mission in particular it ought to be observed, that we should constantly use the language of the New Testament, the sound words of the Holy Scriptures, when treating of this or any other matter in christianity. The following phrases are purely human: sanctifying, enlightening, awakening, influences, irresistible and common, and special operations, spiritual, physical, and moral powers, influences, &c. It may be observed in regard to these last phrases, that there is no power that is not put forth by some spirit, either created or uncreated, matter itself being inert or the heart, and its intellectual powers by the head. Our examples, too, are our moral power; our precepts are our intellectual powers by the head. Our examples, too, are our moral power; our precepts are our intellectual power; and our strength is our physical power. and the Apostle prays that these three exhibitions of power in the soul, spirit, and body, may be wholly sanctified, (i. e. made subservient to the great designs of God in the Christian religion.) † Concerning the designs of the three missions it should be especially remarked, because the errors of the times make it necessary, that it was a special point in the mission of the Spirit to ‘convince the world of sin because they did not believe.’ But how could this take place if the world could not believe? As well might we try to convince a blind man of sin because he did not see, or a deaf man because he did not hear, &c., to the very end of the chapter of impossibilities, great in the nation, denied the resurrection, and of course were wholly uninfluenced by the higher considerations of a final judgment. And as to the Pharisees, they were so filled with religious pride, that they did not conceive themselves chargeable with sin, even in the presence of the Almighty, as may be seen from the parable of the Publican and Pharisee.
Now to convince a people of sin, who did not know it from righteousness, who did not know good from evil, who had confounded light and darkness, had put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter— must have been a very hard task it must be granted. Where than, reader, was the Spirit to begin? Where was to be the starting point? Where would you have begun? Where would you have started? At Adam— at the Law— at John— or where? Until you have made at least one conjecture on this matter, pray stop; try your skill in the learning of the New Testament. How would you have convinced the Jews of sin at this crisis?
There was one thing on which the whole nation were agreed, both Pharisees and Sadducees. All parties concurred, all sects were unanimous in this— that the ancient Scriptures promised a Messiah. Now, then, if the Holy Spirit in the Apostles proved by the ancient Scriptures, and by gifts of power, &c., that Jesus of Nazareth was the very identical parson for whom they looked, then he at the same time convinced them of sin for not having believed on him; and this was just what the Spirit did, and also what he was to do when he came: ‘He shall convince the world of sin, because they believe not on me,’ said Jesus.
On the day of Pentecost all the Apostles were accordingly filled with all the gifts of wisdom, in order that by suitable arguments drawn from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, the Jewish nation, who believed in these oracles as divine, might be convinced that Jesus whom they had crucified was the Messiah.† This was the means used by the Holy Spirit for convincing the Jews of sin in not believing on Jesus, he having said during his public ministry that if they would not believe Moses and the Prophets they would not believe if one arose from the dead. After quoting from the Law and the Psalms, Peter cried out, ‘Let all the house of Israel know, therefore, that God has made that Jesus whom you have crucified both the Lord and the Christ.’
The proof drawn from the ancient Scriptures relative to the conception, birthplace, life, trial, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, is, with great elegance, styled ‘the demonstration of the Spirit;’ and Paul calls it this because, like a skillful geometrician, who first states his proposition, and afterwards proceeds step by step in the proof of it, from its simplest to its most involved properties, from its immediate to its most remote relations, until all its powers are fully developed; so the Holy Spirit speaking in the Apostles, first sets down the great proposition revealed at Jordan to the Jews, (viz. that Jesus was the Christ,) and then proceeds step by step in the proof of it, unfolding its simplest and most complex relations— its immediate and remote relations, until by the most ancient and involved, and the latest and clearest of the Jewish Prophecies, in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, he proves that, in regard to his conception, birth, life, ministry, poverty, character, descent, trial, condemnation, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and reign, Jesus of Nazareth is the very person promised to the nation; and we have only to
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† Is not the word of God, without the Spirit, a dead letter? The body of Christ, without the Spirit of Christ, would be a dead body; but no word, human or divine, can be dead unless we know it to he a lie. Falsehoods are dead words, i. e. they fail to affect us because we know them to be false. The word of God is truth, and therefore is a never-dying thing; ‘it liveth and abideth forever.’ The Scriptures say that the letter killeth, and therefore some folks add that the word itself is dead. This is miserable reasoning. If A kill B, is that a proof that A himself is dead? Who ever heard of a dead man killing a living one? If the letter killeth, then it is because it liveth. Hence the word is said to be ‘quick,’ i, e, alive, ‘My words are spirit and they are life,’ said Jesus. Make a reference to the Apostles in the Acts to see how perfectly these remarks harmonize with the word Of God. Acts ii. Three thousand on the day of Pentecost were convinced of sin, confessed Christ, and were baptized for the remission of sins that they might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. To convince a person of a fault we must prove him guilty. The Spirit first shewed that Jesus was Messiah, and then proved them guilty by calling it to their recollection that they had murdered him. This cut them to the heart, and they cried, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ Peter gave them a certain and a celebrated answer: ‘Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
But, reader, is there any thing in all this like the Spirit entering the souls of these sinners in order to produce faith, repentance, or any thing else? Not a semblance of such a thing! The Spirit was in the Apostles, who spoke as he gave them utterance. The Devil was in the people.
In all subsequent addresses Peter and all others proceeded in the same manner, reasoning from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, great additions in this way being made to the church. Stephen cut the members of the Sanhedrim to the heart; and all the Jews and proselytes, such as the Eunuch, Cornelius, Lydia, &c., were in this way convinced of the truth; Samaritans and Idolaters were convinced chiefly by miracles, because they knew but little, and many of them nothing at all of the ancient Scriptures. The miracles, signs, wonders, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, were called the powers of the Spirit of God, and conferred on the church for the purpose of converting the nations; concerning which the Apostle speaks thus: ‘I will not dare to speak of any thing which Christ has not wrought, but of what he has wrought by me in order to the obedience of the Gentiles, in word and deed, by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and roundabout as far as Illyricum, I have fully declared the gospel of Christ.’ The word of God is the great organ of conversion in the hand of the Spirit, whether he stir up a Prophet, an Apostle, Evangelist, Martyr, or Saint to declare it— now or formerly.
But the Spirit was also to convince the world of righteousness. How was this to be done? Why, as the Jews had condemned Jesus as wicked, it was only necessary to show the contrary in order to convince them of righteousness. Christ is therefore said to be justified by the Spirit; i. e. the Spirit by descending upon his disci pies, and bestowing upon them the gifts of power, wisdom, and goodness, justified both the pretensions and righteous character and life of Messiah, proving to his murderers in this manner that he had gone to the Father: Of righteousness because I go to the Father.’
The Evangelists tell us that this same person was the son of a poor but pious female, born in a stable, and at a moment too when she was exhausted by a long and fatiguing journey; accordingly he was cradled in a manger until the king of the country obliged his guardians to seek for safety in a flight by night to Egypt. On his return misfortune still seemed to pursue him, and the family were compelled to pass their native canton and seek a wretched security in the tribe of Zebulon. At the age of 30 he preferred his claims to the Messiahship, i. e. to be ‘the Son of God.’ His pretensions were immediately rejected, and his fellow-citizens rose en masse and drove him from the city. From this time he prosecuted his public ministry without a place to repose his head. His own tribes did not receive him; his own brethren did not believe him; the people who listened pronounced him mad; and the Priests declared him possessed. He more than twice escaped being stoned, and was once actually scourged publicly. He was the declared friend of sinners, and so excessively poor that when he wanted to see Caesar’s head he had to borrow a penny. Thus he lived poor, insulted, and wronged, until his familiar friend betrayed him for the paltry sum of thirty shillings; at which time he was seized in a garden by a banditti of soldiers in the dark, and accused of sedition and blasphemy before the National Senate. The petty officers of the Court smote him on the cheek.
Before the Roman tribunal all these indignities were repeated. They dressed him like a puppet, spit in his face, and struck him with the palms of their hands; he was nailed to the cross, scoffed at, and a ruffian soldier pierced his side with a spear. Thus he lived without a place to repose his head, and thus he died without a grave to hide his murdered form in death. But God approved him the Holy and the Just One, and took him to himself in heaven.
Glory be to God who gave us.
Freely gave, his Son to save us!
Glory to the Son who came!
Honor, blessing, adoration, Ever, from the whole creation, Be to God and to the Lamb!
Finally, The Spirit was to convince the world of judgment— ‘Of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged.’
The famous Cruden observes, ‘By collecting all the passages where Satan or the Devil is mentioned, it may be observed that he fell from heaven with all his company; that God cast him down from thence for the punishment of his pride; that, by his envy and malice, sin, death, and all other evils came into this world; that, by the permission of God, he exercises a kind of government in this world over his subordinates— over apostate angels like himself. But God makes use of him to prove good men and chastise bad ones; that he is a lying spirit in the mouth of false prophets, seducers, and heretics; that it is he, or some of his, who torment or possess men, that inspire them with evil designs as he did David when he suggested to him to number the people; to Judas to betray his Lord and Master, and to Ananias and Sapphira to conceal the price of their field; that he is full of rage like a roaring lion, to tempt, to betray, to destroy, and to involve us in guilt and wickedness; that his power and malice are restrained within certain limits, and controlled by the will of God.
In a word, that he is the enemy of God and man, and uses his utmost endeavors to rob God of his glory and men of their souls.’ When Christ was raised from the dead and exalted to the throne of the world, it was fairly shown that Satan’s reign, though long, was nevertheless temporary. So much for convincing the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment.
The third part of the Spirit’s mission, was to glorify Jesus. We shall show the reader how this was done.
The Jews had crucified him because they did not believe him to be the Son of God. When the Spirit came he showed the reverse of their decision; viz: that he was the Son of God. By reasoning from the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms, to the life, descent, doctrine, character, death, burial, and resurrection of Messiah, he fairly proved this proposition; and after it was established he so explained and illustrated it as to let the disciples understand perfectly that Jesus was the Son of God in the same strict sense in which we are the sons of our respective parents; and, finally, that he was officially the Prophet, Priest, and King of the human kind.
This is a sublime part of our subject; but however grand, I can only give an outline of it here— I can only submit a sketch of the glorious picture, and leave 10 more able hands to perfect what I have begun.
Previous to the resurrection of Jesus his disciples seem to have entertained no adequate apprehensions of the dignity of his nature: ‘flare I been so long with thee, Philip, and thou hast not known me?’ ‘He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.’ They did not apprehend him a sacrifice for the world, neither did they understand it to be his destiny to arise from the dead: ‘As yet,’ says John, ‘his disciples knew not that he must arise from the dead? But when the Spirit came be led them into all the truth on this subject. He took of the things which were Christ’s, and showed them to them, and acquainted them with all those parts of the ancient Scriptures which related to his origin, destiny, glory, and natural and official characters. ‘”He shall take of mine, and show it unto you.’
Who would have supposed that the poor fishermen (one of whom betrayed him another of whom denied him, and all of whom forsook him in his greatest need) would ever have attained to such extended and sublime views of his natural excellency as to have exclaimed, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by it, and without it was not any thing made that was made. And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, fall of grace and truth.’ Thus speaking of him as a partaker of all the glorious attributes of his Father, the true and living God: ‘All that the Father hath is mine.’ Some admire that Jesus should at any time be called ‘God;’ but it should be remembered that this is his Father’s name, and per consequence it is his name also; for every son inherits, of necessity, the name of his father. Hence the Apostle reasons for the superior dignity of the Messiah from this very consideration: ‘Being made,’ says he, ‘so much better than angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they; for to which of the angels Mud he at any time, Thou art my Son?’ Being Son he became Heir of the Universe, and sat down on the throne of heaven— the brightness of his Father’s glory— an impress of his existence: men and angels, nature and religion being subjected to him: ‘Let all the angels of God worship him.’
In another Scripture it is said, ‘He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of every creature; for by him were all things made that are in heaven and in earth, whether they be thrones, principalities, or powers, whether visible or invisible, all things were made by him and for him; and he is anterior to all things, and by him all things consist— the head of the body— the first born from the dead— that in all things he might have the pre-eminence; for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.’ He is therefore called ‘God’s dear son,’ ‘God’s beloved son,’ ‘God’s only begotten son,’ ‘God’s holy child;’ in short, the New Testament lets us see that the Spirit gave the Apostles to understand that Jesus the Messiah was strictly and properly the Son of God and Mary: ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.’ ‘God, then, hath sent forth his Son, made of a woman;’ and we see that, like every other child, he partakes of the nature of his parents— the infirmities of his mother and the grandeur of his Father; wearied and sitting upon Jacob’s well, yet himself the well of salvation; fatigued and sleeping on a pillow in the ship, yet allaying the reluctant storm; living with Mary of Nazareth, yet claiming the temple as his Father’s house; (‘Wist you not that I must needs be at my Father’s;’) paying tax for repairing the temple, at the same time letting Peter know that, as the King’s Son, he had a right to be exempted in this matter, asking whether the kings of the earth taxed their children, and at the same time looking with the omniscience of his Father through universal nature, and bidding Peter to go to the lake, and take from the mouth of a fish a small piece of money which it had probably picked up from some person who had dropped it in crossing Genesareth; descended from the fathers, yet God over all; born himself, yet raising the dead; poor, yet heir of all; calling Mary uniformly his mother, and God as uniformly his Father; Buffering, yet capable of ordering twelve legions of angels to his assistance; wearing a crown of thorns, yet himself the King of glory; judged, yet himself the Judge of quick and dead; killed, and at the same time redeeming his murderers; ranked among thieves, yet holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners; dying, rising; in the sepulchre, on the throne of God, and there swaying a scepter of righteousness over men and angels, who, in one eternal throng, cry, ‘Riches, and honor, and power, and dominion, and glory to God who sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!’
Amen! So much for the humanity and divinity of Messiah’s nature.
My limits now forbid me pursuing this grand subject in detail. The most famous and distinguished officers among the nations are Kings, Prophets, and Priests. These dignities are united in the person of the Messiah, who is set forth in Scripture as the greatest of Prophets, the King of Kings, and the High Priest of mankind.
The great evils which have most of all characterized the nations of the earth are, 1st, Ignorance of the divine character. 2d. Sin, the consequence of ignorance. 3d. War, the effect of the combined evils of ignorance and sin. The offices of Christ are instituted in reference to these evils; as a Priest, he takes away our sins; as a Prophet, he enlightens us in the divine character; and as a King, he rules us in peace; he is therefore called ‘King of Peace,’ ‘Prince of Peace,’ &c.
The time is coming, then, when all Kings, Priests, and Prophets, shall officiate in their respective offices under and in subjection to the Messiah. We do not, indeed, see this now; but we see Jesus exalted for this very purpose: for he must reign until all his enemies are made his footstool. The last enemy, Death, shall be destroyed; and when all shall be subdued to him, then the Son himself alone shall be subject to the Father: and all others, whether men or angels subject to the Son. The whole creation, then, being subject to the Son. and he to the Father, they will spend an endless eternity in the new heaven and the new earth. ‘The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to fountains of living water, and God the Lord shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.’ Thus we have seen how the Holy Spirit comforted the church, convinced the world, and glorified Jesus.
Brethren, let us walk in the Spirit, keeping ourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Amen!
OBJECTIONS REMOVED.
1. ‘If the Holy Spirit does not enter the soul of the sinner, how can he convince him?’ I answer that God convinces us as we convince one another— by truth and argument. Can the Holy Spirit do nothing for a person unless he enters that person? Did he glorify Christ by entering him, or by enlightening the Apostle on his character? As, then, the Spirit glorified Christ without entering him, so he can convince sinners without entering and dwelling in them. Let preachers, and all who believe, hold forth the word of the Spirit to the people: let them forbear calling it a dead letter, and the Spirit will soon convince sinners of sin. But
2. It is objected, ‘If the Spirit does not go into the souls of sinners, and strive with them, how can they be said to resist the Spirit?” Will the reader allow the God of heaven to answer this objection? Then turn over to Nehemiah, ix. 30. There we are told that the people resisted the Spirit of God, speaking to them by the mouth of the Prophets. The Spirit resisted, was in the Prophet, not in the people. The Spirit of the Devil was in the people.
3. ‘ We cannot believe of ourselves!’ ANSWER. God does not require you to believe of yourselves. Listen to the Spirit speaking to you in the mouth of the Apostles and Prophets, and he will afford you abundant evidence by which you can believe, and must believe on Jesus, or be forever condemned. ‘He that believeth not shall be damned.’
4. ‘If faith do not come by the Spirit, how does it come?’ The Apostle says, (Romans x.) ‘Faith cometh by hearing;’ and who are you that dare to say it cometh any other way!
5. ‘Do not the Scriptures say that faith is the gift of God?’ A field of wheat is the gift of God; and as God has his own way of bestowing his gifts, both natural and religious, so if we ask how the gift of faith cometh, the answer is, It cometh by hearing the word of God.
6. ‘But if faith cometh by hearing, why have not all faith?’ The Lord Jesus shows that men are blinded and hardened by seeking and indulging in personal, family, political, and professional distinctions. ‘How,’ says he, ‘can you believe in me, when you seek honor one of another, and seek not the honor which cometh from God only.’
7. The word is called ‘the Sword of the Spirit;’ and must not the Spirit use his own sword?’ Some swords are called ‘Spanish blades’— not because Spaniards use them, but because they make them. So the word is called ‘the sword of the Spirit’— not because he uses it, but because he made it for the saints to use: hence the Apostle, in Ephesians, 5th chap, bids us take the ‘sword of the Spirit’ that we might defend ourselves with it against our spiritual enemies.
8. ‘ Is it no where said in Scripture, that the Spirit must convince us of sin?’ Yes; but we have already seen how he does this; namely, by the word of God, preached— not by going into the souls of sinners.
9. ‘ Is not a’ manifestation of the Spirit given to every man to profit withal?’ Yes, to every man not out but in the church. This is in the 7th verse of the 12th chapter, 3d Corinthians, one which is perhaps more abused by some ignorant people than any other supposed to relate to this subject. The Apostle is in that chapter discoursing of church affairs; and to give an air of universality to a saying which has a special reference to men in the church, is most injudicious. According to some people’s mode of quoting this Scripture, there is no advantage in being a disciple of Christ; for in their judgment the Holy Spirit is given to Jew, Turk, and even to idolaters!
This is the true state of the case: some of the disciples in the church at Corinth were becoming vain of the high spiritual gifts which they had received on obeying the gospel. The Apostle lets them understand that these gifts were given not to bring personal honor to the man that received them, but for the good of the whole church; and by the best translators the verso is rendered thus: ‘A portion of the Spirit is given to every man, (disciple) for the profit of the whole’ (church.)
10. ‘Did not the Lord open Lydia’s heart?’ Yes, and the Lord opens every heart that is opened at all. But the question here is, How does he open the heart? Does it say that the Lord opened Lydia’s heart by the influence of the Holy Spirit? No: then don’t you say so, lest God reprove you for adding to his word, and you be found a liar. Lydia had met with certain other women on a Sabbath (i. e. our Saturday) to worship God in the place where prayer was wont to be made; and as all present were Jews, the Apostles no doubt went to work with them as he did with other Jews; that is,’ he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures.’ This was the very way which the Spirit demonstrated to all Jews that Jesus was Christ; and this is the way by which the hearts of the Jews were opened to attend to the things spoken by the Apostles.
11. ‘Did not Cornelius receive the Holy Spirit (Acts xvi.) before baptism?’ Yes, and his is the only case of believers receiving the Spirit before baptism?’ But mark you, reader, this is not to the point; for, in order to equal the absurd doctrine of modem times, he should have received the Spirit not only before baptism, but also before faith, and in order to give him faith.
12. ‘Do not the Scriptures say,’ Him (Jesus) hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins.’ They do; but is there any thing here like sending the Holy Spirit into the hearts of infidels to give them faith and repentance? No! surely no! A vast proportion of the nation denied the resurrection, and of course the judgment. Now as repentance has always reference to motive, and cannot obtain but by motives, it was necessary, in order to bring that wicked people to repentance, to set before them the motives of a general resurrection and a general judgment. This God proved to them would take place by raising Jesus from the dead. By this motive God gave to Israel repentance; and as the legal sacrifices could not take away sin, it was necessary that Jesus should offer himself once for all.
By Christ’s death, then, God gave Israel remission, and by his resurrection he gave them repentance.
We now conclude by giving; glory to God and to the Lamb, and by entreating all readers, for God’s sake and for their own souls’ sake, to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, that they may receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
EV #2 page 27