tan.

those of Cyrus to the captives, as the fpiritual captivity and imprisonment is far worse than a corporal one. Confider the work as it refpects the different forts of people with whom he has to deal; and it is twofold. First, Some of them have fome good in them wrought by his Spirit; and of thefe, fome are the meek, others are broken hearted. Secondly, Some of them have no good in them, they are captives, prifoners to SaBoth forts are in his commiffion, as perfons he has to deal with.-Confider this work as it refpects the different cafes of these forts of perfons; and it is fourfold. 1ft, To the meek, he has to carry good tidings. 2dly, To the brokenhearted, he has to bind up their wounds. 3dly, To the captives he has to give deliverance, and 4thly, To the prifoners he has to open the prifon-doors. Thus he is, by the Father's fpecial appointment, to give fuitable help to each cafe. A more particular explication of these things will be given as we advance in the fubject.

4

Now, here is a great work; and because of it, (or, as it is in the Hebrew, anfwerable to it), he is endowed with the Spirit, with his graces and gifts, without which he could not be qualified

for it.

The fubject of our prefent difcourfe, is our Lord's qualification for his work: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me. Here our Lord commends himself to poor finners, that they may come to him, and be happy in him. Who can commend him to purpose but himfelf? He commends himfelf to us, from the fulness of the Spirit lodged in him, as in Rev. iii. 1. « And unto the angel of the church of Sardis write, These things faith he that hath the feven Spirits of God, and the feven ftars." As when the foul is gone, the body can

move and act no more; fo where the Spirit of God is gone from men, they can do no more good. While deftitute of the Spirit, they are fhut up under an uninterrupted barrennefs. Now, this is the natural cafe of the whole world. To the world, then, under the want of the Spirit, Chrift here makes public proclamation, where the Spirit is to be found; as if he had faid, O all ye fpiritlefs, lifeless finners, dead to grace and goodness, be it known unto you, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me.' He fays as Joseph faid to his brethren, Gen. xlv. 9. and downwards. The Spirit came upon Mofes and the prophets, but they could spare none of their oil; if they could, they could not have communicated it. But the Spirit is on me, as the oil in the cistern, to be difperfed by the pipes of conveyance to poor finners who will come to me. This is indeed a proclamation of a well-ftored and cheap market, to a country perifhing under famine, to which they fhould all refort.

That this is the true intent of thefe words, appears, firft, Because it is plain from the original accentuation, that the principal purpose of the text, is not to fhew why the Spirit was on Chrift, (for in that cafe the chief ftop within the verse had been at broken hearted), but to fhew, that the Spirit is on him, (for there the great stop is.) The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, &c. Secondy, Becaufe an amazing change is prophefied, in the preceding chapter, to come upon the church of the Gentiles; and fo here follows the accounting for it The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, to be communicated for effecting this change.

From this part of the fubject, I obferve the following

DOCTRINE, That the Spirit of God was eminent

B.3

ly

ly on Jefus Chrift, to be communicated to poor finners.

This was typified by the ointment poured out on the head of the High Priest, Pfal. cxxxiii. 2. Compare John, i. 16.

FOR illuftrating this doctrine, we propose, I. To fhew in what eminent fort the Spirit of the Lord was upon Christ the Mediator.

II. To confirm this point, That the Spirit is put upon Chrift to be communicated.

III. I will confider the reasonableness and fuitableness of this glorious device, of the Spirit's being put on Chrift, to be communicated to poor finners. And then,

IV. We fhall improve the fubject.-We are,

I. To fhew in what eminent fort the Spirit of the Lord was upon the Mediator.-Here we obferve,

1. That the gifts and graces of the Spirit were conferred on Chrift's human nature in a fingular measure: Pfal. xlv. 7. "God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladnefs above thy fellows." What these are you may fee, Ifa. iii. 2.3. Others have had much of thefe, but never any fo much of them as the man Chrift, though they were not infinite, which is a property peculiar to the divine perfections. Thus his enemies were obliged to confefs, that he spoke as never man spoke.. And in this fense that teftimony, John, iii. 34. "God giveth not his Spirit by measure unto him," may be applied even to Chrift's manhood; namely, that God gives not his gifts and graces to him fparingly, as out of a measure, but with a full hand moft abundantly.-We obferve,

2. The fulness of the Spirit was upon the Mediator; and that is an infinite fulness, for he is God

God as well as man: Col. ii. 9. "For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." The Holy Spirit is an infinite Spirit of boundless perfections, all which Jefus Chrift as God doth fully poffefs. The divine nature, an unfathomable depth of perfections, was united to the human nature in our Mediator; fo that he has not only a portion of the Spirit, but the whole fulness of the Spirit, John, iii. 34. Saints have, and can have, but their measure; but the ocean of perfections, which knows no bounds, and all grace, were and was in him. We observe,

3. That the Spirit was at all times alike on the Mediator. The Spirit came fometimes on the prophets, inftructing them what to fay, and exciting them to fay it; but fometimes the fpirit of prophecy did not blow, they had it not at their command: 1 Peter, i. 21. "For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God fpake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." See an inftance, 2 Sam. vii. 2.-5. where the prophet Nathan knew not how to di. rect David, till the word of the Lord came to him. So the Spirit of fanctification in the faints, though he never departs from them, yet how often is there a dead calm in their fouls, which requires them to fay, as in Song, iv. 26. " Awake, O north wind! and come, thou fouth; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my Beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits." But the Spirit refted on Jefus Chrift, Ifa. xi. 2; it dwelleth in him, Col. ii. 9. He never can be at a loss for want of the Spirit, whose waters in him are never fhallow, but still continue alike deep. We observe,

4. That the Spirit is upon him in the fulness of a fountain, to be communicated to those who come

to

to him: Zech. xiii. 1. "In that day there fhall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and the inhabitants of Jerufalem, for fin and for uncleannefs: So "Jetus breathed on his disciples," John, xx. 22. and faid unto them, " Receive ye the Holy Ghoft." All others, even the faints in heaven, have but the fulness of a veffel, what only may serve themfelves. But he has the fulnefs of a spring, where the waters are ever flowing, and therefore can furnish all others who come to him, and yet have never the lefs to himself.-We come now,

II. To confirm this point, That the Spirit was in Chrift to be communicated.-We obferve,

9.

1. That this is plain from fcripture-teftimony Rev. iii. 1. "He hath the seven spirits of God." All the faints have the Spirit of God. He dwells in each of them; if any man have not the Spirit of Chrift, he is none of his, Rom. viii. But then this is quite another thing than the fimple having of the Spirit. Chrift hath the Spirit as he hath the feven ftars, that is, at his difpofal, to give them or take them from whom he will: Pfal. Ixvi. 18. "Thou haft received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious alfo, that the Lord God might dwell among them." Compare Eph. iv. 8. Whence it is plain, that Chrift received these gifts, received them to give them to men.--This is plain,

2. For Chrift, as Mediator and Surety of the new covenant, is a common perfon, as Adam was in the first covenant, who received the stock of all mankind in his hand, and loft it. Now, free grace has made up the ftock again, and put it in a fure hand, where it never can be loft: Pfal. lxxxix. 19. "I have laid help upon one that is mighty." He is the fecond Adam, and therefore

the.