the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever a.' So Christ promised his disciples that the Spirit should abide with them for ever, which must respect the gospel church and ministry; for the apostles were to abide but a few years in this world; but the gates of hell shall never prevail against the church, founded upon Christ, and supplied with his Spirit in the ministry of it. All the furniture for the ministry is from the Spirit; it is his work to make men able ministers of the New Testament: From whom should they receive the true sense of scripture, but from him who indited it, and framed the whole body of Christian doctrine? The aptness to teach, the gifts of utterance, boldness, resolution, patience, love to souls, and zeal for the glory of God, with every other heavenly gift and grace, are from the Holy Spirit. Another work of the Holy Spirit is to fix the stations, and succeed the labours of his ministers. He sent Peter to Cornelius, and made his way prosperous; he forbad the apostle Paul to preach in Asia b; and when he had thoughts of going to another place, the Spirit suffered him not: But when he was called into Macedonia, there he gave him success. Thus the Lord of the harvest sent forth his reapers, and appointed them where to thrust in their sickles, and gather in the fruits of his power and grace. And though, in succeeding ages, the Holy Spirit has not notified his pleasure in such an extraordinary manner, when and where they should labour; yet there is no room to doubt but that, in the course of providence, he still fixes their stations, and gives them all the gifts and success they have, though in a more secret and unseen way; seeing, as he is Christ's vicegerent, the care of the church and ministry still lies upon him, and will do so to the end of the world. This truth is so clearly revealed, and so fully attested in the scriptures, that almost all sorts of men, who receive them, have made some pretence or other to this gift and work of the Spirit. The pretended church of Rome b Acts xvi. 6, 7. a Isa. lix. 21. builds her infallibility upon this promise of the Spirit, to lead the disciples into all truth, and to abide with them for ever. Others pretend to give the Holy Ghost in ordination, and teach the ordained to say, that they verily believe that they are moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon them the work of the ministry. How answerable to such professions many act afterwards, let others judge. However, these pretensions and professions carry in them an acknowledgment of the office and work of the Holy Spirit with respect to the ministry of the church; and therefore for any who make such professions to ridicule or deny this work of the Spirit, is not only to contradict and condemn themselves, but carries in it a most heinous and aggravated guilt. APPLICATION. I shall conclude with one word of exhortation, which is this; Let us endeavour more to study and value the work of the Holy Spirit. The devil is carrying on his design by crying up natural, and crying down revealed religion, by setting up men's own works, and depreciating the works of the Holy Spirit: But they are great, and worthy to be sought out by all who would be wise to salvation. Why is the Bible so full of the works of the Holy Spirit? is it not that we should study them and improve them? He who conducted the human nature of Christ, through his difficult work, surely is able to carry us through ours, how hard soever it be, and complete it in the day of Christ. He who poured out such wonderful gifts at his descent, and spread the church throughout the world, and has supported it ever since, is able still to uphold it, and make it more glorious at the conclusion of his administration, than it was at the beginning of it. By studying the works of the Spirit which have already been done, we may strengthen our faith as to those that remain yet to be done, either with respect to particular persons, or the church in general. And from what has been already said, we may see abundant reason for the apostle's preferring the administration of the Spirit, as excelling any other in glory. OF THE WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. SERMON IV. PREACHED OCTOBER 5th, 1731. 2 COR. iii. 8.-How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? In my last discourse, the Works of the Spirit, relating to Christ himself, and his extraordinary gifts conferred at Pentecost, were considered. IX. Another eminent Work of the Spirit, which must not be overlooked, is his witnessing to Christ and the truth of Christianity. Our Lord said, When the Comforter is come, he shall testify of me a' And the apostle John has informed us, ' That it is the Spirit that bears witness, because the Spirit is truth b.' From which scriptures, and many others, it appears, that one great work of the Holy Spirit was and is, to be a witness for Christ, that he is the Son of God, and the true Messiah. The great contest at first was, whether Jesus of Nazareth was the true Messiah; the apostles were witnesses of those facts which proved him so to be; but lest their testimony should not be received, God sent down the Holy Ghost from heaven to witness the same thing, not only in and by the miraculous works of the apostles, but also by his immediate testimony. The Spirit itself bears witness, because the Spirit is truth.' He is a witness worthy of credit, because he has the two great qualifications of a creditable witness, knowledge a John xv. 26. b1 John v. 6. and veracity; he cannot either deceive, or be deceived; he cannot be deceived, for he knows all things, and searches all things, even the deep things of God a; and he cannot deceive, because he is truth itself; and it is his office to lead into all truth. If then we receive the witness of men b, the witness of God the Holy Spirit is greater, and much more worthy of being received. The witness or testimony of the Spirit was by Christ himself very plainly distinguished from that of the apostles, when he said, I will send the Spirit of truth, and he shall testify of me; and you also shall bear witness c.' The great work of the Spirit, as Christ represents it in his account of his mission, is, to testify of him, or to be his witness; and the apostles also were to bear witness: So then there is a distinct testimony of the Spirit, and of the apostles; there is a testimony of the Spirit, which may be called immediate, which is without the instrumentality of men, and a testimony which may be called mediate, as it is by men, as the means or instruments of it. There are various ways and seasons in which the Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ; but that testimony given to Christ after his ascension by the Holy Spirit, is what Christ seems to lay the greatest stress upon, and expect the most from: He foretold that the Spirit should convince the world of sin, and that, when he, the Spirit of truth was come, he should guide them into all truth; for he should not speak of himself; but whatsoever he was to hear, that he would speak; he was to be a faithful witness and messenger; would report the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: Hereupon Christ, a little after, said, He shall glorify me;' and that by the declarations which he was to make of him, and the witness and testimony which he was to bear to him d. Some brief hints of this work of the Spirit were given in a former discourse, concerning the miraculous works of the a 1 Cor. ii. 10. c John xv. 26, 27. Spirit; but as they were very short, and wrapped up in another subject, and it is so much insisted on in scripture, as one great end of the mission of the Spirit, that he should testify and bear witness of Christ, I thought it necessary to insist more distinctly and largely upon it: And here we may consider the matter testified, the manner in which it is done, and its times and seasons. 1. We may consider what it is which the Spirit testifies of Christ: And our Saviour tells us, that it is all the truth relating to himself; He shall lead you into all truth;' all truth relating to Christ and Christianity; not into all the truths of philosophy, all natural or metaphysical verities, but into all those truths which are contained in the gospel. A summary account of the matter of the Spirit's testimony we have in this passage, 'The God of our fathers raised up Jesus; him hath God exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins: And we are his witnesses of these things; and so also is the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey him ɑ.' We are here told, that the Holy Ghost, in distinction from the apostles, is a witness of the death, resurrection, and exaltation of Christ, as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins; which few words contain a great deal in them. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews b, having declared that Christ, by one offering, has perfected for ever them that are sanctified, and that, according to the tenor of the new covenant, all the covenant-people are pardoned and purified, adds these observable words; ' Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.' We see then, not only that the Holy Ghost is a divine person, an intelligent voluntary agent, but also that he employs himself in witnessing and testifying the great things of Christ. Whatever is said of Christ in the whole Bible, either in the Old or New Testament, is the testimony and evidence of the Holy Spirit; but yet it must be owned, that b Heb. x. 15. a Acts v. 30-32. |