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28.

says he, whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my Name, I will do it. These Things confidered, they had no Reafon to be troubled at his Departure; but rather to rejoice. If ye loved me, fays he, ye would John 14 rejoice, because I go to the Father. Efpecially when he affured them in the third Place, that tho' he left them for the prefent, yet as foon as he was afcended to the Father, he would fend down another, to fupply his Place with them: One that fhould take care of their Concerns; fhould manage all their Affairs; fhould be their great Patron and Advocate in the World; and he should never leave them, but abide with them and their Succeffors, and with all Believers to the End of the World: And this fhould be no other than the Spirit of Truth. This is the Senfe of my Text: I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Advocate, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; as it follows in the next Verfe, whom the v. 17. World cannot receive; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and fhall be in you.

Now upon this Account his Stay among them was fo far from being defireable, that he tells them in the fixteenth Chapter, that v. 7. it was expedient for them that he should go away; for if he did not go away (if he did not afcend to the Father) the Advocate would

not

not come unto them: But if he departed, he
would fend him to them. The coming of
the Advocate, then, was to be the Effect
of his Afcenfion into Heaven, and of his
powerful Interceffion with God. And that
is the Reason why he fays in the Text, I
will pray the Father, and he fhall give
him unto you.
And that is the Reason why

ch.7.v.39. St. John fays in another Place, that the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Fefus was not yet glorified.

There are three Points which the Text leads me to inquire into: All of them very ufeful, because very conducing to a right understanding of the chriftian Difpenfation, and that Method which God fet on foot for the bringing Men to Salvation by Jefus Chrift.

1. And first of all; Whereas our Saviour here and in other Places fpeaks of the Holy Ghoft under the Notion of a Paraclete, which our Tranflators commonly exprefs a Comforter, but I think might more properly be render'd an Advocate;- 1 shall inquire into the Importance of that Term, and give an Account of the true Notion of it, that fo we may all know what we mean when we call the Holy Ghoft a Paraclete, or Advocate, or Comforter.

2. Secondly; Whereas our Saviour here faith that he will pray the Father, and he fhall give them another Advocate, by which it is implied that the Holy Ghoft is not the

only

only Advocate, but that our Saviour is one Advocate, and the Holy Ghoft another; I shall therefore inquire into the Difference between our Saviour's Advocateship, and that of the Holy Ghoft; or, in what refpect Jefus Chrift is our Advocate, and in what refpect the Holy Ghost is.

3. Thirdly, Whereas our Saviour tells his Difciples that this Advocate whom he fhould fend, even the Spirit of Truth, fhould abide with them for ever; and yet it is plain Matter of Fact that he doth not now abide in the Church in the fame Manner that he did with the Apoftles; I shall therefore in the laft Place inquire into the feveral Acts, or Inftances, or Expreffions of this Advocatefhip of the Holy Ghost, and fhew, which of them were peculiar to the Times of the Apoftles, and the primitive Chriftians; and which of them were common to all the Times and Ages of Christianity.

I. I begin with the Notion or Signification of the Term Paraclete, which is here and in other Places used by St. John to exprefs the Office of the Holy Ghoft, and which accordingly hath ever fince been by the Church in a manner appropriated to him. Thus in the Te Deum, Alfo the Holy Ghost the Paraclete: for that is the Word in the Original. It is ufed but five times in the whole new Teftament: Four times in this Gofpel

Gospel of St. John, where the Holy Spirit is fpoken of; and once in an Epiftle of the fame Apoftle, where our Saviour is spoken 1 Ep. c. 2.of. If any Man, fays he, fin, we have a V.1. Paraclete with the Father, Jefus Chrift the Righteous, and he is the Propitiation for

I.

Sins.

But now in thefe Places where it is applied to the Spirit, our Tranflators have always render'd it Comforter; and in that Place where it is applied to our Saviour, they have render'd it Advocate: But what Foundation there is for this Diftinction, I do not know. It feems more reasonable to think that St. John meant the fame Thing by wagánλn when he used it of our Saviour, and when he used it of the Holy Ghoft: And therefore fince it is clear that in that Text where this Name is given to our Saviour, it ought to be render'd Advocate, and not Comforter [for to translate the Apostle's Words thus: If any Man fin, we have a Comforter with the Father, Fefus Christ the Righteous, and he is the Propitiation for our Sins will make no good Senfe; for when we have offended a Perfon, we have need of an Advocate with him, and not a Comforter; one to make Interceffion for us, and not one to give Confolation]: Ifay, fince this is clear and beyond Difpute, then, methinks, it fhould be clear alfo, that in thofe other four Texts, where the Name of Paraclete is by the fame

Writer given to the Holy Spirit, it ought to be render'd Advocate likewife; or at leaft by fome other Word of an equivalent Signification. And this will appear yet clearer, when we confider, that in one of these very Texts where the Holy Ghoft is called the Paraclete, he is plainly reprefented under the Notion of an Advocate, and not of a Comforter. The Paffage which I mean is John 16. v. 7, 8, 9. which I shall explain particularly hereafter.

I will but add one Thing more, and I leave this Criticism; that in all Greek Authors, as far as I can learn, wagánλn1@ hath always the Signification of an Advocate, or one that is called to affift and defend another, when he is to answer in a Court of Judicature; but is never ufed to fignify a Comforter. And this was the Notion alfo that the Jews had of a Paraclete; from whom we may reasonably prefume that St. John had this Word; as appears by that known Proverb of theirs in the Talmud, He that keeps one Commandment, makes to bimfelf a Paraclete, or an Advocate; but he that commits one Sin, prepares to himself an Accufer.

I should not have been fo long about a Signification of a Word, but that I think it is of fome Importance to us to have a right Notion of the Character which the Holy Ghoft bears in the chriftian Difpenfation, which you fee is primarily

that

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