their paraclete on earth. Because he was their paraclete with the Father, he could not be their paraclete on earth; and, therefore, knowing how much they needed such a patron and adviser, and monitor and helper, he says, “I will pray to the Father, and he will send you another paraclete." "Instead of losing, you are to gain, by my removal. I still continue your paraclete, where you require one, at the court of heaven; but by my going away I obtain for you another, not less wise, not less kind, not less powerful.'

They had, in becoming his disciples, identified themselves with his cause. They stood pledged to substantiate, even before the tribunal of human reason, that the existing forms of religious belief and usage rested on false grounds, and to establish the right which their Master's principles had to be universally embraced and submitted to. This was the great litigation in which they were engaged. And all the resources of Judaism and Paganism-all the subtility of philosophy-all the seductions of idolatry-all the power of kingdoms and empires-all the craft, and activity, and energy of hell, were against them. poor, unlearned, obscure men? powerful patron, a wise adviser. while Jesus was with them, and they were not to lose him. But still he was no more to be with them, and they needed a paraclete on earth, as well as one in heaven. They needed one to stand by them when, before an unfavourable tribunal, they had to do with such crafty, and such powerful opponents.

And what were they? Truly, they needed a They had such a one

And such a paraclete was he whom the Saviour promises. He cannot want power through whose plastic influence the world was formed-he cannot want wisdom who "searches all things, even the deep things of God;" and we know how he guided them, and enabled them to bring to a triumphant issue their mighty litigation. He filled their minds with the pure light of divine truth, and their hearts with the holy fire of divine love, and he poured grace and power into their

VOL. III.

H

lips; and when brought before councils, and synagogues, and governors, and kings, he gave them a force of reason, and a power of eloquence, that could not be withstood. "They spake with tongues, as he gave them utterance," and proclaimed the mysteries of the kingdom, “not in words taught by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Holy Ghost."

He clad them in a panoply of celestial armour, giving them "the girdle of truth, and the breast-plate of righteousness, and the helmet of hope, and the shield of faith, and his own sword, the word of God." "He taught their hands to war, and their fingers to fight," and with these "weapons, not carnal but mighty through God, by pureness, by knowledge, by long-suffering, by kindness, by love unfeigned, by the word of truth, the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left,-by these, even more than by the mighty signs and wonders-by the power of the Holy Ghost, did they pull down strongholds, cast down imaginations, and every high thing that exalted itself against the knowledge of God, bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." By "the unresistible might of weakness," he made them "more than conquerors." "Bows of steel were thus broken by their feeble armsaliens' armies turned to flight." "He gave them the shield of his salvation, his right hand held them up, and his gentleness made them great." To revert to the figure before us,-He, as their paraclete, "convinced," i. e., enabled them to convince, "the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment," so that "Satan fell as lightning from heaven." "The judgment of the world came, the prince of this world was cast out, and innumerable multitudes of men were drawn to him who had been lifted up.”1

The great controversy is not even yet finally determined. The apostles in their writings, sustained by the great para

1 Gen. ii. 2. 1 Cor. ii. 10. Acts ii. 4. 2 Cor. ii. 4. Eph. vi. 11-17. 2 Cor. x. 4. Psal. xviii. 32-35. Luke x. 18. John xii. 31-34.

clete, continue to plead the great cause of Christ and his truth; and will continue to do so, till their claims shall, even in this world, be universally acknowledged. "The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ," and the glory of the triumph shall be gladly and gratefully ascribed to the Paraclete who is with the Father, and the Paraclete who is with the church, by the human agents, acknowledging that they have "overcome through the blood of the Lamb," and that the battle and the victory have been "not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of Jehovah."1

The meaning of the word "paraclete," rendered by our translators "comforter," having thus been illustrated, let us attend a little more closely to what our Lord says with regard to this "other Paraclete," and the manner or way in which his assistance is to be secured for the disciples.

With regard to the first of these topics, we are informed that he is "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but whom the apostles knew, for he dwelt in them, and would be in them." With regard to the second, we are told that our Lord would "pray the Father, and he would give them another Comforter, who should abide with them for ever."

§ 2. Who the Paraclete is.

(1.) He is a person.

The first question is, Who is this Paraclete? Does the word denote a person, or is it merely a personification of action or influence? The question is an important one, for on its determination depends, in some degree, the doctrine of the proper divinity of the Holy Spirit, and the existence of the one Godhead in a trinity of subsistencies. If the Spirit be not

1 Zech. iv. 6.

a person, person; and if he be not a divine person, then the doctrine of the trinity is without foundation.

then of course he cannot be a divine

The means of fully settling this question are numerous, and to be collected from various portions of the inspired volume, but enough is contained in the passage before us, and its immediate connection, to enable us to come to a conclusion on it.

The name is plainly a personal one. When I speak of a patron or advocate, the natural presumption is, that I speak of a person, not an influence, or action, or attribute. It is true, influence, action, and attribute, may be personified; but not to dwell on the obvious remark, that personification, a high poetical figure, would seem out of place in administering comfort to the disciples, you will notice that the paraclete, here spoken of, is said to be "another paraclete." Our Lord is the one paraclete. There can be no doubt of his personality, though in the insanity of German neology, it has been asserted, that even he is but a personification of the idea of the Jewish Messiah. Surely the other must be a person, not an attribute, or influence. And still further it may be observed, that the Spirit is spoken of as a person, not a thing. "The Paraclete, the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he,” 1 not it, "shall teach you all things." Still more remarkable is the following statement "When he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth." Add to all this, that the Paraclete is represented as not only "abiding and dwelling," which may, without much harshness, be said of a quality or influence; but to "testify," to "teach," to "guide into truth," to "bring to remembrance," to "speak," to "hear," to "show things to come." Such is the evidence which the text and the context furnish for the personality of the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit. When, in addition to

1 πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον — ἐκεῖνος. John xv. 26.

2 John xvi. 13. τ. π. ἀλ. ἐκεῖνος.

all this, we take into consideration the manner in which the Holy Spirit is connected with the Father and the Son, both of whom are undoubtedly persons, as in the institution of baptism and the apostolical benediction,' we are surely not going too far, when we say that nothing but the influence of preconceived system could induce any man to deny that the doctrine of the personality of the Holy Spirit, is the doctrine of our Lord and his apostles.

(2.) He is a divine person.

If we admit the personality of the Holy Spirit, we can have no difficulty in acknowledging his divinity. To the Spirit are plainly ascribed attributes and works, which, if he is a person, clearly prove him to be a divine person. He who, in the beginning, brooded over the chaotic mass-he who garnished the heavens-he who is everywhere present -he who searches all things, even the deep things of God— he who framed the human nature of Jesus Christ-he who, along with the Father, and the Son, is the object of worship -he to whom if men lie, they lie to God-He surely must be divine.2

(3.) He is "the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot

receive."

This divine person is here described as "the Spirit of truth." He is "the Spirit," to mark both what is common to him with the Father and the Son, and what is distinctive. He is equally with them a spirit-spiritual in his essence—infinitely removed from the imperfections and limitations that characterise matter-and he is the Spirit,

1 Matth. xxviii. 19. 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

2 Gen. i. 2. Psal. cxxxix. 7. Luke i. 35. 1 Cor. ii. 10; xiii. 14. Acts v. 3, 4. 3 Tò æνsūμœ Tñs ȧantías. "Exquisitissima appellatio. Spiritus qui veritatem habet; revelat per cognitionem in intellectu; confert per praxin et gustum in voluntate; testatur etiam ad alios per hos, quibus revelavit; et defendit veritatem illam de qua cap. i. 17, gratia et veritas. Veritas omnes in nobis virtutes veras facit. Alias est quædam falsa cognitio, falsa fides, falsus amor, falsa spes; sed non falsa veritas."-BENGEL.