TYPES OF THE SPIRIT.

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29; comp. Isa. lix, 21; Ezek. xi, 19. xxxvii, 12–14; Zech. xii, 10, &c.

Such was the frequent language of inspiration before the coming of Christ, and it is not to be forgotten that these prophecies respecting the Spirit were accompanied by a variety of typical ordinances (imposed on the Jews" until the time of reformation") which were evidently shadows of the essential doctrine of a spiritual influence, just as the sacrificial rites of the law were the shadows of the essential doctrine of atonement by the death of Christ. This fact is established with sufficient precision, first, by the general declaration of the apostle Paul, that the ceremonies of the Jewish law (in which he specifically includes "divers washings") were "a shadow of good things to come;" and secondly, by the frequent use, which in declaring the operations of the Spirit, the sacred writers have made of metaphorical expressions derived from those ceremonies. The holy oil so commonly poured forth on individuals who were destined to occupy important stations in the civil and religious polity of the Jewish theocracy, was an admirable type of that divine "unction," without which (under the Christian dispensation more especially) none can be prepared and sanctified for the work and service of God; and the clean water in which the defiled Israelites were commanded on many occasions to wash their clothes and bathe their flesh, afforded a simple, yet very significant, representation of that pure Spirit of truth and righteousness, which is ever found sufficient to purify the soul of the believer in Jesus, from the stain and pollution of sin.

The prophecies and types which we have now been engaged in considering, were not, in their full mea

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THE GREAT PROMISE

sure, accomplished during the life of Jesus Christ on earth. So long as he continued personally with his disciples, those plentiful effusions of the Divine Spirit, which are evidently alluded to by the prophets as one leading distinction of the Gospel dispensation, were not required for the instruction and help of the infant church; and it was on this ground that Jesus declared to his followers the expediency of his leaving them. "It is expedient for you," said he, "that I go away, for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send him unto you John xvi, 7. And, on a previous occasion, when he made mention of the "rivers of living water," which were to flow for the strength and refreshment of all believers in him, he spake (as the apostle assures us) of the "Holy Ghost," which " was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified:" John vii, 39. In point of fact, as the Messiah himself was the principal object of expectation held out to the ancient Hebrews, during the continuance of the law, so the promise which chiefly distinguished the introduction of the Gospel, was the promise of the Holy Ghost.

After the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, this promise began to receive its fulfilment. The Spirit was poured forth in abundance on the whole company of the disciples, and while their mouths were opened in the miraculous exercise of the prophetic gift, their hearts were inflamed and purified, and filled with the love of God and man. Thus were the earliest followers of Jesus" baptized with the Holy Ghost," and a similar experience, as far as it is required either for the salvation of souls, or for the order and maintenance of the church on earth, is ordained to be, in every age, the help and consolation of true believers in our

OF GOD, IN THE GOSPEL.

Lord Jesus Christ.

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"The promise is unto you," cried Peter to the surrounding multitude, "and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call :" Acts ii, 39.

Now, even on a very cursory examination of these, and many other corresponding passages of the New Testament, it is impossible for us not to perceive that the influence thus promised, and thus bestowed, was entirely divine-that it came, and ever must come, from God himself, who imparts the celestial gift to his degenerate children, in the character both of an omnipotent Sovereign, and of a tender, adopting, Parent. The Comforter, who was to be sent to the disciples after the death, resurrection, and ascension, of their Lord, and who was to "testify" unto them of Christ, is declared by Jesus to be "the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father;" (John xv, 26;) and the promise of his coming is emphatically described as the promise of tHE FATHER: Luke xxiv, 49; Acts i, 4.

Whether, therefore, the effect of a spiritual influence is traced in the diffusion of those gifts which are exercised by some of the Lord's servants, for the conversion of mankind, and for the benefit of the church; or in the peace, the love, and the purity, of all the members of the body of Christ, the children of the kingdom are still destitute of any thing whereof they can boast. Such an influence appertains not to the unregenerate nature of man, and although it acts upon the creature, who is required and graciously enabled to cooperate with it, it is nevertheless exclusively and supernaturally the GIFT OF GOD.

II. As God the Father is himself the fountain from which the Holy Spirit flows, for the instruction, the

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THE HOLY SPIRIT

regeneration, and the salvation, of his fallen children, so it is a clear and frequent doctrine of Holy Writ, that this incomparable blessing is derived to mankind, through Jesus Christ. "For we ourselves also," says the apostle Paul to Titus, "were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared; not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life:” iii, 3-7.

The Son or Word of God, by whom all things were made, is that "true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world"-the light which "shineth in darkness" though "the darkness comprehended it not." "In him was light, and the light was the life of men:" John i, 4, 5. 9. "I am the light of the world," cried Jesus, "he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life:" John viii, 12. When we regard our Saviour in the character of the Incarnate one, who publicly revealed the will of the Father, and the doctrines of Divine Truth, we may gratefully acknowledge that, even in this respect, he was the light of mankind, the light of the world. But the analogy of Scripture affords substantial evidence that these expressions comprehend a further meaning, and that Christ is also the light of his rational creature, man, because it is by him, or through his intervention and mediation, that the soul

GIVEN THROUGH CHRIST.

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of man is spiritually enlightened. "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God, in the FACE OF JESUS CHRIST:" II Cor. iv, 6. Jesus Christ is made unto us of God, "wisdom" as well as righteousness:" I Cor. i, 30. He is himself the "wisdom of God:" ver. 24. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge!" Col. ii, 3.

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Now, as Jesus is the internal illuminator, so he is also the spiritual quickener of mankind. "The last Adam (was made) a quickening Spirit:" I Cor. xv, 45. This doctrine I conceive to have been plainly alluded to by our Saviour, in that memorable conversation, in which he presented himself to the attention of his followers, and of the Jews, as the Bread of God-the Bread of Life: see John vi. "For the Bread of God," said the Holy One of Israel," is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth LIFE unto the world; (ver. 33;) ..... the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the LIFE of the world:" ver. 51. Through faith in a crucified Redeemer, the true Christian lives for ever, and lives now; for while the gift of eternal happiness is laid up for him in the world to come, he is, even in this world, quickened by the Spirit, from his death in trespasses and sins; and his spiritual life here, is the natural and indispensable fountain of his everlasting life hereafter. The apostle John makes mention of believers, as of persons who are already

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passed from death unto life;" (I John iii, 14;) and that the spiritual life of the soul, as well as the happy eternity of which it is the spring, was truly on this occasion, the subject of our Lord's discourse, we may