that is, God confers, and Chrift diftributes, thofe Gifts and Graces, which come from God thro' the Spirit; or the holy Spirit vouchfafes to fhed his Influences according to the Will of the felfexiftent Being, and the Man Chrift Jefus difpofes of them, as his Apoftles alfo did; that is, the Spirit imparts his Gifts in fuch Manner and Circumftances, that the Distribution of them is attributed to Men in the fame Sense, in which Men are faid to work thofe Miracles, which are notwithstanding wrought by the Spirit's Operation. Thus alfo, when the Holy Ghost defcended in a bodily Shape on our Lord, the meaning is, that when that Appearance was made, the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit were actually imparted to the Man Chrift Jefus; as the Holy Ghoft defcended alfo on the Apoftles, that is, the Gifts and Graces of the Holy Ghoft were poured on them, when the Cloven Tongues fat on their Heads. Thus do all thofe Metaphors become perfectly eafy; nor does any one of them imply (in any the least measure or degree) fuch a Derivation, Subordination, or difference of Nature or Being, as those who deny the Spirit to be the felfexiftent God, would fain infer from them.

3. The Confideration of this noble Allegory (wherein the Spirit is compared to a Meffenger) which is fo frequently touched upon in Scripture, enables us to explain a very difficult Paffage, on which too many great Interpreters have written very odly, and from which fome heterodox Writers have endevor'd to prove, that the Holy Ghoft is not the felfexiftent God.

but

Our Lord fays, I have yet many things to say unto you, ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he the fpirit of truth is come, be will guide you into all truth. For he Shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever be shall hear,

that

Chap. XIII. that shall be fpeak: and he will fhew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall Shew it unto you. All things that the Father bath, are mine: therefore faid I, that he shall take of mine, and shall fhew it unto you, John 16. 12----15. In this Paffage Chrift fays of the Spirit, He fhall not speak of himself; and again, whatsoever he shall bear, that shall be speak; and again, he fhall receive of mine. And from thence the Spirit's Inferiority to the Very God, and his Subordination to Chrift's Divine Nature, have been deduc'd. Whereas our Savior never meant any thing like it. For let us defcend to Particulars.

Our Lord faid to his Difciples, I have yet (od) many things to fay unto you: but ye cannot bear them now; that is, I have many things relating to my Spiritu'al Kingdom to fay unto you, which ye are not at prefent rightly difpofed for the Reception of. How. beit, when he the spirit of truth (or the Veracious Spirit) is come, he will guide you into all truth; that is, he will teach you all those things relating to my Spiritual Kingdom, which I do not think it proper to deliver to you at prefent. Then our Lord proceeds to prove, that the Spirit of Truth, or the Veracious Spirit, fhould lead them into all Truth (or teach them fuch Particulars relating to his Spiritual Kingdom, as he at that time was pleased to concele) by this Argument, For be shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall bear, that shall be speak.

For the Explication of which Reason here given by our Lord, we must have recourfe to the Allegory of a Meffenger. When a Meffenger delivers what his Principal gives him in Charge, he is then a true, or veracious, and faithful Meffenger: but when he devises things of his own Head, and delivers them in the Name of his Principal, he is faid to speak of himself, and he is then an untrue, or ly

ing, and unfaithful Meffenger. Thus our Lord himself, the great Prophet or Meffenger from God to Men, fays, if any Man will do his will, he fhall know of the Doctrin, whether it be of God, or whether I Speak of my felf, John 7. 17. In this Text Speaking of bimfelf is oppofed to his Doctrin's being of God, who was Chrift's Principal. Again, he that speaketh of bimfelf, feeketh his own Glory, ver. 18. that is, a lying Meffenger, who devises his own Meffage, feeketh his own Glory, and not the Glory of his Principal. Again, the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of my Self, John 14. 10. that is, I did not invent my Doarin; but I deliver to you what my Father gave me in charge. Accordingly, when Chrift fays of the Spirit, under the reprefentation of God's Meffenger, that he fhall not speak of himself, but whatsoever be fhall bear, that shall be fpeak; the meaning is, that he fhould not impofe upon them by delivering Falfhoods of his own inventing, and fo be a lying Mes fenger; but he fhould deliver to them what he fhould have heard from, and been intrufted with by, God his Principal; and confequently fhould be a faithful Meffenger, and juftly deferve the Charaeter of the Spirit of Truth, or veracious Spirit.

This therefore is an evident Proof of what Chrift had affirmed concerning him. He had affured his Difciples, that the Spirit fhould lead them into all Truth; that is, make known to them all things relating to his Spiritual Kingdom. For (as our Savior immediatly fubjoins) be fhall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall be fpeak; that is, he fhall faithfully discharge the Office of God's Meffenger to you. Then Chrift adds, and he will fhew you things to come; that is, he will not only inftruct you fully in matters relating to my fpiritual Kingdom; but he will also make known to you fu

ture

ture Tranfactions in the Church, and what fhall come to pass in after Ages, the difcovery of which fhall evince that God employ'd and fent him.

These feveral Affirmations therefore concerning the Spirit do by no means imply, that he is a different Being from the felfexiftent God, and fubordinat to him: but do only carry on that well known Allegory of the Spirit's being God's Meffenger. . And the plain Truth deliver'd under thofe Figures is, that when God fhou'd by his Spirit pour forth those extraordinary Gifts and Graces, the Perfons endued therewith fhould be thereby fully and faithfully inftructed in all things relating to Chrift's fpiritual Kingdom, and fhould also be able to foretel fuch future contingent Events, as none but God is able to discover beforehand. By this means he fhould abundantly confirm the Truth of Chrift's Miffion. For our Lord knew beforehand what the Spirit fhould discover to them; and the whole of it wou'd manifeftly eftablish his Doctrin, and prove him to be the true Meffiah; and the Glory of the Spirit's Revelations wou'd confequently redound to our Lord.

His next Words are thefe; He fhall glorify me. For be fhall receive of mine, and shall fhew it unto you. All things that the Father bath, are mine. Therefore faid I, that be shall take of mine, and shall fhew it unto you. For the Explication of thefe Expreffions it must be noted, that the Subftantive to dyra, which we tranflate all things in the fifteenth Verfe, is manifeftly the fame as the Subftantive to me, which we tranflate many things in the twelfth Verfe, viz. the things relating to Chrift's fpiritual Kingdom. Wherefore, when Chrift fays, All things that the Father bath, are mine, his meaning is, that all things that God hath relating to Chrift's fpiritual Kingdom, are Chrift's;

Chrift's; that is, God hath fully communicated to Christ all that Power and Knowledge, which he ought to be endued with for the Management of his fpiritual Kingdom, of which the Holy Ghoft was to be, after Chrift's Afcenfion, the prime Minifter. So that whatsoever the Spirit fhould afterwards act or have in charge, was from Chrift. And therefore Chrift fays, he shall receive of mine; that is, he fhall receive Inftructions from me, and display that Power and Knowledge, which the Father has given to me, as being the principal Adminiftrator of my fpiritual Kingdom. And he shall fhew it, or declare this Power and Knowledge, una to you my Difciples, by numberlefs Miracles and Revelations.

Thus our Lord's Expreffions are clear. Says he, He (viz. the Spirit) fhall glorify me, or make me appear truly glorious, by demonftrating that I truly am, what I have all along pretended to be. For be, whom I fhall send unto you, and who will work fo many Miracles among you, and fo fully discover to you the whole Will of God, shall receive of mine, even of that Power and Knowledge which is already mine by the Gift of my Father, and he shall fhew it unto you by exercifing it among you. For you must understand, that all things relating to my fpiritual Kingdom, which the felfexiftent God, who is my Father, bath or poffeffeth, are mine, being communicated by him to me. Therefore faid 1, he shall take (or receive, for 'tis the fame Verb in the Original, as in the 14th Verfe) of that which is already mine; that is, he fhall then have that Power and Knowledge entrufted with him by me, with which I am already entrusted by God; and fhall fhew it, or make it evidently known, unto you.