Twelve Sermons on the Holy Spirit

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he stall

teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you,” John xiv. 26, Goop old Simeon called Jesus the consolation of Israel; andsohe was. Before his actual appearance, his name was the Day-Star; cheering the darkness, and prophetic of the rising sun. To him they looked with the same hope which cheers the nightly watcher, when from the lonely castle-top he sees the fairest of the stars, and hails her as the usher of the morn. When he was on earth, he must have been the consolation of all those who were privileged to be his companions. We can imagine how readily the disciples poe dae to Christ to tell him of their griefs, and how sweetly with that matchless intonation of his voice, he would speak to them and bid their fears be gone. Like children, they would consider him as their Father; and to him every want, every groan, every sorrow, every agony, would at once be carried; and he, like a wise physician, had a balm for every wound; he had mingled a cordial for their every care; and readily did he dispense some mighty remedy to allay all the fever of their troubles. Oh! it must have been sweet to have lived with Christ. Surely sorrows then were but joys in masks, because they gave an opportunity to go to Jesus to have themremoved. Oh! would to God, some of us may say, that we could have lain our weary heads upon the bosom of Jesus, and that our birth had been in that happy era, when we might have heard his kind voice, and seen his kind look, mn he said ‘‘ Let the weary ones come unto me.”’ But now he was about to die. Great prophecies were to be fulfilled, and

reat purposes were to be answered. and therefore Jesus must go. It behoved hiss to suffer, that he might be made a propitiation for our sins. e him to slumber in the dust awhile, that he might perfume the chamber of the grave to make it — - “No more a charnel house to fence

The relics of lost innocence.”

It behoved him to have a resurrection, that we who shall one day be the dead in Christ, might rise first, and in glorious bodies stand upon earth. And it behoved him that he should ascend up on high, that he might lead captivity captive; that he might chain the fiends of hell; that he might lash them to his chariot wheels and drag them up high heaven’s hill, to make them feel a second overthrow from his right arm when he should dash them from the pinnacles of heaven down to deeper depths beneath. ‘It is right I should go away from you,”’ said Jesus, “for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come.” Jesus must go. Weep ye disciples. Jesus must be gone. Mourn ye poor ones who are to be left without a Comforter. But hear how kindly Jesus speaks: “I will not leave you comfortless, I will pray the Father, and he shall send you another Comforter,who shall be with you, and shall dwell in you for ever.” He would not leave those few poor sheep alone in the wilderness; he would not desert

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Galiteenia his children and leave them fatherless. Albeit that he had a mighty mission which did fill his heart and hand; albeit that he had so much to perform that we might have thought that even his gigantic intellect would be overburdened; albeit he had so much to suffer, that we might suppose his whole soul to be concentrated upon the thought of the sufferings to be endured; yet it was not so: before he left he gave soothing words of comfort; like the good Samaritan, he poured in oil and wine; and we see what he promised: “I will send you another Comforter — one who shall be just what I have been, yea even more; who shall console you in your sorrows, remove your doubts, comfort you in your afflictions, and stand as my vicar on earth, to do that which I would have done, had I tarried with you.”’ ‘

Before I discourse of the Holy Ghost as the Comforter, I must make one or two remarks on the different translations of the word rendered “Comforter.” The Rhemish translation, which you are aware is adopted by Roman Catholics, has left the word untranslated, and gives it “‘ Paraclete.” “But the Paraclete which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things.” This is the original Greek word, and it has some other meanings besides ‘‘ Comforter.’’ Sometimes it means the monitor or instructor: “1 will send you another monitor, another teacher.’’ Frequently it means ‘‘ Advocate;”’ but the most common meaning of the word is that which we have here: “‘T will send you another Comforter.’’ However, we cannot pass over those other two interpretations without saying something upon them.

‘¢ T will send you another teacher.”’ Jesus Christ had been the official teacher o: his saints whilst on earth. They called no man Rabbi except Christ. They sat at no men’s feet to learn their doctrines; but they had them direct from the lips of him who “‘ spake-as never man spake.”’ ‘‘ And now,” says he, ‘‘ when I am gone, where shall you find the great infallible teacher? Shall I set you up a Pope at Rome, to whom you shall go, and who shall be your infallible oracle? Shall I give you the councils of the church to be held to decide all knotty points??? Christ said ni,such thing. ‘‘I am the infallible paraclete or teacher, and when I am gone, J. will send you another teacher and he shall be the person who is to explain Scripture; he shall be the authoritative oracle of God, who shall make all dark things light, who shall unravel mysteries, who shall unravel mysteries, who shall untwist all knots of revelation, and shall make you understand what you could not discover, had it not-been for his influence.”’ And beloved, no man ever learns anything aright, unless he is taught of the Spirit. You may learn election, and you may know it so that you shall be damned by it, if you are not taught of the Holy Ghost; for I have known some who have feainedl election to their soul’s destruction; they have learned it, so that they said they were of the elect, whereas they had no marks, no evidences and no work of the Holy Ghost in their souls. There is a way of learning truth in Satan’s college, and holding it in licentiousness; but if so, it shall be to your souls as poison to your veins, and prove your everlasting ruin. No man can know Jesus Christ unless he is taught of God. There is no doctrine of the Bible which can be safely, thoroughly, and truly learned, except by the agency of the one authoritative teacher. Ah! tell me not of systems oF divinity; tell me not of schemes of theology; tell me not of infallible commentators, or most learned

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