[l5^.] Hence is the sin against the Holy Ghost (what it is I do not now dispute) unpardonable, and hath that adjunct of rebellion put upon it that no other sin hath, — namely, because he comes not, he acts not, in his own name only, though in his own also, but in the name and authority of the Father and Son, from and by whom he is sent ; and therefore, to sin against him is to sin against all the autho- rity of God, all the love of the Trinity, and the utmost condescension of each person to the work of our salvation. It is, I say, from the authoritative mission of the Spirit that the sin against him is peculi- arly unpardonable ; — it is a sin against the recapitulation of the love of the Father, Son, and Spirit. And from this consideration, were that our present business, might the true nature of the sin against the Holy Ghost be investigated. Certainly it must consist in the contempt of some operation of his, as acting in the name and autho- rity of the whole Trinity, and that in their ineffable condescension to the work of gi'ace. But this is of another consideration.
[2dZ?/.] On this account we are to py^ay the Father and the Son to give the Spirit to us. Luke xi. 13, " Your heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." Now the Holy Ghost, being God, is no less to be invocated, prayed to, and called on, than
280 OF COMMUNION WITH THE HOLY GHOST.
the Father and Son ; as elsewhere I have proved. How, then, do we ask the Father for him, as we do in all our supplications, seeing that we also pray that he himself would come to us, visit us, and abide with us? In our prayers that are directed to himself, we consider him as essentially God over all, blessed for evermore; we pray for him from the Father and Son, as under this mission and delegation from them. And, indeed, God having most plentifully revealed him- self in the order of this dispensation to us, we are (as Christians generally do) in our commvmion to abound in answerable addresses; that is, not only to the person of the Holy Ghost himself, but pro- perly to the Father and Son for him, which refers to this dispen- sation.
[ScZ/y.] Hence is that great weight, in particular, laid upon our not grieving the Spirit, Eph. iv. 80, — because he comes to us in the name, with the love, and upon the condescension, of the whole blessed Trinity. To do that which might grieve him so sent, on such an account, for that end and purpose which shall afterward be mentioned, is a great aggravation of sin. He expects cheerful entertainment with us, and may do so justly, upon his own account, and the account of the work which he comes about; but when this also is added, that he is sent of the Father and the Son, commissioned with their love and grace, to communicate them to their souls, — this is that which is, or ought to be, of unspeakable esteem with believers. And this is that second thing expressed in the manner of his communication, — he is sent by authority.
(odl^.) He is said to be poured out or SHED on us, Tit. iii. 6, Oi5 i^ix^iv i<p' rj/ji,ag TXovffiMg, — that Holy Ghost which he hath richly poured out upon us, or shed on us abundantly. And this was the chief ex- pression of his communication under the Old Testament ; the mystery of the Father and the Son, and the matter of commission and dele- gation being then not so clearly discovered. Isa. xxxii. 15, " Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruit- ful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest;" that is, till the Gentiles be called, and the Jews rejected. And chap. xliv. 3, " I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring." That eminent place of Zech. xii. 10 is always in our thoughts. Now, this expression, as is known, is taken from tlie allusion of the Spirit unto water; and that in relation to all the uses of water, both natural and typical. A particular relation of them I cannot now insist on ; perhaps efficacy and plenty are chiefly intended.
Now, this threefold expression, oi giving, sending, and pouring out, of the Spirit, gives us the three great properties of the covenant of grace: — First, That it \s/ree: he is given. Secondly, That it is or-
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derly, ordered in all things, and sure, from the love of the Father, by the procurement of the Son ; and thence is that variety of expression, of the Father's sending him, and the Son's sending him from the Father, he being the gift of the Father's love, and purchase of the blood of the Son. Thirdly. The efficacy of : t, as was last observed. And this is the second thing considerable.
2dly. The third, which is our receiving him, I shall speak more briefly of That which I first proposed of the Spirit, considered as a Spuit of sanctification and a Spirit of consolation, is here to be minded. Our receiving of him as a Spirit of sanctification is a mere passive reception, as a vessel receives water. He comes as the wind on Ezekiel's dead bones, and makes them live ; he comes into dead heaiiis, and quickens them, by an act of his almighty power: but now, as he is the Spirit of consolation, it is otherwise. In this sense our Saviour tells us that the " world cannot receive him," John xiv. 1 7, "The world receiveth him not, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." That it is the Spirit of consolation, or the Spirit for conso- lation, that here is promised, is evident from the close of the verse, where he is said then to be in them when he is promised to them. He was in them as a Spirit of quickening and sanctification when promised to them as a Sphit of comfort and consolation, to abide with them for that purpose. Now, the power that is here denied to be in the world, with the reason of it, that they cannot receive the Spuit, because they know him not, is ascribed to believers; — they can receive him, because they know him. So that there is an active power to be put forth in his reception for consolation, though not in his reception for regeneration and sanctification. And this is the power of faith. So Gal. iii. 2, they received the Spirit by the hear- ing of faith; — the preaching of the gospel, begetting faith in them, enabled them to receive the Spirit. Hence, believing is put as the quahfication of all our receiving the Holy Ghost. John vii. 39, " This he spake of the Spuit, which they that believe on him should re- ceive." It is believers that thus receive the Spirit; and they receive him by faith. Now, there are three special acts of faith, where- by it goes forth in the receiving of the Spuit. I shall but name them : —