That this is the sense of the place, and the mind of the Holy Ghost in the words, needs no other demonstration but that it is expressive of their proper signification, neither can any other sense tolerably be affixed on them. To deny the Holy Spirit to be deno- minated a Spirit of supplication, because he inclineth, disposeth, and enableth them to pray unto whom he is promised, and on whom he is bestowed as such, is to use a little too much liberty in sacred things.
CHAP. II.] ZECH. XII. 10 OPENED AND VINDICATED. 2C1
A learned man of late, out of hatred unto the Spirit of prayer, or prayer as his gift, hath endeavoured to deprive the church of God of the whole benefit and comfort of this promise (Amyrald. Prcefat. in Psal.) ; for he contends that it belongs not unto the Christian church, but unto the Jews only. Had he said it belonged unto the Jews in the first place who should be converted unto Christ, he had not gone so wide from the truth nor from the sense of other expositors, though he had said more than he could prove. But to suppose that any grace, any mercy, any privilege by Jesus Christ, is promised unto the Jews, wherein Gentile believers shall be no sharers, that they should not partake of the same kind, whoever hath the prero- gative as to degrees, is fond and impious; for if they also are chil- dren of Abraham, if the blessing of faithful Abraham do come upon them also, if it is through them that he is the heir of the world, his spiritual seed inhabiting it by right in all places, then unto them do all the promises belong that are made unto him and his seed. And whereas most of the "exceeding great and precious promises" of the Old Testament are made to Jacob and Israel, to Jerusalem and Zion, it is but saying that they are all confined unto the Jews, and so at once to despoil the church of God of all right and title to them ; which impious folly and sacrilege hath been by some attempted. But whereas all the promises belong unto the same covenant, with all the grace contained in them and exhibited by them, whoever is interested by faith in that covenant is so in all the promises of God that belong thereunto, and hath an equal right unto them with those unto whom they were first given. To suppose, now that the Jews are rejected for their unbelief, that the promises of God made unto them whilst they stood by faith are ceased and of no use, is to overthrow the covenant of Abraham, and, indeed, the whole truth of the New Testament. But the apostle assures us that "all the pro- mises of God in Christ are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us;" that is, in their accomplishment in us and towards us, 2 Cor. i. 20. So, also, he positively affirms that all believers have received those promises which originally were made unto Israel, 2 Cor. vi. 16-18, vii. 1. And not only so, but he declareth also that the promises which were made of old unto particular persons on especial occasions, as to the grace, power, and love contained in them and intended by them, do yet belong unto all individual believers, and are applicable by them unto all their especial occasions, Heb. xiii. 5, 6. And their right unto or interest in all the promises of God is that which those who are concerned in the obedience of faith would not forego for all that this world can supply them withal. This, therefore, is only a particular instance of the work and effect of the Spirit, as he is in general promised in the covenant. And, as
262 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PRAYER. [BOOK VII.
we have declared, the promises of him as a Spirit of grace and holi- ness in the covenant belong unto the believers of the Gentiles also. If they do not, they have neither share nor interest in Christ; which is a better plea for the Jew than this peculiar instance will afford. But this promise is only an especial declaration of what in one case this Spirit shall do, who is promised as a Spirit of grace and holiness in the covenant. And, therefore, the author of the evasion, suspect- ing that the fraud and sacrilege of it would be detected, betakes himself to other subterfuges, which we shall afterward meet with, so far as we are concerned.
It may be more soberly objected, "That the Spirit of grace and supplication was given unto believers under the Old Testament; and, therefore, if there be no more in it, if some extraordinary gift be not here intended, how comes it to be made an especial promise with respect unto the times of the New Testament? It may, there- fore, be supposed that not the ordinary grace or gift of prayer, which believers, and especially the officers of the church, do receive, but some extraordinary gift bestowed on the apostles and first converts to the church, is here intended. So the prophecy concerning the effusion of the Spirit on all sorts of persons, Joel ii. 28-32, is in- terpreted by Peter, and applied unto the sending of the Holy Ghost in miraculous gifts on the day of Pentecost, Acts ii. 14-21."