The subject-matter concerning which the Holy Ghost manageth his plea by the word against the world, as the advocate of the church, is referred unto the three heads of " sin, righteousness, and judgment," John xvi. 8, the especial nature of them being declared, verses 9-11.
(1st) What sin it is in particular that the Holy Spirit shall so plead with the world about, and convince them of, is declared verse 9, " Of sin, because they believe not on me." There are many sins whereof men may be convinced by the light of nature, Rom. ii. 14, 1 5, more that they are reproved for by the letter of the law ; and it is the work of the Spirit also in general to make these convictions effectual : but these belong not unto the cause which he hath to plead for the church against the world, nor is that such as any can be brought unto conviction about by the light of nature or sentence of the law, but it is the work of the Spirit alone by the gospel ; and
366 THE HOLY SPIRIT AS A COMFORTER. [BOOK VIII.
this, in the first place, is unbelief, particularly not believing in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, the promised Messiah and Saviour of the world. This he testified concerning himself, this his works evinced him to be, and this both Moses and the prophets bare witness unto. Hereon he tells the Jews, that if they believed not that he was he, — that is, the Son of God, the Messiah and Saviour of the world, — " they should die in their sins," John viii. 21, 24. But in this unbelief, in this rejection of Christ, the Jews and the rest of the world justified themselves, and not only so, but despised and perse- cuted them who believed in him. This was the fundamental differ- ence between believers and the world, the head of that cause where- in they were rejected by it as foolish and condemned as impious. And herein was the Holy Ghost their advocate; for he did by such undeniable evidences, arguments, and testimonies, convince the world of the truth and glory of Christ, and of the sin of unbelief, that they were everywhere either converted or enraged thereby. So some of them, upon this conviction, "gladly received the word, and were baptized/' Acts ii. 41. Others, upon the preaching of the same truth by the apostles, " were cut to the heart, and took coun- sel to slay them," chap. v. 33. In this work he still continueth. And it is an act of the same kind whereby he yet in particular con- vinceth any of the sin of unbelief, which cannot be done but by the effectual internal operation of his power.
(2c%.) He thus convinceth the world of righteousness : John xvi. 10, " Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more." Both the personal righteousness of Christ and the right- eousness of his office are intended ; for concerning both these the church hath a contest with the world, and they belong unto that cause wherein the Holy Spirit is their advocate. Christ was looked on by the world as an evil-doer; accused to be a glutton, a wine- bibber, a seditious person, a seducer, a blasphemer, a malefactor, in every kind ; — whence his disciples were both despised and destroyed for believing in such an one; and it is not to be declared how they were scorned and reproached, and what they suffered on this account. In the meantime, they pleaded and gave testimony unto his righte- ousness,— that "he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth," that " he fulfilled all righteousness," and was the " Holy One " of God. And herein was the Holy Ghost their advocate, convincing the world principally by this argument, that after all he did and suffered in this world, as the highest evidence imaginable of God's approba- tion of him and what he did, he was gone to the Father, or assumed up into glory. The poor blind man whose eyes were opened by him pleaded this as a forcible argument against the Jews, that he was no sinner, in that God heard him so as that he had opened his
CHAP. I.] HIS OFFICE AS A COMFORTER. 367
eyes; whose evidence and conviction they could not bear, but it turned them into rage and madness, John ix. 30-34. How much more glorious and effectual must this evidence needs be of his right- eousness and holiness, and of God's approbation of him, that after all he did in this world, he went unto his Father, and was taken up into glory ! for such is the meaning of these words, " Ye shall see me no more;" that is, "There shall be an end jDut unto my state of humi- liation, and of my converse with you in this world, because I am to enter into my glory." That the Lord Christ then went unto his Father, that he was so gloriously exalted, undeniable testimony was given by the Holy Ghost, unto the conviction of the world. So this argument is pleaded by Peter, Acts ii. 33. This is enough to stop the mouths of all the world in this cause, that he sent the Holy Ghost from the Father to communicate spiritual gifts of all sorts unto his disciples; and there could be no higher evidence of his ac- ceptance, power, and glory with him ; and the same testimony he still continueth, in the communication of ordinary gifts in the mi- nistry of the gospel. Respect also may be had (which sense I would not exclude) unto the righteousness of his office. There ever was a great contest about the righteousness of the world. This the Gen- tiles looked after by the light of nature, and the Jews by the works of the law. In this state the Lord Christ is proposed as the " Lord our righteousness," as he who was to "bring in," and had brought in, " everlasting righteousness," Dan. ix. 24, being " the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. x. 4. This the Gentiles rejected as folly, — Christ crucified was "foolishness" unto them ; and to the Jews it was a " stumbling-block," as that which everted the whole law; and, generally, they all concluded that he could not save himself, and therefore it was not probable that others should be saved by him. But herein also is the Holy Spirit the ad- vocate of the church ; for, in the dispensation of the word, he so con- vinceth men of an impossibility for them to attain a righteousness of their own, as that they must either submit to the righteousness of God in Christ or die in their sins.