CHAP. V.] THE UNCTION OF THE SPIRIT. 393
clared. (4.) He was so at his ascension, when he received of the Father the promise of the Spirit, pouring him forth on his disciples, Acts ii. S3. And in this latter instance he was " anointed with the oil of gladness " which includes his glorious exaltation also : for this was absolutely peculiar unto him, whence he is said to be so anointed " above his fellows;" for although in some other parts of this anoint- ing, he hath them who partake of them, by and from him, in their measure, yet in this of receiving the Spirit with a power of com- municating him unto others, herein he is singular, nor was ever any other person sharer with him therein in the least degree. See the Exposition on Heb. i. 8, 9. Now, although there be an inconceiv- able difference and distance between the unction of Christ and that of believers, yet is his the only rule of the interpretation of theirs, as to the kind thereof. And, —
5. Believer's have their unction immediately from Christ. So is it in the text : " Ye have an unction from the Holy One." So is he called, Acts iii. 14; Rev. iii. 7, " These things saith he that is holy." He himself was anointed as the "Most Holy," Dan. ix. 24. And it is his Spirit which believers do receive, Eph. iii. 16; Phil. i. 19. It is said that " he who anointeth us is God," 2 Cor. i. 21 ; and I do take God there personally for the Father, as the same name is in the verse foregoing : " All the promises of God in him," that is, in Christ, " are yea, and in him Amen." Wherefore, the Father is the original, supreme cause of our anointing; but the Lord Christ, the Holy One, is the immediate efficient cause thereof. This himself expresseth when he affirms that he will send the Spirit from the Father. The supreme donation is from the Father; the immediate collation, from the Son.
6. It is therefore manifest that the anointing of believers con- sisteth in the communication of the Holy Spirit unto them from and by Jesus Christ. It is not the Spirit that doth anoint us, but he is the unction wherewith we are anointed by the Holy One. This the analogy unto the unction of Christ makes undeniable : for as he was anointed so are they, in the same kind of unction, though in a de- gree inferior unto him ; for they have nothing but a measure and portion from his fulness, as he pleaseth, Eph. iv. 7. Our unction, therefore, is the communication of the Holy Spirit, and nothing else. He is that unction which is given unto us, and abideth with us. But this communication of the Spirit is general, and respects all his operations. It doth not yet appear wherein the especial nature of it doth consist, and whence this communication of him is thus ex- pressed by " an unction ;" and this can be no otherwise learned but from the effects ascribed unto him as he is an unction, and the rela- tion with the resemblance that is therein unto the unction of Christ.
394 THE HOLT SPIRIT AS A COMFORTER. [BOOK VIII.
It is, therefore, some particular grace and privilege which is intended in this unction, 2 Cor. i. 21. It is mentioned only neutrally, with- out the ascription of any effects unto it, so that therein we cannot learn its especial nature. But there are two effects elsewhere as- cribed unto it. The first is teaching, with a saving, permanent know- ledge of the truth thereby produced in our minds. This is fully ex- pressed 1 John ii. 20, 27, "Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things;" that is, "All those things of the fundamen- tal, essential truths of the gospel, all ye need to know that ye may obey God truly and be saved infallibly, this ye have by this unc- tion; for this anointing which ye have received abideth in you, and teacheth you all things." And we may observe, that it is spoken of in an especial manner with respect unto our permanency and estab- lishment in the truth against prevalent seducers and seductions; so it is joined with establishing in that other place, 2 Cor. i. 21.
Wherefore, in the first place, this anointing with the Holy Ghost is the communication of him unto us with respect unto that gracious work of his in the spiritual, saving illumination of our minds, teach- ing us to know the truth, and to adhere firmly unto it in love and obedience. This is that which is peculiarly ascribed unto it ; and we have no way to know the nature of it but by its effects.
The anointing, then, of believers with the Spirit consists in the collation of him upon them to this end, that he may graciously in- struct them in the truths of the gospel by the saving illumination of their minds, causing their souls firmly to cleave unto them with joy and delight, and transforming them in the whole inward man into the image and likeness of it. Hence it is called the "anointing of our eyes with eye-salve that we may see," Rev. iii. 1 8. So doth it answer that unction of the Lord Christ with the Spirit, which made him "of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord," Isa. xi. S. Let these things, therefore, be fixed in the first place, — namely, that the rb xpiff/Au, the unction which believers receive from the Holy One, is the Spirit himself; and that his first, peculiar, especial effect as an unction, is his teaching of us the truths and mysteries of the gos- pel by saving illumination, in the manner before described.