capacity, even as the Head of his Church. At his ascension thither he received gifts; and received them in order to impart them to rebellious mank. He ascended, on purpose " that he might fill all things1." He is the Head ; and " the Church is his body, the fulness of Him who filleth all in allm." Hence we find, that when the Holy Ghost was poured forth on the day of Pen- tecost, the Apostle Peter confidently traced the gift to him, even to that very Jesus who had so recently been crucified as a ma- lefactor : " This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses : therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear11." And to the same effect St. Paul also says, that God " saves us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Sa- viour0." These passages reflect great light upon our text, inasmuch as they shew that Christ is the true source of all spiritual blessings to the Church ; and that the Holy Spirit, with all his graces and consolations, flows from him according to the Father's will, just as the oil in the vision dropped from the olive-trees into the bowl, for the continual supply of the lamps dependent on it.]
3. That in the use of his ordinances, we may expect all needful supplies —
[It was through the pipes only that the lamps received the oil ; and it is through the ordinances only that we can receive "supplies of the Spirit from Jesus Christp". He will be in- quired of for all that he has promised usq. "If we ask not, we cannot haver." We must wait upon him in private, reading his word, meditating upon it, and praying over it. We must wait upon him also in public, " not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together," but expecting more particular manifesta- tions of his love, and richer communications of his grace, through the medium of his preached Gospel. " Where two or three are met together in his name," there it is that he sheds forth his Spirit in a more abundant measure s. Verily, if we watch unto prayer, and abound therein with thanksgiving, we shall never be disappointed of our hope. We shall have just reason to say, " Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." " The hungry he will fill with good things : it is the rich only," and the self-sufficient, " that he ever sends empty away." " The diligent soul shall be made fat."
k Compare Ps. lxviii. 18. with Eph. iv. 8. "received," "gave." i Eph. iv. 10. m Eph. i. 20—23. n Acts ii. 32, 33.
° Tit. iii. 5, 6. p Phil. i. 19. <i Ezek. xxxvi. 37.
r Jam. iv. 2. 3 Matt, xviii. 20.