It was a very remarkable era in the lives of the first disciples of Christ when He delivered to them His farewell discourse. At this time they did not understand the nature of His work,-how it was that He must suffer and die, and then enter into His Glory, therefore, because their Lord had told them that He was about to leave them, "Sorrow had filled their hearts." They could scarcely endure the thoughts that He should be taken from them. They loved Him sincerely, they enjoyed their intercourse with Him, they had embarked their all in His cause; they had expected that He would abide with them, and do something great for them and for their people, they felt therefore as if they could not do without Him. But still He assures them, that He must depart and return unto His Father, giving them at the same time a full assurance that this should be no real disadvantage to them; on the contrary, it was expedient, proper, most suitable, indeed a necessary part of the Divine plan for their good, and for the advancement of His kingdom on the earth. 'It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will send Him unto you." My departure is essential to the bestowment of the Holy Spirit, to the coming of that Divine and Gracious Agent in the fulness of His influences, by which you are to be fitted for your great work, and through whom your word is to be rendered successful for the conviction and conversion of sinners,—my name is to be glorified,—and many immortal minds are to be enlightened, renewed, and sanctified, and brought to partake of all the blessings of Divine love. By this statement of our Lord we are taught

I. That it was most suitable and proper that the Saviour should finish

His work and descend to His glory, in order that the Holy Spirit might descend in the fulness of His gifts and, graces. The Scriptures clearly teach us, that the life of God in the soul of man was lost when he became a sinner against God; he had not only forfeited the favour of God, but he could enjoy no communion with Him, he had no claim to any blessings from Him. It became a great necessity in his case, if he ever was restored to God, that there should be a gracious life-giving influence for his renewal in the Divine image. But first, there was a work of mediation required before the Holy Spirit could come and dwell with men, in order that there might be a consistent medium whereby the righteous God might bestow His grace upon man. Hence, the first great part in the plan of our salvation, and the first grand expressions of the love of the Father and the Son towards us, was that a Mediator should be appointed, his work assigned, and that he should voluntarily undertake to do and to suffer all that infinite wisdom saw to be necessary to open a way for our restoration to God. Then, as the result of the undertaking and work of the Mediator, the Spirit was to come, as the renovator and sanctifier of the human heart. There is reason to believe that as soon as intimations were given to man after the fall, that a Deliverer was appointed, and would appear for him, the Spirit of God began to work on the soul of man, and blessings of saving mercy were imparted. All the pious during the patriarchal ages, received the Spirit to guide them to God. The believing descendants of Abraham were made partakers of the same blessing. Spirit in the Prophets guided them to testify of the things of Christ, and that same Spirit influenced the minds of those who received their word to look

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to the promised Messiah, and to yield themselves unto God. He sent His good Spirit to instruct them. In all the ages before the coming of Christ, the Spirit was given in some degree for sanctifying and saving purposes. But prophetic language clearly taught, that it was to be given in a larger measure after the coming of the Messiah.

In reference to those days it was said, "the Spirit shall be poured upon us from on high," "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh.”

Let us here observe, that when we read in the Gospels, "the Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified," and when Christ here says, "when I depart I will send Him unto you," we are not to understand such language as excluding all communications of the Spirit previous to this, in any degree, or to any persons. It is used rather in a comparative sense—that it had not been given before in any measure to be compared with what it should be after the Saviour had finished His work, to show that that work was the great efficient, or procuring cause of the Spirit being imparted to men. What was discovered before the coming of Christ was a kind of preparatory process, which was to lead on to the full display of Divine grace.

It was as the dawning of the day, when the rays of the sun are dispelling the darkness of the night before it appears above the horizon. Like the pledge of coming mercies, like the first droppings as the prelude to the enriching shower, in all its plenitude it was to come after Christ had completed His work. It was expedient for Him to go away, that the Spirit might descend.

The Saviour's work of humiliation must first be accomplished, because that was to be the great procuring cause of all the spiritual blessings that were to be imparted to man. The ransom price was to be paid, the great sacrifice atoning for sin was to be offered, the meritorious work of the Great Surety was to be completed, the claims of law and justice to be satisfied, the glories of holiness to

be displayed in connection with the greatest compassion towards fallen man, that the glorious Majesty of heaven might consistently reconcile us to Himself, and bestow upon us the Holy Spirit to conform us to His image. The Spirit being given after the departure of Christ was to be a full and standing proof of the all-sufficiency of His work. It was also to show His glorious triumph over the powers of hell, and His perfect ability to bestow salvation on man. "He led captivity captive, and received gifts for men, that the Lord God might dwell among them."

II. We are taught by the language of Christ that the Spirit was to be given as a substitute for the Saviour's personal presence on earth. "It is expedient that I go away," &c., conveying the idea, that the communication of the Spirit after Christ had finished His work, was of more importance to the Church and the world than the continuance of His bodily presence amongst them. When Christ informed His disciples that He was about to leave them it caused them great sorrow. They perhaps had thought that if He were the Christ He would always continue with them, as the Jews had a notion that the Messiah would abide for ever and reign over them. To the disciples who loved, and trusted and honoured Him, and who felt that their life and happiness were bound up with Him, it would no doubt have appeared very delightful to have had Him always with them. They thought that He would at length reign in a glorious kingdom on earth, and that they should then be raised to posts of honour by Him. This seemed to them to be essential to the success of His mission, and to support them as His ministers. But they find this is all a dream. was certainly true that He must depart from them, and that after a short time they would see Him no more on the earth. This was expedient in order that He might send another agent unto them that should act on His behalf, as His substitute, that should carry on His great designs; this was more essential to

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the advancement of His cause, and should be more advantageous to them, than His personal presence with them on earth could be. Howbeit, when the Spirit of truth is come He will guide you into all truth." "He shall

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glorify me, for He shall take of mine and shall show it unto you." Christ first descended to accomplish the work of redeeming mercy, then He ascended to His glory, and the Spirit descended more fully as the result of His work to be the renovator and sanctifier of the human heart, as also to sustain and succeed His servants in their labours for the promotion of His kingdom. When this Spirit descended and they received power from on high,qualified for their work, and obtained clear spiritual views of the nature and design of the death of Christ and of the kingdom He came to establish, they were fully satisfied; they preached the Gospel as with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; looked no more for the personal presence of their Master on earth, but they looked rather for the period when they should behold Him in His glory, beyond all the scenes of earth and time. He was to them an unseen Saviour, but in Him they rejoiced “with joy unspeakable and full of glory." The Spirit dwelt in them to aid them in their work, and to conform them to the image of their Lord.

There has often been the impression on the minds of some of the followers of Christ, that it would be a great advantage to them if their Lord was with them personally on earth. Had He remained in this world for His people to have beheld Him, that they might have held converse with Him, that they might have been cheered by His gracious words, that they might have beheld some of His mighty works, have seen the displays of His power against His enemies and for the furtherance of His cause, they had thought they should have possessed advantages of which they are now deprived. But still His word stands, that it was expedient for His followers that He should go

away, that the Spirit might come unto them and that He should be as a gracious substitute for His present presence. There was a great work to be done in this fallen world after Christ had passed through His scenes of humiliation, suffering, and death; a work to be performed in the hearts and souls of men. The servants of Christ were to be fitted to go forth in His name,-to be inspired to preach His Gospel, and to write infallibly the Word of truth. There was a work to be done to bring the hearts of men in subjection to the Saviour, to subdue their depraved propensities and transform them into the Divine likeness; a work also of sustaining, strengthening, quickening, and sanctifying grace to lead those that should believe in the way to life and to meeten them for the glory of their Lord. This was the work the Divine Spirit was to perform. Hence, it was proper that Christ should depart that He might send the Spirit, that by His agency the great designs of Divine mercy might be promoted:

We are now said to have the "ministrations of the Spirit." He is working through the whole process so as to glorify Christ, and advance His spiritual kingdom amongst men. Then the spiritual means, and there is the agency of the Holy Spirit, to advance that kingdom of Christ which is spiritual and eternal. It is by these means, and by this agency, that the Saviour's great designs are to be accomplished, and with these we are to be satisfied till all shall be fulfilled which our Lord has promised.

This view of things, as presented by Christ himself, appears to us to be quite contrary to the ideas of those who look for a personal reign of Christ on the earth during the millenial ages. They consider, that it is necessary that Christ should come and reign on the earth to make His cause to triumph over all His enemies, and to exalt His saints among men. Now, the Saviour himself expressly tells us, that it was expedient that He should go away in order that His cause might advance under another

Great Agent that He was about to send, "when He is come He shall convince the world of sins, of righteouness, and judgment to come." "He shall testify of me." 66 'He shall glorify me." He shall abide with you for ever." This was sufficient in the early days of the Gospel to enable the servants of Christ to go on and prosper in His ways, and to render the Gospel they preached triumphant over systems of idolatry and delusion, and of bringing great numbers from the power of Satan to the living and true God.

It appears only to need an abundant effusion of the same gracious and ⚫ powerful influence in connection with all the great truths of the Gospel, and the right use of the means to which God has directed us, to accomplish every purpose set forth in the promises and prophecies of the Word, as to the extension and glory of the Saviour's kingdom on the earth. Thus the weapons of our spiritual warfare are to be "mighty through God in pulling down the strongholds, and bringing every thought into obedience to Christ."

The Spirit was imparted for some peculiar and extraordinary purposes at the Pentecostal season; this was the commencement of a new era in the Church of God on earth. Then there were new discoveries to be made, a new dispensation to be introduced, and some new methods were to be adopted for the propagation of Divine truth amongst

men.

The Spirit, therefore, was to come to give special qualifications to the Apostles of Christ. They were to be endowed with miraculous powers, to have the gift of tongues, to be inspired to deliver the word of the Gospel without error. These extraordinary endowments are no longer wanted in the Church. We have the fruits of them as they were given at the first introduction of the Gospel. What is it that is wanted now? Why, the ordinary gracious effectual influences of the Holy Spirit to work on the hearts of men, and thus to render the Gospel the power of God unto

their salvation. It is in this sense, as to the influences which are to renew and sanctify the heart, that the Spirit is to be continually at work where the Gospel is made known, for it employs the truths of the Gospel in effecting its great designs, that the Saviour may be glorified as He is there revealed. Without this Divine Agent accompanying the Gospel, not all its clear, powerful, and impressive discoveries will change the heart of man, and bring him savingly to God; but with this great agent the means which God has appointed in the discoveries of His Gospel, the ministry of His word, and the ordinances of His grace, are most suitable in their nature, and are of the highest value. The Spirit will always honour the truths that He has revealed, and the means which He has appointed. It is in the serious, earnest, believing use of these, that we are, to look for His more abundant communications.

Here we may see what it is to which our attention should be chiefly directed, viz., the things of the Spirit, and that in a two-fold sense, the things which the Spirit has revealed in the Word, and the work which the Spirit is to effect on the heart. We are too apt to separate these, either to look to the Word without the Spirit, or to the Spirit without the Word. The Word is given to us by the inspiration of the Spirit, and therefore to that our attention is to be always directed as containing everything essential to our salvation; our sure guide in all matters of faith and practice. Then, there is the work of the Spirit on the heart to lead us to a right reception of this Word.

For this we are to be looking and pleading, while we endeavour to pay all the attention to the Word which the nature and importance of its discoveries require. We are to receive the Word in its purity and fulness, and the Spirit in its power and its grace.

Let us then seriously inquire, how it is? seeing that we are living under the dispensation of the Spirit, when He is set before us as the Holy Spirit of

promise, and we have the fulness of the Gospel He has revealed, that we do not receive more of His life-giving, transforming energy?

It is not because the Spirit of the Lord is straitened, not because the promises of our Redeemer have failed, but surely it is, because we have become too negligent both of His Word and of His work. While this is the case we cannot expect to see the life of real vital religion flourishing, growing, extending around. Should we not look and see what we are, and what we have done, that we may discern wherein we have sinned and fallen short-may humble ourselves before our God, and earnestly plead and cry for the life-giving Spirit, that He may diffuse new life through our souls, and communicate it to all around us? Let us seek to know of a truth that He does still abide with the Church according to the promise of the Redeemer, for all the great purposes of renewing and sanctifying grace.

Ashley, June 13th, 1864.

T. C.

PAUL AND ONESIMUS, OR CHRIST AND THE SINNER.

PHIL. 10-18.

THE end for which Paul wrote the Epistle to Philemon was, that he might reconcile him to his servant Onesimus, who had absconded, and in doing so had found his way to Rome, where he meet with the Apostle Paul, who was there as a prisoner for the glorious Gospel of Christ, and by whose instrumentality he had been converted to the Christian faith. The Apostle was very anxious that Philemon should take Onesimus back again into his service, and in order to induce him to do so, he employs some very powerful and touching arguments throughout the epistle, which was addressed to him in behalf of the unfaithful Onesimus. Let me just notice a few of them :

There is, first, the manner in which the Apostle speaks of Onesimus. He speaks of him as his son, and of his

great love to him as such: "I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds, whom I have sent again; thou therefore receive him, that is, mine own bowels." If Philemon had any love for the Apostle, which he undoubtedly had, his speaking thus of his unfaithful servant would have a great influence upon him in his favour.

Then, secondly, the Apostle in pleading with Philemon, that he might induce him to take Onesimus back again, reminds him of the great change which had taken place between them, as regarded their spiritual relationship to each other: "For perhaps he therefore departed for a season, that thou shouldest receive him for ever, not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved, specially to me, but how much more unto thee, both in the flesh, and in the Lord.” With a Christian man like Philemon, this would have a great influence.

But thirdly, the Apostle asks Philemon to take Onesimus back again, on the ground of obligation to himself: "I Paul have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me, even thine own self besides." Here, it is thought, the Apostle refers to the fact that Philemon owed his conversion to his instrumentality. But whether this was so or not, it is quite evident from the words, that Philemon was very much indebted to Paul, and that his acceding to his request in relation to Onesimus, would be very little compared with what he might justly have requested.

Then, fourthly, the Apostle assures Philemon, that if he received Onesimus again, it would be a source of great joy to him. The words of Paul are these:

"Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the Lord; refresh my bowels in the Lord." The interest taken in Onesimus by the Apostle, and his love for him, must have been very great thus to plead for him with his master. Let the Apostle, in this respect, teach Christians how they ought to regard