28.

says he, whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my Name, I will do it. Thefe Things confidered, they had no Reason to be troubled at his Departure; but rather to rejoice. If ye loved me, says he, ye would John 14 rejoice, because I go to the Father. Efpecially when he affured them in the third Place, that tho' he left them for the prefent, yet as foon as he was afcended to the Father, he would fend down another, to fupply his Place with them: One that fhould take care of their Concerns; fhould manage all their Affairs; fhould be their great Patron and Advocate in the World; and he should never leave them, but abide with them and their Succeffors, and with all Believers to the End of the World: And this should be no other than the Spirit of Truth. This is the Sense of my Text: I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Advocate, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; as it follows in the next Verfe, whom the v. 17. World cannot receive; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and fhall be in you. Now upon this Account his Stay among them was so far from being defireable, that he tells them in the fixteenth Chapter, that v.7. it was expedient for them that he should go away; for if he did not go away (if he did not ascend to the Father) the Advocate would

not

reading.

dered, would afford them unfpeakable Confolation, by letting them fee that it was much better for them that he should leave them, than that he should stay any longer with them. The firft Thing was, that he did not mean to leave them with a Defign of returning no more to them, but he only went as an Harbinger before them, to prepare them Places in his heavenly Kingdom. And he would in due Time come again and fetch them, and bring them thither, where they should for ever enjoy him, withV. 1, 2, 3. out Fear of parting any more. Let not, *It is the faith he, your Hearts be troubled; * believe marginal in God, believe alfo in me. In my Father's House are many Manfions: If it were not fo, I would have told you. I go to + far wo Place for you: And having gone and pre† ter I hall pared a Place for you, I will come again, have gone, and receive you to myself, that where I am, c. See there you may be alfo. Secondly, This further eminent Advantage they should receive from his going to his Father, that thereby they should be fecure of a Friend and a Patron in the Court of Heaven. Hereby he should be put into a Capacity of doing every Thing for them that they defired: For fo great from henceforward fhould his Authority be with his Father, and fo powerful his Interceffion, that they fhould ask nothing in his Name, (if it was for the Intereft of the Church) but it should v. 12, 13, be granted. Because I go unto my Father,

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28.

says he, whatsoever ye shall ask in my Name, that will I do; that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my Name, I will do it. Thefe Things confidered, they had no Reason to be troubled at his Departure; but rather to rejoice. If ye loved me, fays he, ye would John 14 rejoice, becaufe I go to the Father. Efpecially when he affured them in the third Place, that tho' he left them for the prefent, yet as foon as he was afcended to the Father, he would fend down another, to fupply his Place with them: One that fhould take care of their Concerns; fhould manage all their Affairs; fhould be their great Patron and Advocate in the World; and he fhould never leave them, but abide with them and their Succeffors, and with all Believers to the End of the World: And this should be no other than the Spirit of Truth. This is the Senfe of my Text: I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Advocate, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of Truth; as it follows in the next Verfe, whom the v. 17. World cannot receive; but ye know him, for be dwelleth with you, and fhall be in you.

Now upon this Account his Stay among them was fo far from being defireable, that he tells them in the fixteenth Chapter, that v.7. it was expedient for them that he should go away; for if he did not go away (if he did not afcend to the Father) the Advocate would

not

not come unto them: But if he departed, he would fend him to them. The coming of the Advocate, then, was to be the Effect of his Afcenfion into Heaven, and of his powerful Interceffion with God. And that is the Reason why he fays in the Text, I will pray the Father, and he fhall give him unto you. And that is the Reason why ch.7.v.39. St. John fays in another Place, that the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Fefus was not yet glorified.

There are three Points which the Text leads me to inquire into: All of them very ufeful, because very conducing to a right understanding of the chriftian Difpenfation, and that Method which God fet on foot for the bringing Men to Salvation by Jesus Chrift.

1. And first of all; Whereas our Saviour here and in other Places fpeaks of the Holy Ghoft under the Notion of a Paraclete, which our Tranflators commonly exprefs a Comforter, but I think might more properly be render'd an Advocate; I shall inquire into the Importance of that Term, and give an Account of the true Notion of it, that fo we may all know what we mean when we call the Holy Ghoft a Paraclete, or Advocate, or Comforter.

2. Secondly; Whereas our Saviour here faith that he will pray the Father, and he fhall give them another Advocate; by which it is implied that the Holy Ghoft is not the

only

only Advocate, but that our Saviour is one Advocate, and the Holy Ghoft another; I shall therefore inquire into the Difference between our Saviour's Advocatefhip, and that of the Holy Ghoft; or, in what refpect Jefus Chrift is our Advocate, and in what refpect the Holy Ghoft is.

3. Thirdly, Whereas our Saviour tells his Difciples that this Advocate whom he fhould fend, even the Spirit of Truth, fhould abide with them for ever; and yet it is plain Matter of Fact that he doth not now abide in the Church in the fame Manner that he did with the Apoftles; I fhall therefore in the laft Place inquire into the feveral Acts, or Inftances, or Expreffions of this Advocatefhip of the Holy Ghost, and fhew, which of them were peculiar to the Times of the Apoftles, and the primitive Chriftians; and which of them were common to all the Times and Ages of Christianity.

I. I begin with the Notion or Signification of the Term Paraclete, which is here and in other Places used by St. John to express the Office of the Holy Ghoft, and which accordingly hath ever fince been by the Church in a manner appropriated to him. Thus in the Te Deum, Alfo the Holy Ghost the Pa-. raclete: for that is the Word in the Original. It is ufed but five times in the whole new Teftament: Four times in this

Gospel