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will and word is, I must examine what Christ said and did. "He that seeth me, seeth the Father."-Again, if I would know what the Holy Ghost can effect with the materials of fallen nature, I must behold the perfect righteousness of Christ. "He shall take of the things of Christ, and shall shew them unto you." With respect now, to the expression, "seven Spirits," it is to be understood, according to what hath been said above upon the seven churches, as denoting a totality in partition, a unity in divided not separated parts; the Spirit in the state of diffusion through the complete body of Christ; and as the unity of the body is represented by seven churches, so the unity of the Spirit is represented by the seven Spirits. To clear this matter a little, it is necessary to bear in mind, that, as the Son, in order to become the Christ, descendeth from his absoluteness of Godhead, into the limitations of manhood, so the Holy Ghost, in order to become the Spirit of Christ, likewise condescendeth from his absoluteness of Godhead, into the limitations to which it pleaseth the Father and the Son, that the work of redemption should extend. To no one is it given to feed upon the Holy Ghost in his Divine subsistence, save to the Son, likewise in his Divine subsistence. Every one of Christ's members must receive the Holy Ghost as flesh and blood of Christ; that is to say, in the form of redeemed manhood. The Godhead of the Holy Ghost is no more mingled with the creature, than is the Godhead of the Father and the Son. That which incorporates itself with the regenerated creature is, the Holy Ghost, the life of the humanity, of Christ, and from thence proceeding to gather thereinto all the members which the Father giveth unto him, until his body shall have been completed. This is the view of the Holy Ghost's operation in the church; joining and subordinating the members, unto Christ the Head. And if this only true view of the operation of the Holy Ghost were duly recognised, there would be, ever at the same time, a recognition of the church, and of the union of its members, with Christ their Head. All this is lost sight of, for want of reverence for the Book of Revelations, where the Holy Ghost is never otherwise expressed, than by the seven lamps of fire before the throne, the seven horns, and seven eyes, in the head of the Lamb. Now

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with respect to the other part of the title, "before his throne," connected as it is in the fourth chapter, with the symbol of the seven lamps of fire, I think the key of the mystery is in the custom of Eastern kings, to have seven princes who were permitted to see the king's face always; as is to be seen both in the Book of Esther i. 14, and of Ezra vii. 14. I know not whether it was so in other dynasties; but certainly it was so in the Persian dynasty, concerning which the historical books of the Old Testament are chiefly concerned. I mean, that the position of the seven Spirits before the throne of God doth express that by the Holy Ghost, thus proceeding from Christ, the purposes of the King of kings are fulfilled. If it is the office of Christ to personate the enthroned one, then it is the office of the Holy Ghost to personate the seven princes who see his face, and carry forth his commands. By the Son, the will of the Father is perceived, and rendered intelligible to all creatures. By the Holy Ghost, the will of the Father, thus brought into creature bounds, is carried forth and effected in other creatures. In one word, the throne of God is known in Christ, and felt beyond the person of Christ in the Holy Ghost; not that the Holy Ghost of his own will doeth any thing, but of the will of the Father, and of the will of the Son; being properly the executive, and only the executive of the kingdom; the legislative lying in the harmony of the Father and the Son, meeting and kissing one another in the two natures of Christ.-Now there wanteth but two remarks to complete what we have to say upon this second of the persons from whom the benediction proceedeth. First, that while the benediction in the substance of it, grace and peace, agrees with other books of the New Testament, it hath the peculiarity of mentioning all the Three Persons of the blessed Godhead; whereas the apostolical Epistles do mention only the two first; of which peculiarity I take the reason to be this: that they, being given by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, do testify only of the Father and the Son, the Holy Ghost being himself the testifier; but this being communicated by an angel, and not inspired by the Spirit, doth properly bear testimony of all the three, as it is also in the conclusion of some of the apostolic Epistles, when the Apostle speaketh in his

own name, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. The second remark is, That the Holy Ghost occupieth the second place, and not the third, according to the usual and orthodox form; whereof I take the intention to be this: that Christ, in this book, as indeed in all Scripture, is represented as deriving his subsistence as the Christ or the God-man, from the Holy Ghost, by him conceived in the womb; by him indued for his ministry; by him presented spotless on the cross; by him raised from the dead; by him informed with these seven horns of power, and seven eyes of knowledge. And being so, that He upon the throne sitteth there in lineaments of Godhead, manifest in flesh, it well beseemeth and well representeth the mystery, that Christ in his human character and office should stand after the Holy Ghost, who furnisheth him for the same.

"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful Witness." There now follows a brief and ample designation of the second person of the blessed Trinity, here mentioned last, for the reason given above, and perhaps also for the sake of the doxology, and successions of other things concerning him which follow through the space of four verses. Jesus he hath (Matt. i. 21), “because he shall save his people from their sins." This is the name of his manhood and humility, which he shall exalt into the highest, loftiest, place of heaven, until (Phil. ii. 10)" at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth." This is the name by which he was named at, or rather before, his birth, and which he bore until he had accomplished human redemption; and by which, therefore, he is to be preached amongst men : "For there is none other name given under heaven, whereby we must be saved." His name, Christ, or anointed one, he hath in virtue of that anointing which he received from the Holy Ghost, at his conception, and in virtue of which he was a holy thing, though he had taken up an unholy substance; in virtue of which, also, he lived that life which is recorded in the Gospel, according to the word of Peter (Acts x. 38): "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost, and with power, who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil, for God was with him." In virtue of which anointing, he also offered himself upon

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the cross, a pure and spotless sacrifice for that sinful humanity whereof he had assumed a portion, according as it is written, Heb.ix. 14, "through the eternal Spirit, he offered himself without spot unto God." In virtue of which anointing, also, he arose the Son of God, with power from the dead; as it is written, Rom. i. 4, " declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead;" and as if all this gift and possession of the Spirit, which in his conception, life, death, and resurrection, he enjoyed, had been nothing when compared with that fulness of power into which he entered at his ascension, Peter, in his sermon on the day of Pentecost, speaketh of him as if he had but then received the promise of the Holy Ghost, Acts ii. 33: "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 hear." Insomuch, also, that he resteth the demonstration of his Christhood upon that very act of power which he put forth in the giving of the Holy Ghost, Acts ii. 36: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." As the possession of any personal property is only made known to others by the coming forth, or communication of the same, so the knowledge that Christ possessed the Holy Spirit, or was the Christ, became a fact for us-that is, for the church in general-only when he dispensed the same on the day of Pentecost, and enriched the church with the endowment which he himself had possessed within himself, from the moment of his conception, and executed during all the period of his life. Therefore, we are properly to regard him as Jesus, until his ascension, during which time our salvation was accomplished; and from that time forth to consider him also as Christ, during which he hath been making himself known to us as the possessor and bestower of the Holy Spirit.

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"The faithful Witness; as it is written, John viii. 37, "To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth." He hath this name, as being the visible manifestation of the Father, the brightness of his glory, and the express image

of his person, according as it is written, "He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father;" for without Christ, the Father neither is nor can be known as it is written, "No man knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, but the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him ;" and not only of the Father is he the faithful witness and only manifestation, but also of the Son, as it is written, "Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true, for I know whence I came, and whither I go." The same may be said also of the Holy Ghost, of whose fulness in a sinful substance, his humbled humanity was the manifestation, as his glorified humanity shall through eternity, be the manifestion of the fulness of the Holy Spirit, in majesty and power; so that the Holy Spirit in his dealings with the church, doth only take of the things of Christ, and shew them to our souls. Well is it said, therefore, that in Christ dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, because in him, and upon him, were concentrated all the Divine attributes which can be communicated and manifested in a finite form. There can be nothing of Godhead known, seen, apprehended, or possessed, besides what is witnessed in Christ, and by Christ; for Christ is, as he himself declareth, not a true word merely, but the Truth; not a guide merely, but the Way; not a living one merely, but the Life, and the Maker of it. Furthermore, he is the faithful Witness, as being the Word in the mouth of all the prophets, and the ultimate end of all their predictions: according as it is written in John i. 16, "Of his fulness, have all we received;" and Rev. xix. 10, "The spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus." So also was he the great witness of the holiness of the law, which before him had been dishonoured and treated as if it were untrue, or unfit for man. It did indeed serve to prove every man a liar; but no man had arisen, able to prove it true, until Christ fulfilled the law, and made it honourable; so that he verified the wisdom, and goodness, and holiness, which is in the law, shewing that it was made for man, and fitted to bless man. In all those respects, which concern the perfection and truth of manhood, as well as in all those respects which concern the truth of Godhead, in destroying- all false philosophy, as well as all false religion, and preaching out a system of

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