startling an intimation! Had they been left to their own reflections, and had they consulted together as to what would have been the severest trial they could be called to sustain the heaviest blow which could be inflicted on their cause- -the most dangerous and disastrous event which it was possible for them to conceive, would they not with one consent have agreed in declaring that it would be the departure of their blessed Lord? When it was announced to them, Jesus himself saw the withering effect which it produced on their minds, and he refers to it when he says, "Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your hearts." And no wonder that they were thus dejected in the prospect of losing the personal presence of Him who was their kindest friend, their unwearied benefactor, their patient teacher, whose wisdom was their guide, his power their defence, his sympathy their consolation, his approval their reward, and his salvation their highest hope. They were attached to him as a personal friend, by the strongest ties of gratitude, and admiration, and love; they had long associated with him on terms of most endearing intimacy; they had often looked with delight on his benignant countenance, "full of grace and truth;" they had listened to his public preaching and his private conversation, when "he spake as never man spake ;" they had witnessed his miracles of mercy, and his life of unwearied beneficence," when he went about continually doing good;" and they had themselves received at his hands every benefit which Divine love, combined with the most perfect human kindness, could bestow.

And can we deem it wonderful, if the thought of parting with such a friend, whose appearance, and voice, and person were entwined with their fondest affections, filled their hearts with unwonted sadness? But they looked to Him in a far higher character; they considered him not merely as their personal friend and benefactor, but as the Messiah that had been promised to the Fathers—the hope and consolation of Israel— the Saviour of the world; they knew that he had come on a great public mission, to introduce a new order of things, and to found a kingdom which should never be moved; and although their views of the nature and design of that kingdom were, as yet, in many respects defective or even erroneous, they knew enough to convince them that it was a great, an arduous, and a difficult enterprise, which Christ came to accomplish,—that they were destined to be his agents in carrying it on, and that in this capacity they must be exposed to much obloquy and opposition, and even to persecution and death itself,-for with that faithfulness which characterised all his intercourse with them, he had himself told them, "The time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service." Still these prospects, appalling as they were, might have been braved, and these difficulties surmounted, and these trials endured, by the little band of his devoted followers, had they still been called, as heretofore, to follow Christ's person, and to share with him a common danger,-they might have persevered with courage and hope, looking to His wisdom to direct, and his miraculous power to defend

them; but now, at this very point, when the object of his mission seemed to be unaccomplished, and when the cloud was thickening around them, and danger lowered over their path, they were to be deprived of their Counsellor, and Protector, and Friend. He was about to leave them and the world in which they dwelt, and to return to his Father in heaven; and therefore, fearing that they should be "as sheep without a shepherd in the midst of wolves,”—“ sorrow filled their hearts." With what feelings of surprise, then, must they have heard their Lord say, "It is expedient for you that I go away"? with what eager curiosity must they have expected an explanation of the reason which should reconcile them to so great, and in their estimation, so irreparable a loss? and when he gave the reason-when he said, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Spirit will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you," must they not have been impressed with the conviction that the office and work of the Holy Spirit were, in their Lord's estimation, as needful for the establishment and maintenance of his kingdom on earth, as his own office and work had been? and ought we not also to feel that we grievously err from Christ's teaching, if we overlook the necessity, or undervalue the operations of that Divine agent, whose advent Christ himself declared to be an ample compensation, and more than a compensation for the loss of his visible presence with the Church? For what higher testimony could be given to the necessity and value of the Spirit's agency, than what

is implied in the words of Christ, "It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Spirit will not come unto you; but if I go, I will send him unto you"?

We learn from the same words, that the gift of the Spirit was purposely reserved till after the exaltation of Christ, and was then to be dispensed by him, as the fruit of his purchase, the gift of his grace, and the proof and manifestation of his reward. We are not to suppose, indeed, that when our Lord said, “If I go not away, the Spirit will not come to you," he meant to intimate, that the Church had heretofore been altogether destitute of the Spirit's grace, or that the disciples to whom he spoke had not yet experienced the benefits of his ordinary influence. We know that long before-not merely before the departure, but before the very advent of Christ-the Spirit's grace had been vouchsafed under the Old Testament dispensation; and that every believer from the beginning had been enlightened, and sanctified, and comforted by his spiritual power. David frequently refers to the Spirit as the author of light, and instruction, and comfort to his own soul: "Cast me not away from thy presence; take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joys of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free Spirit." To the Jewish Church at large, the Eternal Wisdom of God had said, "Turn you at my reproof; behold, I will pour out my Spirit upon you, I will make known my words unto you.” And in regard to the apostles, Christ himself had said to Peter, “Blessed art thou, Simon Bar

jona; for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” And again, "Ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." But when he says, “If I go not away, the Spirit will not come unto you," he refers to some remarkable manifestation of the Spirit's grace and power, and represents it as being purposely deferred till after his departure. As the advent of Christ was the great promise of the Old Testament, so the advent of the Spirit is the great promise of the New; and just as Christ had executed his offices as prophet, priest, and king, before his manifestation in the flesh, but had a signal coming in the fulness of times, so the Spirit, although given before, “must have a coming in state, in a solemn and visible manner, accompanied with sensible effects," as in the appearance of a dove, and in the resemblance of cloven tongues.

*

This remarkable effusion of the Spirit had been predicted before in ancient prophecy; and we read both the prediction and its fulfilment in the Acts of the Apostles (ch. ii.): "When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." And Peter standing up, said "This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;

* Dr Thomas Goodwyn on the Work of the Holy Spirit.- Works, vol. V., p. 6.