and of the Holy Ghost," or if we look forward to the Apocalyptic description of the sevenfold Spirit, we must conclude that the Holy Spirit is God. God the Father is sovereign love, God the Son is redeeming love, God the Spirit is effective love; "God," the triune Jehovah, "is love." This is the foundation of the Christian faith, the hope of Christian men, and the main element of that superior glory which makes "the ministration of righteousness" exceed in glory "the ministration of condemnation" "for if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious."

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II.

The Other Comforter.

JESUS just told his disciples that he was about to leave them. This information was to them the severest stroke of all. It all but overwhelmed them. They felt that they were about to lose their greatest friend, their noblest and most unwearied benefactor. In his power they had realized exhaustless resources, and in his presence omnipotent protection, and in his love springs of sympathy and hope and peace. Their occasional separation from him had already been found in their experience eminently perilous to their stability and safety. Their courage, heroic in his presence, evaporated in his absence; and as they heard him foretell his departure, they naturally asked themselves -'Who will now gather us, as a hen doth a brood under her wing? who will guide us in difficulties, direct us in perplexities, shelter us and console us in the hour and power of sorrow? His departure will be the extinction of our sun, the wreck of the vessel to which our all was entrusted, the blasting in short of all hope, the breath of fell despair.'

Jesus, in order to comfort them, said, "Nevertheless I tell you the truth; 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," John xvi. 7. How could it be so? Is it expedient that the parent should be torn from his offspring, the patron from his protégé, the master from his pupils, the bird from her callow brood? If the oak be cut down, must not the parasite plants that clung to it for support, and fed upon its juices, die? If the keystone be removed, must not the whole arch give way? Every analogy of life, every atom of experience, every heartstring within them, protested together that it was not expedient that Jesus should go away.

Yet beautifully and earnestly did Jesus reiterate'I, who am the Truth-I, who never deceived you—I tell you it is expedient:' and whenever Christ speaks, all discussion should be closed; his word should outweigh all probabilities, as it is stronger than all law. It made the universe, and will outlive it; it sways the universe, and can bend and bow all its movements to its mighty purposes.

The departure of Christ was expedient, because his death was absolutely necessary: "It behoved him to suffer, and rise from the dead on the third day." He also said "Except a corn of wheat fall into the earth. and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." An apostle also "opened and alleged that Christ must needs suffer, and rise again from the dead." The death of the victim was essential to the validity of the sacrifice. "Without shedding of blood there was no remission" of sin. It was expedient that the expiatory offerings of Levi should be finished— that the dim institutions of the ancient economy should be illustrated, and that the great atonement, promised by prophets, sung by psalmists, and panted

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for by all creation, should be consummated. Such ancient promises as Isaiah xxxii. 15 must be fulfilled"Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest;" Isaiah xliv. 3—"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring;" Joel ii. 28— "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions;" John vii. 38-"He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water;" and John xiv. 16-" And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.'

The great reason why it was expedient that Christ should go away was, therefore, that the Spirit, the Comforter, might come. This is shown by reference to Acts ii. 23-“Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain;" and Ephes. iv. 8-"Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men." Christ must be removed, that the Comforter may come. So it ever must be: things dear and beautiful must fade, that better things may occupy their place. He who never knew what it is to be tossed to and fro, never learned what the preciousness of the Gospel is. The life of such an one must be like a smooth surface, from which the healing waters of the Gospel must glide off. When God takes the bud, how

ever, it is that he may give the blossom; and when he takes the green, it is that he may supply the ripe. Jesus therefore presented the apostles with the prospect of a glorious compensation, a blessed substitute for his absence. He said 'Amid the crushing trials and dark hours of life, when human arms grow weary, and human sympathies expire-when the canopy above is all darkness, and the prospect before you all black, my Spirit shall rend the clouds, and reveal to you new glories, and breathe into your hearts a new inspiration, and your sorrowing hearts shall find what your glad hearts never sought, a peace which the world cannot give, and which it cannot take away.'

It was expedient that he should go away, in order that they might learn to "walk by faith." Hitherto they had "walked by sight." The feeling of all was the creed of Mary-"If thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." They had hitherto believed only in One they saw and heard; they had no trust in the far-off, no confidence in the unseen. Now, however, the outward restraints and props were to be withdrawn, that their inward principles might stand erect in their own strength; the crutch was to be cast away, and the disciple was to walk alone. Their love must now burn as brightly in the absence as it did in the presence of Jesus. The carnal eye must close on a visible Saviour, and the spiritual eye must open to a Saviour within the veil, invisible to flesh and blood.

The man Christ Jesus was the utmost height to which their hearts had risen. The mountain-brow, the fisherman's boat, the earthly temple, the crown of thorns, were the limits of their horizon. They had