"Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said"--
"He shall glorify me: for He shall receive of mine, and shall show
it unto you."--John xvi. 14.
The Divine Glorifier.
The Holy Spirit glorifying Jesus in the unfoldings of His person, and
character, and work, to His people! The great ministering agent between
the Church on earth and its glorified Head in Heaven,--carrying up to
the Intercessor on the throne, the ever-recurring wants and trials, the
perplexities and sins, of believers; and receiving out of His
inexhaustible treasury of love,--comfort for their sorrows--strength for
their weakness--sympathy for their tears--fulness for their
emptiness,--and _this_ the one sublime end and object of His gracious
agency,--"_He shall glorify Me._" "He shall not speak of Himself, but
whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak." My words of
sympathy--My omnipotent pleadings--the tender messages sent from an
unchanged Human Heart,--all these shall He speak. "He shall tell you,"
says an old divine, commenting on this passage, "He shall tell you
nothing but stories of My love" (_Goodwin_). He will have an ineffable
delight in magnifying Me in the affections of My Church and people, and
endearing Me to their hearts; and He is all worthy of credence, for He
is "the Spirit of truth."
How faithful has He been in every age to this His great office as "the
glorifier of Jesus!" See the first manifestation of His power in the
Christian Church at the day of Pentecost. What was the grand truth which
forms the focus-point of interest in that unparalleled scene, and which
brings three thousand stricken penitents to their knees? _It is the
Spirit's unfolding of Jesus_--glorifying _Him_ in eyes that before saw
in Him no beauty? Hear the key-note of that wondrous sermon, preached
"in demonstration of the Spirit, and with power,"--"HIM hath God exalted
to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to His people, and
forgiveness of sins."
Ah? it is still the same peerless truth which the Spirit delights to
unfold to the stricken sinner, and, in unfolding it, to make it mighty
to the pulling down of strongholds. All these glorious inner beauties of
Christ's work and character are undiscerned and undiscernible by the
natural eye. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "No man can call Jesus
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." He is the great Forerunner--a mightier
than the Baptist--proclaiming, "Behold the Lamb of God!"
Reader! any bright and realising view you have had of the Saviour's
glory and excellency, is of the Spirit's imparting. When in some hour of
sorrow you have been led to cleave with pre-eminent consolation to the
thought of the Redeemer's exalted sympathy--His dying, ever-living love;
or in the hour of death, when you feel the sustaining power of His
exceeding great and precious promises;--what is this, but the Holy
Spirit, in fulfilment of His all-gracious office, taking of all things
of Christ, and showing them unto you; thus enabling you to magnify Him
in your body, whether it be by life or death? As your motto should ever
be, "_None BUT Christ_," and your ever-increasing aspiration, "_More
OF Christ_," seek to bear in mind who it is that is alone qualified to
impart the "excellency of this knowledge."
"THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH WHICH PROCEEDETH FROM THE FATHER, _HE_ SHALL
TESTIFY OF ME."