Senn. CXL IV. as Advocate for f meEvangelïfis, andfame Paflors andTeachers. So thatwe plainly fee, that this was the DifpenfationofGod, and theMethod which hisWifdom had pitched upon, that our Lord thould fir(t leave theWorld, andbe taken up intoGlory, and then fenddown the HolyGhott, in the plentiful Effufions of miraculous Gifts. So this Evangelift exprefly tells us in another Place, which gives great Light to this Text, John 7.39. But this (lays he) fpa!¿e he ofthe Spirit, which they that believe on hiesfhould receive: for the Holy Ghofl was not yet given, becaufe yefs was not yet glorified. 'Implying; that according to the Divine Difpofal, it was ordered fira, that Chrift fhould be Glorified; and being inve(ted in his Kingdom and Glory, that then he fhould do Acts of Grace, and like a King at his Coronation, fcatter and difpenfe his Gifts among Men, by fending down his Holy Spirit among them. And accordingly we find Sr . Peter, Acts 2. after that the Holy Gholl came down upon them, giving this Account of it; lrer. 32, 33. This 7efer bath God-raild up, whereof we all are Witneftes : Therefore being by the Right Hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the Promife of the Holy Ghofi, he hatb fbed forth that which re now fee and hear meaning the Gift ofTongues; fo that he refolves it into the ,Difpenfation of God, who had thus defgned and ordered Things.. And therefore in the II'' Place, I (hall (hew, that this Difpenfation is veiy congruous and fuitable to the Divine Wifdom. For as it was convenient, that the Son of God fhould af- fume our Nature, and come into the World, and dwell among us, that he might reform Mankind, by the Purity of his Do&rine, and the Pattern of his Holy Life ; and likewife that he fhould fuffer Death, for the Expiation of Sin, in fuch a Manner, as might not only advance the Mercy, but affert and vindicate the Holinefs of God, and te(tify his great Hatred and Difpleafure againft Sin : So like- wife after he had thus abafed himfelf to the lowe(t Degree of Meannefs and Suf- fering, it was very fuitable to the Divine Goodnefs, to reward fuchgreat Suffer- ings with great Glory, by raining him from the Dead, and taking him up into Heaven ; but it was not fit, when he had left theWorld, that the great Work for which he came into it, fhould be given over, and come tonothing; for Want of effeCtual Profecution, without any Fruit and Effèdt of fo much Sweat and Blood. And therefore, tho' it had pleafed the Lordto bruife him, andput him to Grief, as the Prophet expreffeth it, yet the DivineWifdom had fo ordered Things, that after he had made his Soul an Offering far Sin, he fhould fee his Seed, and prolong his Days, and the Pleafure of the Lordfhould profiler in his Hands; that he fhould fie force Fruit of theTravel of his Soul and befatisfied, as the Prophet foretells, Ife. 53.1o. So that as it was expedient, that he fhould die and depart this Life; fo it was alfo requitte afterwards, that he who had begun this great and good Work, of the Redemp- tion and Salvation of Man, fhould take Care to have it (till profecuted and car- ried on : And accordingly, when he was afcended into Heaven, he Bill promotes the fame Defign, per vicariam vimSpiritus Sanlii, asTrtullìan calls it, by fending the HolyGhofl, as his Deputy, for the Managing of this Work, and the Propagating and Eftabli(hing of that Religion which he had planted in the World. God forefaw that the greateft Part of the jewifhNation would reje&Chrift and his Do&rune, and that theywould put him toDeath, as a Deceiver and Impoftor; and becaufe it was expedient, that there fhould be fuch an ExpiatorySacrifice for Sin, and that one Man fhould die for all Men, God was willing to permit his Son to be thus di(honourably and unjuftly treated, and by wicked fiando to be cru- cified andHain; becaufe he knew very well, how to make the Malice of Men fob- fervient to his own gracious Purpofe and Defign ; but yet he was not willing, that fo much Innocency and Goodnefs fhould always lie under this Reproach h ; from which if he had not been vindicated, the Defign of the Gofpei had fallen . to the Ground, and prefently come to nothing : And therefore as a Reward of his Obedience and Submir`fion to the Will of God, in there dreadful Sufferings, in this cruel and dilhonourable Ufage, God furní(h'd him with this Means of vin- dicating himfelf and his Do&rine ; he gave him Power to fend his Holy Spirit into the World, who ( hould diftribute miraculous Gifts among his Apoilles and Followers, that fo both he and his Do`trine might be effeOually vindicated to the World, and a Way made for the more fpeedy Spreading and Propagating ofit. 3 So
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