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it, which may sufficiently explain the Nature of it to us. And I draw them all from the Epistle to the Hebrews, where this Point is largely treated of.

First of all, That the Advocateship of our Saviour only respects God; and it consists in this, that he doth continually commend us and our Affairs to his heavenly Father. He it our Advocate with the Father, as St. John 1 John. stiles him.

2dly, This Advocateship of his, this Intercession for us, is not in an humble fupplicatory way, but with Power and never failing Efficacy: So that whatever he represents to God as his Defire on our behalf, he certainly and effectually obtains for us.

3dly, This Advocateship of Christ, and the Efficacy of it, hath its Foundation principally in the Virtue and Merits of that Sacrifice of himself, which he offered to God upon the Cross.

4thly, This Advocateship of Christ, is the very fame thing with his everlasting Priesthood. Chrift is therefore our HighPrieft, because he is our Patron with God, and continually intercedes with him on our behalf: This being the Notion of a Prieft. Whether his offering up himself upon the Cross at Jerufalem was an Act of his Priefthood, or rather a Confecration to it, I will not now difpute; but he became a HighPriest after the Order of Melchifedeck, (which is the Notion of his Priesthood that St. Paul

1.

At

all along pursues in his Epistle to the He-
brews) when, after he was raised from the
Dead, he entered into the Holy of Holies,
with that Body of his that had been offered
on the Cross, and fat down on God's Right
Hand, and became our Patron, our Advo-
cate, our Intercessor with God for ever.
the fame Time indeed he became our King
too; for then he had all Power given him
in Heaven and in Earth. But there is this
Difference between these two Offices, that
the one of them respects God, the other
respects us. As our Priest, he intercedes
with God for us. As our King, he employs
that Power, which he hath received from
God, in the governing us.

5thly and lastly, Christ being thus our High-Prieft, our Advocate with God, it follows, that all our Prayers to God ought to be put up in his Name; fince it is he that prefents them to God, it is he through Eph. 2. whom we have access to the Father. It is for his Sake, and upon his Account, that they are at any Time effectual. All the Returns of our Prayers, and all the Blessings we receive from God's Hands, are owing to the Virtue of our Saviour's Intercession and Advocateship.

18.

This is a full and plain Account of our Saviour's Advocateship. And by these Particulars we may easily difcern in how different a Sense the fame Office is given to the

Holy

Holy Ghost; which is the other thing I come to speak to.

2. The Advocateship of the Holy Ghost, as I faid before, is not in Heaven, but in the World: Doth not so much respect God, as the World, and the Devil. His Office is in the place of Chrift to plead the Cause of the Church against its Enemies; to be its Patron and Defender upon Earth, and to manage the Affairs of it so, that it may be victorious in this World over all its Oppofers. Under this Notion of an Advocate he is plainly represented in John 16. v. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. a Paffsage which I before referred to, but fhall now explain more fully, because it is an express Declaration of the Advocateship of the Holy Spirit, and a clear Account of the Effects that should enfue upon his Defcent on the Apostles, as the Patron of the Christian Cause. - Nevertheless I tell you the Truth, says our Lord to his Disciples, It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter [Advocate] will not come to you: But if I depart I will fend him unto you, and when he is come he will reprove the World of Sin, and of Righteousness, and of Judgment. Of Sin, because they believe not on me : Of Righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye fee me no more: Of Judgment, because the Prince of this World is judged. Now we shall have a very easy Admission into the Sense of this difficult Passage, as it hath been usually

accounted, if we translate παράκλητα, Advocate, instead of Comforter, and ἐλέγξει τὸν κόσμον, convince the World, as it is in the Margin, instead of reprove the World, as our Tranflators have render'd it in the Text. That there is good Ground for the former Alteration, appears not only from what hath been faid upon my first Head, by way of Criticism upon the Word παράκλητα, but from the Acts attributed to him in this Place, for reproving or convincing the World of Sin, and Righteousness, and Judgment, are the proper Acts or Offices of an Advocate, but by no means of a Comforter. And that we have fufficient Authority for the latter Alteration is evident from a parallel Place to 7.46. this in the eighth Chapter of this Gospel, τις ἐξ ὑμῶν ἐλέγχει, or as some Copies read it ἐλέγξει; which of you convinceth me of Sin, that is, which of you can fhew me that I am guilty of Sin in teaching and in acting as I do? And befides, tho' it may be good Sense to say that the Holy Ghost shall reprove the World of Sin, yet that Term is not applicable to the two Instances that follow; for it is not Sense to say, he shall reprove the World of Righteousness, or of Judgment. Another Passage there is in Tit. 1. 9. which will shew us the full Import of ἐλέγχειν in this Place. There it is faid, that a Bishop should be qualified not only to exhort, but also ἐλέγχειν τὸς ἀντιλέγοντας, to convince the

Gainfayers; to justify the things of Chrift againft all Opposers.

This then certainly is the Sense of the Word in this Paffage that we are upon, viz. that when the Holy Ghost, the Advocate for Christians, is come, he will convince the World, he will justify the Cause of Christ to the World, both in point of Sin, in point of Righteousness, and in point of Judgment. The Office of an Advocate is to defend and make good the Cause he hath undertaken. So the Holy Ghost, having, as an Advocate efpoused the Caufe of Christ, he will maintain it, and justify it against all Oppofi

tion.

As to the three particular Instances in which he will justify it, we now come to give an Account.

And here, in the first place, let us confider what this Cause of Christ was, that this Advocate undertook to justify and defend. The Cause of Jesus Christ was plainly this: God sent him into the World as the great Prophet, who was to declare his Will to Mankind, in order to their Salvation. But he was looked upon by the Jews, as a false Prophet, as an Impostor and Deceiver: And instead of giving him that Entertainment and Reception that was due to him, they crucified and flew him. All which was brought to pass by the Contrivance and Instigation of the Devil, the Prince of this World, who having long ufurped an Em

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pire

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