My Dear Sir,
I felt myself much drawn to you from the little intercourse we had on Sunday, so that the apprehension, as it grew upon me, of anything that might prove a necessary hindrance to further intercourse, I need not say, was painful to me.
I have since farther meditated on the subject that was then between us, and have committed the guidance of my mind upon it to the Lord; but I feel only more consumed in the judgment which I then had, and I have remembered the words of the apostle. “Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.” I desire now to write a little on the subject, as I promised you.
I believe the glory of God as He is, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, might have been learned from the scriptures of the Old Testament. But I will instance only Isa. 6. There the Seraphim cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts!” The, New Testament scriptures show that Christ and the Holy Ghost might have been apprehended in the vision and audience, which the prophet then had: for, says John, referring to that chapter, “These things said Esaias, when, he saw His (i.e. Christ's) glory, and spake of Him.” And Paul; referring afterward to the same, says, “Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers.” (See John 12:4141These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41); and Acts 28; 25.)
But I instance merely this place; for I have no design to go into the divine testimonies to this truth which might be derived from the Old Testament. But when the work of the, Son was “accomplished, and He had risen from the dead, and was about to depart unto the Father, the fall manifestation of God was made, for then the due time for this, had come; and the commission to the apostles was this: “Go ye; therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them onto the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”
And this was just the time, as I have observed (as doubtless everything in scripture is perfect), for the revelation of this glory. The work had now been done by the Son which had been given to Him by the Father to do; and the Holy Ghost was about to be sent down to make that work effectual in and to, the church. Therefore the saints were now to be brought into the knowledge of God, and baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son; and of the Holy Ghost.
But so likewise is the church blest in Him, the benediction pronounced upon the saints formally and fully running thus— “The grace, of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.”
And from these things, if we had nothing further, we know Him “with whom we have to do,” to whose name we have been thus, baptized, and in whose grace, love, and communion, we thus have our life and blessing.
But there is much more than this. The scriptures of the New Testament throughout assume that which the form in baptism thus distinctly declares. There is not the constant repetition of the already declared truth in a full formal manner; but there is the constant assumption of it, and the presenting of it in its moral power.
I will just instance the passages which, on the moment, without an effort occur to me.—
In passages like these, the truth already declared in baptism is assumed and shown farther out in its moral power and relation to us: and we learn that as saints, we are vitally concerned in the actings of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. And we are saints by thus knowing God (having fellowship with the power and grace of our God) through His own actings—the only way in which He ever can be known; for man's thoughts will never discover Him, and will therefore leave him but a worshipper of idols still. And this should teach the church of God that she dare not recognize any one who does not thus stand with her in the knowledge of God, to whose name we have been baptized, and with whose blessing we are blest. I am confining myself here rather to the doctrine of the word concerning the Holy Ghost; for that was the subject between us. We did not so much speak as to the Deity of the Lord Jesus.
As to the person of the Holy Ghost, I would then further say, that a full revelation of Him is made, not only in the Baptismal and Benedictory forms; but also, though in another manner, by our Lord to His apostles in John 14-16, and there, too, I would again say, in due time as we may thus see. When our Lord spake those words, it was just after He had told His disciples that He was about to be withdrawn from them. Such a declaration filled them (as it well might, for they had given up all companionship with Him, not as yet knowing Him in resurrection) with sorrow; and in these chapters He brings them the consolation. And the consolation He brings them was twofold.—
1st.—He tells them that His present departure was not final separation, but that He was going away only to prepare a place for them in the Father's house and that He would return and receive them to Himself. This was great consolation, but this was not all; for—
2nd.—He tells them that in the meanwhile, while He was thus absent from them, and abiding with the Father, He would send the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, to be with them, and that He would do wondrous and blessed service for them, such even as His own presence with them could never accomplish. What this promised service of the Holy Ghost for the church was, I will not here detail: it is graciously spread out before us in these chapters of John, as well as in the other scriptures of the New Testament. But here it stood revealed by the Lord to His apostles, that the Holy Ghost was to be with them, and in them; when He Himself had returned, and was for a while with the Father. Such is the revelation of the person of the Holy Ghost to the saints, such the blessed promise from the departing Son of God, that the Spirit of truth should come to make effectual to their souls, the testimony which He the Son had given to the Father, and to seal upon their hearts all the life, and joy, and power of that calling, which had been prepared for them before the world was.
Here the church rests—here she abides in peaceful assured joy, knowing that God in all His fullness is for her, that her security depends on no creature strength, that God Himself began, did continue, and is now ending her salvation; that what in covenant had of old been planned for her, God manifest in flesh had wrought out, and God the Holy Ghost is now making effectual, to the joy of all who believe. This is the blessed way in Which, if I may so speak, scripture vindicates the Baptismal form; this is the way in which the name of God, there fully and formally published, is made known in life and power.
(To be continued.)