Our Lord declared "I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them," Jno. xvii. 8. And again, "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you." Jno. xvi. 12-14. But to us it is mediate. Again our Lord says, "Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word." Nevertheless it is by the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit upon the heart, that we are disposed to receive that instruction.—See under Ser. IV. Ex. 4; Ser. II. Ex. 2; and likewise Ser. II. Ex. 3, where the case of Cornelius is adverted to. And consider also the case of Apollos, Acts, xviii. 24-28, where it is clearly shown that Aquila and Priscilla conveyed to him the knowledge, by which he was more perfectly instructed, and whereby he became an able minister of Christ.—See also the case of Timothy, 2 Tim. ii. 2; i. 13; iii. 14.
But an attempt is here made to disparage the primitive disciples, by charging them with the spirit of persecution. It might with truth be said, that errors and sects multiplied, when professors turned from the Gospel, mystified Christianity, and mixed with it the systems and traditions of men; putting their vain attempt of self-annihilation, for self-denial, and substituting the works of man, for the redemption purchased by Jesus Christ.
Wherever the fundamental doctrine of justification
