“And again, The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. These words occur in the 14th chapter, at the 26th verse.”
But my Lord, I want the original promise still; the original (I mean) of those made in this very discourse. Indeed your margin tells us, where it is, (chapter xiv. verse 16.) but the words appear not. Taken together with the context they run thus:
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever:
Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knowest him. Chapter xiv. verses 15, 16, 17.
My Lord, suffer me to enquire, why you slipt over this text? Was it not (I appeal to the Searcher of your heart!) because you was conscious to yourself, that it would necessarily drive you to that unhappy dilemma, either to assert that for ever, εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, meant only sixty or seventy years; or to allow, that the text must be interpreted of the ordinary operations of the Spirit, in all future ages of the church.
And indeed that the promise in this text belongs to all Christians, evidently appears, not only from your Lordship’s own concession, and from the text itself, (for who can deny, that this Comforter or paraclete is now given to all them that believe?) but also from the preceding, as well as following, words. The preceding are, If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father—none surely can doubt, but these belong to all Christians in all ages. The following words are, Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive. True; the world cannot; but all Christians can, and will receive him for ever.
6. The second promise of the Comforter, made in this chapter, together with its context, stands thus:
Judas saith unto him (not Iscariot) Lord, how is it that thou will manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Verse 22.
Jesus answered and said unto him, if any man love me, he will keep my word. And my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Verse 23.