Again: the work of the Spirit promised by Christ is to
glorify him: “He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall
show it unto you,” John xvi.
14. Him who was to suffer at Jerusalem, who then spake to his
disciples, it was to make him glorious, honourable, and of high esteem in
the hearts of believers; and that by showing his things (his love,
kindness, grace, and purchase) unto them. This is the work of the Spirit.
The work of the spirit that is gone abroad, is to glorify
itself, to decry and render contemptible Christ that suffered for us, under
the name of a Christ without us; which it slights and despiseth, and that
professedly. Its own glory, its own honour, is all that it aims at; wholly
inverting the order of the divine dispensations. The fountain of all being
and lying in the Father’s love, the Son came to glorify the Father. He
still says, “I seek not mine own glory, but the glory of him that sent me.”
The Son having carried on the work of redemption, was now to be glorified
with the Father. So he prays that it might be, John
xvii. 1, “The hour is come, glorify thy Son;” and that with the
glory which he had before the world was, when his joint counsel was in the
carrying on the Father’s love. Wherefore the Holy Ghost is sent, and his
work is to glorify the Son. But now, as I said, we have a spirit come
forth whose whole business is to glorify himself; whereby we may easily
know whence he is.