See also v. 26. xv. 26. xvi. 7, 13. xx. 22. he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost,-which was a kind of symbol, and sure pledge of that promise, the fulfilment of which is recorded Acts ii. 2-4, 33. having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this. Matt. xxviii. 19. in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Acts xv. 28. it seemed good to the Holy Ghost. Rom. viii. 16. the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit. v. 26. it helpeth our infirmities......it maketh intercession for us. Eph. i. 13, 14. τῷ πνεύματι τῷ ἁγίῳ, ὅς ἐστιν ἀῤῥαβών ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise which (who, Whitby, Macknight) is the earnest of our inheritance. iv. 30. grieve not the Holy Spirit of God.

Lastly, it signifies the donation of the Spirit itself, and of its attendant gifts. John vii. 39. but this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given. Matt. iii. 11. he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. See also Acts i. 5. and xi. 16. 1 Thess. v. 19. quench not the Spirit.

Who this Holy Spirit is, and whence he comes, and what are his offices, no one has taught us more explicitly than the Son of God himself, Matt. x. 20. it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. Luke xi. 13. how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. xxiv. 49. behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. John xiv. 16, 17. I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth. v. 26. the ·Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name. XV. 26. the Comforter, whom I will send unto you from the Father,.....which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. xvi. 7. I will send him unto you. v. 8. when he is come, he will reprove the world. v. 13. he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he

Matt. x. 20.

shall hear, that shall he speak. v. 14. he shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine. v. 15. all things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I that he shall take of mine. xx. 22. when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Acts ii. 2-4, 33. having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this. v. 32. we are his witnesses of these things, and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him. Rom. xv. 13. now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. 1 Cor. xii. 3. no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Heb. ii. 4. God also bearing them witness both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. Hence he is called the Spirit of the Father, the Spirit of God, and even the Spirit of Christ. it is the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. Rom. viii. 9. but ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you: now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. v. 15, 16. ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father; the Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the sons of God. 1 Cor. vi. 11. by the Spirit of our God. 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. Gal. iv. 6. God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Eph. i. 13, 14. that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance. iv. 30. grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed. ii. 18. through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 1 Pet. i. 12. the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. From all which results the command in Matthew xxviii. 19. baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 1 John v. 7. there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one. The latter passage has been considered in the preceding chapter; but both will undergo a further examination in a subsequent part of the present.

If it be the divine will that a doctrine which is to be understood and believed as one of the primary articles of our faith, should be delivered without obscurity or confusion, and explained, as is fitting, in clear and precise terms,—if it be certain that particular care ought to be taken in every thing connected with religion, lest the objection urged by Christ against the Samaritans should be applicable to us-ye worship ye know not what, John iv. 22. if our Lord's saying should be held sacred wherever points of faith are in question—we know what we worship-the particulars which have been stated seem to contain all that we are capable of knowing, or are required to know respecting the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as revelation has declared nothing else expressly on the subject. The nature of these particulars is such, that although the Holy Spirit be nowhere said to have taken upon himself any mediatorial functions, as is said of Christ, nor to be engaged by the obligations of a filial relation to pay obedience to the Father, yet he must evidently be considered as inferior to both Father and Son, inasmuch as he is represented and declared to be subservient and obedient in all things; to have been promised, and sent, and given; to speak nothing of himself; and even to have been given as an earnest. There is no room here for any sophistical distinction founded on a twofold nature; all these expressions refer to the Holy Spirit, who is maintained to be the supreme God; whence it follows, that wherever similar phrases are applied to the Son of God, in which he is distinctly declared to be inferior to the Father, they ought to be understood in reference to his divine as well as to his human character. For what those, who believe in the Holy Spirit's co-equality with the Father, deem to be not unworthy of him, cannot be considered unworthy of the Son, however exalted may be the dignity of his Godhead. Wherefore it remains now to be seen on what grounds, and by what arguments, we are constrained to believe that the Holy Spirit is God, if Scripture nowhere expressly teach the doctrine of his divinity, not even in the passages where his office is explained at large, nor in those where the unity of God is explicitly asserted, as in John xvii. 3. 1 Cor. viii. 4, &c. nor where God is either described, or introduced as sitting upon his throne,-if, further,

Y

the Spirit be frequently named the Spirit of God, and the Holy Spirit of God, Eph. iv. 30. so that the Spirit of God being actually and numerically distinct from God himself, cannot possibly be essentially one God with him whose Spirit he is, (except on certain strange and absurd hypotheses, which have no foundation in Holy Scripture, but were devised by human ingenuity for the sole purpose of supporting this particular doctrine)-if, wherever the Father and the Holy Spirit are mentioned together, the Father alone be called God, and the Father alone, omitting all notice of the Spirit, be acknowledged by Christ himself to be the one true God, as has been proved in the former chapter by abundant testimony;-if he be God who stablisheth us in Christ, who hath anointed us, who hath sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit, 2 Cor. i. 22. if that God be one God, and that one God the Father;-if, finally, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father, Gal. iv. 6. whence it follows that he who sent both the Spirit of his Son and the Son himself, he on whom we are taught to call, and on whom the Spirit himself calls, is the one God and the only Father. It seems exceedingly unreasonable, not to say dangerous, that in a matter of so much difficulty, believers should be required to receive a doctrine, represented by its advocates as of primary importance and of undoubted certainty, on anything less than the clearest testimony of Scripture; and that a point which is confessedly contrary to human reason, should nevertheless be considered as susceptible of proof from human reason only, or rather from doubtful and obscure disputations.

First, then, it is usual to defend the divinity of the Holy Spirit on the ground, that the name of God seems to be attributed to the Spirit: Acts v. 3, 4. why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?...... thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. But if attention be paid to what has been stated before respecting the Holy Ghost on the authority of the Son, this passage will appear too weak for the support of so great a doctrinal mystery. For since the Spirit is expressly said to be sent by the Father, and in the name of the Son, he who lies to the Spirit must lie to God, in the same sense as he

5

who receives an apostle, receives God who sent him, Matt. x. 40. John xiii. 20.4 St. Paul himself removes all ground of controversy from this passage, and explains it most appositely by implication, 1 Thess. iv. 8. where his intention is evidently to express the same truth more at large: he therefore that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit. Besides, it may be doubted whether the Holy Spirit in this passage does not signify God the Father; for Peter afterwards says, v. 9. how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? that is, God the Father himself, and his divine intelligence, which no one can elude or deceive. And in v. 32. the Holy Spirit is not called God, but a witness of Christ with the apostles, whom God hath given to them that obey him. So also Acts ii. 38. ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, given, that is, by God. But how can the gift of God be himself God, much more the supreme God?

The second passage is Acts xxviii. 25. compared with Isai. vi. 8, 9. I heard the voice of the Lord, saying— &c. ...... well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet, &c. See also Jer. xxxi. 31. compared with Heb. x. 15. But it has been shewn above, that the names Lord and Jehovah are throughout the Old Testament attributed to whatever angel God may entrust with the execution of his commands; and in the New Testament the Son himself openly testifies of the Holy Spirit, John xvi. 13. that he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he

✦ Clarke, as might be expected, gives the same explanation of the passage, (Scripture Doctrine, Part I. Sect. 2. No. 66.) also quoting 1 Thess. iv. 8. He supports his opinion on the authority of Athanasius. Ὥστε ὁ ψευσάμενος τῷ ἁγίῳ πνεύματι, τῷ Θεῷ ἐψεύσατο, τῷ κατοικοῦντι ἐν ἀνθρώποις διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ· ὅπου γάρ ἐστι τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐκεῖ ἔστιν ὁ Θεός. ἐν τούτῳ γὰρ, φησὶ, γινώσκομεν ὅτι ὁ Θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν μένει, ὅτι ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος αὐτοῦ δέδωκεν niv. De Incarnat. Verbi, et contra Arianos.

5 There is some error in this passage in the manuscript, where it is written thus: 'Quicquid incertum est annon hoc loco Spiritus Sanctus Deum Patrem significat: idem enim Petrus, &c.' Unless we suppose that some words have fallen out, the sentence may be corrected by a very slight alteration:-Quid, quod incertum est annon hoc loco Spiritus Sanctus Deum Patrem significet? idem, &c. I have followed this conjecture in the translation, as it is a form of sentence very frequently used in other parts of the treatise.