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rest, and communicates to them their whole efficiency. The gifts of pardon and justification, inasmuch as they become ours only as they are

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1 Pet. i. 11. Rom. viii. 9.)

"the breath of the Lord," (Psl. xxxiii. 6.) " the Spirit of God,” (Gen. i. 2.) "the Spirit of his mouth," (i. e. the mouth of Christ-Psl. xxxiii. 6.)" the "breath of the Almighty." (Job xxxiii. 4.) And from this subsistence of the Holy Spirit, in an imcomprehensible manner of procession from the Father and the Son, as the breath of God, our Saviour signified the communication of his disciples, by breathing on them. He is called, then, the Spirit of God; not because he is a virtue or quality belonging to God the Father, (as our adversaries vainly assert,) but because he proceeds from him as a distinct Person, which the words of the Apostle fully demonstrate: "the Spirit which is of God." (1 Cor. ii. 12.) For the same reason he is called also "the Spirit of the Son.” (Gal. iv. 6. The Spirit, therefore, of God, and the Spirit of Christ, are one and the same. But the most usual appellation given to him in the New Testament, is" the Holy Spirit," or "the Holy Ghost;" not only because he is the author of all holiness in others, but on account of his nature and operations, in order to distinguish him from the evil spirits, whose nature is depraved, and whose works are destructive. 1. This PERSONALITY of the Holy Spirit may be thus proved, from Matt. xxviii. 29, where he is evidently joined indiscriminately with the other Persons. So in 1 John, v. 7. he has also assumed a visible shape. Matt. iii. 16. Luke iii. 22. Acts xi. 3,4. Again he is said to be sent and to come. John xiv. 26. Personal Qualities also belong to him; as substance, Matt. iii. 16. life, Rom. viii. 2. understanding, 1 Cor. ii. 20. will, 1 Cor. xii. 11. Personal Operations are likewise ascribed to him; as regeneration, Tit. iii. 5. John iii. 5. conversion, Ezek. xxxvi. 27. Zech. iv. 6. teaching, I Cor. xii. 3. Eph. i. 17, 18. sanctification, 1 Cor. vi. 11. 2 Thess. ii. 13. consolation, John xiv. 16. Rom. xv. 13. guidance, John xiv. 26. commission of Ministers, Acts xiii. 2. Personal Affections are also attributed to him: thus, he is said to be grieved, Isa. Ixiii. 10. Eph. iv. 30. and resisted, Acts vii. 51. and sinned against, Matt. xii. 32. Acts v. 3, 4. 9. That his personality is distinct, is evident from his being mentioned with the Father and the Son, Matt. xxviii. 19. and from the peculiar order of his operations; thus, Christ said "when he, "the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth, he shall not "speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak he "shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” John xvi. 13, 14. II. His DIVINITY is proved by-1. the Titles

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applied by faith, which is likewise "the gift of God," derive all their virtue from his sacred influence. So also with regard to the concomitant

attributed by him, equally with God the Father and God the Son. Thus he is called "the Lord." Isa. vi. 8. compared with Acts xxviii. 25. 26. Exod. xvii. 1. 7. compared with Psl. xcv. 7, 8. Heb. iii. 7. 9. iv. 3. 7, 8. Levit. xvi. 2. compared with Heb. ix. 7, 8. Jer. xxxi. 31. compared with Heb. x. 15. 16. He is called God, Acts v. 3, 4. 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. vi. 19, 20. -2. Divine Attributes belong to him; as eternity, Heb. ix. 14. immensity, Psl. cxxxix. 7. omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11. compared with Jer. xvii. 10,11. omnipotence, and independence, 1 Cor. xii. 4. 6. 11. Luke xi. 20. compared with Matt. xii. 28.-3. Divine Operations are ascribed to him; as creation, Gen. i. 2. Psl. xxxiii. 6. miracles, Matt. xii. 28. Rom. viii. 11. 1 Cor. xii. 9, 10. and every spiritual work in the sinner's heart proceeds from him. [For proofs see above.]-4. Divine Worship is due to him: 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Rev. i. 4, 5. Matt. xxviii. 19. and divine regard, Luke xi. 13. Gal. v. 25. Eph. iv. 30. 1 Thess. v. 19. From these testimonies, therefore, we must be compelled to acknowledge, that the Holy Ghost is a substance, that he is a person that he is a distinct person, and that he is a divine person; and, consequently, that he is equal in power, majesty, and eternity, with the Father and the Son.

Having, in a former note, endeavoured to explain, as intelligibly as possible, what may be gathered from Scripture respecting the eternal generation of the Son, a few observations on the eternal procession of the Holy Ghost will not be irrevelant here. It has been already proved, by the word of God, that the Holy Ghost, although he is divine Person, proceedeth from the Father and the Son, being equally the Spirit of both: and that as he is a divine Person, this proceeding (or procession) from both must have been from all eternity. For, as the scheme of Redemption was from all eternity, and the counsel of peace between the Father and the Son was from all eternity; surely He, who is undeniably equal to them in majesty and power, must have been included in that covenant; and if so, then the Holy Ghost must have pre-existed and proceeded from the Father and the Son, from all eternity. "With respect to the manner of this procession," as Wheatley observes, "we know nothing more than what the Scriptures reveal; and all they reveal is, that the Son receives his Divine nature from the Father, in some such way as is best expressed by filiation, or the manner by which he becomes a Son; and that the Holy Ghost receives the same nature some other way, and not by filiation,

blessings of reconciliation with God. And as the Spirit now is the efficient agent of God's purposes respecting his people; all is conveyed (though on

not so as to constitute him a Son also. So that although the essence is the same which is communicated, yet there is a difference in the manner of communication. And that a different manner of communication of the same nature may make a proper distinction in the relation of the nature so communicated, we may very well understand by our illustration from Scripture. Eve, we know, was produced out of Adam, and in the same nature with him, though not born or begotten of him; and yet Seth, proceeding from the same person, and of the same nature, was truly and properly the son of Adam. The difference, therefore, was not even here in the nature produced, but in the manner of production. Eve was derived from Adam, and so was Seth; but Seth was begotten by Adam,-Eve was not begotten, but produced. This instance is not brought as an illustration of the difference between filiation and procession, for that is what we never can illustrate or explain; but it is only brought forward to show, (which it certainly does,) that the same nature may be communicated or derived in different manners; and, consequently, that there is no difficulty in conceiving, that of the three Persons in the Godhead, (of which two are derived,) the derived Persons may be possessed of the same divine nature with the first Person, from whom they are derived, though they are derived in a different, and so bear a different relation to him. One is said to be begotten, and is therefore called his Son; the other is represented as proceeding, and is therefore called his Holy Spirit. Now with respect to his office, the Holy Spirit is always represented as subordinate, and subject to the Father and the Son. For first, as to the Father, it is he that sends him, and therefore it is that we are so frequently told that the Father gives him; (John iii. 34. xiv. 16. 17. Acts v. 32. 8 Eph. i. 17. 1 Thess. iv. 8. 2 Tim. i. 7.) and that he is, in an especial manner, the gift of God. It is the Father who gave him to the "Son without measure," who still gives him, in due measure, "to them that ask him;" and "pours him out upon all flesh." John xiv.26.Luke xi.13. Acts ii. 17. And next as to the Son, so far is the Holy Ghost subordinate, and in economy at least subject to him also, that it is expressly said" the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified," John vii. 23. not that this gift was entirely withheld till the glorification of Christ, (for the Holy Spirit was given long before the Incarnation of Christ, both in his sanctifying influence and miraculous powers,)—but that he was not

account of his Son's merits and continual intercession) by Him. It is the Spirit who draweth, who quickeneth, who raiseth from the death of sin to:

given in that abundant measure as when Jesus was invested with power to send him. But when the Lord Jesus Christ was exalted to the right hand of God, and there received of his Father the performance of his promise, that he (the Son) should now give him to the church; he poured him forth upon the Apostles, and "they were all filled with the Holy Ghost," Acts ii. 4. according to Christ's promise: "I will send him unto you." John xvi. 7. The Holy Ghost, therefore, in mission and office is subordinate to the Father and the Son. Not that such subordination infers that he is inferior in Divinity to either, any more than one man is less human than another man, because he is subordinate, and ministers to him. In essence and nature the Holy Ghost is equal with the Son, and equal with the Father, and only inferior to them in office and order. Of this order it may be observed, that it is founded in the nature of things themselves. For as there is a definite number in the Godhead, so that the persons comprised in it are three and no more; so there is also a natural order-an order which appears to be not arbitrary, but necessary ; and that by virtue of a natural subordination of a second person to the first, and of the third to the other two. The Godhead is communicated from the Father to the Son; and not from the Son to the Father: it is also communicated from the Father and the Son, or from the Father through the Son, to the Holy Ghost; and not from the Holy Ghost to both or either. And though this communication was from all eternity, and there could have been no priority of time, by which one person existed before the other; yet must there be acknowledged a priority of order, by which the Father, not the Son, or the Holy Ghost, is first; the Son and not the Father or the Holy Ghost, is the second; and the Holy Ghost, and not the Father or the Son, is the third. This order Christ himself has taught us. Matt. xxviii. 19. Thus it is clearly proved, that there is in the Godhead a plurality of persons-that this plurality consists of three, and no more,-that these three persons are distinct from each other- yet but of one essence and nature—co-eternal and co-equal :that they have separate offices, and that in these they are either superior or subordinate to each other:-and lastly, that although they are all Divine persons, yet there is a natural order between them. --- Now this plurality of persons in the Godhead is according to the Scriptures perfectly consistent with that great fundamental article of revelation, the

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the life of righteousness, and effectually "worketh in (us,) both to will and to do of his good pleasure." We must, however, be careful to understand the nature of this gift. Although the Spirit is a distinct person, like the Father and the Son, and

unity of the Godhead, or that there is none other God but one. For the persons revealed are truly distinct, while the same attributes, works, and worship of the one God are equally ascribed to them. Since then they are ascribed to three persons, and the Divine essence can be but one, it necessarily follows, that the three persons must subsist in one essence, according to the revelation which discloses three persons, and at the samé time every where teaches, that "there is none other God, but one." Therefore as it is the great design of the Scriptures to assert the unity of the Godhead, and thereby to instruct us in the true object of our faith, worship, and obedience, this assertion of the unity is evidently intended to include the Son and the Holy Spirit in the great object of faith and adoration. It is, however, frequently asked how three persons can each of them be God, and yet all be but one God?—To this we may reply— because there is but one person who is self-subsisting, but one person who is unoriginate. If we affirmed that there were three absolutely selfsubsisting, unoriginate persons, and not derived, one from another; the persons then would be divided: the consequence of which would be, that they would be three distinct Essences or Beings, and therefore three Gods. There would then indeed be room for objection. But no such affirmation is made. We declare that though there be three persons in the Godhead, yet there is but one Father in the Godhead; though three persons be divine yet there is but one source and principle of Divinity; the other two have their very subsistence and Godhead from him. And since the Godhead cannot be divided; though the communication of it constitutes three persons; yet the union being preserved, they are still but one and the same God. Thus related, and thus subordinate are the three Divine Persons, "the one true God," into whose name we are baptized, by whom we are created, redeemed, and sanctified, and whom we are to adore.— See Wheatley's Moyer's Lect. - Felton's Moyer's Lect. - Owen on the Trinity.-Pearson on the Creed.- Graves on the Trinity.-Mastricht Theoret. Pract. Theol. vol. i. lib. ii.

1 Phil. ii. 13.

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