cal.

A person they intended, and so expressed him by his name, nature, and office. To which our Saviour replies, that he cast them out by the Spirit of God,—a divine person, opposed to him who is diaboliHereunto he immediately subjoins his instruction and caution, that they should take heed how they blasphemed that Holy Spirit, by assigning his effects and works to the prince of devils. And blasphemy against him directly manifests both what and who he is, especially such a peculiar blasphemy as carrieth an aggravation of guilt along with it above all that human nature in any other instance is capable of. It is supposed that blasphemy may be against the person of the Father: so was it in him who "blasphemed the name of Jehovah and cursed" by it, Lev. xxiv. 11. The Son, as to his distinct person, may be blasphemed; so it is said here expressly;-and thereon it is added that the Holy Ghost also may be distinctly blasphemed, or be the immediate object of that sin which is declared to be inexpiable. To suppose now that this Holy Ghost is not a divine person is for men to dream whilst they seem to be awake.

I suppose by all these testimonies we have fully confirmed what was designed to be proved by them,-namely, that the Holy Spirit is not a quality, as some speak, residing in the divine nature; not a mere emanation of virtue and power from God; not the acting of the power of God in and unto our sanctification; but a holy intelligent subsistent or person. And in our passage many instances have been given, whence it is undeniably evident that he is a divine, self-sufficient, self-subsisting person, together with the Father and the Son equally participant of the divine nature. Nor is this distinctly much disputed by them with whom we have to do; for they confess that such things are ascribed unto him as none but God can effect: wherefore, denying him so to be, they lay up all their hopes of success in denying him to be a person. But yet, because the subject we are upon doth require it, and it may be useful to the faith of some, I will call over a few testimonies given expressly unto his deity also. First, he is expressly called God; and having the name of God properly and directly given unto him, with respect unto spiritual things, or things peculiar unto God, he must have the nature of God also. Acts v. 3, Ananias is said to "lie to the Holy Ghost." This is repeated and interpreted, verse 4, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." The declaration of the person intended by the "Holy Ghost" is added for the aggravation of the sin, for he is "God." The same person, the same object of the sin of Ananias, is expressed in both places; and, therefore, the Holy Ghost is God. The word for lying is the same in both places, doua, only it is used in a various construction. Verse 3, it hath the accusative case joined unto it: Ψεύσασθαί σε τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, —that “thou shouldst deceive," or think to deceive, or attempt to deceive, "the Holy Ghost."

How? By lying unto him, in making a profession in the church wherein he presides of that which is false. This is explained, verse 4, by bow O, "thou hast lied unto God;" the nature of his sin being principally intended in the first place, and the object in the latter. Wherefore, in the progress of his discourse, the apostle calls the same sin, a "tempting of the Spirit of the Lord," verse 9; it was the Spirit of the Lord that he lied unto, when he lied unto God. These three expressions, "The Holy Ghost," "God," "The Spirit of the Lord," do denote the same thing and person, or there is no coherence in the discourse. It is excepted "That what is done against the Spirit is done against God, because he is sent by God." It is true, as he is sent by the Father, what is done against him is morally and as to the guilt of it done against the Father. And so our Saviour tells us with respect unto what was done against himself; for saith he, "He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." But directly and immediately, both Christ and the Spirit were sinned against in their own persons. He is "God" [who is] here provoked. So also he is called "Lord,” in a sense appropriate unto God alone: 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18, "Now the Lord is that Spirit;" and, "We are changed from glory to glory,” ἀπὸ Κυρίου Πνεύματος, “by the Lord the Spirit,” or the Spirit of the Lord; where also divine operations are ascribed unto him. What is affirmed to this purpose, 1 Cor. xii. 6-8, hath been observed in the opening of the beginning of that chapter at the beginning of our discourse. The same, also, is drawn by just consequence from the comparing of Scriptures together, wherein what is spoken of God absolutely in one place is applied directly and immediately unto the Holy Ghost in another. To instance in one or two particulars: Lev. xxvi. 11, 12, "I will," saith God, "set my tabernacle among you; and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." The accomplishment of this promise the apostle declares, 2 Cor. vi. 16, "Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." How and by whom is this done? 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which ye are." If it were, then, God who of old promised to dwell in his people, and to make them his temple thereby, then is the Holy Spirit God; for he it is who, according to that promise, thus dwelleth in them. So Deut. xxxii. 12, speaking of the people in the wilderness, he saith, "The LORD alone did lead him;" and yet, speaking of the same people, at the same time, it is said, that "the Spirit of the LORD did lead them, and caused them to rest," Isa. lxiii. 14. "The Spirit of the LORD," therefore, is Jehovah, or Jehovah alone did not lead them.

That, also, which is called in the same people their "sinning against God, and provoking the Most High in the wilderness,” Ps. lxxviii. 17, 18, is termed their "rebelling against and vexing the Holy Spirit," Isa. lxiii. 10, 11. And many other instances of an alike nature have been pleaded and vindicated by others.

Add hereunto, in the last place, that divine properties are assigned unto him, as eternity, Heb. ix. 14, he is the "eternal Spirit;"immensity, Ps. cxxxix. 7, " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?"omnipotency, Mic. ii. 7, "The Spirit of the LORD is not straitened," compared with Isa. xl. 28; "The power of the Spirit of God," Rom. xv. 19;-prescience, Acts i. 16, This scripture must be fulfilled, "which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas;"-omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God;"-sovereign authority over the church, Acts xiii. 2, 4, xx. 28. The divine works, also, which are assigned unto him are usually, and to good purpose, pleaded in the vindication of the same truth; but these in the progress of our discourse I shall have occasion distinctly to consider and inquire into, and, therefore, shall not in this place insist upon them. What hath been proposed, cleared, and confirmed, may suffice as unto our present purpose, that we may know who he is concerning whom,—his works and grace, we do design to treat.

I have but one thing more to add concerning the being and personality of the Holy Spirit; and this is, that in the order of subsistence, he is the third person in the holy Trinity. So it is expressed in the solemn numeration of them, where their order gives great direction unto gospel worship and obedience: Matt. xxviii. 19, "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." This order, I confess, in their numeration, because of the equality of the persons in the same nature, is sometimes varied So, Rev. i. 4, 5, "Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ." The Holy Spirit, under the name of the seven Spirits before the throne of God, because of his various and perfect operations in and towards the church, is reckoned up in order before the Son, Jesus Christ. And so in Paul's euctical conclusion unto his epistles, the Son is placed before the Father: 2 Cor. xiii. 14, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all." And some think that the Holy Ghost is mentioned in the first place, Col. ii. 2, "The acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ." In this expression of them, therefore, we may use our liberty, they being all one, "God over all, blessed for ever." But in their true and natural order of subsistence, and consequently of operation, the Holy Spirit

is the third person; for as to his personal subsistence, he "proceedeth from the Father and the Son," being equally the Spirit of them both, as hath been declared. This constitutes the natural order between the persons, which is unalterable. On this depends the order of his operation; for his working is a consequent of the order of his subsistence. Thus the Father is said to send him, and so is the Son also, John xiv. 16, 26, xvi. 7. And he is thus said to be sent by the Father and the Son, because he is the Spirit of the Father and Son, proceeding from both, and is the next cause in the application of the Trinity unto external works. But as he is thus sent, so his own will is equally in and unto the work for which he is sent; as the Father is said to send the Son, and yet it was also his own love and grace to come unto us and to save us. And this ariseth from hence, that in the whole economy of the Trinity, as to the works that outwardly are of God, especially the works of grace, the order of the subsistence of the persons in the same nature is represented unto us, and they have the same dependence on each other in their operations as they have in their subsistence. The Father is the fountain of all, as in being and existence, so in operation. The Son is of the Father, begotten of him, and, therefore, as unto his work, is sent by him; but his own will is in and unto what he is sent about. The Holy Spirit proceedeth from the Father and the Son, and, therefore, is sent and given by them as to all the works which he immediately effecteth; but yet his own will is the direct principle of all that he doth,-he divideth unto every one according to his own will. And thus much may suffice to be spoken about the being of the Holy Spirit, and the order of his subsistence in the blessed Trinity.

CHAPTER IV.

PECULIAR WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE FIRST

OR OLD CREATION.

Things to be observed in divine operations-The works of God, how ascribed absolutely unto God, and how distinctly to each person-The reason hereofPerfecting acts in divine works ascribed unto the Holy Spirit, and why-Peculiar works of the Spirit with respect unto the old creation-The parts of the old creation-Heaven and its host-What the host of heaven-The host of the earth-The host of heaven completed by the Spirit—And of the earth -His moving on the old creation, Ps. civ. 30—The creation of man; the work of the Spirit therein-The work of the Spirit in the preservation of all things when created, natural and moral-Farther instances thereof, in and out of the church-Work of the Spirit of God in the old creation, why sparingly delivered.

INTENDING to treat of the operations of the Holy Ghost, or those which are peculiar unto him, some things must be premised concern

ing the operation of the Godhead in general, and the manner thereof; and they are such as are needful to guide us in many passages of the Scripture, and to direct us aright in the things in particular which now lie before us. I say, then,—

1. That all divine operations are usually ascribed unto God absolutely. So it is said God made all things; and so of all other works, whether in nature or in grace. And the reason hereof is, because the several persons are undivided in their operations, acting all by the same will, the same wisdom, the same power. Every person, therefore, is the author of every work of God, because each person is God, and the divine nature is the same undivided principle of all divine operations;' and this ariseth from the unity of the persons in the same essence. But as to the manner of subsistence therein, there is distinction, relation, and order between and among them; and hence there is no divine work but is distinctly assigned unto each person, and eminently unto one. So is it in the works of the old creation, and so in the new, and in all particulars of them. Thus, the creation of the world is distinctly ascribed to the Father as his work, Acts iv. 24; and to the Son as his, John i. 3; and also to the Holy Spirit, Job xxxiii. 4; but by the way of eminence to the Father, and absolutely to God, who is Father, Son, and. Holy Spirit.

The reason, therefore, why the works of God are thus distinctly ascribed unto each person is because, in the undivided operation of the divine nature, each person doth the same work in the order of their subsistence; not one as the instrument of the other, or merely employed by the other, but as one common principle of authority, wisdom, love, and power. How come they, then, eminently to be assigned one to one person, another to another? as unto the Father are assigned opera naturæ, the works of nature, or the old creation; to the Son, opera gratiæ procuratæ, all divine operations that belong unto the recovery of mankind by grace; and unto the Spirit, opera gratiæ applicatæ, the works of God whereby grace is made effectual unto us. And this is done,-(1.) When any especial impression is made of the especial property of any person on any

1 Μία ἄρα καὶ ἐκ τούτων, ἡ τῆς Τρίαδος ἐνέργεια δείκνυται. Οὐ γὰρ ὡς παρ' ἐκάστου διάφορα, καὶ διηρημένα τὰ διδόμενα σημαίνει ὁ ἀπόστολος. ̓Αλλ' ὅτι τὰ διδόμενα ἐν Τριάδι δίδοται, nai rà máyta i§ ivòs Osoỡ i.—Athanas. Epistol. [i. 31] ad Serapionem.

Μίαν ἐνέργειαν ὁρῶμεν πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ, καὶ ἁγίου πνεύματος.—Basil. Homil. xvii., in Sanctum Baptisma. τῶν αἱ αὐται ἐνέργειαι τούτων καὶ οὐσία μία, ἐνέργεια δὲ υἱοῦ καὶ πατρὸς μία ὡς τὸν ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον. Καὶ πάλιν ἃ γὰρ ἂν ὁ πατὴρ ποιῆ, ταῦτα καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ὁμοίως ποιεῖ. "Apa nas ovcía μía xarpòs xai visu.-Idem advers. Eunom., lib. iv.

Quicquid de Spiritu Sancto diximus hoc similiter de Patre et Filio communiter et indivise volumus intelligi; quia sancta et inseparabilis Trinitas nunquam aliquid se sigillatim operari noverit."-Ambros. in Symbol. Apost. cap. ix.

* Πάντα τὰ θεοπρεπῶς λεγόμενα ἐπὶ τῆς ὑπερουσίου τρίαδος καθ' ἑκάστης τῶν τριῶν ὑποστάσεων ἐξιδιοῦται, καὶ ἐναρμόττεται, πλὴν ἃ τὴν προαγωγὴν τούτων, ἤγουν τὴν ὑποστασικὴν grúziour iμæoisövta.-Arethas, in Apocal. Commentar. cap. 1.