Son, and Holy Ghost, the duties owing to God, will be duties owing under that trine distinction; which must be paid accordingly. And whoever leaves any of the Three out of his idea of God, comes so far short of honouring God perfectly, and of serving him in proportion to the manifestation made of him. Supposing our doctrine true, as we are now to suppose, there will be duties proper to be paid to the Father, as Father, and to the Son, as Son,-and to the Holy Ghost, as the eternal Spirit of both ;-duties corresponding to their distinct offices and personalities, beside the duties common to all three, considered as one God. In short, the specification of our worship and the right direction of it, are nearly concerned in this doctrine and therefore, if worship be a practical matter, this doctrine also is practical, and not a point of mere speculation....If the doctrine be true, it is sacrilege and great impiety in every Christian to refuse to worship Father, Son, or Holy Ghost ;-but if the doctrine be false, it is Polytheism and Idolatry to pay religious worship to any person but the Father only. ' 1

1 Waterland's Def. of Doc. of Holy Trinity, c. 2.

CHAPTER II.

ON THE PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY GHOST.

1. HAVING shewn in the first Chapter, the great practical importance of the doctrine of the Trinity, I shall now proceed more especially to consider the nature and offices of the Holy Ghost. And in order to proceed regularly and systematically in the subject, I shall in this chapter, by a variety of Scriptural arguments, shew that the Holy Ghost is not a quality, but a Person: and the first argument shall be drawn from the form of Baptism prescribed by our Lord Jesus Christ himself.

2. As by Baptism we are admitted into the Christian Church; so by that form of it which our Lord himself ordained, we are taught that God is Father, Son, and Holy Ghost;-for says he, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."1 Now, since the Father, and the Son are admitted by all to be Persons, there is equal reason from this form of Baptism to believe, that the Holy Ghost is a PERSON. 'We are all baptized in the name of the Three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and the public confession of our faith hath relation to these Three. We all confess that

1 Matt. xxviii. 19.

two of these, the Father and the Son are persons; that which we now assert is only this;-that the Holy Ghost, who is of the Three the Third, is also a Person as the other Two. That blessed Spirit is not only an Energy or Operation, not a Quality or Power, but a spiritual and intellectual Subsistence. If we conceive it as an operation only, then must it only be actuated and not act; and when it is not actuated, it must not be at all. If we say that it is a Quality, and not a Substance, we say that it is that which we cannot prove to have any being. It seemeth to me strangely unreasonable, that men should be so earnest in endeavouring to prove that the Holy Ghost, which sanctifieth them, is no Substance, when they cannot be assured that there is any operative in the world beside substantial beings; and consequently, if they be not sanctified by that, they can be susceptible of no holiness. By what reason in nature can they be assured, by what revelation in Scripture can they be confident, that there is a reality deserving the name of a quality distinguished from all substance, and yet working real and admirable effects? If there were no other arguments but this, that we are assured by the Christian faith, that there is an Holy Ghost existing, and we cannot be assured, either by reason or faith, that there is a Quality really and essentially distinguished from all Substance, it would be sufficient to deter us from that boldness, to assert the Holy Ghost, in whose name we are baptized, to be nothing else but a Quality.' ' To be baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, as necessarily proves that He is a Person, as that the Father and Son are Persons,

1 Pearson on the Creed. p. 309,

in whose name conjointly with his we are commanded by Christ himself, to be baptized and it seems as reasonable to deny the Personality of the Father and Son, as that of the Holy Ghost.

"We

to

3. But we are not only baptized in His name, He is also our SANCTIFIER: for says St. Paul, are bound to give thanks alway to God for you Brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through SANCTIFICATION of the SPIRIT and belief of the truth : which corresponds the words of St. Peter; "Elect, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through SANCTIFICATION of the SPIRIT unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." 1 Now if creating and redeeming be personal actions, as most assuredly they are, so also must sanctifying be:but the Spirit is as evidently our Sanctifier, by the declaration of the Scriptures, as the Father is the Creator, and the Son the Redeemer of the world; and therefore the Holy Ghost is a Person as well as they. And since He is our SANCTIFIER, there subsists a most intimate relation between us and Him, as a Person.

4. It does not appear possible to conceive of a COMFORTER, without at the same time conceiving of a PERSON, who communicates comfort: the ideas of a COMFORTER and a PERSON are inseparable. But the Holy Ghost is our Comforter in the highest sense of the word. He is THE COMFORTER; and therefore must be a PERSON. Our Lord says to his disciples, "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another COMFORTER, that He may abide with you

1 2 Thess. ii. 13. 1 Pet. i. 2.

....

for ever, even the Spirit of Truth....The COMFORTER, who 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.. When the COMFORTER is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, who proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me....If I go not away, the COMFORTER will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." "1 And here the Holy Ghost is not only designated the COMFORTER, but is described by our Lord in contradistinction to the Father and to Himself, as having an office in the economy of redemption, peculiarly his own; and as evidently performing personal actions, as the Father and the Son. And indeed, it would not be easy to prove the personality of the Father, by stronger proofs of Scripture, than that of the Holy Ghost.

5. When we speak or think of an INTERCESSOR, we always have the idea of a PERSON, who pleads or intercedes in the behalf of another. In the very notion of an INTERCESSOR, three PERSONS are included;-He, to whom the Intercession is made,He who makes it,-and the person for whom it is made. See then, how exactly this agrees with what the Scriptures declare respecting the Holy Ghost as an Intercessor: The SPIRIT itself maketh INTERCESSION for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the SPIRIT, because He maketh INTERCESSION for the saints according to the will of God. Now Intercession is here attributed to the Holy

1 John xiv. 16, 26; xv. 26; xvi. 7.