Here it must be observed, that their being called the temple of God, who is said to dwell in them, denotes the inhabitant to be a divine Person, since a temple, according to the known acceptation of the word, always connotes a deity; and so it is called the house of God. Now he that dwelt in them, upon which account they are called his temple, is expressly said to be the Spirit of God, which is agreeable to what is said concerning him elsewhere, in chap. vi. 19. Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which, or who, is in you? (2.) He is called Lord; this seems very evident, from Isa, vi. 8, 9. And I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I, send And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye, indeed, but understand not, &c. where we observe, that the person sending speaks both in the singular number and the plural, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? by the former expression, Whom shall I send, he evinces his divinity, as having a right to give a commission to the prophets, to declare his mind and will to man, which, as will be observed under a folhead, none but a divine Person has a right to do; by the latter, Who shall go for us, he includes himself among the Persons in the Godhead, as it has before been observed *; viz. that when God is represented, as speaking in the plural number, a Tri nity of Persons seems to be intended thereby.

me.

But that which we shall principally consider is, that the Holy Ghost is here called Lord, which appears from what the apostle says, in Acts xxviii. 25, 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost, by Esaias the prophet, unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people, and say, Hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand, &c.

It cannot be reasonably objected to this, that the apostle only refers to the book of Isaiah, and not to this particular part thereof; for though, indeed, these words, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, might be used, as a preface to any quotation from scripture, as all scripture is given by his inspiration; yet this message, referred to by the apostle, was not only transmitted by Esaias to the church, but it is distinguished from all those other things, which the Spirit of the Lord spake by him; and therefore it cannot be supposed that the apostle means, when referring to this scripture, any other than the Holy Ghost's giving him this commission, when he says, Well spake the Holy Ghost by him; and consequently he that gave this commission, or spake thus to him, is the Holy Ghost, who is, in the foregoing words, called the Lord.

Moreover, there is another scripture, in 2 Cor. iii. 18. where it is said, We are changed from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord; or, as it is observed in the margin, As by the Lord the Spirit; which reading is certainly as proper as * See page 358.

any other, and is preferred, by some, to it; and therefore it contains, at least, a probable argument that the Spirit is expressly called Lord.*

2. The Holy Ghost appears to be God, from those divine attributes that are ascribed to him. Accordingly,

(1.) He is said to be eternal, in Heb. ix. 24. Christ, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God. I am sensible, many think this eternal Spirit signifies Christ's eternal Godhead; which is so called, because of the spirituality of its nature; and that, in this place, it is designed to set forth the infinite value, which the oblation that he made of himself, in his human nature to God, received from the divine nature, to which it was united; which, though it be a very great truth, yet there does not seem to be so great a propriety in the expression, when we suppose the eternal Spirit is taken for the divine nature, as if it be understood of the Holy Ghost: and Christ may be said, by him, to have offered himself, without spot, to God, as implying, that the unction, which he received from the Holy Ghost, was the means to preserve him from all sinful defilement, upon which account his oblation was without blemish; and, indeed, it was no less necessary, in order to its being accepted, that it should be spotless, than that it should be of infinite value; therefore I must conclude, that it is the Holy Ghost who is here called the eternal Spirit.

Moreover, his eternity may be evinced from his having created all things, as he that made the world, and all finite things, wherewith time began, must be before them, and consequently from everlasting; by which the eternity of Christ was proved, under a foregoing head; and that the Holy Ghost made all things, will be proved under our next argument.

(2.) His immensity or omnipresence, is a farther proof of his deity; and this seems to be plainly contained in Psal. cxxxix. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? q. d. there is no place where the Spirit is not; and it is allowed by all, that the divine immensity is here described in a very elegant manner; though, it is true, it is objected, that one part of this verse is exegeti cal of the other, and therefore the Psalmist, by the Spirit, intends nothing else but the presence of God; but it is equally, if not more probable, that the Spirit is distinguished from the presence of God, and consequently that he is a distinct Person in the Godhead; and this does not contain any strain upon the sense of the words, since the Spirit is so often spoken of in scripture as a Person, as has been before observed; † and

Several of the Post Nicene Fathers have taken the words, nabar ATO TY alos, in the same sense as by the Lord, the Spirit; and, in particular, Basil. de Spirit. Sanct. ad Amphiloc. Cap. 21. & Chrysost, in loc.

† See page 249, 250, 251.

therefore it is not strange that he should be mentioned as such in this text; and, if he be spoken of as a Person, it is beyond dispute that he is there proved to be a divine Person.

(3.) He is said to be omniscient in 1 Cor. ii. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things; yea, the deep things of God. To search, indeed, is a word used in condescension to our common mode of speaking, as we arrive to the knowledge of things by searching, or enquiry, though this idea is to be abstracted from the word, when applied to God; for him to search, is to know all things; and, in this sense, it is used, in Psal. cxxxix. 23, 24. Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my thoughts; and see if there be any wicked way in me, &c. It does not imply the manner of his knowing, but the exquisiteness of his knowledge; and so we must understand it in this scripture, when applied to the Spirit's searching all things, in which we have an account of the objects of his knowledge, namely, the deep things of God: thus he knows all those things, which were hid in the divine mind from all eternity, and the infinite perfections of the divine nature, which are incomprehensible to a creature, and which none can, by searching, find out to perfection, Job xi.. 7. in which respect the highest creatures, viz. the angels, are said to be charged with folly, whose knowledge is comparatively imperfect, chap. iv. 18. Moreover, we may observe, that the manner of the Spirit's knowing all things, is not like ours, that is by inferring consequences from premises, in a way of reasoning; for it is said, in the verse immediately following, that he knows the things of God, in such a way, as a man knoweth the things of a man, that is, his own thoughts, by an internal principle of knowledge, not by revelation, or any external discovery: thus the Spirit knows the divine nature, as having it; therefore his omniscience is a plain proof of his Deity.

3. The Deity of the Holy Ghost may be farther evinced, from his performing those works which are proper to God alone. And,

(1.) He is said to have created all things: thus, in Gen. i. 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; where, by the Spirit of God, cannot be meant, as some suppose, the air or the wind; for that was not created till the second day, when God made the firmament. Again, it is said, in Job xxvi. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens, and, in chap. xxiii. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me. Some of the Arians are so sensible that the Spirit is represented as the Creator of all things as well as the Son; that they suppose him to be an instrument to the Son in the creation thereof; which is as much as to say, he is an instrument of an instrument; and, indeed, to say the Son created all things, as an instrument, has

been considered as an indefensible notion; but this is much

more so.

(2.) Extraordinary or miraculous works, which are equivalent to creation, have been performed by the Spirit; thus the apostle, speaking concerning extraordinary gifts, subservient to the propagation of the gospel, in the first preaching thereof, attributes them to the Spirit, which he largely insists on, in 1 Cor. xii. and when he says, ver. 4, 5, 6. that there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all; which many who defend the doctrine of the Trinity, take for granted, that it signifies all the Persons in the Godhead, that our Saviour is called Lord, and the Father God, therein; and some of the Anti-trinitarians, from hence, would argue, that the Spirit is not God, because he is distinguished from the Father, whom they suppose to be there called God, I cannot but from hence conclude, that the Holy Spirit is set forth under all these three names; and the works attributed to him, notwithstanding the variety of expressions, are the same, and included in that general term of spiritual gifts. And so I take the meaning of the text to be this, there are diversities of gifts, or extraordinary operations, which some were enabled to put forth in the exercise of their ministry, which are all from the same Spirit, who is called Lord and God, who has an infinite sovereignty, and bestows these blessings as he pleases, as becomes a divine Person; and this agrees very well with what is said, in ver. 11. All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.

(3.) The Spirit of God commissioned and qualified ministers to preach the gospel, and thereby to gather and build up churches, determining that their ministry should be exercised in one place, and not in another; which is a peculiar branch of the divine glory, and no one has a right to do it, but a divine Person. A creature may as well pretend to command the sun to shine, or stop its course in the heavens at his pleasure, as he can commission a minister to preach the gospel, or restrain the preaching thereof. And here we may observe, that the Holy Ghost is plainly said to have called and appointed the apostles to exercise their ministry in the first preaching of the gospel, after he had, by conferring extraordinary gifts upon them, qualified them for it; and accordingly he speaks in a style truly divine, in Acts xiii. 2. The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them; and, in Acts xx. 28. the apostle tells the elders, or ministers of the church at Ephesus, that the Holy Ghost had made them over* See page 359, 360.

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seers. We read also of the Spirit's determining where they should exercise their ministry; thus he commanded Philip to go and preach the gospel to the eunuch, in Acts viii. 29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot; and, at another time, the Spirit bade Peter to go and preach the gospel to Cornelius, when he doubted whether it were lawful for him to do it or no, in Acts x. 19, 20. The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee; therefore get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them; and, at another time, it is said, in Acts xvi. 6, 7. They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia; and that they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not; and, in ver. 9, 10. the apostle Paul was ordered, in a vision, to go to Macedonia; which command he obeyed, assuredly gathering that the Lord, that is, the Spirit, had called him to preach the gospel unto them. Nothing can be a greater argument of the sovereignty of the Holy Ghost, in what respects this matter, which was of the highest importance; therefore it is an evident proof of his divinity. But to this we may add,

(4.) That his divinity farther appears from the unction, which he conferred on our Saviour, to perform the work of a Mediator in his human nature: thus it is said, in Isa. lxi. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath. anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek, &c. And this is particularly referred to, as signifying our Saviour's unction by the Holy Ghost, in Luke iv. 18, 19. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, &c. And, indeed, it is not denied that this is spoken of the Holy Ghost, even by those who do not infer his deity from it; accordingly it is inserted, by a late writer, among those scriptures that speak particularly of the Holy Ghost; and it would be a great strain on the sense of the text, to suppose that he hath anointed me, refers to the Father, and not to the Spirit. As to the meaning of the word unction, it is borrowed from the ceremonial law, under which the prophets, priests, and kings were publickly anointed with oil, as used to signify the warrant, or commission, they had received from God, to execute these offices, together with the qualifications which were to be expected for the discharge thereof. In this sense our Saviour is said to have been anointed by the Holy Ghost, to wit, in his human nature, in which he was obliged to yield obedience and subjection to God, and accordingly he was authorized and qualified to per form this obedience by the Holy Ghost; so that, how difficult soever it was, it might be discharged by him, without the least failure or defect therein, as we observed before, that it was * See Dr. Clarke's Scripture-doctrine, page 198.