true completion in the person of Christ, and the establishment of his religion; bring all things to their remembrance which Christ had told them, and supply them, without previous study or meditation of their own, with a ready and commanding eloquence, when they should be called to make the apology of the Christian faith before kings and rulers. But this Comforter, he told them, could not come before his own departure; and this was agreeable to ancient prophecy. David, in the sixty-eighth Psalm, predicting, according to St. Paul's interpretation of the passage, these miraculous gifts of the Spirit, speaks of them as subsequent to the Messiah's ascension, "Thou hast ascended up on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men." What these gifts should be, is declared in the conclusion of the verse, "that the Lord God may dwell among them." This dwelling of God must signify more than God's residence in the Jewish sanctuary; for, whatever might have been in the mind of the prophet, the prophetic spirit looked forward to later times. It cannot signify the Son's dwelling among men when he came to preach the doctrine of life, and to pay the forfeit of their crimes, because it is described as subsequent to his ascension. It can signify, therefore, no other dwelling of God than the residence of the Holy Spirit in the Christian church. I must not pass over this passage of the Psalmist without remarking, that the original word, which is rendered Lord," that the Lord may dwell among them," is JAH, one of the proper names of God, of the same etymology and import with the name JEHOVAH, of which, indeed, some have thought it only an abbreviation. Here, then, you have an instance of a name of the same kind equally proper to the Deity, applied to the Holy Ghost, provided I am right in the application of this clause to him. It may be further observed, that the prophet Jeremiah calls the Holy Spirit "the finger of God, by which,” he says, "God's law is put into their inward parts, and written in their hearts;" "inscribed," as St. Paul explains it, "not with ink, but by the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshy tables of the heart.” 2 Court. Now, sir, state whether it be the fact that the Holy Ghost, or Spirit, was unknown to the Christians of the three first centuries, as a person. Horsley. This question I can fully and satisfactorily answer from the works of Dr. Waterland. He says that Justin Martyr thus repels the charge of being an Atheist :-"We confess, indeed, that, in respect of such reputed gods, we are Atheists ; 1 Horsley's sermon upon God," &c. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of 2 Jerem. xxxi. 33. 2 Cor. iii. 3. but not in respect of the most true God, mutaimed with evil, the Father of righteousness and soberness, and of other virtues: Him, and his Son that came from him, and the Prophetic Spirit, we wor‐ ship and adore, honouring them in spirit reason and in truth.”- Athenagoras repels the same charge, "Who would not be astonished to hear us called Atheists, who acknowledge the Father as God, and the Son, God, and the Holy Ghost, asserting their union of power (or power of union) and distinction of order." - Clemens of Alexandria gives us a kind of short baptismal creed, as it seems, in these words, "ONE Father of the whole universe, and ONE WORD of the whole universe, and the Holy Ghost ONE, the same every where."— And to assure us that he looked upon all three as one God, he further says, "Let us give thanks to the only Father and Son, Son and Father, to the Son our Teacher and Master, together with the Holy Ghost, one in all respects; in whom are all 1 Πνεῦμά τε τὸ προφητικὸν σεβόμεθα, καὶ προσκυνοῦμεν, λόγῳ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ τιμῶντες. — Apol. i. c. 6. p. 11. 2 Τὶς οὖν οὐκ ἄν ἀπορήσαι, λέγοντας Θεὸν Πατέρα, καὶ νιν Θεὸν, καὶ Πνεῦμα "Αγιον, δεικνύντας αὐτῶν καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ ἑνώσει δύναμιν, καὶ τὴν ἐν τῇ τάξει διαίρεσιν, ἀκούσας ἀθέους καλουμέ νους. Legat. c. 10. p. 40. 3 Εἷς μὲν ὁ τῶν ὅλων Πατήρ' εἷς δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν ὅλων Λόγος· καὶ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ ̔́Αγιον ἓν, καὶ τὸ αὐτὸ πανταχοῦ. p. 123. things, to whom be glory both now and for ever." 1 Tertullian tells us plainly and concisely, that the "Father is God, and the Son, God, and the Holy Ghost, God; and every one singly God, and all together make one God." 2 And he adds, that this doctrine is, in a manner, the prime article of the Gospel, the very sum and substance of Christianity.3 Hippolytus says, THE WORD of the Father gave his disciples orders after his resurrection, to this purpose, "Go, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; signifying, that whosoever should leave out any one of the three, would fall short of honouring God perfectly; for by this Trinity, the Father is honoured.4 Origen speaks of baptism to the same effect: "It is, by virtue of the invocations there made, the spring and fountain of spiritual graces, to every one that dedicates himself to the Divinity (or Godhead) of the adorable Trinity." — And next I 1 · σὺν καὶ τῷ Ἁγίῳ Πνεύματι πάντα τῷ ἑνί· ἐν ᾧ τὰ πάντα. Pæd. 1. iii. p. 311. • Pater Deus, et Filius Deus, et Spiritus Sanctus Deus, et Deus unusquisque. - Cont. Prax. c. 13. 3 Pater et Filius et Spiritus tres crediti unum Deum sistunt. c. 31. 4 Διὰ γὰρ Τριάδος ταύτης Πατὴρ δοξάζεται. c. 14. p. 16. -- Contr. Noët. 5 Τῷ ἐμπερέχοντι ἑαυτὸν τῇ θειότητι τῆς δυναμέως τῶν τῆς προσκυνητῆς Τριάδος ἐπικλησιών ἐστιν ἡ χαρισμάτων θείων ἀρχὴ Kai nyn. Com. in Joan. p. 124. subjoin that remarkable passage of Cyprian (who wrote A. D. 250.). Arguing for the invalidity of heretical baptisms, he asks, how any person so baptized can be supposed to obtain remission of sins, and become the Temple of God? For, says he, "Of what God (of which of the divine persons) is he made the temple? Is it of (God) the Creator? He cannot be so without believing in him. Is it of Christ? Impossible that any should be his Temple who denies Christ to be God. Is it then of the Holy Ghost? But since those three are one, how is it possible that he should be at peace with the Holy Ghost, while he is at enmity either with the Father or the Son?"- And, lastly, I adduce Dionysius of Rome, who sums up the Christian doctrine in these words: "The divine Logos must of necessity be united to the God of the universe; and the Holy Ghost must abide and dwell in God; and the divine Trinity must of necessity be conceived to be gathered together and collected, as it were, into one head, namely, into the God of 1 Si baptizari quis apud hæreticos potuit; utique et remissam peccatorum consequi potuit. Si peccatorum remissam consecutus est, et sanctificatus est, et templum Dei factus est, quæro cujus Dei? Si Creatoris, non potuit qui in eum non credidit; si Christi, nec hujus fieri potest templum, qui negat Deum Christum: si Spiritus Sancti; cum tres unum sint, quomodo Spiritus Sanctus placatus esse ei potest, qui aut Patris, aut Filii inimicus est ? — Ad Jub. Ep. 73. p. 203. |