:

by degrees, rise up to the several and more complete descripti

ons of them in the bible.

VI. The Son of God is spoken of generally, in the New Testament, as a very glorious Person, an immortal spiritual Being who was some way begotten of the Father, that is, derived from God the Father, or hath some special relation to him as an only begotten Son; John i. 18. as the first begotten of God, Heb. i. 6. as the first-born of every creature; Col. i. 15. who was with God, and had glory with the Father, before the world was; John i. 1. xvii. 5. By whom God made the worlds, and created all things, visible and invisible; Col. i. 16. Heb. i. 2, 3. Who came forth from the Father, and came into this world; John xvi. 28. who took flesh and blood upon him seventeen hundred years ago; Heb. i. 14. and thus became a complete man: He was made of a woman; Gal. iv. 4. was born of the virgin Mary, in an extraordinary manner, without an earthly father; Lukei. 35. and was for this reason also called the Son of God. He lived above thirty years a man among men, taught divine doctrine here on earth, and wrought various divine wonders to confirm it, was crucified by the Jews and Romans, rose again from the dead, left this world, and ascended to his Father, and our Father, to his God and our God; John xx. 17. even where he was before he appeared in flesh;-vi. 62.

VII. As this description raises Jesus Christ far above the dignity of angels, and carries something divine in it, so there are several express ascriptions of true and proper divinity or godhead to him. This glorious person, Jesus the Son of God, hath divine names, titles, attributes, operations and worship ascribed to him, even such whereby God the Father himself is known and distinguished to be the true God, &c.

Is the Father called the Lord our God often in scripture? So Thomas calls Christ, My Lord, and my God; John xx. 28. Is the Father called, "the First and the Last;" Is. xliv. 6. So is the Son; Rev. i. 17. and xxi. 13. Is the Father called Jehovah, the mighty God, and God blessed for ever? So is Christ; Jer. xxiii. 6. Is. ix. 6. Rom ix. 5. Christ is that Jehovah, whom all the angels of God must worship; Ps. xcvii. 17. compared with Heb. i. 6. Christ is that God, that Jehovah, who laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of his hands Heb. i. 10, 12. compared with Ps. cii. 22, 25. He is that Lord and God, who ascended on high, and led captivity captive; Ps. lxviii. 18. compared with Eph. iv. 8. He is that Jehovah, on whose name, those who call, shall be delivered, or saved; Joel ii. 32. compared with Rom. x. 13.

These, and many other scriptures prove, that Jesus Christ

;

may be properly called true God: For our God is a jealous God, jealous of his honour and divine prerogatives; Ex. xxxiv. 17. Jehovah is his name, and he will not give his name and glory, his peculiar titles and attributes, to another; Is. xlii. 8. Therefore since Christ the Son of God, has these divine names, titles, and glories attributed to him, he must have true godhead, in some way or manner, belonging to him also.

VIII. Since Jesus Christ, considered as man, cannot have these divine names and titles belonging to him; therefore the man Jesus must be united to God, or one with God, to have a right to these names, &c. Thus the Son of God plainly appears to be a complex person, who has two distinct natures united in him, namely, God and man: And under this character he is several times represented in scriptures, in the Old and New Testament, He is the child, who is born, and yet the mighty God; Is. ix. 6. He is the righteous branch of David, whose name is Jehovah our righteousness, &c. Jer. xxiii. 5, 6. He is Emmanuel, or God with us; Mat. i. 23. He is the Word, who was with God, who was God, and was made flesh: John i, 1, 14. He is God, even the living God, manifest in the flesh, who was taken up in glory; 1 Tim. iii. 15, 16. He is a man, in whom dwells all the fulness of the godhead bodily; Col. ii. 9. A man of the seed of David, and yet God over all, blessed for ever: Rom. ix. 5.

True God and true man are united in this wondrous Person, as one complex principle of doing and suffering, even as the body and the soul are united in every man to make one complex agent. And thereby Christ is divinely fitted for those blessed offices which he sustains, the work which he performs, and the worship which he receives. God redeemed his church with his own blood; Acts xx. 28. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive glory and blessing; Rev. v. 12. This is the most plain and clear account, which the scripture gives us of Christ the Son of God. Now let us enquire what is the most easy and obvious notion of the blessed Spirit in scripture.

IX. The Spirit of God seems to be most usually represented, in the Old Testament and in the New, as a distinct, eternal, essential principle in the godhead, even as the spirit of a man is a natural, essential principle in man. This is the comparison used in scripture: 1 Cor. ii. 11. As none knows the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, which is in him; even so the things of God, knoweth none but the Spirit of God. A number of other texts seem to conspire in this representation: Ps. cxxxix. 7. Whither

The pious and venerable Doctor Owen, in his, “Discourse of the Holy Spirit." in his little book of the Trinity makes no scruple to use the term "a distipct principle of operation." and represents it," as subsisting in one godhead, in the divine essence or being;" and this he does in several places of that dis

course.

shall I go from thy Spirit, whither shall I flee from thy presence? where the term Spirit signifies God himself, or a distinct principle in the Divine Essence. Ps. cvi. 33. The children of Israel provoked his Spirit; Is. lvi. 10. They rebelled and vexed his holy Spirit, even as the spirit of a prince is provoked and vexed by the rebellion of his subjects. So Eph. iv. 30. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed. These have quieted my Spirit in the north country, &c. Zech. vi. 8.

As the spirit of a man, or of any living creature, does not imply another being, derived from that creature, but a natural principle of operation in the very essence of that creature, and whereby that creature acts, so the Holy Spirit is generally called the Spirit of God, not to denote another inferior being derived from God, but some eternal glorious principle in the very essence of God, some principle or power in and of the true and eternal godhead, by which God operatest. So Ps. xxxiii. 6. The Hosts of Heaven are formed by the breath or Spirit of God; Job. xxvi. 13. By his Spirit he garnished the heavens; Ps. li. 12. David prays that God would uphold him by his free Spirit; Rom. viii. 11. God shall quicken your mortal bodies, that is, raise from the dead, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Thus God createth the world, and raiseth the dead by his Spirit, as an almighty principle of operation*,

you

X. This Divine Principle, the Spirit of God, is sometimes represented in a personal manner as a divine person, or sovereign

Note, I have, in some of my writings, used the word "power," to denote this principle of operation in the godhead, since this word is very much used in scripture to describe the Holy Spirit. Luke i. 35. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; Acts x. 38. Jesus of Nazareth was anointed with the Holy Spirit, and with power. John iii. 34. He had the Spirit given him without measure; and it was by this Spirit he wrought miracies, and cast out devils, and healed diseases, which in other places, is called the finger of God, and the power of God; Mat. xii. 28. Luke x. 20. and v. 17. The apostles waited at Jerusalem for the promise of the spirit, which, Luke xxiv. 49. is called their being endued with power from on high; the word is duvais, power, not or authority: And many other scriptures might be cited for this purpose.

Let it be noted also, that the word "power" does not lead us, into the idea of another distinct substance, in the godhead, as the word "principle" might chance to do.

It might be added, perhaps under this proposition, that, when the Spirit of God is represented as speaking or acting in believers, he seems to be described as the Spirit of the Father, or a divine almighty principle really belonging to God, which operates in them, but is entirely distinct and different from their own spirits; so Mat. x. 20. It is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. It is this same Spirit of God, which taught their tongues to speak strange languages, and wrought miracles by their lips and their hands. It is manifested as a divine principle of agency speaking and acting in them, infinitely different from all their human principles of acting: This appeared eminently in the primitive and inspired christians, and in the ancient prophets; they were actuated as by another spirit, or a divine active principle, distinct from and vastly superior to their own.

intelligent Agent, even as the true eternal God himself, with divine names, titles, attributes, &c. So the spirit of a man, though it be but one distinct principle in man, yet is sometimes represented as the man himself: And this is very common in the Hebrew idiom and sometimes in other languages. There are several instances of this representation of the spirit of God in scripture. Is God the Father the God of Israel? And is not the Holy Spirit so too? 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3. The Spirit of Jehovah spake by me, the God of Israel said. The Holy Ghost is that Jehovah who was tempted by the Jews in the wilderness Compare Ps. xcv. 3. with Heb. iii. 7-9. He is that God that dwells in the saints as in his temple; 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. and vi. 19. He is that God to whom Ananias told a lie; Acts v. 3, 4. Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. He is that divine Person, who said, Separate to me Paul and Barnabas for the work whereunto I have called them; Acts xiii. 2. He is that Divine Agent, who sent Peter to Cornelius; Acts x. 20. said to him, behold two men seek thee, go with them for I have The Spirit sent them↑.

Here note, That there are some places of scripture, wherein it is pretty difficult to determine, whether the Holy Spirit be represented as the sovereign divine Agent, that is, God himself; or, as a distinct power, or principle in the godhead, by which God the Father acts. texts may be fairly interpreted both ways, without any And, upon this account, some venience: Yet, in other places, this distinction is plainly obinconserved, as may appear by several of these scriptures which I have cited.

XI. Sometimes this Divine Principle, the Holy Spirit, is represented in a personal manner, but in a subordinate character, and as a person more directly acting according to the economy of the gospel. Then he is set forth, not only as proceeding* from the Father, and given to the Son, but he is described also as sent both by the Father and the Son, to perform various offices and operations in the world, and especially in the church. John xv. 26. When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And though under

Here I take occasion to correct a mistake of my memory, in my last "Dissertations on the Trinity, where I did not remember, that the pronoun I, was applied to the Holy Spirit in the New Testament.

*I do not here enter into that question, whether the Holy Spirit, considered in his own divine essence, or subsistence, is derived from the Father, or from the Son, or both? But I content myself here to declare, that, as to the economy of the gospel, and the manner of operation, the Spirit proceeds from the Father, and is sent both by the Father and the Son. This is plain scripture, and beyond all dispute.

this idea in the christian economy, the Spirit is represented in a subordinate manner, yet in his divine nature or godhead he is truly, essentially, and eternally one with God the Father.

If this proposition does not give full satisfaction concerning the representation of the Holy Spirit, in a subordinate manuer in some scriptures, perhaps, the next proposition may relieve those difficulties.

XII. The term Spirit, and Holy Spirit, in scripture, does not always signify the divine Agent himself, but sometimes it means his gifts, graces, and influences, the virtue or efficacy of this divine principle in godhead. Nor is this at all strange, for Jesus Christ himself is called the Word of God, becaue he reveals the will of God to men; and yet the very laws and revelations, which God hath given to men by Jesus Christ, are sometimes also called the Word of God; so, though the Spirit of God himself distributes gifts, and graces, and divine influences among men, yet these very gifts and graces, and divine influences, which are given by the Spirit, are also sometimes called the Holy Spirit. This has been always granted by our

best writers.

And perhaps, this may be the meaning of that term, in some of those places of scripture, where the Spirit is said to be poured out upon men, to be shed down on the apostles, to be given to believers by laying on the hands of the apostles, where men are said to have a portion of the Spirit, whether greater, or less, or double or perhaps, where the Spirit is said to be, or not to be given by measure, or where persons are said to be filled, or anointed with the Spirit. Perhaps, I say some of these scriptural phrases may be better explained concerning the gifts, graces, and influences of the Holy Spirit, than concerning the divine Agent himself, who is true God. It seems to be much more proper to say, divine influences are shed down, poured out, and given to men, by laying on of hands, &c. then to say, that the true God himself is shed down, is poured out, or given to some men, by other men's laying hands upon them; or than to say, we are anointed with God, or God is given, or not given, by measure, &c.*

There are several other scriptures that confirm this proposition. It is evident that it was the Holy Spirit by which Elijah spoke and acted, and yet it is called the Spirit of Elijah, that is, his gifts; 2 Kings ii. 9, 15. It is the Holy Spirit by which the Corinthians spake, yet it is called the spirits of prophets, and these are said to be subject to the prophets; 1 Cor. xiv. 32. which would hardly be said concerning the divine Agent, or God himself. See Poole's Annotations.

This proposition does by no means deny, or diminish the truth and glory of the Spirit of God dwelling eminently in the human nature of Christ, who was anointed and filled with the Spirit, and subordinately in every true christian : For God himself is said to dwell in his people, as in his temple, and the Spirit of