apostle undoubtedly distinguishes the Spirit from the doctrine, when he calls the Corinthians 'the epistle of Christ, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God."" (Exposition of Creed.)

Finally, that the Holy Ghost is a person, and not an attribute, is proved by the use of masculine pronouns and relatives in the Greek of the New Testament, in connection with the neuter noun vεʊμɑ, Spirit ; and by so many distinct personal acts being ascribed to him, as, to come, Jo go, to be sent, to teach, to guide, to comfort, to make intercession, to bear witness, to give gifts, “dividing them to every man as he wILL," to be vexed, grieved, and quenched. These cannot be applied to the mere fiction of a person, and they, therefore, establish the Spirit's true personality.

Some additional arguments, to those before given to establish the DIVINITY of the Holy Ghost may also be adduced.

The first is taken from his being the subject of blasphemy-"the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men," Matt. xii, 31. This blasphemy consisted in ascribing his miraculous works to Satan; and that he is capable of being blasphemed proves him to be as much a person as the Son; and it proves him to be Divine, because it shows that he may be sinned against, and so sinned against, that the blasphemer shall not be forgiven. A person he must be, or he could not be blasphemed; a Divine person he must be to constitute this blasphemy a sin against him in the proper sense, and of so malignant a kind as to place it beyond the reach of mercy.

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He is called God. "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie unto the Holy Ghost? Why hast thou conceived this in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men; but unto God." Ananias is said to have lied, particularly unto the Holy Ghost," because the apostles were under his special direction, in establishing the temporary regulation among Christians that they should have all things in common; the detection of the crime itself was a demonstration of the Divinity of the Spirit, because it showed his omniscience, his knowledge of the most secret acts. In addition to the proof of his Divinity thus afforded by this history, he is also called God, "Thou hast not lied unto men; but unto GOD." He is also called the LORD, "Now the Lord is that Spirit," 2 Cor. iii, 17. He is ETERNAL, "the eternal Spirit," Heb. ix, 14. OMNIPRESENCE is ascribed to him, "Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost;""As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Now, as all true Christians are his temples, and are led by him, he must be present to them at all times and in all places. He is said to be OMNISCIENT, "The Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God." Here the Spirit is said to search or know "all things" absolutely; and then, to make this more emphatic, that he knows "the deep things of God," things hidden from every creature, the depths of

his essence, and the secrets of his counsels; for, that this is intended, appears from the next verse, where he is said to know "the things of God," as the spirit of a man knows the things of a man. SUPREME MAJESTY is also attributed to him, so that "to lie to him," to "blaspheme" him, "to vex" him, to do him "despite," are sins, and render the offender liable to Divine punishment.

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He is the source of INSPIRATION. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." "He shall lead you into all truth." He is the source and fountain of LIFE. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth." "He that raised up Christ from the dead shall quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." As we have seen him acting in the material creation, so he is the author of the NEW CREATION, which is as evidently a work of Divine power as the former: "Born of the Spirit ;" "The renewing of the Holy Ghost." He is the author of religious COMFORT-"The Comforter." The moral attributes of God are also given to him. HOLINESS, which includes all in one:— the Holy Ghost is his eminent designation. GOODNESS and GRACE are his attributes. "Thy Spirit is good." "The Spirit of grace." TRUTH also, for he is "the Spirit of truth."

How impracticable it is to interpret the phrase, "The Holy Ghost," as a periphrasis for God himself, has been proved in considering some of the above passages, and will be obvious from the slightest consider. ation of the texts. A Spirit, which is the Spirit of GOD; which is so often distinguished FROM the Father: which "SEES" and "HEARS" "the Father;" which SEARCHES " the deep things" of God; which is "SENT” by the Father; which "PROCEEDETH" from him; and who has special PRAYER addressed to him at the same time as the Father, cannot, though "one with him," be the Father; and that he is not the Son, is acknow. ledged on both sides.

As a DIVINE PERSON, our regards are, therefore, justly due to him as the object of worship and trust, of prayer and blessing; duties to which we are specially called, both by the general consideration of his Divi. nity, and by that affectingly benevolent and attractive character under which he is presented to us in the whole Scriptures. In creation we see him moving upon the face of chaos, and reducing it to a beautiful order; in providence, "renewing the face of the earth," "garnishing the heavens," and "giving life" to man. In grace we behold him expanding the prophetic scene to the vision of the seers of the Old Tes tament, and making a perfect revelation of the doctrine of Christ to the apostles of the New. He "reproves the world of sin,” and works secret conviction of its evil and danger in the heart. He is "the Spirit of grace and supplication;" the softened heart, the yielding will, all heavenly desires and tendencies are from him. He hastens to the troubled spirits of penitent men, who are led by his influence to Christ,

and in whose hearts he has wrought faith, with the news of pardon, and "bears witness" of their sonship "with their spirit." He aids their "infirmities;" makes "intercession for them;" inspires thoughts of consolation and feelings of peace; plants and perfects in them whatsoever things are pure, and lovely, and honest, and of good report; delights in his own work in the renewed heart; dwells in the soul as in ja temple; and, after having rendered the spirit to God, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, sanctified and meet for heaven, finishes his benevolent and glorious work by raising the bodies of saints in immortal life at the last day. So powerfully does "the Spirit of glory and of God" claim our love, our praise, and our obedience! In the forms of the Churches of Christ, in all ages, he has, therefore, been associated with the Father and the Son, in equal glory and blessing; and where such forms are not in use, this distinct recognition of the Spirit, so much in danger of being neglected, ought, by ministers, to be most carefully and constantly made, in every gratulatory act of devotion, that so equally to each person of the eternal trinity glory may be given "in the Church throughout all ages. Amen."

The essential and fundamental character of the doctrine of the holy and undivided trinity has been already stated, and the more fully the evidences of the Divinity of the Son and the Spirit are educed from the sacred writings, the more deeply we shall be impressed with this view, and the more binding will be our obligation to " contend earnestly for" this part of "the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." Nor can the plea here be ever soundly urged, that this is a merely speculative doctrine; for, as it has been well observed by a learned writer, "The truth is, the doctrine of the trinity is so far from being merely a matter of speculation, that it is the very essence of the Christian religion, the foundation of the whole revelation, and connected with every part of it. All that is peculiar in this religion has relation to the redemption of Christ, and the sanctification of the Spirit. And whosoever is endeavouring to invalidate these articles is overthrowing or undermining the authority of this dispensation, and reducing it to a good moral system only, or treatise of ethics.

"If the Word, or Logos, who became incarnate, was a created being only, then the mystery of his incarnation, so much insisted on in Scripture, and the love expressed to mankind thereby, so much magnified, dwindle into an interested service; and a short life of sufferings, concluded, indeed, with a painful death, is rewarded with Divine honours, and a creature advanced thereby to the glory of the Creator; for the command is plain and express, that all the angels of God' should worship him.' And have not many saints and martyrs undergone the same sufferings without the like glorious recompense? And is not the advantage to Christ himself, by his incarnation and passion, greater on this VOL. I.

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supposition, than to men, for whose sake the sacred writers represent this scheme of mercy undertaken?

"Again: if the motions of the Holy Spirit, so frequently spoken of, are only figurative expressions, and do not necessarily imply any real person who is the author of them, or if this person be only a created being, then we are deprived of all hopes of Divine assistance in our spiritual warfare; and have nothing but our own natural abilities wherewith to contend against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And is it not amazing that this article could ever be represented as a mere abstracted speculation, when our deliverance both from the penalty and power of sin does so plainly depend upon it? In the sacred writings a true faith is made as necessary as a right practice, and this in particular in order to that end. For Arianism, Socinianism, and all those several heresies, of what kind or title soever, which destroy the Divinity of the Son and Holy Ghost, are, indeed, no other than different schemes of infidelity; since the authority, end, and influence of the Gospel are as effectually made void by disowning the characters in which our Redeemer and Sanctifier are there represented, as even by contesting the evidences of its Divine original. These notions plainly rob those two Divine persons of their operations and attributes, and of the honour due to them; lessen the mercy and mystery of the scheme of our salvation; degrade our notion of ourselves and our fellow creatures; alter the nature of several duties, and weaken those great motives to the observance of all that true Christianity proposes to us." (Dodwell.)

END OF VOL. I.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

PART I. EVIDENCES OF THE DIVINE AUTHORITY OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.
CHAP. I. Man a moral Agent.

Page 5

II. The Rule which determines the Quality of Moral Actions must be
presumed to be Matter of Revelation from God

III. Farther Presumptions of a direct Revelation, from the Weakness
and Corruption of human Reason, and the Want of Authority
in merely human Opinions

IV. Farther Proofs of the Weakness and Uncertainty of human Reason
V. The Origin of those Truths which are found in the Writings and
Religious Systems of the Heathen

VI. The Necessity of Revelation-State of Religious Knowledge
among the Heathen.

VII. The Necessity of Revelation-State of Morals among the Heathen
VIII. The Necessity of Revelation-Religions of the Heathen

IX. The Evidences necessary to authenticate a Revelation-External
Evidence.

X. The Evidences necessary to authenticate a Revelation continued
-Internal Evidence-Collateral Evidence

XI. The Use and Limitation of Reason in Religion

XII. Antiquity of the Scriptures .

105

XIII. The uncorrupted Preservation of the Books of Scripture

134

XIV. The Credibility of the Testimony of the Sacred Writers
XV. The Miracles of Scripture .

XVI. Objections to the Proof from Miracles considered

XVII. Prophecies of Scripture

XVIII. Objections to the Evidence from Prophecy considered

XIX. Internal Evidence of the Truth of Scripture-Collateral Evidence
XX. Miscellaneous objections answered

156

175

194

204

236

PART II.-DOCTRINES OF THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

I. The Existence of God,

263

II. ATTRIBUTES of God:-Unity, Spirituality

336

III.

IV.

-Eternity, Omnipotence, Ubiquity
-Omniscience

353

371

V.

-Immutability, Wisdom.

398

VI.

Goodness

411

VII.

-Holiness

436

VIII. GOD:-The Trinity in Unity

IX. TRINITY:-Scripture Testimony

X.

-Pre-existence of Christ

XI.

-Jesus Christ the Jehovah of the Old Testament

XII. The Titles of Christ

505

XIII. Christ possessed of Divine Attributes

577

XIV. Acts of Christ Proofs of his Divinity

588

XV. Divine Worship paid to Christ

596

XVI. Humanity of Christ-Hypostatic Union-Errors as to the Person

616

of Christ.

XVII. Personality and Deity of the Holy Ghost

628