Book 1

General Principles Concerning the HOLY SPIRIT AND HIS WORK. CHAP. I.

(1.) 1 Cor. 12. 1. opened. [[original in non-Latin script]], spiritual Gifts. Their Grant to, Use, and Abuse in that Church. (2.) Jesus, how called Anathema; impiety of the Jews. How called Lord. The Foundation of Church-Order and Worship. (3.) In what sense we are enabled by the Spirit to call Jesus Lord. (4.) The Holy Spirit the Author of all Gifts; why called God, and the Lord. (5.) General Distribution of Spiritual Gifts. (6.) Proper End of their Communication. (7.) Nine sorts of Gifts; Abuse of them in the Church. Their tendency to Peace and Order. (8.) General Design of the ensuing Discourse concerning the Spirit and his Dispensation. (9.) Importance of the Doctrine concerning the Spirit of God, and his Operations. Reasons hereof. (10.) Promise of the Spirit to supply the Absence of Christ, as to his Humane Nature. Concernment thereof. (11.) Work of the Spirit in the Ministration of the Gospel. (12, 13.) All saving Good communicated to us; and wrought in us by Him. (14.) Sin against the Holy Ghost irremissible. (15.) False pretences to the Spirit dangerous. (16.) Pretences to the Spirit of Prophesie under the Old Testament. (17.) Two sorts of false Prophets; the first. (18.) The second sort. (19.) Pretenders under the New Testament. (20, 21.) The Rule for the Tryal of such Pretenders, 1 John 4. 1, 2, 3. (22.) Rules to this purpose under the Old and New Testament compared. (23.) A false Spirit set up against the Spirit of God, examined. (24.) False and noxious Opinions concerning the Spirit, and how to be obviated. (25.) Reproaches of the Spirit and his Work. (26.) Further declared. (27.) Principles and Occasions of the Apostasie of Churches under the Law and Gospel. (28.) Dispensation of the Spirit not confined to the first Ages of the Church. (29, 30, 31.) The great necessity of a diligent enquiry into the things taught, concerning the Spirit of God and his Work.

Sect. 1 THE Apostle Paul, in the 12th Chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians, directs their Exercise of Spiritual Gifts; concerning which, among other Things and Emergencies, they had made enquiry of him. This, the first words wherewith he prefaces his whole Discourse, declare, vers. 1. Now concerning Spiritual Gifts;[[original in non-Latin script]]; that is, [[original in non-Latin script]], as his ensuing Declaration does evince. And the imagination of some concerning Spiritual Persons to be here intended, contrary to the sense of all the Ancients, is inconsistent with the Context. For as it was about Spiritual Gifts and their Exercise that the Church had consulted with him; so the whole series of his ensuing Discourse is directive therein. And therefore in the close of it, contracting the Design of the whole, he does it in that advice, [[original in non-Latin script]], covet the best Gifts, namely, among those which he proposed to treat of, and had done so accordingly, vers. 31. The [[original in non-Latin script]] of vers. 1. are the [[original in non-Latin script]] of vers. 31. as it is exprest, chap. 14. 1. [[original in non-Latin script]]; that is, [[original in non-Latin script]], desire Spiritual Gifts; whose Nature and Use you are now instructed in, as at first was proposed. Of these that Church had received an abundant measure, especially of those that were Extraordinary, and tended to the Conviction of Unbelievers. For the Lord having much people in that City, whom he intended to call to the Faith, Acts 18. 9, 10. not onely incouraged our Apostle against all fears and dangers to begin and carry on the Work of Preaching there, wherein he continued an year and six months, vers. 11. but also furnished the first Converts with such eminent, and some of them such miraculous Gifts, as might be a prevalent means to the Conversion of many others. For he will never be wanting to provide Instruments and suitable means for the effectual attaining of any End that he aimes at. In the Use, Exercise and Management of these Spiritual Gifts, that Church or sundry of the Principal Members of it, had fallen into manifold disorders; and abused them to the matter of Emulation and Ambition, whereon other Evils did ensue; as the best of God's Gifts may be abused by the Lusts of Men, and the purest Water may be tainted by the Earthen Vessels whereinto it is poured. Upon the information of some, who loving Truth, Peace, and Order, were troubled at these Miscarriages, chap. 1. 11. and in Answer to a Letter of the whole Church written to him about these and other Occurrences, Chap. 7. 1. he gives them Counsel and Advice for the rectifying of these Abuses. And first, to prepare them aright with humility and thankfulness becoming them who were intrusted with such excellent Priviledges as they had abused, and without which they could not receive the Instruction which he intended them, he mindes them of their former State and Condition before their Calling and Conversion to Christ, vers. 2. You know that you were Gentiles, carried away with dumb Idols, even as you were led;[[original in non-Latin script]]; Hurried with violent Impressions from the Devil, into the service of Idols. This he mentions not to reproach them, but to let them know what frame of Mind, and what fruit of Life might be justly expected from them, who had received such an alteration in their Condition. Particularly as he elsewhere tells them, If they had not made themselves to differ from others; if they had nothing but what they had received, they should not boast nor exalt themselves above others, as though they had not received, chap. 4. v. 7. For it is a vain thing for a man to boast in himself of what he has freely received of another, and never deserved so to receive it; as it is with all who have received either Gifts or Grace from God.

No man can thus own and confess Jesus to be the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Any thing which doth not proceed from the same Cause and Fountain, is of no Use to the Glory of God, nor of any advantage unto the Souls of Men. The Foundation of all Church-Relation, Order, and Worship did consist in the acknowledgment of Christ's Lordship, which was not from themselves, but was a pure Effect of the Operation of the Holy Ghost.

Sect. 3 Some think, that this saying of Jesus to be the Lord, is to be restrained to the manner of speaking afterwards insisted on. For the Apostle in the following verses treates of those Extraordinary Gifts, which many in that Church were then endowed withall. None can, saith he, say Jesus is the Lord, in an extraordinary manner, with divers tongues, and in Prophesy, but by the Holy Ghost. Without his especial Assistance, none can eminently and miraculously declare him so to be. And if this be so, it is likely that those before intended, who said Jesus was accursed, were some Persons pretending to be acted, or really acted by an extraordinary Spirit, which the Apostle declares not to be the Spirit of God. And so Chrysostome interprets those words of them who were visibly and violently acted by the Devil. Many such Instruments of his Malice did Satan stir up in those dayes, to preserve, if it were possible, his tottering Kingdom from Ruine. But there is no necessity thus to restrain the words, or to affix this sense to them. Yea, it seems to me to be inconsistent with the Design of the Apostle, and Scope of the Place. For intending to instruct the Corinthians, as was said, in the Nature, Use, and Exercise of Spiritual Gifts, he first lays down the Spring and Fountain of all Saving Profession of the Gospel, which those Gifts were designed to the furtherance and improvement of. Hereupon having minded them of their Heathen State and Condition before, he lets them know by what means they were brought into the Profession of the Gospel, and owning of Jesus to be the Lord, in opposition to the dumb Idols whom they had served. And this was by the Author of those Gifts, to whose consideration he was now addressing himself. The great Change wrought in them as to their Religion and Profession, was by the Holy Ghost. For no Man can say that Jesus is the Lord, which is the Sum and Substance of our Christian Profession, but by him; though some think he has little or no concern at all in this matter. But to say Christ is the Lord, includes two things; First, Faith in him as Lord and Saviour. So was he declared and preached by the Angels; Luke 2. 11. A Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And this word Lord, includes as the Dignity of his Person, so his Investiture with those Offices which for our Good this Lord did exercise and discharge. Secondly, The profession of that Faith; which two, where they are sincere, do always accompany each other; Rom. 10. 10. For as the saying of Jesus to be Anathema, did comprise an open Disclaimure and Abrenunciation of him; so the calling of him Lord, expresses the Profession of our Faith in him, and Subjection to him. And both these are here intended to be sincere and saving. For that Faith and Profession are intended, whereby the Church is built upon the Rock; the same with that of Peter, You art Christ the Son of the Living God, Matth. 16. 16. And that these are the Works of the Holy Ghost, which none of themselves are sufficient for, shall God assisting be afterwards abundantly declared.

Sect. 4 Having thus stated the Original and Foundation of the Church, in its Faith, Profession, Order and Worship, he farther acquaints them, that the same Spirit is likewise the Author of all those Gifts, whereby it was to be built up and established, and whereby the Profession of it might be enlarged; V. 4. Now there are diversities of Gifts, but the same Spirit. These are the things which he intendes to discourse upon, wherein he enlarges himself in the whole ensuing Chapter. Now because the Particulars here insisted on by him in the beginning of his Discourse, will all of them occur to us and be called over again in their proper places, I shall only point to the Heads of the Discourse, in the verses preceeding the Eleventh, which we principally aim it.

Treating therefore, [[original in non-Latin script]], of these Spiritual Things or Gifts in the Church, he first declares their Author, from whom they come, and by whom they are wrought and bestowed. Him he calls the Spirit, v. 4. the Lord, v. 5. God, v. 6. And to denote the Oneness of their Author, notwithstanding the diversity of the things themselves, he calls him the same Spirit, the same Lord, the same God. The words [[original in non-Latin script]][[original in non-Latin script]] may be understood two wayes; First, That the whole Trinity, and each Person distinctly should be intended in them. For consider the immediate Operator of these Gifts, and it is the Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, vers. 4. Consider them as to their Procurement, and immediate Authoritative Collation; and so they are from Christ, the Son, the Lord, vers. 5. But as to their first Original and Fountain, they are from God, even the Father, vers. 6. And all these are one and the same. But rather the Spirit alone is intended, and has this three-fold denomination given to him; For as he is particularly denoted by the Name of the Spirit, which he uses that we may know whom it is that eminently he intendes, so he calls him both Lord, and God, as to manifest his Sovereign Authority in all his Works and Administrations; so to ingenerate a due Reverence in their Hearts towards him with whom they had to do in this Matter. And no more is intended in these three Verses, but what is summed up vers. 11. But all these workes that one and the self same Spirit, dividing to every Man severally as he will.

Sect. 5 Secondly; With respect to their general Nature, The Apostle distributes them into Gifts,[[original in non-Latin script]], v. 4. Administrations,[[original in non-Latin script]], v. 5. Operations,[[original in non-Latin script]], v. 6. which Division, with the Reasons of it, will in our Progress be farther cleared.

Sect. 6 Thirdly; He declares the general End of the Spirit of God in the Communication of them, and the Use of them in the Church, vers. 7. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every Man to profit withal;[[original in non-Latin script]]; Syr.[[original in non-Latin script]], the Revelation of the Spirit; that is, the Gifts whereby, and in whose Exercise he manifests and reveals his own Presence, Power, and effectual Operation. And the Spirit of God has no other aim in granting these his enlightning Gifts, wherein he manifests his care of the Church, and declares the things of the Gospel to any Man, but that they should be used to the Profit, Advantage, and Edification of others. They are not bestowed on Men, to make their secular Gain or, Advantage by them, in Riches, Honour, or Reputation, for which Ends Simon the Magician would have purchased them with his Money, Acts 8. 19. No nor yet meerly for the good and benefit of the Souls of them that do receive them, but for the Edification of the Church, and the furtherance of Faith and Profession in others, [[original in non-Latin script]]; ad id quod expedit, prodest; For that which is expedient, useful, profitable, namely to the Church, 1 Cor. 6. 12. Chap. 10. 23. 2 Cor. 8. 10. Thus was the Foundation of the first Churches of the Gospel laid by the Holy Ghost, and thus was the Work of their building to perfection, carried on by him. How far present Churches do, or ought to stand on the same bottom, how far they are carried on upon the same Principles, is worth our Enquiry, and will in its proper Place fall under our Consideration.

Sect. 7 Fourthly; The Apostle distributes the Spiritual Gifts then bestowed on the Church, or some Members of it, into nine Particular Heads or Instances. As (1) Wisdom. (2.) Knowledg, v. 8. or the Word of Wisdom, and the Word of Knowledg. (3.) Faith. (4) Healing, vers. 9. (5.) Working of Miracles. (6.) Prophesy. (7.) Discerning of Spirits.

(8.) Kinds of Tongues. (9) Interpretation of Tongues, v. 10. And all these were extraordinary Gifts, in the manner of the Communication and Exercise, which related to the then present state of the Church. What is yet continued anologous to them, or holding proportion with them, must be farther enquired into; when also their especial Nature will be unfolded. But now if there be that great Diversity of Gifts in the Church, if so much Difference in their Administrations, how can it possibly be prevented but that Differences and Divisions will arise among them on whom they are bestowed, and those among whom they are excercised? It is true, this may so fall out and sometimes does so, and de facto it did so in this Church of Corinth. One Admired one Gift, a second another of a different kind, and so the third. Accordingly among those who had received them, one boasted of this or that Particular Gift and Ability, and would be continually in its exercise to the exclusion and contempt of others, bestowed no less for the edification of the Church than his own. And so far were they transported with vain-Glory, and a desire of self-Advancement, as that they preferred the use of those Gifts in the Church, which tended principally to beget Astonishment and Admiration in them which heard or beheld them, before those which were peculiarly useful to the Edification of the Church it self; which Evil in particular the Apostle rebukes at large Chap. 14. By this means the Church came to be divided in it self, and almost to be broken in Pieces. Chap. 1. v. 11, 12. So foolish oftimes are the minds of Men; so liable to be imposed upon; so common is it for their Lusts seduced and principled by the crafts of Satan, to turn Judgment into Wormwood, and to abuse the most useful Effects of Divine Grace and Bounty. To prevent all these Evils for the future, and to manifest how perfect an harmony there is in all these divers Gifts and different Administrations, at what an Agreement they are among themselves in their Tendency to the same Ends of the Union and Edification of the Church, from what Fountain of Wisdom they do proceed, and with what Care they ought to be used and improved; the Apostle declares to them both the Author of them, and the Rule he proceedes by in their Dispensation; v. 11. All these, saith he,workes that one and self-same Spirit, dividing to every Man severally as he will.

Sect. 8 I shall not at present further open or insist upon these Words. Frequent recourse must be had to them in our Progress, wherein they will be fully explicated as to what concerns the Person of the Spirit, his Will, and his Operations which are all asserted in them. For my Purpose is, through the Permission and Assistance of God, to treat from hence of the Name, Nature, Existence, and whole Work of the Holy Spirit, with the Grace of God through Jesus Christ in the Communication of him to the Sons of Men. A Work in it self too great and difficult for me to undertake, and beyond my Ability to manage to the Glory of God, or the Edification of the Souls of them that do believe. For who is sufficient for these things? But yet I dare not utterly faint in it, nor under it, while I look to him whose Work it is, who gives Wisdom to them that lack it, and upbraides them not, Jam. 1. 5. Our Eys therefore are to him alone, who both supplies seed to the Sower, and when he has done blesses it with an encrease. The present Necessity, Importance, and Usefulness of this work, are the Things which alone have ingaged me into the undertaking of it. These therefore I shall briefly represent in some general Considerations, before I insist on the Things themselves whose especial Explanation is designed.

God appointed in his Infinite Wisdom two great Means of recovering Fallen Man: the giving of his Son for them, and the giving of his Spirit unto them. Hereby was way made for the Manifestation of the Glory of the whole Blessed Trinity, which is the utmost end of all the Works of God. The Holy Ghost, the Doctrine concerning his Person, his Work, his Grace, is the most peculiar and principal Subject of the Scriptures of the New Testament. The Principal remaining Promise of the New Testament, the spring of all the rest, concerneth the sending of the Holy Spirit unto the Accomplishment of his Part of that great Work which God had designed.

It was expedient for you that Christ goe away, for if he go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if he depart he will send him unto you. He who hath not the Spirit of Christ is none of his. Whatever the Lord Christ prayed for and promised was not for the Apostles alone, but for them also which should believe on him through their word. Is it possible that any Christian should be so supinely negligent, so inconcerned in the Things whereon his Present Comforts and future Happiness do absolutely depend, as not to inquire into what our Lord Jesus Christ hath left unto us to supply his Absence?

Sect. 11 Secondly; The great work of the Holy Ghost in the Dispensation and Ministration of the Gospel to all the Ends of it, is another evidence to the same Purpose. Hence the Gospel it self is called the Ministration of the Spirit, in opposition to that of the Law, which is called the Ministration of the Letter and of Condemnation, 2 Cor. 3. 8. [[original in non-Latin script]], the Ministry of the Spirit, is either that Ministry which the Spirit makes effectual; or that Ministry whereby the Spirit in his Gifts and Graces is communicated to Men. And this is that which gives to the Ministry of the Gospel both its Glory and its Efficacy. Take away the Spirit from the Gospel and you render it a dead Letter, and leave the New-Testament of no more use to Christians than the Old-Testament is of to the Jews. It is therefore a mischievous imagination proceeding from Ignorance Blindness and Unbelief, that there is no more in the Gospel, but what is conteyned under any other Doctrine or Declaration of Truth; that it is nothing but a Book for men to exercise their Reason in and upon, and to improve the things of it by the same Faculty. For this is to separate the Spirit or the Dispensation of the Spirit from it, which is in Truth to destroy it. And therewith is the Covenant of God rejected, which is, that his Word and Spirit shall go together, Isa. 59. v. 20. 21. We shall therefore, God assisting manifest in our Progress, that the whole Ministry of the Gospel, the whole Use and Efficacy of it, do depend on that Ministration of the Spirit wherewith according to the Promise of God it is accompanied. If therefore we have any concernment in, or have ever received any benefit by the Gospel or the Ministration of it, we have a signal Duty lying before us in the matter in hand.

Sect. 12 Thirdly; There is not any Spiritual or Saving-Good from first to last communicated to us, or that we are from and by the Grace of God made Partakers of, but it is revealed to us and bestowed on us by the Holy Ghost. He who has not an immediate and especial Work of the Spirit of God upon him and towards him, did never receive any especial Love Grace or Mercy from God. For how should he so do? Whatever God works in us and upon us he does it by his Spirit. He therefore who has no Work of the Spirit of God upon his heart, did never receive either Mercy or Grace from God. For God gives them not but by his Spirit. A disclamure therefore of any Work of the Spirit of God in us or upon us, is a disclamure of all Interest in his Grace and Mercy. And they may do well to consider it, with whom the Work of the Spirit of God is a Reproach. When they can tell us of any other way whereby a Man may be made Partaker of Mercy and Grace, we will attend to it; in the mean time we shall prove from the Scripture this to be the way of God.

Sect. 13 Fourthly; There is not any thing done in us or by us that is Holy and Acceptable to God, but it is an Effect of the Holy Spirit, it is of his operation in us and by us. Without him we can do nothing. For without Christ we cannot, Joh. 15. 5. And by him alone is the Grace of Christ communicated to us, and wrought in us. By him we are Regenerated, by him we are Sanctified, by him are we Cleansed, by him are we Assisted in and to every Good Work. Particular instances to this Purpose will be afterwards insisted on, and proved. And it is our unquestionable concernment to enquire into the Cause and Spring of all that is Good in us, wherein also we shall have a true discovery of the Spring and Cause of all that is Evil; without a competent knowledge of both which, we can do nothing as we ought.

Sect. 14 Fiftly; God lets us know that the only peculiarly remediless Sin and way of sinning under the Gospel, is to sin in an especial manner against the Holy Ghost. And this of it self is sufficient to convince us how needful it is for us to be well instructed in what concerns him. For there is somewhat that does so, which is accompanyed with irrecoverable and eternal Ruine. And so is nothing else in the World. So Mark 3. 28, 29. All sins shall be forgiven to the Sons of Men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme; but he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost, has never forgivness. Or, He that speakes against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this World, nor in the World to come, Matth. 12. 32. There remains nothing for him who does despite to the Spirit of Grace, but a certain fearful looking-for of Judgment and fiery Indignation that shall devour the Adversaries, Heb. 10. 27, 29. This is that sin to death whose remission is not to be prayed for, 1 Joh. 5. 16 For He having taken upon him to make effectual to us the great Remedy provided in the blood of Christ for the Pardon of our Sins, if He in the Prosecution of that Work be dispised, blasphemed, despitefully used, there neither is Relief, nor can there be Pardon for that Sin. For from where in that Case should they arise or Spring? As God has not another Son to offer another sacrifice for Sin, so that he by whom his Sacrifice is despised can have none remaining for him; no more has he another Spirit to make that Sacrifice effectual to us, if the Holy Ghost in his work be despised and rejected. This therefore is a tender Place. We cannot use too much Holy Diligence in our Enquiries after what God has revealed in his Word concerning his Spirit and his Work; seeing there may be so fatal a miscarriage in an opposition to him, as the Nature of Man is incapable of in any other Instance.

And these Considerations belong to the first Head of Reasons of the Importance, Use, and Necessity of the Doctrine proposed to be enquired into. They are enough to manifest what is the Concernment of all Believers herein. For on the Account of these things the Scripture plainly declares, as we observed before, that he who has not the Spirit of Christ is none of his; their Portion is not in him, they shall have no benefit by his Mediation. Men may please themselves with a Profession of being Christians and owning the Gospel, while they dispise the Spirit of God both name and thing. Their Condition we shall examine and judge by the Scripture before we come to the End of this Discourse. And for the Scripture it self, whoever reads the Books of the New-Testament, besides the great and precious Promises that are given concerning him in the Old, will find and conclude, unless he be prepossessed with Prejudice, that the whole of what is declared in those Writings, turns on this only hinge. Remove from them the consideration of the Spirit of God and his Work, and it will be hard to find out what they aim at or tend to.

Sect. 15 Secondly; The great Deceit and Abuse that has been in all Ages of the Church under the Pretence of the Name and Work of the Spirit, make the through-consideration of what we are taught concerning them, exceeding necessary. Had not these things been Excellent in themselves and so acknowledged by all Christians, they would never have been by so many falsely pretended to. Men do not seek to adorn themselves with Rags, or to boast of what on its own account is under just contempt. And according to the worth of things so are they liable to abuse. And the more excellent any thing is the more vile and pernitious is an undue Pretence to it. Such have been the false Pretences of some in all Ages to the Spirit of God and his work, whose real Excellencies in themselves, have made those pretences abominable and unspeakably dangerous. For the better the things are which are counterfeited, the worse always are the Ends they are employed to. In the whole World there is nothing so vile as that which pretendes to be God, and is not; nor is any other thing capable of so pernicious an abuse. Some Instances hereof I shall give both out of the Old Testament and the New.

Sect. 16 The most signal Gift of the Spirit of God for the Use of the Church under the Old Testament, was that of Prophesy. This therefore was deservedly in Honour and Reputation; as having a great impression of the Authority of God upon it, and in it of his Neerness to Man. Besides; those in whom it was had justly the Conduct of the Minds and Consciences of others given up to them. For they spoke in the Name of God, and had his warranty for what they proposed, which is the highest security of Obedience. And these things caused many to pretend to this Gift, who were indeed never inspired by the Holy Spirit, but were rather on the contrary acted by a Spirit of Lying and uncleanness. For it is very probable, that when Men falsly and in meer pretence took upon them to be Prophets divinely inspired, without any antecedent Diabolical Enthusiasm, that the Devil made use of them to compass his own Designs. Being given up by the righteous Judgment of God to all Delusions, for belying his Spirit and holy Inspirations, they were quickly possessed with a Spirit of Lying and unclean Divination. So the false Prophets of Ahab, who encouraged him to go up to Ramoth Gilead, foretelling his prosperous success, 1 Kings 22. 6. seemed only to have complied deceitfully with the Inclinations of their Master, and to have out-acted his other Courtiers in Flattery, by gilding it with a pretence of Prophesy. But when Micaiah came to lay open the Mystery of their Iniquity, it appeared that a Lying Spirit by the permission of God had possessed their Minds, and gave them Impressions, which being Supernatural, they were deceived as well as they did deceive, v. 21, 22, 23. This they were justly given up to, pretending falsly to the Inspiration of that Holy Spirit, which they had not received. And no otherwise has it fallen out with some in our Days, whom we have seen visibly acted by an extraordinary Power; unduely pretending to Supernatural Agitations from God, they were really acted by the Devil, a thing they neither desired nor looked after; but being surprized by it were pleased with it for a while; as it a was with sundry of the Quakers at their first appearance.

Sect. 17 Now these false Prophets of old were of two sorts, both mentioned Deut. 18. 20. First, such as professedly served other Gods, directing all their Prophetick actings to the Promotion of their Worship. Such were the Prophets of Baal, in whose name expresly they prophesied, and whose Assistance they invocated. They called on the name of Baal, saying, O Baal hear us, 1 Kings 18, 26, 27, 28. Many of these were slain by Elijah, and the whole Race of them afterwards extirpated by Jehu, 2 Kings 25, 26, 27, 28. This put an End to his Diety, for it is said, he destroyed Baal out of Israel; false Gods having no Existence but in the deceived Minds of their Worshippers. It may be asked why these are called Prophets? and so in general of all the false Prophets mentioned in the Scripture. Was it because they meerly pretended and counterfeited a Spirit of Prophesie, or had they really any such? I Answer, that I no way doubt, but that they were of both sorts. These Prophets of Baal were such as worshipped the Sun, after the manner of the Tyrians. Herein they had invented many Hellish Mysteries, Ceremonies, and Sacrifices; these they taught the People, by whom they were hired. Being thus engaged in the Service of the Devil, he actually possessed their minds as a Spirit of Divination, and enabled them to declare things unknown to other Men. They in the mean time really finding themselves acted by a Power superior to them, took and owned that to be the Power of their God; and thereby became immediate Worshippers of the Devil. This our Apostle declares 1 Cor. 10. 20. Whatever those who left the true God aimed at to worship, the Devil interposed himself between that and them as the Object of their Adoration. Hereby he became the God of this World, 2 Cor. 4. 4. Him whom in all their Idols they worshipped and adored. With a spirit of Divination from him were many of the false Prophets acted, which they thought to be the Spirit of their God. For they found themselves acted by a superior Power, which they could neither excuse nor resist. Others of them were meer Pretenders and Counterfeits, that deceived the foolish Multitude with vain false Predictions. Of these more will be spoken afterwards.

False pretending unto the Spirit of Prophesie was very far from casting any contempt on the real Gift of the Holy Ghost; nay it gave it the greater Glory and Lustre. God never more honoured his true Prophets, than when there were most false Ones.

Let their Doctrine be examined by the Scriptures, and if it be found consonant thereunto, it may be received without danger unto the Hearers, whatever corrupt Affections the Teachers may be influenced by.

Beloved, believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they are of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the World.

If we, or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto you, than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. Well had it been for many in our days had they attended unto such Rules, for through a neglect of them, accompanied with an ungrounded boldness and curiosity, they have hearkened to deceiving Spirits. The Apostle shews that for our advantage in the trial of Spirits, it is good to have a clear conviction of, and a constant adherence unto some fundamental Principles.

The more eminent in any Season are the real Effusions of the Holy Spirit upon the Ministers of the Gospel, the more Diligence and Watchfulness against Delusions are necessary. Knowledge of the Truth, trying of Spirits by the Doctrines of the Scriptures, and Dependence on the Holy Spirit for his Teachings according to the Word, are the things which the Apostle commends unto us. When God was pleased to renew a fresh communication of Spiritual Gifts and Graces unto Men in the Reformation, there arose everywhere by Satan's instigation false Pretenders to the Spirit of God.

Another God is a false God, another Christ is a false Christ, and another Spirit is a false Spirit, the Spirit of Antichrist.

Our Knowledge of things is more by their operations and proper Effects, than from their own Nature and formal Reason; especially is it so in Divine Things. The Holy Ghost is proposed unto us in the Scripture to be known by his Properties and Works, Adjuncts and Operations, and by our Duty towards him and our Offences against him.

The very name of the Spirit is grown to be a reproach; nor do some think they can more despightfully expose any to scorn, than by ascribing to them a Concern in the Spirit of God. In the Gospel every thing that is Good, Holy, Praiseworthy in any Man, is expressly assigned to the Spirit as the immediate Efficient Cause and Operator of it. It is dangerous venturing with Rudeness and Petulancy upon holy things, and then framing of Excuses.

Sect. 26 I say, it is so come to pass among many who profess they believe the Gospel to be true, that the Name or Naming of the Spirit of God is become a Reproach. So also is his whole work. And the Promise of him made by Jesus Christ to his Church, is rendred useless and frustrated. It was the main, and upon the matter the only supportment which he left to it in his Bodily Absence, the only means of rendring the work of his Mediation effectual in them and among them. For without him, all others, as the Word, Ministry, and Ordinances of Worship, are Lifeless and Useless. God is not Glorified by them, nor the Souls of Men advantaged. But it is now uncertain with some of what Use he is to the Church, yea as far as I can discern whether he be of any or no. Some have not trembled to say and contend, that some things as plainly ascribed to him in the Scripture, as words can make an assignation of any thing, are the cause of all the Troubles and Confusions in the World. Let them have the Word or Tradition outwardly revealing the Will of God, and what it is that he would have them do, (as the Jews have both to this day) these being made use of by their own Reason, and improved by their natural Abilites, they make up the whole of Man, all that is required to render the Persons or Duties of any accepted with God. Of what use then is the Spirit of God in these things? Of none at all it may be, nor the Doctrine concerning him, but only to fill the World with a buzze and noise, and to trouble the minds of Men with unintelligible Notions. Had not these things been spoken, they should not have been repeated, for Death lyes at the Door in them. So then Men may pray without him, and preach without him, and turn to God without him, and perform all their Duties without him well enough. For if any one shall plead the necessity of his Assistance for the due performance of these things, and ascribe to him all that is good and well done in them, he shall hardly escape from being notably derided. Yet all this while we would be esteemed Christians. And what do such Persons think of the Prayers of the Antient Church and Christians to him for the working of all Good in them, and their Ascriptions of every good thing to him? And wherein have we any advantage of the Jews, or wherein consists the preeminence of the Gospel? They have the Word of God, that part of it which was committed to their Church, and which in its kind is sufficient to direct their Faith and Obedience; For so is the sure Word of Prophesie if diligently attended to, 2 Pet. 1. 19. And if Traditions be of any use, they can outvie all the World. Neither does this sort of Men want their Wits, and the Exercise of them. Those who Converse with them in the things of this World, do not use to say they are all Fools. And for their Diligence in the Consideration of the letter of the Scripture, and inquiring into it according to the best of their Understanding, none will Question it, but those to whom they and their Concernments are unknown. And yet after all this, they are Jews still. If we have the New Testament, no otherwise then they have the Old, have only the letter of it to Philosophize upon according to the best of our Reasons and Understandings without any Dispensation of the Spirit of God accompanying it to give us a Saving Light into the Mistery of it, and to make it effectual to our Souls; I shall not fear to say, but that as they call themselves Jews and are not, but are the Syn[•]gogue of Sathan, Revel. 2. 9. So we who pretend our selves to be Christians, as to all the saving Ends of the Gospel, shall not be found in a better Condition.

And yet it were to be wished that even here bounds might be fixed to the fierceness of some Mens Spirits. But they will not suffer themselves to be so confined. In many Places they are transported with Rage, and Fury, so as to stir up Persecution against such as are really anointed with the Spirit of Christ, and that for no other Reason but because they are so. Gal. 4. 29. Other things indeed are pretended by them, but but all the World may see that they are not of such importance as to give Countenance to their wrath. This is the Latent cause which stirs it up, and is oftentimes openly expressed.

Sect. 27 These things at present are charged only as the Miscarriages of Private Persons. When they are received in Churches, they are the Cause of, and an Entrance into a Fatal Defection and Apostasy. From the Foundation of the World the Principal Revelation that God made of himself, was in the Oneness of his Nature, and his Monarchy over all. And herein the Person of the Father was immediately represented with his Power and Authority. For he is the Fountain and Original of the Deity, the other Persons as to their Subsistence being of him. Only he did withal give out Promises concerning the peculiar Exhibition of the Son in the Flesh in an appointed season, as also of the Holy Spirit to be given by him in an especial manner. Hereby were their Persons to be signally glorifyed in this World; it being the Will of God that all Men should honour the Son, as they honoured the Father; and the Holy Spirit in like manner. In this state of things, the only Apostacy of the Church could be Polutheisme and Idolatry. Accordingly so it came to pass. The Church of Israel was continually prone to these Abominations; so that scarcely a Generation passed, or very few, wherein the Body of the People did not more or less defile themselves with them. To wean and recover them from this Sin was the Principal End of the Preaching of those Prophets which God from time to time sent to them, 2 Kings 17. 13. And this also was the Cause of all the Calamities which befel them, and of all the Judgments which God inflicted on them, as is testifyed in all the Historical Books of the Old Testament, and confirmed by Instances innumerable. To put an End hereunto God at length brought a total Desolation upon the whole Church, and caused the People to be carried into Captivity out of their own Land. And hereby it was so far effected that upon their Return what-ever other sins they fell into, yet they kept themselves from Idols and Idolatry, Ezek. 16. 62, 63. Chap. 23. vers. 27, 48. And the Reason hereof was, because the time was now drawing nigh wherein they were to be tryed with another Dispensation of God. The Son of God was to be sent to them in the Flesh. To receive and obey him was now to be the principal Instance and Trial of their Faith and Obedience. They were no longer to be tried merely by their Faith whether they would own only the God of Israel, in opposition to all false Gods and Idols; for that Ground God had now absolutely won upon them; But now all is to turn on this Hinge, whether they would receive the Son of God coming in the Flesh according to the Promise; Here the Generallity of that Church and People fell by their Unbelief, apostatised from God, and became thereby neither Church nor People Joh. 8. 24. They being rejected, the Son of God calls and gathers another Church, founding it on his own Person with Faith and the Profession of it therein. Mat. 16. v. 18, 19. In this new Church therefore this Foundation is fixed and this Ground made Good, That Jesus Christ the Son of God is to be owned and honoured as we honour the Father. 1 Cor. 3. 11. And herein all that are duly called Christians do agree; as the Church of Israel did in one God after their return from the Captivity of Babylon; But now the Lord Jesus Christ being ascended to his Father, has committed his whole Affairs in the Church and in the World to the Holy Spirit. Joh. 16. 7, 8, 9, 10, 11. And it is on this Design of God, that the Person of the Spirit may be singularly exalted in the Church, to whom they were so in the dark before that some none of the worst of them professed they had not so much as heard whether there were any Holy Ghost or no, Acts 19. 2. that is, at least as to the peculiar Dispensation of him then introduced in the Church. Wherefore the Duty of the Church now immediately respects the Spirit of God, who acts towards it in the Name of the Father and of the Son. And with respect to him it is, that the Church in its present state is capable of an Apostasy from God; And whatever is found of this Nature among any here it has its Beginning. For the sin of despising his Person and rejecting his work now, is of the same Nature with Idolatry of Old, and the Jews Rejection of the Person of the Son. And whereas there was a Releif provided against these Sins, because there was a new Dispensation of the Grace of God to ensue in the Evangelical work of the Holy Ghost; if Men sin against him and his operations containing the Perfection and Complement of God's Revelation of himself to them, their Condition is deplorable.

Sect. 28 It may be some will say and plead, that whatever is spoken of the Holy Ghost, his Graces, Gifts, and Operations, did entirely belong to the first Times of the Gospel wherein they were manifested by visible and wonderful Effects. To those times they were confined, and consequently that we have no other Interest or concern in them but as in a recorded Testimony given of old to the Truth of the Gospel. This is so indeed as to his Extraordinary and miraculous operations. But to confine his whole Work thereunto, is plainly to deny the Truth of the Promises of Christ, and to overthrow his Church. For we shall make it undenyably evident that none can believe in Jesus Christ or yield Obedience to him, or Worship God in him, but by the Holy Ghost. And therefore if the whole Dispensation of him and his Communications to the Souls of Men do cease, so does all Faith in Christ, and Christianity also.

Sect. 29 On these and the like Considerations it is that I have thought it necessary for my self, and to the Church of God, that the Scripture should be diligently searched in and concerning this great matter. For none can deny but that the Glory of God, the Honour of the Gospel, the Faith and Obedience of the Church, with the Everlasting Welfare of our own Souls, are deeply concerned herein.

Sect. 30 The Apostle Peter treating about the Great things of the Gospel taught by himself and the Rest of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, tells those to whom he wrote, that in what was so preached to them, they had not followed cunningly devised Fables, 2 Pet. 1. 16. For so were the Power and Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ then reported to be in the World. What was preached concerning them, was looked on as cunningly devised and artificially framed fables to inveagle and allure the People. This the Apostle gives his Testimony against, and withal appeals to the Divine Assurance which they had of the Holy Truths delivered to them. v. 17, 18, 19, 20. In like manner our Lord Jesus Christ himself having preached the Doctrine of Regeneration to Nicodemus, he calls it into Question as as thing incredible, or unintelligible, Joh. 3. 4. For whose Instruction and the Rebuke of his Ignorance he lets him know that he spoke nothing but what he brought with him from Heaven, from the Eternal Fountain of Goodness and Truth. v. 11, 12. 13. It is fallen out not much otherwise in this Matter.

Sect. 31 The Doctrine concerning the Spirit of God, and his Work on the Souls of Men, has been preached in the World. What he does in convincing Men of Sin, what in Working Godly Sorrow and Humiliation in them, what is the exceeding Greatness of his Power which he puts forth in the Regeneration and Sanctification of the Souls of Men, What are the supplys of Grace which he bestowes on them that do believe, what Assistance he gives to them as the Spirit of Grace and Supplications, has been preached, taught, and pressed on the minds of them that attend to the Dispensation of the Word of the Gospel. Answerable hereunto Men have been urged to try, search, examine them-selves, as to what of this Work of the Holy Ghost they have found, observed, or had experience to have been effectually accomplished in or upon their own Souls. And hereon they have been taught, that the Great Concernments of their Peace, Comfort, and Assurance, of their Communion among themselves as the Saints of God, with many other Ends of their Holy Conversation, do depend. Nay it is and has been constantly taught them that if there be not an effectual Work of the Holy Ghost upon their hearts, that they cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Now these things and whatever is spoken in the Explication of them, are by some called in Question if not utterly rejected. Yea some look on them as cunningly devised Fables; Things that some not long since invented, and others have propagated for their Advantage. Others say, that what is delivered concerning them is hardly if at all to be understood by Rational Men, being only empty Speculations about things wherein Christian Religion is little or not at all concerned. Whereas therefore many, very many, have received these things as Sacred Truths, and are perswaded that they have found them realized in their own Souls, so that into their Experience of the work of the Holy Spirit of God in them and upon them according as it is declared in the Word, all their Consolation and Peace with God is for the most part resolved, as that which gives them the best Evidence of their Interest in him who is their Peace; and whereas for the Present they do believe that unless these things are so in and with them, they have no Foundation to build an Hope of Eternal Life upon; it cannot but be of indispensible necessity to them to examine and Search the Scripture diligently whether these things be so or no. For if there be no such Work of the Spirit of God upon the Hearts of Men and that indispensibly necessary to their Salvation; if there are no such Assistances and supplys of Grace needful to every Good Duty as wherein they have been instructed; then in the whole course of their Profession they have only been seduced by cunningly devised Fables, their deceived hearts have fed upon ashes, and they are yet in their Sins. It is then of no less consideration and Importance than the eternal welfare of their Souls immediately concerned therein can render it, that they diligently trye, examine and search into these things, by the safe and infallible Touchstone and Rule of the Word, whereon they may, must, and ought to venture their Eternal Condition. I know indeed that most Believers are so far satisfyed in the Truth of these things and their own Experience of them, that they will not be moved in the least by the Oppositions which are made to them, and the scorn that is cast upon them. For he that beleives on the Son of God has the witness in himself. 1 Joh. 5. 10. But yet as Luke wrote his Gospel to Theophilus that he might know the certainty of those things wherein he had been instructed, Luke 1. 4. that is, to confirm him in the Truth by an Addition of new Degrees of Assurance to him; so it is our Duty to be so far excited by the Clamorous Oppositions that are made to the Truths which we Profess, and in whose being such we are as much concerned as our Souls are worth, to compare them diligently with the Scripture that we may be the more fully confirmed and established in them. And upon the Examination of the whole matter, I shall leave them to their option as Elijah did of Old; if Jehovah be God, serve him, and if Baal be God let him be worshipped. If the things which the Generality of Professors do believe and acknowledg concerning the Spirit of God and his Work on their Hearts, his Gifts and Graces in the Church with the manner of their Communication, be for the substance of them wherein they all generally agree according to the Scripture, taught and revealed therein on the same terms as by them received; them may they abide in the Holy Profession of them, and rejoyce in the Consolations they have received by them. But if these things with those other which in the Application of them to the Souls of Men are directly and necessarily deduced, and to be deduced from them, are all but vain and useless Imaginations, it is high time the Minds of Men were disburthened of them.

The Name and Titles of the HOLY SPIRIT.CHAP. II.

(1.) Of the Name of the Holy Spirit. (2.) Various Uses of the words [[original in non-Latin script]] and [[original in non-Latin script]] for the Wind or any thing invisible with a sensible Agitation. (3.) Amos 4. 14. Mistakes of the Antients rectified by Hierom. (5.) [[original in non-Latin script]] metaphorically for vanity. (6.) Metonymically for the part or quarter of any thing. (7.) For our Vital Breath. The Rational Soul. The Affections. Angels good and bad. (8.) Ambiguity from the Use of the Word how to be removed. Rules concerning the Holy Spirit. The Name Spirit how peculiar and appropriate to him. Why he is called the Holy Spirit. Whence called the Good Spirit. The Spirit of God. The Spirit of the Son, Acts 2. 33. 1 Pet. 1. 10, 11. explained. 1 John 4. 3. vindicated.

Sect. 1 BEfore we ingage into the consideration of the Things themselves concerning which we are to treat, it will be necessary to speak something to the Name whereby the Third Person in the Trinity is commonly known, and peculiarly called in the Scripture. This is the Spirit, or the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost as we usually speak. And this I shall do that we be not deceived with the Homonimy of the Word, nor be at a loss in the intention of those places of Scripture where it is used to other Purposes. For it is so that the Name of the Second Person,[[original in non-Latin script]], the Word, and of the Third,[[original in non-Latin script]], the Spirit, are often applyed to signifie other things; I mean, those words are so. And some make their Advantages of the ambiguous use of them. But the Scripture is able of it self to manifest its own Intention and Meaning to humble and diligent enquirers into it.

Sect. 2 It is then acknowledged that the use of the words [[original in non-Latin script]] and [[original in non-Latin script]] in the Old Testament and New is very various; yet are they the words whereby alone the Holy Spirit of God is denoted. Their peculiar signification therefore in particular places is to be collected and determined from the Subject Matter treated of in them, and other especial Circumstances of them. This was first attempted by the most Learned Didymus of Alexandria, whose Words therefore I have set down at large, and shall cast his Observations into a more perspicuous Method, with such Additions as are needful for the further clearing of the whole Matter. In general, [[original in non-Latin script]] and [[original in non-Latin script]] signifie a Wind or Spirit, that is, any thing which moves and is not seen. So the Air in a violent agitation, is called [[original in non-Latin script]], Gen. 8. 1. [[original in non-Latin script]]. And God made a Wind or Spirit, that is, a strong and mighty Wind to pass over the Earth for the driving and removal of the Waters. So [[original in non-Latin script]] is used John 3. 8. [[original in non-Latin script]]; The Wind blowes where it listes, and you hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell from where it comes, nor whether it goes; which is a proper description of this first signification of the Word. It is an agitation of the Air which is unseen. So Psal. 1. 4. And in this sense sometimes it signifies a violent and strong Wind; that is, [[original in non-Latin script]], 1 Kings 19. 11. And sometimes a cool and soft Wind, or a light easie agitation of the Air, such as often arises in the Evenings of the Spring or Summer; So Gen. 3. 8. God Walked in the Garden,[[original in non-Latin script]], in the cool of the Day; that is, when the Evening-Air began to breath gently and moderate the heat of the Day. So in the Poet; Solis ad occasum cum frigidus aera Vesper temperat._Virgil. Georg. 3._At the going down of the Sun when the cold Evening tempers the Heat of the Air. And some think this to be the sense of that place; Psal. 104. v. 4. Who makes his Angels[[original in non-Latin script]]Spirits; Swift, agile, powerful as mighty Winds. But the Reader may consult our Exposition on Heb. 1. 7.

Sect. 3 This is one signification of the word [[original in non-Latin script]], or, this is one thing denoted by it in the Scripture. So among many other places expresly; Amos 4. 13. for lo, [[original in non-Latin script]], He that formes the Mountains, and creates the Spirit, that is, the Wind. The LXX render this place, [[original in non-Latin script]], who establishes the Thunder, and creates the Spirit; though some Copies read [[original in non-Latin script]], the Mountains. And the next words in the Text, [[original in non-Latin script]], and declares to Man what is his Thought; they render [[original in non-Latin script]], and declares to men his Christ, or his Anointed, or his Messiah. For they took [[original in non-Latin script]] for [[original in non-Latin script]], by inadvertency, and not for want of Points or Vowels as some imagine, seeing the Mistake consists in the casting out of a Letter it self. And from there the old Latin Translation renders the words, Firmans Tonitruum, & creans Spiritum, & annuncians in homines Christum suum. Which Hierom rectified into, formans Montes, & creans Ventum, & annuntians Homini eloquium suum; discovering in his Comment the Mistake of the LXX. But it is certain that from the Ambiguity of the word [[original in non-Latin script]] in this place, with the corrupt Translations making mention of Christ in the next words, some who of old denied the Deity of the Holy Spirit, mightily insisted on it to prove him a Creature, as may be seen in Didymus, Ambrose, Hierom, Hilarius, and the Ancients generally. But the Context determines the signification of the Word beyond all just Exceptions. It is the Power of God in making and disposing of things here below, whether dreadful for their Greatness and Height, as the Mountains; or Mighty and Effectual in their operations, as the Wind; or Secret in their Conceptions, as the Thoughts of men; or stable in their Continuance, as the Night and Day, the Evening and Morning, without the least respect to Christ or the Spirit, that it treates of.

Sect. 4 And I cannot but observe from hence, the great necessity there is of searching the Original Text in the Interpretation of the Scriptures; as it might be evidenced by a Thousand other Instances. But one we may take from two Great and Learned Men who were Contemporaries in the Latin Church, in their thoughts on this place; The one is Ambrose, who interpreting these words in his second Book de Spiritu Sancto, cap. 1. being deceived by the corrupt Translation mentioned, annuncians in homines Christum suum, is forced to give a very strained Exposition of that which in Truth is not in the Text, and to relieve himself also with another Corruption in the same place, where forming the Mountains, is rendred by establishing the Thunder; and yet when he has done all, can scarce free himself of the Objection about the creation of the Spirit, which he designs to answer. His words are, Siquis propheticum dictum, ideo derivandum putet ad interpretationem Spiritus sancti; quia habet, annuncians in homines Christum suum is ad Incarnationis Dominicae Mysteria dictum facilius derivabit. Nam si te movet quia Spiritum dixit, & hoc non putas derivandum ad Mysteria a assumptionis humanae; persequere scripturas & invenies ptime congruere de Christo, de quo been convenit aestimari, quia firmavit tonitrua adventu suo; vim videlicet & sonum coelestium scripturarum; quar[•]m velut quodam tonitru mentes nostrae redduntur attonitae; & timere dis[•••]us, & reverentiam caelestibus deferamus oraculis. Denique, in Evangelio fratres Domini Filii tonitru dicebantur. Et cum vox Patris facta esset dicentis ad Filium, & honorificavi te, & iterum honorificabo, Judaei dicebant tonitruum factum esse illi. And hereon, with some Observations to the same purpose, he adds; Ergo tonitrua ad sermones Domini retulit quorum in omnem terram exivit sonus; Spiritum autem hoc loco, animam quam suscepit rationabilem & perfectam intelligimus.

The substance of his Discourse is, that treating of Christ (who indeed is neither mentioned nor intended in the Text) he speaks of confirming the Thunder, (which no where here appears) by which the sound of the Scriptures and preaching of the Word is intended; the Spirit that was created being the humane Soul of Jesus Christ. Nor was he alone in this Interpretation. Didym. Lib. 2. de Spiritu sancto; Athanas, ad Serapion. Basil. Lib. 4. contra Eunom. among the Grecians, are in like manner intangled with this Corruption of the Text; as was also Concil. Sardicen. in Socrat. lib. 2. cap. 20. The other Person intended is Hierom, who consulting the Original, as he was well able to do, first translated the words, Quia ecce formans Montes & creans Ventum, & annuntians Homini eloquium suum, declares the Mistake of the LXX, and the occasion of it: Pro Montibus qui Hebraice dicuntur[[original in non-Latin script]], soli LXX[[original in non-Latin script]], id est, tonitruum verterunt. Cur autem illi Spiritum & nos dixerimus Ventum, qui Hebraice[[original in non-Latin script]]vocatur, causa manifesta est. Quodque sequitur annuncians homini eloquium suum, LXX transtulerent[[original in non-Latin script]], Verbi similitudine, & ambiguitate decepti. So he shews that it is not [[original in non-Latin script]] in the Text, but [[original in non-Latin script]]; that is, saith he, juxta Aquilam[[original in non-Latin script]]; Symmachum[[original in non-Latin script]], juxta Theodotionem[[original in non-Latin script]]; juxta quintam Editionem[[original in non-Latin script]].

And as [[original in non-Latin script]], from where the word is, signifying both to meditate and to speak, so the word it self intends a conceived thought to be spoken afterwards. And that [[original in non-Latin script]] here is reciprocal not relative. And to this purpose in his ensuing Exposition; Qui confirmat Montes, ad cujus vocem coelorum cardines et terrae fundamenta quatiuntur. Ipse qui creat Spiritum, quem in hoc loco non Spiritum sanctum, ut Haeretici suspicantur, sed Ventum intelligimus, sive Spiritum hominis, annuncians homini eloqium ejus; qui cogitationum secreta cognoscit. Hieron. in loc.

Sect. 5 Secondly; Because the Wind on the account of its unaccountable variation, inconstancy and changes, is esteemed vain, not to be observed or trusted to; from where the Wise-men tells us, that he which observes the Wind shall not sow, Eccles. 11. 4. the word is used metaphorically to signify vanity, Eccles. 5. 16. What profit has a man that he has laboured [[original in non-Latin script]] for the Wind. So Mic. 2. 11. If a Man walk [[original in non-Latin script]]with the Wind and falshood; that is, in vanity; pretending to a Spirit of Prophecy, and falshood, vainly, foolishly, falsly boasting. So Job 15. 2. Should a Wise-man utter [[original in non-Latin script]]knowledg of Wind? vain words with a pretence of knowledg of Wisdom. As he calls them [[original in non-Latin script]]words of Wind. Chap. 16. 3. So also Jer. 5. 13. And the Prophets shall become [[original in non-Latin script]]Wind; or, be vain, foolish, uncertain, and false in their Predictions. But [[original in non-Latin script]] is not used thus metaphorically in the New-Testament.

Sect. 6 Thirdly; By a Metonymy also it signifies any Part or Quarter, as we say, of the World from where the Wind blowes; as also a part of any thing divided into four sides or quarters. So Jer. 52. 23. There were ninety and six Pomegranats[[original in non-Latin script]] towards a Wind, that is, on the one side of the Chapiter that was above the Pillars in the Temple. Ezek. 5. 12. I will scatter a third part [[original in non-Latin script]] to all the Winds, or all Parts of the Earth. Hence the four Quarters of a thing lying to the four Parts of the World, are called its four Winds,[[original in non-Latin script]]. 1 Chro. 9. 24. from where are the [[original in non-Latin script]], the four Winds in the New-Testament, Matth. 24. 31. This is the use of the word in general with respect to things natural and inanimate; and every place where it is so used gives it determinate sense.

Sect. 7 Again; These words are used for any thing that cannot be seen or touched, be it in it self Material and Corporeal, or absolutely Spiritual and Immaterial; So the Vital Breath which we and other Living Creatures Breath is called. Every thing wherein was [[original in non-Latin script]]the Breath of the Spirit of Life, Gen. 1. 22. that Vital Breath which our Lives are maintained by in Respiration. So Psal. 135. 17. Job 19. 17. which is a thing Material or Corporeal. But most frequently it denotes things purely Spiritual and Immaterial. As in finite Substances it signifies the Rational Soul of Man, Psal. 31. 5. Into your hands I commend,[[original in non-Latin script]], that is my Soul; they are the words whereby our Saviour committed his departing Soul into the hands of his Father; Luk. 23. 46. [[original in non-Latin script]]. So Psal. 146. 4. [[original in non-Latin script]]; his Breath, say we, goes forth; he returnes to his Earth. It is his Soul and its departure from the Body that is intended. This is [[original in non-Latin script]] that Spirit of the Sons of Men that goes upwards, when the Spirit of a Beast goes downwards to the Earth, or turnes to Corruption, Eccles. 3. 21. see Chap. 8. 8. and Chap. 12. 7. Hence, fourthly, by a Metonymy also, it is taken for the Affections of the Mind or Soul of Man; and that whether they be Good or Evil, Gen 45. 27. The Spirit of Jacob revived. He began to take heart and be of good Courage, Ezek. 13. 3. The Prophets that walk [[original in non-Latin script]], after their Spirit; that is their own Desires and Inclinations, when indeed they had no Vision but spoke what they had a mind to. Numb. 14. 24. Caleb is said to have another Spirit than the murmuring People; another Mind, Will, Purpose, or Resolution. It is taken for Prudence, Josh. 5. 1. Anger, or the Irascible Faculty, Eccles. 7. 10. Fury, Zech. 6. 8. He will cut off the Spirit of Princes; that is, their Pride, Insolency, and Contempt of others. [[original in non-Latin script]] in the New Testament frequently intends the Intellectual Part of the Mind or Soul, and that as it is Active, or in Action, Luke 1 47. Rom. 1. 9. 1 Thess. 5. 23. And oft-times it is taken for the Mind in all its Inclinations, in its whole habitual Bent and Design. Angels also are called Spirits. Good Angels, Psal. 104. 4. And it may be an Angel is intended, 1 Kings 18. 12. And evil Angels, or Devils, 1 Kings 22. 21, 22. For that Spirit who appeared before the Lord and offered himself to be a lying spirit in the Mouths of Ahab's Prophets, was no other but he who appeared before God, Job 1. who is called Satan. These in the New Testament are called unclean Spirits, Matth. 10. 1. And the Observation of the Ancients, that Satan is not called a Spirit absolutely, but with an Addition or Mark of Distinction holds only in the New Testament. And because Evil Spirits are wont to torment the Minds and Bodies of Men, therefore evil Thoughts, disorders of Mind, wicked Purposes disquieting and vexing the Soul, arising from or much furthered by Melancholy Distempers, are called, it may be, sometimes an Evil Spirit. The Case of Saul shall be afterwards considered.

Sect. 8 In such variety are these words used and applyed in the Scripture, because of some very general Notions wherein the things intended do agree. For the most part there is no great difficulty in discovering the especial meaning of them, or what it is they signifie in the several places where they occur. Their Design and Circumstances as to the Subject Matter treated of, determine the signification. And notwithstanding the ambiguous Use of these words in the Old and New Testament, there are two things clear and evident to our purpose. First, That there is in the Holy Scriptures a full distinct Revelation or Declaration of the Spirit, or the Spirit of God as one singular, and every way distinct from every thing else that is occasionally or constantly signified or denoted by that Word Spirit. And this not only a multitude of particular places gives testimony to, but also the whole course of the Scripture supposes, as that without an acknowledgment whereof nothing else contained in it can be understood or is of any use at all. For we shall find this Doctrine to be the very Life and Soul which quickens the whole from first to last. Take away the Work and powerful Efficacy of the Holy Spirit from the administration of it, and it will prove but a dead Letter, of no saving advantage to the Souls of Men; and take away the Doctrine concerning him from the writing of it, and the whole will be unintelligible and useless. Secondly, That what-ever is affirmed of this Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, it all relates either to his Person or his Operations. And these Operations of his being various, are sometimes by a Metonymy called Spirit, whereof afterwards. I shall not therefore need to prove that there is an Holy Spirit distinct from all other Spirits whatever, and from every thing else that on several Occasions is signified by that Name. For this is acknowledged by all that acknowledg the Scriptures; yea, it is so by Jews and Mahometans, as well as all sorts of Christians. And indeed all those false apprehensions concerning him which have at this day any countenance given to them, may be referred to two Heads. (1.) That of the Modern Jews, who affirm the Holy Ghost to be the influential fluential Power of God; which conceit is entertained and diligently promoted by the Socinians. (2.) That of the Mahumetans, who make him an eminent Angel, and sometimes say it is Gabriel, which being traduced from the Ma[•]edonians of old, has found some Defenders and Promoters in our dayes.

Sect. 9 This then being the Name of him concerning whom we treat, some things concerning it and the use of it, as peculiarly applyed to him are to be premised. For sometimes he is called [•]he Spirit absolutely, sometimes the Holy Spirit, or as we speak, the Holy Ghost; sometimes the Spirit of God, the Good Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth and Holiness; sometimes the Spirit of Christ, or of the Son. The first absolutely used, denotes his Person; the Additions, express his Properties and Relation to the other Persons.

In the Name Spirit two things are included. First, his Nature or Essence; namely, that he is a pure spiritual or immaterial Substance. For neither the Hebrews nor the Greeks can express such a Being in its Subsistence, but by [[original in non-Latin script]] and [[original in non-Latin script]]; a Spirit. Nor is this Name firstly given to the Holy Spirit in allusion to the Wind in its Subtilty, Agility and Efficacy. For these things have respect only to his Operations, wherein from some general Appearances his Works and Effects are likened to the Wind and its Effects, Joh. 3. 8. But it is his Substance or Being which is first intended in this Name. So it is said of God,Joh. 4. 24. [[original in non-Latin script]], God is a Spirit; that is, he is of a pure spiritual immaterial Nature, not confined to any place, and so not regarding one more than another in his Worship; as is the design of the place to evince. It will therefore be said, that on this account the Name of Spirit is not peculiar to the third Person, seeing it contains the Description of that Nature, which is the same in them all. For whereas it is said God is a Spirit, it is not spoken of this or that Person, but of the Nature of God abstractedly. I grant that so it is, and therefore the name Spirit is not in the first place characteristical of the Third Person in the Trinity, but denotes that Nature whereof each Person is partaker. But moreover as it is peculiarly and constantly ascribed to Him; it declares his especial Manner and Order of Existence. So that whereever there is mention of the Holy Spirit, his Relation to the Father and Son is included therein, for he is the Spirit of God: And herein there is an allusion to somewhat created. Not as I said to the Wind in general, to whose Agility and Invisibility he is compared in his Operations, but to the Breath of man. For as the vital breath of a man has a continual Emanation from him, and yet is never separated utterly from his Person or forsakes him; so does the Spirit of the Father and the Son proceed from them by a continual Divine Emanation, still abiding one with them. For all these Allusions are weak and imperfect wherein substantial things are compared with Accidental, Infinite things with Finite, and those that are Eternal with those that are Temporary. Hence their disagreement is infinitely more than their Agreement; yet such Allusions does our weakness need instruction from and by. Thus he is called [[original in non-Latin script]], Psal. 33. 6. The Spirit or Breath of the Mouth of the Lord; or of his Nostrils; as Psal. 18. 15. wherein there is an eminent Allusion to the Breath of a Man. Of the manner of this proceeding and emanation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son so far as it is revealed, and as we are capable of an useful Apprehension of it, I have treated elsewhere. And from hence, or the Subsistence of the Holy Spirit in an eternal Emanation from the Father and Son as the Breath of God, did our Saviour signifie his Communication of his Gifts to his Disciples by breathing on them, John 20. 22. [[original in non-Latin script]]. And because in our first Creation it is said of Adam, that God [[original in non-Latin script]], breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, Gen. 2. 7. He has the same Appellation with respect to God, Psal. 18. 15. Thus is he called the Spirit. And because as we observed before the Word [[original in non-Latin script]] is variously used, Didymus de Spiritu Sancto, lib. 3. supposes that the prefixing of the Article[[original in non-Latin script]] does distinguish the signification, and confine it to the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. Oft-times no doubt it does so, but not alwayes as is manifest from Joh. 8. 3. where [[original in non-Latin script]] is joyned with [[original in non-Latin script]], and yet only signifies the Wind. But the Subject treated of and what is affirmed of him, will sufficiently determine the signification of the Word, where he is called absolutely THE SPIRIT.

Sect. 9 Again; He is called by way of Eminency the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost. This is the most usual Appellation of him in the New Testament. And it is derived from the Old, Psal. 51. 11. [[original in non-Latin script]], The Spirit of your Holiness, or your Holy Spirit. Isa. 63. 10, 11. [[original in non-Latin script]], The Spirit of his Holiness, or his Holy Spirit. Hence are [[original in non-Latin script]] and [[original in non-Latin script]], The Holy Spirit, and the Spirit of Holiness in common use among the Jews. In the New Testament He is [[original in non-Latin script]], That Holy Spirit. And we must enquire the special Reasons of this Adjunct. Some suppose it is only from his peculiar Work of sanctifying us, or making us Holy. For this Effect of Sanctification is his peculiar Work and that of what sort soever it be; whether it consist in a separation from things Profane and Common to Holy Uses and Services; or whether it be the real Infusion and Operation of Holiness in Men, it is from him in an especial manner. And this also manifestes him to be God, for it is God alone who sanctifyes his People. Levit. 20. 8. I am Jehovah who sanctifies you. And God in that Work ascribes to himself the Title of Holy in an especial manner, and as such would have us to consider him. Levit. 21. 8. I the Lord which sanctifies you am Holy. And this may be one Reason of the frequent use of this Property with reference to the Spirit.

Sect. 10 But this is not the whole Reason of this Name and Apellation. For where he is first so mentioned he is called the Spirit of Gods Holiness, Psal. 51. 11. Isa 63. 10, 11. And in the New Testament absolutely the Spirit of Holiness, Rom. 1. 4. And this respects his Nature in the first Place, and not merely his Operations. As God then absolutely is called Holy, the Holy One, and the Holy One of Israel, being therein described by that Glorious Property of his Nature whereby he is Glorious in Holiness; Exod. 15. 11, And whereby he is distinguished from all false Gods; who is like to you O Jehovah, among the Gods, who is like to you, Glorious in Holiness; So is the Spirit called Holy to denote the Holiness of his Nature. And on this Account is the Opposition made between him and the Unholy, or unclean Spirit. Mark. 3. 29, 30. He that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, has never forgivness. Because they said he has an unclean Spirit. And herein first his Personality is asserted; for the Unclean Spirit is a Person. And if the Spirit of God were only a Quality or Accident as some fancy and dream, there could no comparative opposition be made between him and this unclean Spirit, that is the Devil. So also are they opposed with respect to their Natures. His Nature is Holy, whereas that of the unclean Spirit is Evil and perverse. This is the Foundation of his being called Holy; even the eternal Glorious Holiness of his Nature. And on this account he is so stiled also with respect to all his Operations. For it is not only with regard to the particular Work of Regeneration and Sanctification, or making of us Holy, but to all his Works and Operations that he is so termed. For he being the immediate Operator of all Divine Works that outwardly are of God, and they being in themselves all Holy be they of what kind soever, He is called the Holy Spirit. Yea he is so called to attest and witness that all his Works, all the Works of God, are Holy, although they may be great and terrible, and such as to Corrupt Reason may have an other Appearance; in all which we are to acquiesce in this, that the Holy One in the midst of us will do no iniquity, Zeph. 3. 5. The Spirit of God then is thus frequently and almost constantly called Holy; to attest that all the Works of God whereof he is the immediate Operator are Holy. For it is the Work of the Spirit to harden and blind obstinate sinners, as well as to Sanctifie the Elect. And his acting in the One is no less Holy than in the other, although Holiness be not the Effect of it in the Objects. So when he came to declare his dreadful Work of the final hardning and Rejection of the Jews, one of the most tremendous Effects of Divine Providence, a Work which for the strangeness of it Men would in no wise believe, though it were declared to them, Acts 13. 41. he was signally proclamed Holy by the Seraphims that attended his Throne, Isa. 6. 3, 10, 11, 12. Joh. 12. 40. Acts 28. 26.

Sect. 11 There are indeed some Actions on Men and in the World, that are wrought by God's permission and in his righteous Judgment, by Evil Spirits; whose Persons and actings are placed in Opposition to the Spirit of God. So Sam. 16. 14, 15. The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an Evil Spirit from the Lord troubled him. And Saul's servants said to him, behold now an Evil Spirit from God troubles you. So also v. 23. The Evil Spirit from God was upon Saul. So chap. 18. 10. Chap. 19. 9. This Spirit is called, [[original in non-Latin script]], an evil Spirit of God, Chap. 16. 15. and absolutely [[original in non-Latin script]], a Spirit of God, v. 33. where we have supplied Evil in the Translation. But these Expressions are to be regulated and explained by v. 14. where he is called [[original in non-Latin script]], an Evil Spirit from the Lord, that is appointed and commissioned by him, for the punishing and terrifying of Saul. For as the Spirit of the Lord departed from him by with-drawing his Assistance and Influential operations, whereby he had wrought in him those Gifts and Abilities of mind which fitted him to the discharge of his Kingly Office, upon the first impressions whereof he was turned into another man from what he was in his Private Condition, 1 Sam. 10. 6, 9. So the Evil Spirit came upon him to excite out of his own adust Melancholy, discontents, fears, a sense of Guilt, as also to impress terrifying thoughts and Apprehensions on his Imagination. For so it is said an Evil Spirit from the Lord [[original in non-Latin script]], 1 Sam. 16. 14. terrified him, frightened him with dreadful Agitations of Mind. And that we may touch a little on this by the way; The Foundation of this Trouble and distress of Saul lay in himself. For as I do grant that he was sometimes under an immediate Agitation of Body and Mind from the powerful Impressions of the Devil upon him, for under them it is said, he prophesied in the midst of the House, 1 Sam. 18. 10. which argues an extraordinary and involuntary Effect upon him; yet principally he wrought by the Excitation and Provocation of his Personal Distempers Moral and Natural. For these have in themselves a great Efficacy in cruciating the Minds of Guilty Persons. So Tacitus observes out of Plato; Annal. lib. 6. Neque frustra praestantissimus humanae sapientiae firmare solitus est, si recludantur Tyrannorum mentes posse aspici laniatus & ictus; quando ut corpora verberibus ita saevitia, libidine, malis consultis animus dilaceretur. The most Eminent Wiseman was not wont in vain to affirm, that if the minds of Tyrants were laid open and discovered, it would be seen how they were cruciated and punished; seeing that as the Body is rent and torn by stripes, so is the Mind, by cruelty, Lusts, evil Counsels and Undertakings; so he, as I suppose from Plato de Repub. lib. 9. Where Socrates disputes sundry things to that purpose. And another Roman Historian gives us a signal Instance hereof in Jugurtha, after he had contracted the Guilt of many horrible wickednesses.

And yet this Work in it self is of the same kind with what God sometimes employs holy Angels about, because it is the Execution of his Righteous Judgments. So it was a watcher and an Holy One that in such a Case smote Nebuchadnezzar with a sudden madness and frenzy, Dan. 4. 13, 14.

David prays that God would lead him by his Good Spirit — 'Thy Spirit is Good, lead me into the Land of Uprightness' — and this was no other but that Holy Spirit which he prays would not be taken from him. If from every different or distinct Effect of the Spirit of God we must multiply Spirits and assign every one of them to a distinct Spirit, we shall have so many feigned Spirits as to lose the only true One.

The Spirit is called the Spirit of God upon the account of the Order and Nature of Personal Subsistence and Distinction in the Holy Trinity.

The Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ, are one and the same; for that Hypothetical Proposition, 'If any Man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his,' is an Inference taken from the words, 'if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.' The order of the Dispensation of the Divine Persons towards us ariseth from the Order of their own Subsistence in the same Divine Essence.

He is called the Spirit of Christ, because promised by him, sent by him, and that to make effectual and accomplish his Work towards the Church.

Sect. 16 And this is yet more plain; 1 Pet. 1. 10, 11. Of which Salvation the Prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesyed of the Grace that should come to you; searching what, or what manner of Time, the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify. And this Spirit is said absolutely to be the Holy Ghost; 2 Epist. Chap. 1. 21. So then the Spirit that was in the Prophets of old in all Ages since the World began, before the Incarnation of the Son of God is called the Spirit of Christ, that is of him who is so. Now this could not be, because he was anointed by that Spirit, or because he gave it afterwards to his Disciples; for his Humane Nature did not exist in the Time of their Prophesying. Those indeed who receive him after the Unction of the Humane Nature of Christ, may be said in some sense to receive the Spirit of Christ because they are made Partakers of the same Spirit with him, to the same Ends and Purposes according to their measure. But this cannot be so with respect to them who lived and Prophesyed by him and died long before his Incarnation. Wherefore it is pleaded by those who oppose both the Deity of Christ and the Spirit, which are undeniably here attested to, that the Spirit here, whereby they cannot deny the Holy Ghost to be intended is called the Spirit of Christ, because the Prophets of old who spoke by him did principally prophesy concerning Christ, and his Grace, and delivered great Mysteries concerning them. So Christ is made in this Place the Object of the Spirits Teaching, and not the Author of his sending. So Crell. Prolegom. p. 13. 14. But why then is he not called the Spirit of God also on this Reason; because the Prophets that speak by him, treated wholly of God, the things and the Will of God? This they will not say, for they acknowledg him to be the Vertue and Power of God inherent in him and proceeding from him. But then whereas God even the Father is a Person, and Christ is a Person, and the Spirit is said to be the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Christ, from where does it appear that the same Expression must have different Interpretations; and that the Spirit, is called the Spirit of God because he is so and proceedes from him? but the Spirit of Christ because he is not so, but only treates of him? The answer is ready; namely because the Father is God, but Christ is not, and therefore could not give the Spirit when he was not. This is an easie Answer; namely to deny a Fundamental Truth, and to set up that denyal in an Opposition to a clear Testimony given to it. But the Truth is, this pretended sense leaves no sense at all in the Words. For if the Spirit which was in the Prophets be called the Spirit of Christ, only because he did before-hand declare the things of Christ, that is his suffering and the Glory that did ensue, and that be the sole Reason of that Denomination, then the sense or importance of the Words is this, searching what or what manner of Time the Spirit which did signifie when it testified before hand the sufferings of Christ which was in them did signifie when he testified before hand the sufferings of Christ. For according to this Interpretation, the Spirit of Christ is nothing but the Spirit as testifying before-hand of him, and from there alone is he so called; the Absurdity whereof is apparent to all.

Sect. 17 But countenance is indeavoured to this wresting of the Scripture from 1 Joh. 4. 3. Every Spirit that confesses not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the World. For say some the Spirit of Antichrist is said to be in the World, when Antichrist was not as yet come. But the Spirit here intended, is not called the Spirit of Antichrist, because it declared and foretold the things of Antichrist before his coming; On which account alone they allow the Spirit of God in the Prophets of Old to be called the Spirit of Christ. They have therefore no countenance from this Place which failes them in the Principal thing they would prove by it. Again supposing those Words, whereof you have heard that it should come and is now in the World, are to be interpreted of the Spirit mentioned and not of Antichrist himself, yet no more can be intended, but that the false Teachers and Seducers which were then in the World acted with the same Spirit, as Antichrist should do at his coming. And so there is no Conformity between these Expressions. Besides the Spirit of Antichrist was then in the World, as was Antichrist himself; so far as his Spirit was in the world, so far was he so also; For Antichrist and his Spirit cannot be separated. Both he and it were then in the World, in their forerunners who opposed the Truth of the Gospel about the Incarnation of the Son of God and his sufferings. And indeed the Spirit of Antichrist in this Place, is no more but his Doctrines; Antichristian Doctrine which is to be tryed and rejected. Neither is any singular Person intended by Antichrist, but a Mysterious Opposition to Christ and the Gospel, signally Headed by a series of men in the latter days. He therefore and his Spirit began to be together in the World in the Apostles Days, when the Mystery of Iniquity began to work, 2 Thessal. 2. 7. There is therefore no countenance to be taken from these words, to the perverting and wresting of that other expression concerning the Spirit of Christ in the Prophets of old. This therefore is the formal Reason of this Apellation. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of the Son, and the Spirit of Christ, upon the Account of his Procession or Emanation from his Person also. Without respect hereunto he could not be called properly the Spirit of Christ; but on that supposition he may be, he is so denominated, from that various Relation & Respect that he has to him in his Work and Operations. Thus is the Spirit called in the Scripture, these are the Names whereby the Essence and Subsistence of the Third Person in the Holy Trinity are declared. How he is called on the Account of his Offices and Operations will be manifested in our Progress.

Divine Nature and Personality of the HOLY SPIRIT Proved and Vindicated. CHAP. III.

(1.) Ends of our consideration of the Dispensation of the Spirit. (2.) Principles premised thereunto. (3.) The Nature of God the Foundation of all Religion. (4.) Divine Revelation gives the Rule and Measure of Religious Worship. (5.) God has revealed himself as Three in One. (6.) Distinct Actings and Operations ascribed to these Distinct Persons. (7.) Therefore the Holy Spirit a Divine Distinct Person. (8.) Double Opposition to the Holy Spirit. (9.) By some his Personality granted, and his Deity denyed. (10.) His Personality denyed by the Socinians. (11.) Proved against them. (12.) The open vanity of their Pretences. Matth. 28. 19. pleaded. (13, 14, 15.) Appearances of the Spirit under the shape of a Dove. (16.) Explained and Improved. (17.) His appearance as Fire opened. (18.) His Personal Subsistence proved. (19.) Personal Properties assigned to him. Understanding. Argument from hence pleaded and vindicated. (20.) A Will; Joh. 33. Jam. 3. 4. cleared. (21.) Exceptions removed. (22.) Power. (23, 24, &c.) Other Personal Ascriptions to him, with Testimonies of them, vindicated and explained.

Sect. 1 WE shall now proceed to the Matter it self designed to Consideration; namely, the Dispensation of the Spirit of God to the Church. And I shall endeavour to six what I have to offer upon its proper Principles, and from them to educe the whole Doctrine concerning it. And this must be so done, as to manifest the Interest of our Faith, Obedience, and Holy Worship, in the whole and each Part of it. For these are the immediate Ends of all Divine Revelations; according to that Holy Maxime of our Blessed Saviour; if you know these things, happy are ye if you doe them. To this End the Ensuing Principles are to be observed.

Sect. 2 1. The Nature and Being of God is the Foundation of all true Religion and holy Religious Worship in the World. The great End for which we were made, for which we were brought forth by the Power of God into this World, is to Worship him and to give glory to him. For he made all things for himself or his own Glory (Prov. 16. 4.) to be rendred to him according to the Abilities and Capacities that he has furnished them withal, Revel. 4. 11. And that which makes this Worship indispensibly necessary to us, and from where it is Holy or Religious, is the Nature and Being of God himself. There are indeed many Parts or Acts of Religious Worship which immediately respect, (as their Reason and Motive) what God is to us, or what he has done and does for us. But the Principal and Adaequate Reason of all Divine Worship and that which makes it such, is what God is in himself. Because he is, that is, an Infinitely Glorious, Good, Wise, Holy, Powerful, Righteous, self-subsisting, self-sufficient, All-sufficient Being, the Fountain, Cause and Author of Life and Being to all things, and of all that is Good in every kind, the First Cause, last End, and absolutely Sovereign Lord of all, the Rest and All-satisfactory Reward of all other Beings, therefore is he by us to be adored, and Worshipped with Divine and Religious Worship. Hence are we in our Hearts, Minds and Souls, to Admire, Adore, and Love Him, his Praises are we to celebrate; Him to Trust and fear, and so to resign our selves and all our concernments to his Will and Disposal; to regard him with all the Acts of our Minds and Persons, answerably to the Holy Properties and Excellencies of his Nature. This it is to glorify him as God. For seeing of him, and through him, and to him are all things, to him must be Glory for ever, Rom. 11. 36. Believing that God thus is, and that he is a Rewarder of them that seek him, is the Ground of all Coming to God in his Worship, Heb. 11. 6. And herein lies the sin of Men, that the invisible things of God being Manifest to them, even his Eternal Power and Godhead, yet they do not Glorify him as God, Rom. 1. 21. This is to Honour, Worship, Fear God for himself; that is, on the Account of what he is himself. Where the Divine Nature is, there is the true, proper, formal Object of Religious worship, and where that is not, it is Idolatry to ascribe it to or exercise it towards any. And this God instructs us in, in all those Places where the Proclaimes his Name and describes his Eternal Excellencies, and that either absolutely or in Comparison with other things. All is that we may know him to be such a one, as is to be Worshipped and Glorified for himself, or his own sake.

Sect. 3 Secondly; The Revelation that God is pleased to make of himself to us, gives the Rule and measure of all Religious Worship and Obedience. His Being absolutely considered as comprehending in it all infinitely Divine Perfections, is the formal Reason of our Worship; but this Worship is to be directed, guided, regulated, by the Revelation he makes of that Being, and of those Excellencies to us. This is the End of Divine Revelation; namely to direct us in paying that Homage which is due to the Divine Nature. I speak not now only of Positive Institutions which are the free Effects of the Will of God depending originally and solely on Revelation, and which therefore have been various and actually changed. But this is that which I intend. Look what way soever God manifestes his Being and Properties to us, by his Works or his Word, our Worship consistes in a due Application of our Souls to him according to that Manifestation of himself.

God hath revealed himself as Three in One, and therefore as such is to be worshipped and glorified by us — as three distinct Persons, subsisting in the same Infinitely Holy One individed Essence.

In the internal eternal Actings of Father, Son, and Spirit upon one another, consists much of the infinite Blessedness of the Holy God.

The Spirit of God, since he is so distinct as to have distinct Actings and Operations ascribed unto him, is in himself a distinct, living, powerful, intelligent divine Person.

Such things are affirmed of the Holy Ghost in the Scripture, that to assert his Personality and deny his Deity is the utmost madness that any one can fall into in Spiritual things.

He to whom all personal Properties, Attributes, Adjuncts, Acts and Operations are ascribed, and unto whom nothing is truly and properly ascribed but what may belong unto a Person, he is a Person. Our Knowledge of things is more by their Properties and Operations than by their Essential Forms; especially is this so with respect to the Nature, Being, and Existence of God.

The constant uniform Expressions concerning the Holy Spirit are such as declare him to be a Person endowed with all Personal Properties, no Description being anywhere given of him inconsistent with their proper Application to him. With respect to the Spirit of God, the constant uniform Expressions concerning him declare him to be a Person; while things like charity, the Scriptures, and the heavens are described with personal language only occasionally and figuratively.

Whatever is ascribed unto the Father and Son, either with respect unto themselves or our Duty towards them, is equally ascribed unto the Holy Ghost; for they have one and the same Name.

All things necessary to prove the Spirit's personality are comprised in the solemn Form of our Initiation into Covenant with God: baptizing in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

If the Doctrine of a Trinity of Persons subsisting in the same individed Essence be not taught and declared in the words of baptism into the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we may justly despair of ever having any Divine Mystery manifested unto us.

Sect. 13 Our Argument then from hence, is not meerly from his being joyned with the Father and the Son; for so as to some Ends and Purposes any Creatures may be joyned with them. This our Adversaries prove from Acts 20. 32. Ephes. 6. 10. Phil. 3. 10. 2 Thess. 1. 9. and might do it from other places innumerable, although the first of these will not confirm what it is produced to give countenance to; Schlicting. de Trinitat. ad. Meisner. p. 605. But it is from the manner and end of his being conjoyned with the Father and the Son, wherein their Name, that is, their Divine Nature and Authority are ascribed to him, that we argue.

Sect. 14 Again we are said to be baptized, [[original in non-Latin script]], into his Name. And no sense can be affixed to these words, but what does unavoidably include his Personality. For two things they may and do intend, nor any thing else but what may be reduced to them. First, Our Religious owning the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, in all our Divine Worship, Faith, and Obedience. Now as we own and avow the One, so we do the Other; for we are alike baptized into their Name, equally submitting to their Authority, and equally taking the Profession of their Name upon us. If then we avow and own the Father as a Distinct Person, so we do the Holy Ghost. Again by being baptized into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, we are sacredly initiated and consecrated or dedicated to the Service and Worship of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. This we take upon us in our Baptism. Herein lies the Foundation of all our Faith and Profession, with that engagement of our selves to God which constitutes our Christianity. This is the Pledg of our entrance into Covenant with God, and of our giving up our selves to him in the solemn Bond of Religion. Herein to conceive that any one who is not God as the Father is, who is not a Person as he is also and the Son likewise, is joyned with them for the ends and in the manner mentioned, without the least note of Difference as to Deity or Personality, is a strange fondness, destructive of all Religion, and leading the minds of men towards Polytheism. And as we ingage into all Religious Obedience to the Father and Son herein, to believe in them, trust, fear, honour and serve them, so we do the same with respect to the Holy Ghost; which how we can do, if he be not as they are, no Man can understand.

We do not then in this Case from hence merely plead our being baptized into the Holy Ghost, as some pretend. Nor indeed are we said so to be. Men may figuratively be said to be baptized into a Doctrine, when their Baptism is a Pledg and Token of their Profession of it. So the Disciples whom the Apostle Paul met withal at Ephesus, Acts 19. 3. are said to be baptized [[original in non-Latin script]], into the baptism of John; that is, the Doctrine of Repentance for the forgiveness of sins whereof his Baptism was a Pledg. So also the Israelites are said to be baptized [[original in non-Latin script]] into Moses, 1 Cor. 10. 2. because he led and conducted them through the Sea, when they were Sprinkled with the Waves of it is a token of their Initiation into the Rites and Ceremonies which he was to deliver to them. But we are said to be baptized into his Name, which is the same with that of the Father and Son. And certainly this Proposal of God as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be the Object of all our Faith and Worship, and our ingagement hereunto required as the Foundation of all our present Religion and future Hopes, being made to us, and that under one and the same Name; if the Doctrine of a Trinity of Persons subsisting in the same individed Essence be not taught and declared in these words, we may justly despair of ever having any Divine Mystery manifested to us.

Sect. 15 2. His Appearance in, and under a visible sign argues his Personal Existence. This is related Matth. 3. 16. Luke 3. 22. John 1. 32. Luke speaks first in general that he descended, [[original in non-Latin script]]in a Bodily shape; or Appearance. And they all agree that it was the shape of a Dove under which he appeared. The words in Matthew are, [[original in non-Latin script]]. He saw the Spirit of God descending like a Dove, and lighting, (or rather coming,) upon him. He, that is John the Baptist, not Christ himself. The Relative [[original in non-Latin script]], refers in this Place to the more remote Antecedent. For although he that is Christ himself also saw the descending of the Holy Spirit, yet I suppose this relates to that Token which was to be given of him to John, whereby he should know him, Joh. 1. 32, 33. The following words are ambiguous. For that Expression, like a Dove, may refer to the manner of his descending, descending, (in a bodily shape) as a Dove descends. Or they may respect the manner of his Appearance; he appeared like a Dove descending. And this sense is determined in the other Evangelists, to the bodily shape wherein he descended. He took the form or shape of a Dove, to make a visible Representation of himself by. For a visible Pledg was to be given of the coming of the Holy Ghost on the Messiah according to the Promise; and thereby did God direct his great forerunner to the Knowledg of him. Now this was no real Dove. That would not have been a thing so Miraculous as this Appearance of the Holy Ghost is represented to be. And the Text will not bear any such Apprehension, though it was entertained by some of the Antients. For it is evident that this shape of a Dove came out of Heaven. He saw the Heavens opened and the Dove descending, that is out of Heaven, which was opened to make way, as it were, for him. Moreover the Expression of the Opening of the Heavens is not used but with respect to some Appearance or Manifestation of God himself. And so, or (which is the same,) the bowing of the Heavens, is often used; Psal. 144. 5. Isa. 64. 1. Bow your Heavens O Lord, and come down. 2 Sam. 22. 10. Ezek. 1. 1. The Heavens were opened and I saw the Visions of God. So Acts 7. 56. God used not this Sign but in some manifestation of himself. And had not this been an Appearance of God, there had been no need of bowing or opening the Heavens for it. And it is plainly said that it was not a Dove, but the shape or representation of a Dove. It was [[original in non-Latin script]], a bodily shape, and that [[original in non-Latin script]], of a Dove.

Sect. 16 As then at the beginning of the old Creation, the Spirit of God, [[original in non-Latin script]]incubabat, came and fell on the Waters, cherishing the whole, and communicating a prolifick and vivifick Quality to it, as a Fowl or Dove in particular gently moves it self upon its Eggs, until with, and by its generative warmth it has communicated vital heat to them; so now at the entrance of the new Creation, he comes as a Dove upon Him who was the immediate Author of it, and virtually comprized it in himself, carrying it on by vertue of his Presence with him. And so this is applyed in the Syriack Ritual of Baptism composed by Severinus, in the account given of the Baptism of Christ, [[original in non-Latin script]]. And the pirit of Holiness descended, flying in the likeness of a Dove, and rested upon him, and moved on the Waters. And in the assumption of this form there may be some respect to the Dove that brought tydings to Noah of the ceasing of the Flood of Waters, and of the ending of the Wrath of God, who thereon said that he would curse the Earth no more, Gen. 8. 11. For herein also was there a significant Representation of him who visited poor lost mankind in their cursed Condition, and proclaimed Peace to them that would return to God by him the Great Peacemaker, Ephes. 2. 14, 15. And this Work he immediately ingaged into on the resting of this Dove upon him. Besides there is a natural aptness in that Creature to represent the Spirit that rested on the Lord Jesus. For the known Nature and Course of a Dove is such, as is meet to mind us of Purity and harmless Innocencie, Mat. 10. 16. Hence is that Direction, Be harmless as Doves. So also the sharpness of its sight or eyes, as Cant. 1. 16. Chap. 4. 1. is fixed on, to represent a quick and discerning Understanding, such as was in Christ from the resting of the Spirit upon him, Isa. 11. 3.

He to whom all personal Properties, Attributes, Adjuncts, Acts and Operations are ascribed is a Person; thus know we the Father to be a Person, and also the Son. In being baptized into the Name of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we are sacredly initiated and consecrated unto the Service and Worship of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost — the Foundation of all our Faith and Profession.

This Appearance of the Holy Ghost in a bodily shape, wherein he was represented by a Substance that hath a Subsistence of its own, manifests that he himself is a Substance and hath a Subsistence of his own.

Understanding or Wisdom, the first inseparable Property of an Intelligent Subsistence, is ascribed to the Spirit: 'The Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God.' The Spirit searcheth the deep things of God, such as to all Creatures are absolutely unsearchable and past finding out; this is the Spirit of God himself, who is God also.

The Spirit is the Author of Wisdom and Understanding in and unto others; and therefore he must have them in himself, not virtually or causally only, but formally also.

A Will is the most eminently distinguishing Character and Property of a Person; whatever is endued with an intelligent Will is a Person. All these worketh that one and self-same Spirit, dividing unto every Man as he will — what can be spoken more fully and plainly to describe an intelligent Person, acting voluntarily with freedom and by choice?

He who hath the sovereign disposal of all Spiritual Gifts, having only his own Will which is infinitely Wise and Holy for his Rule, He is over all God blessed for ever.

Sect. 22 Thirdly; Another Property of a living Person is Power. A Power whereby any one is able to act according to the guidance of his Understanding and the determinations of his Will; declares him to be a Person. It is not the meer ascription of Power absolutely, or ability to any thing that I intend. For they may signifie no more but the Efficacy wherewith such things are attended in their proper places, as Instruments of the Effects whereunto they are applyed. In this sense Power is ascribed to the Word of God, when it is said, to be able to save our Souls, Jam. 1. 21. And Acts 20. 32. The Word of God's Grace is said to be able to build us up, and to give us an Inheritance among them that are sanctified; if that place intend the Word written or preached, whereinto I have made enquiry elsewhere. For these things are clearly interpreted in other places. The Word is said to be able, yea to be the Power of God to Salvation, Rom. 1. 16. because God is pleased to use it and make it effectual by his Grace to that End. But where Power, Divine Power is absolutely ascribed to any one, and that declared to be put forth and exercised by the Understanding, and according to the Will of him to whom it is so ascribed, it does undeniably prove him to be a Divine Person. For when we say the Holy Ghost is so, we intend no more but that he is one who by his own Divine Understanding, puts forth his own Divine Power. So is it in this Case, Job 32. 4. The Spirit of God has made me, and the Breath of the Almighty has given me Life. Creation is an Act of Divine Power; the highest we are capable to receive any Notion of. And it is also an Effect of the Wisdom and Will of him that creates, as being a voluntary act and designed to a certain end. All these therefore are here ascribed to the Spirit of God. It is excepted (Schlicting. p. 613, 615.) that by the Spirit of God here mentioned, no more is intended but our own vital Spirits, whereby we are quickned, called the Spirit of God because he gave it. But this is too much confidence; The words are [[original in non-Latin script]]. There were two distinct Divine Operations in and about the Creation of Man. The first was the forming of his Body out of the Dust of the Earth; This is expressed by [[original in non-Latin script]] and [[original in non-Latin script]]; He made he formed: and secondly, the infusion of a living or quickning Soul into him, called [[original in non-Latin script]] or the Breath of Life. Both these are here distinctly mentioned; the first ascribed to the Spirit of God, the other to his Breath; that is the same Spirit considered in a peculiar way of operation in the Infusion of the rational Soul. Such is the sense of those figurative and oenigmatical words; God breathed into Man the Breath of Life; that is by his Spirit he effected a Principle of Life in him, as we shall see afterwards.

Isa. 11. 2. As he is called a Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding, so is he also of Might or Power; and although it may be granted that the things there mentioned are rather Effects of his Operations than Adjuncts of his Nature; yet he who effectes Wisdom and Power in others, must first have them himself. To this purpose also is that demand, Mich. 2. 7. Is the Spirit of the Lord straitned or shortned? that is, in his Power, that he cannot Work and Operate in the Prophets and his Church as in former dayes; And the same Prophet, Chap. 3. vers. 8. affirms, That he is full of Power, and of Judgment, and of Might, by the Spirit of the Lord. These things were wrought in him by his Power, as the Apostle speaks to the same purpose, Ephes. 3. 16.

Those by whom this Truth is opposed, do lay out all their strength and skill in Exceptions, I may say Cavils, against some of these particular Testimonies and some Expression in them. But as to the whole Argument taken from the consideration of the Design and Scope of the Scripture in them all they have nothing to except.

Sect. 24 To compleat this Argument, I shall add the Consideration of those Works and Operations of all sorts which are ascribed to the Spirit of God, which we shall find to be such as are not capable of an assignation to him with the least congruity of Speech, or design of speaking intelligibly, unless he be a distinct singular Subsistent, or Person endued with Divine Power and Understanding. And here what we desired formerly might be observed must be again repeated. It is not from a single Instance of every one of the Works which we shall mention that we draw and confirm our Argument. for some of them singly considered may perhaps sometimes be metaphorically ascribed to other Causes, which does not prove that therefore they are Persons also, which contains the force of all the Exceptions of our Adversaries against these Testimonies. But as some of them at least never are nor can be assigned to any but a Divine Person; So we take our Argument from their joint consideration, or the uniform constant Assignation of them all to him in the Scriptures, which renders it irrefragable. For the things themselves I shall not insist upon them because their particular Nature must be afterwards unfolded.

The Holy Ghost is the great Teacher of the Church, unto whom the accomplishment of that great Promise is committed: 'They shall all be taught of God.' Better lose all other Teachers utterly, than to lose this great Teacher only; for although he is pleased to make use of them, he can teach effectually and savingly without them where they are removed. He is there frequently called the Comforter, the Name of a Person, and that vested with an Office — and another Comforter in answer and conformity unto the Lord Christ who was one Comforter and a Person as all grant.

The Holy Ghost said, 'Separate unto me Barnabas and Saul for the Work whereunto I have called them' — to call Men to the Ministry is a free Act of Authority, Choice, and Wisdom, which are Properties of a Person and none other.

It is the Concernment of those who take the Work and Office of Ministry upon them, to consider what there is in their whole Undertaking that they can ascribe unto the Holy Ghost.

None is capable of lying unto any other but such a one as is capable of hearing and receiving a Testimony; for a Lie is a false Testimony given unto that which is spoken, and He that is lied unto must be capable of judging and determining upon it. The Spirit of God is said to be grieved and vexed as God is said to repent and to be grieved — it declares what effects sin would produce in a nature capable of such perturbations.

Ananias is said to lie to the Holy Ghost, and this is interpreted by the Apostle: 'Thou hast not lied unto Men but unto God' — the Holy Ghost therefore is God.

Sect. 30 I suppose by all these Testimonies we have fully confirmed what was designed to be proved by them; namely, that the Holy Spirit is not a Quality as some speak residing in the Divine Nature; not a meer Emanation of Vertue and Power from God; not the acting of the Power of God in and to our Sanctification, but an Holy Intelligent Subsistent or Person. And in our Passage many Instances have been given, from where it is undeniably evident that he is a Divine Self-sufficient Self-subsisting Person, together with the Father and the Son equally participant of the Divine Nature. Nor is this distinctly much disputed by them with whom we have to do. For they confess that such things are ascribed to him as none but God can effect. Wherefore denying him so to be, they lay up all their hopes of success in denying him to be a Person; But yet because the Subject we are upon does require it, and it may be useful to the Faith of some; I will call over a few Testimonies given expresly to his Deity also.

Sect. 31 First; He is expresly called God; and having the Name of God properly and directly given to him, with respect to Spiritual Things, or things peculiar to God, he must have the Nature of God also, Acts 5. 3. Ananias is said to lie to the Holy Ghost. This is repeated and interpreted v. 4. You hast not lyed to Men but to God. The Declaration of the Person intended by the Holy Ghost, is added for the aggravation of the Sin, for he is God. The same Person, the same Object of the sin of Ananias is expressed in both places; and therefore the Holy Ghost is God. The word for lying is the same in both places; [[original in non-Latin script]] only it is used in a various construction; v. 3. It has the Accusative Case joyned to it; [[original in non-Latin script]]; that you shouldest deceive, or think to deceive or attempt to deceive the Holy Ghost: How? by lying to him in making a Profession in the Church wherein he presides of that which is false. This is explained v. 4. by [[original in non-Latin script]], you hast lyed to God; the Nature of his Sin being principally intended in the first place, and the Object in the latter. Wherefore in the progress of his Discourse, the Apostle calls the same sin a tempting of the Spirit of the Lord, vers. 9. It was the Spirit of the Lord that he lyed to when he lyed to God. These three Expressions the Holy Ghost, God, the Spirit of the Lord do denote the same thing and Person, or there is no coherence in the Discourse. It is excepted that what is done against the Spirit is done against God, because he is sent by God. It is true, as he is sent by the Father, what is done against him is morally and as to the Guilt of it done against the Father. And so our Saviour tells us with respect to what was done against himself. For saith he, He that despises me, despises him that sent me. But directly and immediately both Christ and the Spirit were sinned against in their own Persons. He is God here provoked. So also He is called Lord in a sense appropriate to God alone, 2 Cor. 3. 17, 18. Now the Lord is that Spirit; and we are changed from Glory to Glory, [[original in non-Latin script]], by the Lord the Spirit, or the Spirit of the Lord; where also Divine Operations are ascribed to him. What is affirmed to this purpose, 1 Cor. 12. 6, 7, 8. has been observed in the opening of the beginning of that Chapter at the beginning of our Discourse. The same also is drawn by just Consequence from the comparing of Scriptures together, wherein what is spoken of God absolutely in one place is applyed directly and immediately to the Holy Ghost in another. To instance in one or two particulars, Levit. 26. 11, 12. I will, saith God, set my Tabernacle among you; and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my People. The accomplishment of this Promise the Apostle declares, 2 Cor. 6. 16. Ye are the Temple of the Living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my People. How and by whom is this done? 1 Cor. 3. 16, 17. Know you not that ye are the Temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelles in you? If any Man defile the Temple of God, him will God destroy, for the Temple of God is Holy, which ye are. If it were then God who of old promised to dwell in his People and to make them his Temple thereby, then is the Holy Spirit God; for he it is, who according to that Promise thus dwelles in them. So Deut. 32. 12. speaking of the People in the Wilderness, he saith, The Lord alone did lead him; And yet speaking of the same People at the same time it is said, That the Spirit of the Lord did lead them, and caused them to rest, Isa. 63. 14. The Spirit of the Lord therefore is Jehovah, or Jehovah alone did not lead them. That also which is called in the same People their sinning against God, and provoking the most High in the Wilderness, Psalm. 78. 17, 18. is termed their rebelling against, and vexing the Holy Spirit, Isa. 63. 10, 11. And many other Instances of an alike Nature have been pleaded and vindicated by others.

Sect. 32 Add hereunto in the last place, that Divine Properties are assigned to him. As Eternity; Heb. 9. 14. He is the Eternal Spirit. Immensity, Psalm. 139. 7. Whither shall I flee from your Spirit. Omnipotency, Micah 2. 8. The Spirit of the Lord is not straitned; compared with Isa. 40. 28. The Power of the Spirit of God; Rom. 15. 19. Prescience, Acts 1. 16. This Scripture must be fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the Mouth of David spoke before concerning Judas. Omniscience; 1 Cor. 2. 10, 11. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. Sovereign Authority over the Church, Acts 13. 3. Acts 20. 28. The Divine Works also which are assigned to him, are usually and to good purpose pleaded in the vindication of the same Truth. But these in the progress of our Discourse I shall have occasion distinctly to consider and inquire into, and therefore shall not in this place insist upon them. What has been proposed cleared and confirmed may suffice as to our present purpose; that we may know who He is, concerning whom, his Works and Grace, we do design to Treat.

Sect. 33 I have but one thing more to add concerning the Being and Personality of the Holy Spirit. And this is that in the Order of Subsistence He is the Third Person in the Holy Trinity. So it is expressed in the solemn Numeration of them, where their Order gives great direction to Gospel-Worship and Obedience; Matth. 28. 18. Baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. This Order I confess in their Numeration, because of the Equality of the Persons in the same Nature is sometimes varied. So Rev. 1. 4, 5. Grace be to you, and Peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come, and from the seven Spirits which are before his Throne, and from Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit under the name of the seven Spirits before the Throne of God, because of his various and perfect Operations in and towards the Church, is reckoned up in order before the Son Jesus Christ. And so in Paul's euctical conclusion to his Epistles, the Son is placed before the Father: 2 Cor. 13. 14. The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all. And some think that the Holy Ghost is mentioned in the first place: Col. 2. 2. The acknowledgment of the Mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ. In this expression of them therefore we may use our liberty, they being all one God over all blessed for ever. But in their true and natural Order of Subsistence, and consequently of Operation, the Holy Spirit is the Third Person. For as to his Personal Subsistence, he proceedes from the Father and the Son, being equally the Spirit of them both as has been declared. This constitutes the natural Order between the Persons which is unalterable. On this depends the Order of his Operation; for his working is a consequent of the Order of his Subsistence. Thus the Father is said to send him, and so is the Son also, John 14. 16, 26. Chap. 16. 7. And he is thus said to be sent by the Father and the Son, because he is the Spirit of the Father and Son, proceeding from both, and is the next cause in the Application of the Trinity to External Works. But as he is thus sent, so his own Will is equally in and to the Work for which he is sent. As the Father is said to send the Son, and yet it was also his own Love and Grace to come to us and to save us. And this arises from hence, that in the whole Oeconomy of the Trinity, as to the Works that outwardly are of God, especially the Works of Grace, the order of the Subsistence of the Persons in the same Nature is represented to us, and they have the same dependance on each other in their Operations as they have in their Subsistence. The Father is the Fountain of all, as in Being and Existence so in Operation. The Son is of the Father, begotten of him, and therefore as to his Work is sent by him. But his own Will is in and to what he is sent about. The Holy Spirit proceedes from the Father and the Son, and therefore is sent and given by them as to all the Works which he immediately effectes; but yet his own Will is the direct Principle of all that he does. He divides to every one according to his own Will. And thus much may suffice to be spoken about the Being of the Holy Spirit, and the order of his Subsistence in the Blessed Trinity.

Peculiar Works of the HOLY SPIRIT in the First or Old Creation. CHAP. IV.

(1.) Things to be observed in Divine Operations. The Works of God, how ascribed absolutely to God, and how distinctly to each Person. (2.) The Reason hereof. (3.) Perfecting Acts in Divine Works ascribed to the Holy Spirit and why. (4, 5.) Peculiar Works of the Spirit with respect to the Old Creation. (6.) The Parts of the Old Creation. Heaven and its Host. What the Host of Heaven. The Host of the Earth. (7.) The Host of Heaven compleated by the Spirit. (8.) And of the Earth. (9.) His moving on the Old Creation, Psal. 104. 30. (10.) The Creation of Man, the Work of the Spirit therein. (11, 12, 13, 14, 15.) The Work of the Spirit in the preservation of all things when created, Natural and Moral. (16.) Farther Instances thereof, in and out of the Church. (17.) Work of the Spirit of God in the Old Creation why sparingly delivered.

Sect. 1 INtending to treat of the Operations of the Holy Ghost or those which are peculiar to him, some things must be premised concerning the Operation of the Godhead in general, and the manner thereof. And they are such as are needful to guide us in many Passages of the Scripture, and to direct us aright in the Things in particular which now lie before us. I say then (1.) that all Divine Operations are usually ascribed to God absolutely. So it is said God made all things, and so of all other Works whether in Nature or in Grace. And the reason hereof is, because the several Persons are individed in their Operations, acting all by the same Will, the same Wisdom, the same Power. Every Person therefore is the Author of every Work of God, because each Person is God, and the Divine Nature is the same individed Principle of all Divine Operations. And this arises from the Unity of the Persons in the same Essence. But as to the manner of Subsistence therein, there is Distinction Relation and Order between and among them. And hence there is no Divine Work but is distinctly assigned to each Person and eminently to one. So is it in the Works of the Old Creation and so in the New, and in all particulars of them. Thus the Creation of the World is distinctly ascribed to the Father as his Work, Acts 4. 24. And to the Son as his, John 1. 3. and also to the Holy Spirit, Job 33. 4. but by the way of eminence to the Father, and absolutely to God, who is Father Son and Holy Spirit.

Sect. 2 The Reason therefore why the Works of God are thus distinctly ascribed to each Person, is because in the individed Operation of the Divine Nature, each Person does the same Work in the Order of their Subsistence; not one as the Instrument of the other or meerly employed by the other, but as one common Principle of Authority, Wisdom, Love, and Power. How come they then eminently to be assigned one to one Person, another to another? As to the Father are assigned Opera Naturae, the Works of Nature or the Old Creation; to the Son, Opera Gratiae procuratae, all Divine Operations that belong to the recovery of Mankind by Grace; and to the Spirit, Opera Gratiae applicatae, the Works of God whereby Grace is made effectual to us. And this is done; (1.) when any especial Impression is made of the especial property of any Person on any Work, then is that work assigned peculiarly to that Person. So there is of the Power and Authority of the Father on the Old Creation, and of the Grace and Wisdom of the Son on the New. (2.) Where there is a peculiar condescention of any Person to a Work wherein the others have no concurrence but by Approbation and Consent. Such was the susception of the Humane Nature by the Son and all that he did therein. And such was the Condescention of the Holy Ghost also to his Office, which intitles him peculiarly and by way of Eminence to his own immediate Works.

Sect. 3 (2.) Whereas the Order of Operation among the Distinct Persons, depends on the Orderof their Subsistence in the Blessed Trinity in every great Work of God, the Concluding, Compleating, Perfecting Acts are ascribed to the Holy Ghost. This we shall find in all the Instances of them that will fall under our consideration. Hence the immediate actings of the Spirit are the most hidden, curious, and mysterious, as those which contain the perfecting part of the Works of God. Some seem willing to exclude all thoughts or mention of him from the Works of God; but indeed without him no part of any Work of God is perfect or compleat. The beginning of Divine Operations is assigned to the Father as he is fons & origo Deitatis, the Fountain of the Deity it self. Of him, and through him, and to him are all things, Rom. 11. 32. The subsisting, establishing, and upholding of all things is ascribed to the Son: He is before all things, and by him all things consist; Col. 1. 17. As he made all things with the Father, so he gives them a consistency, a permanency in a peculiar manner, as he is the Power and Wisdom of the Father. He upholds all things by the Word of his Power Heb. 1. 3. And the finishing and perfecting of all these Works is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, as we shall see. I say not this as though one Person succeeded to another in their Operation, or as though where one ceased and gave over a Work, the other took it up and carried it on. For every Divine Work and every part of every Divine Work is the Work of God, that is, of the whole Trinity unseparably and undividedly. But on these Divine Works which outwardly are of God, there is an especial impression of the order of the Operation of each Person with respect to their natural and necessarie Subsistence, as also with regard to their internal Characteristical Properties, whereby we are distinctly taught to know them and adore them. And the due Consideration of this order of things will direct us in the right understanding of the proposals that are made to our Faith, concerning God in his Works and Word.

Sect. 4 These things being premised, we proceed to consider what are the peculiar Operations of the Holy Spirit, as revealed to us in the Scripture Now all the Works of God, may be referred to two Heads. (1.) Those of Nature; (2.) Those of Grace. Or the Works of the Old, and New Creation. And we must enquire what are the especial Operations of the Holy Spirit, in and about these Works, which shall be distinctly explained.

Sect. 5 The Work of the Old Creation had two Parts (1.) That which concerned the inanimate Part of it in general, with the Influence it had into the Production of animated or Living but bruit Creatures. (2.) The Rational or Intelligent Part of it, with the Law of its Obedience to God, the especial Uses and Ends for which it was made. In both these sorts we shall enquire after and consider the especial Works of the Holy Spirit.

Sect. 6 The general Parts of the Creation, are the Heavens and the Earth. Gen. 1. 1. In the Beginning God Created the Heavens and the Earth; and what belongs to them is called their Host. Gen. 2. 1. The Heavens and the Earth were finished and all their Host. The Host of Heaven is the Sun, Moon, and Stars; and the Angels themselves. So are they called 1 Kings. 22. 19. I saw the Lord sitting on his Throne[[original in non-Latin script]], and all the Host of Heaven standing by him on his right hand and on his left. That is all the Holy angels; as Dan. 7. 10. 2 Chron. 18. 18. And the Host of God, Gen. 32. 1, 2. And Jacob went on his Way, and the Angels of God met him; and when Jacob saw them, he said this is God's Host.[[original in non-Latin script]], the Word he uses signifies an Host encamped; [[original in non-Latin script]] Luke. 2. 13. The Heavenly Host or Army. The Sun, Moon and stars are also called the Host of Heaven. Deut. 4 19. And lest you shouldest lift up your Eys to Heaven and when you seest the Sun and the Moon, and the Stars, even all the Host of Heaven. So Isa. 34. 4. Jerem. 33. 22. This was that Host of Heaven which the Jews Idolatrously Worshipped; Jerem. 8. 2. They shall spread them before the Sun and the Moon and all the Host of Heaven, whom they have Loved, and whom they have served, after whom they have Walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have Worshipped. The Expressions are multiplied to shew that they used all ways of ascribing that Divine Honour to them which was due to God alone, whom only they ought to have Loved, to have Served, to have Walked after, to have Sought and Worshipped. So Chap. 19. 13. This they called [[original in non-Latin script]] the Queen of Heaven; Jerem. 44. 17. Because of its Beauty and Adornings. The Host of the Earth is men and Beasts, with all other Creatures that either grow out of it, or live upon it, and are nourished by it. And these things are called the Host of Heaven and Earth upon a double Account. (1.) Because of their Order and beautiful Disposition. An Host properly is a Number of Men put into a certain Order, for some certain End or Purpose. And all their strength and Power, all their Terror and Beauty consistes in, and arises from that Order. Without this they are but a confused Multitude. But an Host or Army with Banners is beautiful and terrible, Cant. 6. 10. Before things were cast into this Order, the Universe was as it were full of Confusion; it had no beauty nor Glory, for the Earth was void and without form, Gen. 1. 2. Hence the Vulgar Latine in this Place renders the Word by Ornatus eorum; all their Beauty and Adorning. For the Creation and Beautiful disposal of these Hosts gave them Beauty and Ornament, and from there do the Greeks call the World [[original in non-Latin script]]; that is, an Adorned thing. (2.) Because all Creatures in Heaven and Earth, are God's Armys to accomplish his irresistible Will and Pleasure. Hence he often stiles himself the Lord of Hosts; of both these Hosts, that above of the Heavens, the Holy Angels, and the Celestial Bodies; and that of all Creatures beneath in the Earth. For all these he uses and applyes at his Pleasure to do his will and execute his Judgments. Thus One of those Angels slew an whole Host of men in one Night, Isa. 37. 36. And it is said that the Stars in their Courses fought against Sisera, Judg. 5. 20. God overruled the Influences of Heaven against them, though it may be Angels also are here intended. And among the meanest Creatures of the Earth, he calls Locusts and Caterpillars when he sends them to destroy a Countrey for sin, his Host or Army, Joel. 2. 11. This by the Way.

Sect. 7 Now the Forming and perfecting of this Host of Heaven and Earth, is that which is assigned peculiarly to the Spirit of God. And hereby the Work of Creation was compleated and finished. First for the Heavens; Job 26. 13. By his Spirit he has garnished the Heavens, his hand has formed the crooked Serpent. Or rather, His Spirit has garnished. For [[original in non-Latin script]] agrees with [[original in non-Latin script]], the Spirit, and not with He; and the word signifies to adorn, to make fair, to render beautifull to the Eye. Thus the Heavens were garnished by the Spirit of God, when by the Creation and disposal of the aspectable Host of them, he rendred them so glorious and beautiful as we behold. So the Targum; His Spirit beautified the Face of the Heavens, or gave them that comely beauty and Order wherein their Face appeares to us. Hence the Heavens as adorned with the Moon and the Stars, are said to be the Work of God's fingers. Psal. 8. 3. That is, not only those which were powerfully made, but also Curiously wrought and adorned by the Spirit of God. For by the finger or fingers of God, the Spirit of God is in an especial manner intended. Hence those words of our Saviour, Luk. 11. 20. but if I with the finger of God, do cast out Devils; Matth. 12. 28. are; if I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God. By him were the Heavens as it were curiously wrought, adorned, garnished, rendred beautiful and Glorious, to shew forth the Praise of his Power and Wisdom; Psal. 19. 1. And by the Crooked Serpent, which is added to the garnishing of the Heavens, the Hebrews understand the Galaxie or Milky way which to the Eye represents the moving or wirthing of a Serpent in the Water. This then is peculiarly assigned to the Spirit with respect to the Heavens and their Host; the compleating finishing Work is ascribed to him, which we must understand by the Rules before mentioned and not exclusively to the other Persons.

The Spirit of God moved on the Face of the Waters, communicating unto the whole a quickening and prolifick Virtue, inlaying it with the Seeds of animal Life unto all kinds of things.

Without the Spirit's cherishing motion, all was a dead-Sea, a confused deep with Darkness upon it, able to bring forth nothing; but by his Moving the Principles of all Kinds and Forms of things were communicated. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created, and thou renewest the Face of the Earth — the Spirit of God continually produces a new supply of Creatures in the room of those that fall off.

Sect. 10 Man in his Creation falles under a two-fold Notion. For he may be considered either meerly naturally as to the essentially constitutive parts of his Being, or morally also with reference to his Principles of Obedience the Law given to him, and the End proposed as his Reward. And these things are distinctly proposed to our contemplation in the Scripture. The first is expressed Gen. 2. 7. And the Lord God formed Man of the Dust of the Ground, and breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life, and Man became a Living Soul. (1.) There is the Matter whereof he was formed; (2.) The Quickning Principle added thereunto; And (3.) the Effect of their Conjunction and Union. For the Matter he was made of, it is said he was formed [[original in non-Latin script]]dust of the Ground, or dust gathered together on an heap from and upon the Ground, [[original in non-Latin script]], Prov. 8. 26. So is God the great [[original in non-Latin script]], the universal framer of All, represented as an Artificer, who first prepares his Matter and then forms it as it seemes good to him. And this is mentioned for two ends; First, To set forth the Excellency, Power, and Wisdom of God, who out of such vile contemptible Matter, as an heap of Dust swept as it were together on the Ground, could and did make so excellent curious and glorious a Fabrick as is the Body of Man, or as was the Body of Adam before the Fall. Secondly, To mind Man of his Original, that he might be kept humble and in a meet dependance on the Wisdom and Bounty of his Creator; for from there it was, and not from the Original Matter whereof he was made, that he became so excellent. Hereof Abraham makes his solemn Acknowledgment before the Lord; Gen. 18. 27. Behold I have taken upon me to speak to the Lord which am but Dust and Ashes. He ashes himself with the Remembrance of his Original. And this as it were God reproaches Adam withal upon his Sin and Transgression; Gen. 3. 19. You shalt return to the Ground, for out of it wast you taken. For Dust you art, and to Dust you shalt return. He lets him know that he had now by sin lost that Immortality which he was made in a condition to have enjoyed; and that his Body according to his Nature and Constitution, should return again into its first Principles or the Dust of the Earth.

Into this formed Dust, Secondly, God breathed [[original in non-Latin script]]; the Breath of Life; Divine aurae particulam, a vital immortal Spirit. This God breathed into him as giving him something of himself, somewhat immediately of his own, not made out of any praecreated Matter. This is the Rational Soul or Intelligent Spirit. Thus Man became a middle Creature between the Angels above and the sensitive Animals below. His Body was formed as the Beasts from the Matter made the first Day, and digested into dry Land on the third Day. His Soul was an immediate Production of and Emanation from the Divine Power as the Angels were. So when in the Works of the New Creation our Blessed Saviour bestowed the Holy Ghost on his Disciples, he breathed on them as a sign that he gave them something of his own. This Coelestial Spirit, this Heavenly Breath was to Man a quickning Principle. For, thirdly, the Effect hereof is that Man became [[original in non-Latin script]] a living Soul. His Body was hereby animated and capable of all Vital Acts. Hence he could move, eat, see, hear, &c. for the natural Effects of this Breath of Life are only intended in this Expression. Thus the first Man Adam was made a Living Soul, 1 Cor. 15. 45. This was the Creation of Man, as to the essentially constituting Principles of his Nature.

Sect. 11 With respect to his Moral Condition and Principle of Obedience to God, it is expressed Gen. 1. 26, 27. And God said, Let us make Man in our own Image after our likeness; and let them have dominion; so God created Man in his own Image, in the Image of God created he him. He made him upright, Eccles. 7. 29. perfect in his Condition; every way compleat, fit, disposed, and able to and for the Obedience required of him. Without Weakness, Distemper, Disease, contrariety of Principles Inclinations or Reasonings. An universal Rectitude of Nature consisting in Light Power and Order in his Understanding Mind and Affections, was the principal part of this Image of God wherein he was created. And this appears as from the Nature of the thing it self, so from the Description which the Apostle gives us of the Renovation of that Image in us by the Grace of Christ, Ephes. 4. 24. Col. 3. 10. And under both these Considerations we may weigh the especial Operations of the Spirit of God.

Sect. 12 First; As to the Essential Principles of the Nature of Man, it is not for nothing that God expresses his Communication of a Spirit of Life by his breathing into him. God breathed into his Nostrils the Breath of Life. The Spirit of God and the Breath of God are the same; onely the one Expression is proper, the other metaphorical; wherefore this breathing is the especial acting of the Spirit of God. The Creation of the Humane Soul, a Vital Immortal Principle and Being, is the immeate Work of the Spirit of God; Job 33. 4. The Spirit of God has made me, and the Breath of the Almighty has given me Life. Here indeed the Creation and Production of both the essential parts of Humane Nature Body and Soul, are ascribed to the same Author. For the Spirit of God and the Breath of God are the same; but several Effects being mentioned causes a repetition of the same Cause under several names. This Spirit of God first made Man, or formed his Body of the Dust, and then gave him that Breath of Life whereby he became a living Soul. So then under this first Consideration, the Creation of Man is assigned to the Holy Spirit; for Man was the Perfection of the Inferior Creation, and in order to the Glory of God by him were all other things Created. Here therefore are his Operations distinctly declared, to whom the perfecting and compleating of all Divine Works is peculiarly committed.

Sect. 14 Secondly; We may consider the moral State and Condition of Man, with the Furniture of his Mind and Soul in reference to his Obedience to God and his enjoyment of him. This was the principal part of that Image of God wherein he was created. Three things were required to render Man idoneous or fit to that Life to God for which he was made. First, An ability to discern the Mind and Will of God, with respect to all the Duty and Obedience that God required of him; as also so far to know the Nature and Properties of God, as to believe him the only proper Object of all Acts and Duties of Religious Obedience, and an all-sufficient Satisfaction and Reward in this World and to Eternity. Secondly, A free uncontrolled unintangled disposition to every Duty of the Law of his Creation in order to living to God. Thirdly, An ability of Mind and Will, with a readiness of complyance in his Affections, for a due regular performance of all Duties and abstinence from all Sin. These things belonged to the integrity of his Nature, with the uprightness of the State and Condition wherein he was made. And all these things were the peculiar Effects of the immediate Operation of the Holy Ghost. For although this Rectitude of his Nature be distinguishable and separable from the Faculties of the Soul of Man; yet in his first Creation they were not actually distinguished from them, nor superadded or infused into them when Created, but were concreated with them; that is his Soul was made meet and able to live to God as his Sovereign Lord, Chiefest Good, and Last End. And so they were all from the Holy Ghost from whom the Soul was as has been declared. Yea suppose these Abilities to be superadded to Man's Natural Faculties, as Gifts supernatural (which yet is not so) they must be acknowledged in a peculiar manner to be from the Holy Spirit. For in the Restauration of these Abilities to our minds, in our Renovation to the Image of God in the Gospel, it is plainly asserted that the Holy Ghost is the immediate Operator of them. And he does thereby restore his own Work, and not take the Work of another out of his Hand. For in the New Creation the Father in the way of Authority designs it and brings all things to an head in Christ, Ephes. 1. 10. which retrived his original peculiar Work; and the Son gave to all things a new consistency which belonged to him from the beginning, Col. 1. 16. So also the Holy Spirit renews in us the Image of God, the original implantation whereof was his peculiar Work. And thus Adam may be said to have had the Spirit of God in his Innocency. He had him in these peculiar Effects of his Power and Goodness, and he had him according to the Tenor of that Covenant, whereby it was possible that he should utterly lose him as accordingly it came to pass. He had him not by especial Inhabitation, for the whole World was then the Temple of God. In the Covenant of Grace founded in the Person and on the Mediation of Christ it is otherwise. On whomever the Spirit of God is bestowed for the Renovation of the Image of God in him, he abides with him for ever. But in all Men from first to last, all Goodness, Righteousness, and Truth, are the Fruits of the Spirit, Ephes. 5. 9.

Sect. 15 The Works of God being thus finished, and the whole frame of Nature set upon its Wheels, it is not deserted by the Spirit of God. For as the preservation, continuance, and acting of all things in the Universe, according to their especial Nature and mutual Application of one to another, are all from the powerful and efficacious Influences of Divine Providence; so there are particular Operations of the Holy Spirit[••]nd about all things, whether meerly Natural and Animal, or also Rational and Moral. An Instance in each kind may suffice. For the first, (as we have shewed) the Propagation of the succeeding Generations of Creatures, and the annual Renovation of the Face of the Earth are ascribed to him, Psal. 104. 30. For as we would own the due and just Powers and Operations of second Causes, so we abhor that Atheism which ascribes to them an Original and Independent Efficacy and Causality, without a previous acting in, by, and upon them, of the Power of God. And this is here ascribed to the Spirit, whom God sendes forth to that End and Purpose. As to rational and moral actions, such as the great Affairs of the World do consist in and are disposed of by, he has in them also a peculiar Efficiency. Thus those great Vertues of Wisdom, Courage, and Fortitude, which have been used for the producing of great Effects in the World, are of his especial Operation. So when God stirred up Men to Rule and Govern his People of Old, to fight against and to subdue their Enemies, it is said the Spirit of God came upon them, Jud. 3. 10. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Othniel, and he judged Israel and went out to War. The Spirit of God endued him with Wisdom for Government, and with courage and skill in conduct for War. So Judg. 6. 34. And although Instances hereof are given us principally among the People of God, yet whereever Men in the World have been raised up to do great and wonderful things, whereby God executes his Judgments, fulfilles any of his Promises or his Threatnings, even they also have received of the especial Gifts and Assistances of the Holy Spirit of God. For this Reason is Cyrus expresly called God's Anointed, Isa. 45. 1. Cyrus had by God's Designation a great and mighty Work to effect. He was utterly to ruine and destroy the Great, Antient, Babylonian Monarchy. God had a concern herein, as to the avenging of the Quarrel of his People, and therein the accomplishment of many Promises and Threatnings. The Work it self was great, arduous, and insuperable to ordinary humane Abilities. Wherefore God sends his Spirit to fill Cyrus with Wisdom, Courage, skill in all Military Affairs, that he might go through with the Work whereunto in the Providence of God he was designed. Hence is he called God's Anointed, because the Unction of Kings of old was an instituted Sign of the Communication of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost for Government to them; see Isa. 45. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. and other Instances of the like kind might be given.

Sect. 16 Thus when the Church was to have a blessed Restauration of the Worship of God after the return of the People from their Captivity; Zerubbabel is in an especial manner called to begin and carry on this Work in the building of the Temple. But the Difficulties he had to conflict withal were great, and appeared insuperable. The People were few and poor, and the Oppositions made to them and their Work great and many. Especially what arose from the Power of the Persian Monarchy under whose Rule and Oppression they were. For although they had Permission and Encouragement from Cyrus for their Work, yet immediately upon his Death they were oppressed again, and their Work caused to cease. This Power they could no way conflict withal; yet God tells them that all this Opposition shall be removed and conquered. Who art you, saith he, O great Mountain? before Zerubbabel you shalt become a plain, Zech. 4. 7. All the hindrance that arose from that great Mountain of the Persian Empire shall be removed out of the way, and the progress of Zerubbabel in his Work shall be made smooth plain and easie. But how shall this be effected and brought about? Not by an Army, or by Might, nor by Power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts, v. 6. You would suppose that it must be done by Armies and open force, which you are altogether insufficient for. But this is not the way I will take in this matter. My Spirit shall work in their Hearts, Minds, and Counsels, that contrary to their fears they shall themselves further that work which hitherto they have impeded. And he shall work in the Minds and Counsels of others to oppose them and entangle them where they would hinder it, until they are destroyed, and that great Mountain be fully removed, as in the Event it came to pass. So that the Providential Alterations that are wrought in the World, are Effects of his Power and Efficacy also.

Sect. 17 And thus have we taken a short view of the Dispensation and Work of the Spirit of God in the first Creation. But the Effect hereof being a State of things that quickly passed away, and being of no advantage to the Church after the entrance of sin, what belonged to it is but sparingly delivered in the Scriptures; the true sense of what is so delivered depending much on the Analogie of the following Works of God in Man's Renovation and Recovery. But as to the New Creation (which falls under our Consideration in the next place, as that alone which is directly intended by us) the Foundation, building up and finishing the Church of God therein, being the things whereon depends the principal manifestation of the Glory of God, and wherein the great Concerns of all the Elect do lie, they are more fully and directly declared in the Scripture. And in reference to them we shall find a full distinct Declaration of the whole Dispensation and Work of the Spirit of God.

Way and Manner of the Divine Dispensation of the HOLY SPIRIT. CHAP. V.

(1.) Dispensation of the Spirit to be learned from the Scripture only; general Adjuncts thereof. (2.) The Administration of the Spirit and his own Application of himself to his Work how expressed. (3.) The Spirit how and in what sense given and received. (4.) What is included in the giving of the Spirit. (5.) What in receiving of him. (6, 7.) Priviledg and Advantage in receiving the Spirit. (8.) How God is said to SEND the Spirit; what is included in sending. (9.) How God MINISTERS the Spirit. (10.) How God is said to PUT his Spirit on us; What is included in that Expression. (11.) The Spirit how POURED out. (12, 13.) What is included and intended herein. (14.) The wayes of the Spirits Application of himself to his Work. (15.) His proceeding from Father and Son explained. (16.) How he comes to us. (17.) His falling on Men. (18.) His resting. (19.) How and in what sense he is said to depart from any Person. (20.) Of the Divisions of the Holy Ghost, Heb. 2. 3. (21.) Exposition of them vindicated.

Sect. 1 BEfore we treat of the especial Operations Works and Effects of the Holy Ghost in and on the New Creation, the Order of things requires, that we should first speak somewhat of the General Nature of God's Dispensation of him, and of his own Applications of himself to his Actings and Workings in this Matter. For this is the Foundation of all that he does, and this for our Edification we are instructed in by the Scriptures. To them in this whole Discourse we must diligently attend; for we are exercised in such a Subject as wherein we have no Rule nor Guide, nor any thing to give us Assistance but pure Revelation. And what I have to offer concerning these things, consists upon the Matter solely in the Explication of those places of Scripture wherein they are revealed. We must therefore consider (1.) what we are taught on the part of God the Father with respect to the Holy Spirit and his Work; and (2.) what relates immediately to himself.

Sect. 2 First; God's disposal of the Spirit to his Work, is five wayes expressed in the Scripture. For he is said, (1.) to give or bestow Him; (2.) to send Him; (3.) to administer him; (4.) to pour him out; (5.) to put him on us. And his own Application of Himself to his Work is likewise five wayes expressed. For he is said (1.) to proceed, (2.) to Come, or come upon; (3.) to fall on Men, (4.) to rest; and (5.) to depart. These things containing the general Manner of his Administration and Dispensation, must be first spoken to.

Sect. 3 First; He is said to be GIVEN of God; that is, of God the Father, who is said to GIVE him in an especial manner. Luk. 11. 13. Your Heavenly Father will give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Joh. 3. 34. He has Given his Spirit to us. 1. Joh. 3. 24. Joh. 14. 16. The Father shall Give you another Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, v. 26. And in answer to this Act of God, those on whom he is bestowed are said to Receive him. Joh. 7. 39. This he spoke of the Spirit which they that believe on Him should Receive. 1 Cor. 2. 12. We have received the Spirit which is of God. 2. Cor. 11. 4. if you have received another Spirit which you had not Reoeived; Where the Receiving of the Spirit is made a matter Common to all Beleivers. So Gal. 3. 2. Acts. 8. 15, 19. Joh. 14. 17. Chap. 20. 22. For these two, Giving and Receiving are related; the one supposing the other. And this Expression of the Dispensation of the Holy Ghost is irreconcileable to the Opinion before rejected; Namely that he is nothing but a transient Accident, or an Occasional Emanation of the Power of God. For how, or in what sense can an Act of the Power of God be Given by him, or be Received by us? It can indeed in no sense be either the Object of God's Giving or of our Receiving, especially as this is explained in those other Expressions of the same thing before laid down, and afterwards considered. It must be somewhat that has a Subsistence of its own, that is thus Given and Received. So the Lord Christ is frequently said to be Given of God and Received by us. It is true we may be said in another sense to receive the Grace of God. Which is the Exception of the Socinians to this Consideration, and the constant practice they use to evade plain Testimonies of the Scripture. For if they can find any Words in them used elsewhere in another sense, they suppose it sufficient to contradict their plain Design and proper meaning in an other place. Thus we are exhorted not to receive the Grace of God in vain, 2 Cor. 6. 1. I Answer the Grace of God may be considered two Ways. (1.) Objectively for the Revelation or Doctrine of Grace; as Tit. 2. 11, 12. So we are said to Receive it when we believe and profess it, in opposition to them by whom it is opposed and rejected. And this is the same with our Receiving the Word preached so often mentioned in the Scripture; Acts 2. 41. James 1. 21; which is by Faith to give it Entertainment in our Hearts; which is the meaning of the Word in this Place, 2 Cor. 6. 1. Having taken the Profession of the Doctrine of Grace, that is of the Gospel upon us, we ought to express its Power in Holiness and suitable Obedience, without which it will be of no use or Benefit to us. And the Grace of God is sometimes (2.) take Subjectively, for the Grace which God is pleased to Communicate to us, or gracious Qualities that he Works in our Souls by his Spirit. In this sense also we are sometimes said to receive it; 1 Cor. 4. 7. Who makes you to differ from another, and what hast you which you didst not receive; Where the Apostle speakes both of the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit. And the Reason hereof is, because in the Communication of internal Grace to us, we contribute nothing to the Procurement of it, but are merely capable recipient Subjects. And this Grace is a Quality or Spiritual Habit permanent and abideing in the Soul. But in neither of these senses can we be said to receive the Spirit of God, nor God to Give him, if he be only the Power of God making an Impression on our Minds and Spirits; no more than a Man can be said to receive the Sun-beams, which cause Heat in him by their Natural Efficacy, falling on him. Much less can the Giving and Receiving of the Spirit be so interpreted, considering what is said of his being sent and his own Coming, with the like Declarations of God's Dispensation of him, whereof afterwards.

Sect. 14 Now this Giving of the Spirit, as it is the Act of Him by whom he is Given, denotes Authority Freedom and Bounty; and on the Part of them that receive him, Priviledge and Advantage.

The Spirit is given of God — and this Expression is irreconcilable unto the opinion that he is nothing but a transient Accident or an Occasional Emanation of the Power of God; for it must be somewhat that hath a Subsistence of its own that is thus Given and Received.

The Spirit is the Gift of God, not the Purchase of our Endeavours, nor the Reward of our Desert; even Eternal Life itself is the gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Receiving answers Giving, and that implies freedom in the Giver. To receive the Spirit in general is to be made partaker of him, as unto those ends for which he is given of God. The world cannot receive the Spirit because it sees him not, neither knows him. All men are naturally alike the world; no one man by nature has more ability or strength in spiritual things than another, for all are equally dead in trespasses and sins. We do not make ourselves to differ from others, nor have we any thing that we have not received. It is Gratia indebita, undeserved grace, that is the proper object of prayer; God by encouraging promises directs us into the way whereby we may be made partakers of his gifts, unto his glory and our advantage. This very praying for the Spirit is a duty which we cannot perform without his assistance, for no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost.

God is said to give the Spirit richly, and the greatness of a gift, the free mind of the Giver, and want of desert in the receiver are what declare bounty to be the spring and fountain of it.

Some receive the Spirit in a sort as to some ends without any advantage finally unto their own souls, such as those who prophesy and cast out devils by his power yet continuing workers of iniquity are rejected at the last day. To be made partaker of the Holy Ghost is an inestimable privilege and advantage, and as such is proposed by our Saviour.

God is said to send the Spirit: the Father will send the Holy Ghost in the Son's name, and the Son sends the Comforter from the Father. The word 'sending' naturally includes a respect unto local motion, but this cannot properly be spoken of the Holy Ghost, for being God by nature he is naturally omnipresent, and omnipresence is inconsistent with local mutation. Where God begins to work in any place in any kind where before he did not do so, he is said to come thither; for so must we do, we must come to a place before we can work in it. The sending of the Holy Ghost includes that he was not before in or with that person for that especial work and end which he is sent for. The Lord Jesus Christ promises to send the Holy Ghost unto his disciples as a Comforter, whom they had received before as a Sanctifier — he did so as a Sanctifier before he came unto them as a Comforter. The Holy Ghost is not a light which is always in all men, for such a light can neither be absent from any one at any time nor be sent by choice and distinction of object. The sending denotes an especial work there or on them where and on whom there was none before of that kind; it is the Person of the Spirit which is thus sent, belonging unto the holy dispensation of the several Persons of the Trinity in the work of salvation.

God is said to minister the Spirit continually, giving out additional supplies of his grace by his Spirit, which are the principal subject matter of our prayers in this world. The Holy Spirit is a voluntary agent and distributes unto every one as he will; when he is given and sent his operations are limited by his own will and the will of him that sends him.

God is said to put his Spirit in or upon men — he not only gives and sends his Spirit unto them, but he actually collates and bestows him upon them, effectually endowing their hearts and minds with him for the work and end which he is designed unto. God does not send the Spirit unto men and leave it in their wills and power whether they will receive him or no, but he so effectually puts him in them or upon them as that they shall be actually made partakers of him. Sometimes God puts the Spirit as it were by a surprisal when those who receive him are neither aware of it nor do desire it — so the Spirit came upon Saul when his mind was remote from any such thoughts, and upon Eldad and Medad in the camp. The Spirit of prophecy came upon most of the old prophets without either expectation or preparation on their parts; Amos was a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruits, and God took him as he followed the flock and said, Go prophesy. Wherever God designs to put or place the Spirit, he does it effectually.

God is said to pour out his Spirit, and the proceeding of the Spirit from the Father is compared to the continual rising of the waters of a living spring, and his communication unto us to the overflowing of those waters, yet guided by the will and wisdom of God. Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, there shall be such a plentiful communication of the Spirit as that he and his work shall be made open, revealed, and plain. The Spirit abides with those unto whom he is communicated, cleaving unto them as expressed by the word used in Isaiah 44:3 — I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed.

Sect. 12 Let us then briefly consider the Importance of this Expression. And one or two things may be observed concerning it in general. As (1.) wherever it is used it has direct respect to the Times of the Gospel. Either it is a part of the Promises concerning it, or of the Story of its Accomplishment under it. But where-ever it is mentioned, the Time, State, and Grace of the Gospel are intended in it. For the Lord Christ was in all things to have the preeminence, Col. 1. 18. And therefore although God gave his Spirit in some measure before, yet he poured him not out until He was first anointed with his Fulness. (2.) There is a tacit comparison in it with some other Time and Season, or some other Act of God wherein or whereby God gave his Spirit before, but not in the way and manner that he intended now to bestow him. A larger Measure of the Spirit to be now given than was before, or is signified by any other Expressions of the same Gift, is intended in this Word.

Sect. 13 Three things are therefore comprized in this Expression. (1.) An eminent Act of Divine Bounty. Pouring forth is the way whereby Bounty from an all-sufficeing fulness is expressed. As the Clouds filled with a moist vapour pour down Rain, Job 36. 27. until it water the Ridges of the Earth abundantly, setling the Furrows thereof, and making it soft with Showers; as Psal. 65. 10. which with the things following in that place, v. 11, 12, 13. are spoken Allegorically of this pouring out of the Spirit of God from above. Hence God is said to do this richly, Tit. 3. 6. The renewing of the Holy Ghost;[[original in non-Latin script]], which he has poured on us richly; that is, on all Believers who are converted to God. For the Apostle discourses not of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghost which were then given forth in a plentiful manner, but of that Grace of the Holy Ghost whereby all that believe are regenerated, renewed, and converted to God. For so were men converted of old by a rich participation of the Holy Ghost, and so they must be still whatever some pretend, or die in their sins. And by the same word is the bounty of God in other things expressed. The living God who gives us richly all things to enjoy, 1 Tim. 6. 17. (2.) This pouring out has respect to the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit and not to his Person. For where he is given he is given absolutely, and as to himself not more or less; but his Gifts and Graces may be more plentifully and abundantly given at one time than at another, to some Persons than to others. Wherefore this Expression is metonymical, that being spoken of the Cause which is proper to the Effect; the Spirit being said to be poured forth, because his Graces are so. (3.) Respect is had herein to some especial Works of the Spirit. Such are the Purifying or Sanctifying, and the Comforting or Refreshing them on whom He is poured. With respect to the first to these Effects, he is compared both to Fire and Water. For both Fire and Water have purifying Qualities in them, though towards different Objects and working in a different manner. So by Fire are Metals purified and purged from their Dross and Mixtures, and by Water are all other unclean and defiled things cleansed and purified. Hence the Lord Jesus Christ in his Work by his Spirit is at once compared to a Refiners Fire and to Fullers Sope, Mal. 3. 2, 3. because of the purging purifying Qualities that are in Fire and Water. And the Holy Ghost is expresly called a Spirit of Burning, Isa. 4. 4. For by him are the Vessels of the House of God that are of Gold and Silver refined and purged, as those that are but of Wood and Stone are consumed. And when it is said of our Lord Jesus that he should baptize with the Holy Ghost and with Fire, Luke 3. 16. it is but [[original in non-Latin script]] the same thing doubly expressed, and therefore mention is made only of the Holy Ghost, John 1. 33. But the Holy Ghost was in his Dispensation to purifie and cleanse them as Fire does Gold and Silver. And on the same account is he compared to Water, Ezek. 36. 35. I will sprinkle clean Water upon you and you shall be clean; which is expounded v. 26. by a New Spirit will I put within you, which God calls his Spirit, Jer. 32. 39. So our Saviour calls him Rivers of Water, Joh. 7. 38, 39. see Isa. 44. 3. And it is with regard to his purifying cleansing and sanctifying our Natures that he is thus called. With respect therefore in an especial manner hereunto is he said to be poured out. So our Apostle expresly declares, Tit. 3. 4, 5, 6. Again it respects his comforting and refreshing them on whom he is poured. Hence is he said to be poured down from above as Rain that descends on the Earth; Isa. 44. 3. I will pour Water upon him that is thirsty, and Floods upon the dry ground; that is, I will pour my Spirit on your Seed, and my Blessing upon your Off-spring; and they shall spring up as among the Grass, as Willows by the Water-Courses, v. 4. see Chap. 35. 6, 7. He comes upon the dry parched barren ground of the hearts of men, with his refreshing fructifying Vertue and Blessing, causing them to spring and bring forth Fruits in Holiness and Righteousness to God, Heb. 6. 7. And in respect to his Communication of his Spirit, is the Lord Christ said to come down like Rain upon the mown Grass, as Showers that water the Earth, Psal. 72. 6. The good Lord give us alwayes of these Waters and refreshing Showers.

And these are the wayes in general whereby the Dispensation of the Spirit from God, for what End or Purpose soever it be, is expressed.

Sect. 14 We come nextly to consider what is ascribed to the Spirit Himself, in a way of complyance with these Acts of God whereby he is given and administred. Now these are such Things or Actions as manifest him to be a Voluntary Agent; and that not only as to what he acts or does in men, but also as to the manner of his coming forth from God, and his Application of himself to his Work. And these we must consider as they are declared to us in the Scripture.

The Spirit proceedeth from the Father; and being the Spirit of the Son, he proceedeth from him also in like manner. There is a natural or personal procession of the Holy Ghost, expressing his eternal relation to the Persons of the Father and the Son — he is of them by an eternal emanation or procession, the manner whereof unto us in this life is incomprehensible. This procession or emanation includes no separation or division in or of the divine nature, but only expresses a distinction in subsistence by a property peculiar to the Holy Spirit. There is also a dispensatory procession of the Spirit, which is the egress of the Spirit in his application of himself unto his work — a voluntary act of his will, not a necessary property of his person. He is said to proceed from the Father because he goes forth in the pursuit of the counsels and purposes of the Father, and as sent by him to put them into execution; and in like manner he proceeds from the Son, sent by him for the application of his grace unto the souls of his elect. In that he proceedeth, the Spirit's own will and condescension is asserted — he proceeds of his own accord unto his work in compliance with the Father's sending of him.

The Holy Ghost by his own will and consent works in the pursuit of the will of the Father, there and that where and what he did not work before — he proceedeth from the Father as given by him, and cometh unto us as sent by him. We may both pray the Father that he would give and send the Spirit according to his promise, and we may pray to the Spirit himself to come unto us to sanctify and comfort us according to the work and office he has undertaken.

A greatness and suddenness of surprisal is intended when the Spirit is said to fall on men — where this word is used some extraordinary effects evidencing his presence and power do immediately ensue.

Being come, the Spirit is said to rest on the persons to whom he is given and sent — two things are included: complacency and permanency. He is well pleased in his work wherein he rests, and he abides where he rests — as our Saviour promised, he shall abide with you forever. Where the Spirit is said to rest, as in the works of sanctification and consolation, there he abides and continues with complacency and delight; but on some he only transiently affected their minds with his power to act some peculiar work and duty.

The Spirit's departure from men is his ceasing to work in them and on them as formerly; as he is said to come so is he said to depart, and as he is said to be sent so is he said to be taken away. The Spirit departed from Saul when he no more helped him with that ability for kingly government which before he had by his assistance. Some on whom the Spirit has been bestowed for working sundry gifts with manifold convictions, being entangled by temptations and overcome by their lusts, relinquish all their beginnings and engagements and turn wholly unto sin and folly — from such the Holy Ghost utterly departs, all their gifts dry up and wither, their light goes out. It had been better for such apostates not to have known the way of righteousness than after they have known it to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. On whom the Spirit is bestowed to work saving grace, from them he never utterly or totally departs — our Saviour plainly promises that whosoever drinks of the water he shall give shall never thirst, but the water shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. As to the degrees and sensible effects of the Spirit's operations, he may depart and withdraw from believers for a season, leaving them unto many spiritual decays and much weakness, the things of grace remaining as it were ready to die.

These are those spiritual desertions which some have laden with reproach, contempt, and scorn, ascribing all such experience to melancholy reeks and vapours, whereof a mechanical account may be given by those who understand the anatomy of the brain. These things are so plainly, so fully, and frequently declared in the Scriptures, both as to the actings of God and his Holy Spirit, and great provision is made in Scripture for the direction, recovery, healing, and consolation of souls in such a condition.

God witnessed unto the first preachers of the gospel with signs and wonders, with divers miracles, and gifts — distributions or partitions — of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit gives out of his gifts and powers unto men in many parts, not all to one, not all at once, not all in one way, but some to one and some to another, some at one time and some at another, in great variety, dividing unto every one according to his own will. The signs were miraculous works wrought to signify the presence of God by his power with those that wrought them, giving out his approbation of the doctrine which they taught; the wonders were works beyond the power of nature wrought to fill men with wonder and admiration. The various gifts and graces with which believers are endowed and adorned are the distributions of the Holy Spirit — hence the principal respect we have unto him immediately in worship is as the author of these various gifts and graces. John saluting the churches of Asia prays for grace from God the Father, and the seven Spirits before his throne — that is, the Holy Spirit considered in his care of the Church and his yielding supplies unto it as the author of that perfection of gifts and graces to be bestowed upon it. The Lord Jesus Christ as the foundation of his Church was anointed with all the gifts and graces of the Spirit in their perfection — upon that one stone should be seven eyes, all the gifts of the seven Spirits of God, or of that Holy Spirit who is the author of them all.

The one Holy Spirit works all the gifts and graces as he pleases, so that they are all of them external acts of his will and power — it is the greatest madness to turn the measure of his gifts into a division of the Spirit himself. God did not give the Spirit to Jesus Christ by measure — his gifts and graces were bestowed on the Lord Christ in all their fullness, poured into him according unto the utmost extent and capacity of human nature under an inconceivable advancement by its union unto the Son of God. Others receive his gifts and graces in limited proportion both as to their kinds and degrees. God taking of the Spirit that was on Moses to put on the Elders refers evidently to the gifts of the Spirit enabling men for rule and government, not to the Spirit himself — without any diminution of the gifts Moses had received, God gave unto the Elders, as lighting their candle by his. The double portion of the Spirit of Elijah which Elisha requested was only a large and peculiar measure of prophetical light above what other prophets had received — such a portion as the firstborn had among the brethren of the same family.