God. And why should we not employ the same series of arguments by which divine truth has hitherto been nobly and successfully defended? It is the will of God himself, that we should acknowledge as the true God, one to whom Divine Names, Attributes, Works, and Divine Honour and Worship, are ascribed in the sacred volume. The Almighty is not so prodigal of his glory, as to share all the characters of divinity now mentioned with one that is not God. Nor indeed is it possible for him so to share them: For the attributes of God are not, in reality, distinct from his essence; his works are a kind of emanations, and living proofs of those attributes; and what is honour and worship but a devout recognition of that divine excellence which is displayed in such stupendous works? The name of God, in fine, and in particular the name Jehovah, comprises all these in its extensive import. Now there is none of these characteristics of Divinity, that doth not belong to the Holy Ghost.

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XVI. To begin with NAMES: It is nowhere, we confess, said expressly and in so many words, "The Holy Spirit is the Most High God." From a diligent comparing of the Scriptures, however, we conclude incontestably, that he who is in one passage called the Holy Ghost, is in the same, or in a parallel place, denominated Jehovah and God; and that those things which are indisputably affirmed of Jehovah, and cannot be affirmed of any that is not Jehovah, are asserted concerning the Spirit. Nor is it necessary that every doctrine, or even all the most important mysteries of theology, be declared in express terms; since we ought to obtain our knowledge by "comparing spiritual things with spiritual."

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• 1 Cor. ii. 13.

XVII. Let us, in the first place, examine the mysteries of the Ninety-fifth Psalm. None, I apprehend, will deny that he is the Supreme God, who says, verses 9th, 10th, and 11th, that he was tempted and proved in the wilderness by the fathers of the Jews, after they had seen his work ;-who was grieved with that generation, and who sware that they should not enter into his rest. Yet he is the same person who says, verses 7th and 8th," To-day if ye will hear his voice," that is, the voice of the Son of God, who is our God, a great King above all gods, and the Chief Shepherd of souls," harden not your hearts." For what we read from the last member of the seventh verse to the end of the Psalm, is related as the continued discourse of the same person. I now add, that the Holy Spirit is the author of the whole of this discourse; as is evident from the Apostle's expression in the Epistle to the Hebrews: "Wherefore, as the HOLY GHOST saith, To-day, if ye will hear his voice," &c. And indeed it is the office of the Spirit to testify of Christ as King, and to glorify him. Hence it is inferred by inevitable consequence, that the Holy Ghost is that JEHOVAH whom the Israelites tempted in the desert, and who showed himself to be the God of Israel, by his magnificent works, and by the just punishments which he inflicted upon the rebellious. As to the objection of adversaries, that these words are ascribed to the Holy Spirit, not as if they were pronounced by his person, but by the person of David under the impulse of the Spirit; it is refuted by the whole scope and connexion of the discourse. The things spoken are not

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» Chap. iii. 7.
John xvi. 14.

4 John xv. 26.

applicable to David, but to God only. Nor could David have uttered these sacred expressions by an impulse of the Spirit, unless the Holy Spirit were Jehovah. The authority of what is spoken by the prophets is entirely founded on him by whose impulse they speak; and since that authority is Divine, it can be founded upon none but God. Consider by all means the reasoning of the Apostle Peter in his second Epistle, where he founds the whole strength and authority of prophecy, by which we are laid under obligations to faith and obedience, on this consideration, that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.s

XVIII. Let us go on to another instance. Jehovah, and he alone, conducted the journey of Israel through the wilderness. "JEHOVAH alone did lead him, and "there was no strange God with him." We here speak, it is manifest, of supreme and sovereign leading; and let none object that Moses, as the servant of God, under Him, conducted the people out of Egypt. The Israelites, too, provoked that Jehovah by their rebellion." Now Isaiah ascribes all this to the Holy Spirit: "As a beast goeth down into the valley, the Spirit of "the Lord caused him to rest ;" and again, "They "rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit." What can we infer from this, but that the Holy Spirit is that very Jehovah to whom the Israelites rendered so ungrateful a return for their deliverance, and to whom, nevertheless, the whole glory of it was due.

XIX. No less conclusive is the observation which we shall now offer. None will deny that he is the

$ 2 Pet. i. 19, 20, 21.

u Ex. xvii. 7.

W

" Verse 10.

t Deut. xxxii. 12.

v Is. lxiii. 14.

true and supreme God, whom Isaiah beheld sitting on a lofty throne, whilst the seraphim were standing above it ;-whom he calls "the King, Jehovah of "hosts"--and from whose mouth he heard those words, "Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but under"stand not, - - - make the heart of this people fat," &c. If therefore it shall be shown, that the Holy Spirit is the person who spoke these words to Isaiah, nothing further seems to be wanting to establish his Divinity. Now of this we are assured by Paul ; "Well SPAKE THE HOLY GHOST by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people "and say, Hearing ye shall hear," &c. Could any thing be spoken more expressly? Yes, say our adversaries; for Paul does not affirm that the Holy Ghost spoke these words to Isaiah, but by Isaiah to the fathers. But he could not have spoken these words by Isaiah, unless he had first spoken them to Isaiah. Nay, the expressions which the Apostle attributes to the Holy Spirit, "Go unto this people and say," &c. were not addressed directly or immediately to the fathers, but to Isaiah. We have another instance of the same sophistry, when they allege, that by this manner of reasoning it is possible to show that the Holy Spirit is Christ, since, according to our interpretation, the same words are elsewhere attributed to him. Truly reason here abandons them entirely. By comparing these passages it may and ought to be shown, that the Holy Spirit is one and the same God with Christ: it cannot be proved, that he is the same person. What is here said, is of such a nature, that it cannot be affirmed of

* Is. vi.

* John xii. 41.

y Acts xxviii. 25, 26.

one that is not God; not such as can apply only to one person. Nay, that these are the words of a plurality of persons, who, nevertheless, are one God, is intimated by the very expression which the Lord uses in Isaiah "Whom shall I SEND? and who will go for US ?”a

xx. It is usual to adduce for the same purpose the last words of David: "The Spirit of Jehovah spake "by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God "of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, &c."b Here, according to the opinion of many, the same person who is first called the Spirit of Jehovah, is styled the God of Israel, and the Rock of Israel. We choose rather to expound this passage, however, in a manner somewhat different; which we may certainly do without offence. We do not think that the God and the Rock of Israel, mentioned in the third verse, are intended to denote the same person who is previously called the Spirit of Jehovah, in the second verse. It seems more proper to understand by the God of Israel, the Father;-by the Rock of Israel, Christ who upholds Israel, and who has undertaken that the Church shall be built on himself as the foundation;-by the Spirit of Jehovah, the third person. Thus we find the whole Trinity here, and something also relative to the Holy Spirit, which irrefragably proves his Deity. When David says, The Spirit of Jehovah spake to me, or in me, or by me, in whichever way you choose to render it, he shows that he has for the foundation of his confidence, not the words of Samuel, or of Nathan, or of Gad, who were employed as instruments, but the words of the Holy Spirit, who had not only spoken to him by

VOL. II.

b 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3.

a Is. vi. 6.

2T

31.