exhorts the elders of Ephesus, 'to feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased with His own Blood." So strongly does this speak, and so plainly assert the dignity of Christ, that the fathers, as early as Ignatius, who was a contemporary of the Apostles, considered themselves sanctioned by these words to use the remarkable expressions, the Blood of God,' and 'the passion of God."

с

St. Peter (2 Pet. i. 1) speaks of our God and Saviour Jesus Christ;' St. Jude of our only Lord God, even our Lord Jesus Christ,' Jude 4. Compare Eph. v. 5; 2 Thess. i. 12; Tit. ii. 13.3

Lastly, St. John (1 John v. 20) distinctly calls Jesus Christ. the true God.' 'We are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This (ouroç) is the true God, and eternal life.' The pronoun'this' (ovroç), in all propriety of speech, should refer to the last antecedent, Jesus Christ. Hence, literally and grammatically, the passage teaches that Christ is the true God. But also the context shows, that it is of Him, and not of the Father that St. John makes this statement. Our Lord is called by Himself, and by His Apostle St. John, the Life,' the Life of men.’ Throughout the chapter, the Apostle has been urging, that eternal life is in the Son of God. Hence when he has said all he has to say on the subject, he concludes with once more assuring us, that Jesus Christ is both the true God and Eternal Life.' So cogent has this argument appeared, that some Arians have admitted, that eternal life was meant of the Son, whilst the true God was meant of the Father. But it can never be denied that ouros, this, is equally the subject of both the predicates, true God, and eternal life. Therefore, if it be said, that Christ is eternal life; it is equally said, Christ is the true God. Lastly, there is no instance of the contrary interpretation in all antiquity, the objections being all modern, and of no weight in themselves.*

We may now then fairly conclude, that Scripture furnishes us,

1 Oto is the reading of & B and nineteen mss., two of the Peschito, Vulg. Ethiop. Athanasius, Tertullian, &c. Kvotov is the reading of A.C.*D.E., and thirteen mss.; Copt. Sahid. Armen. Eusebius, &c. The fathers' authority is greatly for the first. The three readings Θεού, Κυρίου, and Κυρίου καὶ Θεοῦ, are nearly equally supported by MSS. The VSS. in number are nearly equal for Otou and Kupiov. The most ancient MSS (B8) and the most ancient VSS. (Peschito and Vulg.) have Oεой.

The phrase 'Εκκλησία τοῦ Θεοῦ occurs eleven times in St. Paul's writings;

both by reasonable inference and by direct statement, with proof that the SoN is God.

3 In the third place we learn also from Scripture that the HOLY GHOST is GOD.

Having found from the Scriptures, that the Father is God, and that the Son is God, we shall need the less proof, that He, whose name is constantly joined with them, is also God. Indeed but few will deny the Divinity, though they may doubt the Personality of the Holy Ghost. Yet, since in old time Arians, Macedonians, and others, appear to have held the strange notion, that the Holy Spirit was a creature; it may be well to show briefly, that Scripture does speak of Him as God.

As is the case as regards the Son, so to the Spirit are ascribed the power and attributes of God.

(1) He is the great Worker of Miracles. Matt. i. 20; xii. 28. Luke iv. 1. 14. Acts ii. 4; x. 45, 46. Rom. xv. 19. 1 Cor. xii. 4, 8. Heb. ii. 4.

(2) He is the Inspirer of Prophets, and can teach all things. Mark xii. 36; xiii. 11. Luke i. 15, 41; xii. 12. John xiv. 26; xvi. 13. Acts i. 8; viii. 29; x. 19, 20; xiii. 2; xxviii. 25. I Cor. ii. 13; xii. 11. Eph. iii. 5. Heb. iii. 7. 1 Pet. i. 11, 12. 2 Pet. i. 21. (3) He dwells in temples as God. 1 Cor. iii. 16; vi. 19.

(4) He is the Source of all holiness. John iii. 5. Rom. i. 4, 5; viii. 9, 14. 1 Cor. vi. 11. Gal. v. 16, &c. Compare Matt. xix. 17. (5) He is Omnipresent and Omniscient. Ps. cxxxix. 7. 1 Cor. ii. 10.

(6) He is represented as the Creator. 13; xxxiii. 4. Ps. civ. 30, with which Mal. ii. 10.

(7) He is everlasting. Heb. ix. 14.

Gen. i. 2. Job xxvi. compare Is. xliv. 24.

(8) Sin against Him is so great, that, though blasphemy of all other kinds is pardonable, blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is unpardonable. Matt. xii. 31. Mark iii. 29. Luke xii. 10.

Thus are attributes and powers ascribed to the Holy Ghost, which can only be ascribed to God.

But moreover He is expressly called God.

In 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3, we read—

"The Spirit of the Lord spake by me,
'And His Word was in my tongue,

"The God of Israel said,

"The Rock of Israel spake to me.'

According to the usage of Hebrew poetry, it is unquestionable

that the Spirit of the Lord' in the first line is the same as 'the God of Israel' in the third.

In Matt. xii. 28, our Lord says, 'If I cast out devils by the Spirit of God.' The parallel passage, Luke xi. 20, has, 'If I with the finger of God cast out devils;' where the word 'finger,' like 'hand' in the old Testament, simply signifies by or by means of1 So that here God and the Spirit of God are synonymous.

In Acts xxviii. 25, St. Paul introduces a quotation thus, 'Well spake the Holy Ghost by the prophet Esaias.' On referring to the passage quoted, Isaiah vi. 9, we shall find it to have been unquestionably spoken by God.

In 1 Cor. iii. 16, we read, 'Ye are the temple of God.'

In

1 Cor. vi. 19, the parallel passage, we find 'Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost.'

In Exod. xxxiv., it is related that, when Moses had gone up to talk with the Lord on Mount Sinai, the skin of his face shoue so brightly, that, when he had spoken to the people, he put a veil over his face, for that they were not able to look upon him; but, when he went in before the LORD' (i.e. JEHOVAH), 'to speak with Him, he took the veil off until he came out,' ver. 34. Now in 2 Cor. iii. 16, 17, St. Paul alludes to this history, and plainly referring to this very verse, he says, When the heart of the Israelites' shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.' He then adds Now the Lord' (i.e. the Lord before whom Moses stood, and to whom the Israelites were to turn, i.e. JEHOVAH) is that Spirit.'

In Acts v. 3, 4, when Ananias had denied the truth before the Apostles, Peter said to Ananias, 'Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? And immediately after he adds, 'Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.' Plainly therefore the Holy Ghost is God.

Such are some of the passages of Scripture from which we may infallibly conclude, that,

As the FATHER is GOD,-And the SoN is GOD,-So the

HOLY GHOST is GOD.

III. Having shown that God is One, and yet, that as regards the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, it is said of cach, that He is God; I propose next to show, that these two truths are not direct contradictions to each other, as though it were said in one

1 Thus T'By the hand of Moses,' means merely by Moses.'

place, 'there is One God,' and in another, 'there are three Gods;' for it appears from Scripture, that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are but one and the same God.

I It appears from Scripture, that the Father is one with the Son. This is expressly declared by our Lord (John x. 30), 'I and My Father are One.' Again, He addresses the Father as being One with Him; and prays that His Church may be one Church in God, as He and His Father are One: 'that they all may be One, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us.' Again, that they may be one, even as We are one' (John xvii. 21, 22). Therefore it is, that the Lord Jesus says of Himself, 'He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me;' and in like manner He reproves His Apostle for asking to be shown the Father, saying, 'Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?"

2 That the Spirit of God is one with God the Father, is shown by St. Paul, who compares the Spirit of God in God, to the Spirit of man in man (1 Cor. ii. 10, 11): 'What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.'

The passage in 2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3, quoted above, where the Spirit of God spake by me' is synonymous with 'the God of Israel said,' is to the same effect.

3 That the Son and the Spirit are One, may appear from the fact that St. John says (xii. 37-41), that the Lord, whose glory Isaiah saw in the vision recorded in the sixth chapter, was the Son, Jesus Christ; but St. Paul says (Acts xxviii. 25), that the Lord, who then spoke to Isaiah, was the Holy Ghost.

Again (in Matt. xi. 27) we read, 'No one knoweth the Father, but the Son. Whereas, in 1 Cor. ii. 11, we are told that the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.'

4 Accordingly we find, that what the Father does, that the Son does, and that the Holy Ghost does; where the Father is, there the Son is, and there the Holy Ghost is; e.g.

The Father made the world. Heb. i. 2. 1 Cor. viii. 6. The Son made the world. John i. 3. Col. i. 16. Heb. i. 2. The Spirit made the world. Job xxvi. 13; xxxiii. 4. Again,

The Father quickeneth. John v. 21.

1 John xiv. 9; see also Matt. x. 40; Mark ix. 37.

Again,

The Son quickeneth whom He will.
It is the Spirit that quickeneth.

John v. 21.

John vi. 63.

God the Father spake by the prophets. Heb. i. 1.
God the Son spake by the prophets.

1 Pet. i. 11.

2 Cor. xiii. 3.

God the Holy Ghost spake by the prophets. Mark xiii.

Ordination is ascribed

To the Father. 2 Cor. iii. 5, 6.

To the Son. 1 Tim. i. 12.

To the Holy Ghost. Acts xx. 28.

Indwelling and presence in every Christian are ascribed

To the Father. John xiv. 23.

I Cor. xiv. 25.

To the Son. John xiv. 23. 2 Cor. xiii. 5.

To the Holy Ghost. John xiv. 17.

From these considerations, and others like them, we naturally conclude, that, though the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God, yet are they not three different Gods, but one and the same God.

Those, indeed, who take the Arian view of the Scriptures, maintain, that there is but one God, even the Father; but they add, that the Son also is God, yet not the same God, but an inferior God to the Father, and so not of the same nature and substance with the Father. This is both self-contradictory, and contradictory to Holy Scripture. First, it is self-contradictory, for it teaches that there is but one God, and yet that there are two Gods. Secondly, it is contradictory to Scripture; for it is opposed to the passages, which as we have just seen, prove the Son to be one with the Father; and it is opposed most distinctly to such passages as teach, that there is no God but the One Supreme Creator of the Universe. For example, we read, Isai. xliv. 8, Is there a God beside Me? Yea, there is no God, I know not any;' and Isai. xlv. 5, 'I am the Lord, there is none else; there is no God beside me.' (So Deut. iv. 35, 39; xxxii. 39. 2 Sam. xxii. 32.) Now, if the Arian hypothesis be true, there is another God,

1 See Jones' Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity.