The next witness I shall call is Mr. Lindsey. In a note on the 28th of St. Matthew's Gospel he says"The Apostle John characterizes the Spirit, or Holy Spirit, which Christ promised to his followers, as a divine person that should be with them, plead for them, and direct them, (xiv. 16, 17, 26; xvi. 7, 13, 14,) when it was nothing but the gifts of a divine power, or wisdom, which he speaks of and personifies."* The statements of these two witnesses are in such obvious agreement that it will be superfluous to produce a third. It is sufficiently clear that the light in which they regard the Holy Spirit is that of a power or influence emanating from God, and exerted by God. THE QUESTION, therefore, for decision is simply this-Whether the Holy Ghost be, as we maintain, VERY AND ETERNAL GOD, a PERSON, subsisting with the ETERNAL FATHER, and the ETERNAL SON, in the UNITY of the GODHEAD; or-whether the Holy Ghost be, as Unitarians maintain, nothing more than God's power, or influence. And how is this question to be determined?-By the Word of God, and by the Word of God alone. By the Word of God we shall stand or fall in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ;-God's Word will be the rule of judgment then: and, as we value our souls, let God's Word be the rule of our faith now. I cannot, as a Minister (though unworthy) of the Church of England, appeal to any other authority than the authority of Scripture. As a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, charged "to preach the Word," I dare not refer this matter to any other arbitration than that of the Inspired Volume. "To the law and to the testimony, if they * Second Address to the Students of Oxford and Cambridge, p. 17. + Vide 6th Article. speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them."* One of the writers from whom I have just quoted affects to treat arguments from Scripture with an indifference bordering on contempt. Dr. Priestley,† in one of his controversial letters, writes-"You repeat, indeed, some hackneyed arguments from the Scriptures; but you know that I consider all arguments of that kind as sufficiently exhausted on both sides, and, therefore, have chosen a new field of argument." This is, indeed, a very summary way of silencing the only witness whose testimony can bring the question to a definitive decision; but it betrays a weak cause, as well as advances an unsound principle. That Scripture is capable of being misquoted, misapplied, and wrested in support of error, we are compelled by too many painful instances to admit: but are we therefore to give up the appeal to it, and have recourse to some other authority? We have not so learnt Christ. He did not, in the hour of sharp temptation, abandon the Word of God, because Satan himself dared to appeal to Scripture, and say, "It is written." He did not leave the living oracles for Pharisaic traditions and philosophical disputations. No! He only held the sword of the Spirit with a firmer grasp,-"Get thee hence, Satan." "It is written again." || Instructed by an example so eminent, and mindful that we are about to discuss a subject, which will maintain its infinite and everlasting importance, when this world's wisdom shall have become like the withered grass and faded flower, we refer this question to that Word of God which liveth and abideth for ever.§ It will, therefore, be my duty and my endeavour, not so * Isaiah, viii. 20. Priestley's Letters to the Rev. John Hawkins. † Priestley, in text Matt. iv. 6, 7, 10. Isaiah xl. 8 much to search for novel arguments, as to stand in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, that we may walk therein, and find rest for our souls. * I design to treat the three divisions of the subject in the order already laid down. I. PROVE THE DEITY. II. THE PERSONALITY. III. STATE THE OPERATIONS OF THE HOLY GHOST. May that High and Holy One, of whom we are about to speak, and without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy, guide us into all truth, that our "faith may not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."+ I. It has been said by some who deny the Deity of the Holy Ghost, that the Scripture nowhere declares that the Holy Ghost is God. If by this is meant that the precise words "the Holy Ghost is God" are not in the Bible, we admit it: but we contend that the Bible contains statements equivalent, and more than equivalent, to these words. The words "The Father is God," are not to be found in the Sacred Volume, but enough is said in other words to prove Him to be so. And in like manner, I shall show that enough is said concerning the Holy Ghost to prove Him to be one of the Persons of the ever-blessed Godhead. Let us consider what method the Bible adopts for making known the Supreme Being. Does it instruct us by mere assertions?-does it lay down certain abstract propositions concerning the essence and subsistence of the Great Jehovah ?-does it not rather lead us to an apprehension of Him, by making Him known, as bearing those Names, performing those Works, possessing those Attributes, and claiming that Worship which define Godhead. Take the first chapters of the Book of Genesis. The sublime subject is not introduced to us in the form of an abstract proposition, e.g. "There is a Being, eternal and supreme, whose mode of existence is different from that of his creatures, being one God subsisting in a Trinity of Persons." No! GOD is made known, first by a name expressing the plurality of persons, "In the beginning ELOHIM." Next our apprehension of this Supreme Being is expanded by a description of his works, "Elohim created the heaven and the earth." Then some of his attributes are exhibited. His power in making every thing, his wisdom in making every thing very good, and his goodness in blessing all that he had made, his holiness in giving a law to man, his justice in annexing a penalty to that law, his truth in pronouncing the threatened curse upon disobedience. And further, we are taught to regard him as the Object of worship, approving the offering of Abel, disapproving that of Cain. And our apprehension of GOD is derived not from mere words, but from those names, and works, and attributes, and worship, which distinguish the Great and Glorious JEHOVAH. The reasonableness of this method of instruction cannot be questioned. Let me appeal to any parent among you, whose pleasing office it has been to instruct the opening mind of your children-How do you teach the existence and character of God?-Not by bare assertion-not by abstract propositions, but by bringing within the compass of your child's understanding some description of that God with whom he has to do,-his name-his works- his attributes-his worship; you teach the reverence due to his name, you speak of his works, enlarge upon his attributes, and declare him to be the object of worship. From these, and not from abstract statements, the child's mind receives its conception of God. This, as we have seen, is the course of instruction adopted in the commencement of the Bible, and this course I design to pursue in proof of the DEITY of the Holy Ghost; and if I show that the NAMES, the WORKS, the ATTRIBUTES, and the WORSHIP, which belong to GOD, and define his nature and essence, are assigned to the Holy Ghost, the inference will be direct and undeniable that the Holy Ghost is "VERY AND ETERNAL GOD." And let the investigation be conducted with great seriousness and holy reverence; for the lips of Eternal Truth have pronounced a solemn warning, lest we "speak a word against the Holy Spirit."* And if we engage to prove the Holy Spirit to be, what in reality the Holy Spirit is not; if we endeavour to invest him with divine honours, which are not its due; if we presume to maintain that He is in the fullest, and plainest, and most unqualified sense of the word GOD, when in reality it is no more than a power, or influence, what are we doing but in effect speaking against the Holy Ghost, falsifying the account which Scripture gives of this glorious and blessed Spirit? May the Lord impose a holy restraint upon the lips, and infuse a holy reverence into the minds, of all who venture upon a subject so momentous. To proceed, then, with our proofs. 1. That the names which belong to GoD are assigned to the Holy Ghost. The Supreme name by which God makes Himself * Matt. xii. 32.. |