be the same Person But yet there may be other considerations which make it evident that they are not nor can be the same To this we reply It is true if there be any such consideration or ground by which it may be substantially proved that the Holy Ghost is a created Angel and not Jehovah then that diversity of appellation we speak of will not evince so much as a may be or a possibility of their being the same But that all the reasons that have been yet levied so far as they are commonly known or have been heard of to prove this impossibility I mean that they should not be the same are defective and fall short of any such proof shall God willing be made appear in due time but Secondly That the said proofs notwithstanding the said Answer or exception made to them do sufficiently conclude the Jehovah of the Old Testament in the Texts cited and the Holy Ghost in the New to be one and the same appears by the light of this consideration Because it is the genius or property of the New Testament to enlighten the darkness of the Old and still in mentioning the transactions or sayings thereof to speak more plainly fully and particularly according to that common Saying That the New Testament is nothing else but the Old with the veil of obscurity taken off from the face of it As the Old is nothing but the New with the same veil spread upon it Instances of what we now affirm viz. that the New Testament speaking of the passages of the Old speaketh more expresly and particularly those things which the Old speaketh more generally and obscurely are many and every where to be found We shall at present only mention one which is of some affinity with the business in hand They who with stood Moses in his applications unto Pharaoh by way of miracles and wonders to perswade him to suffer the Israelites to depart out of his Land are mentioned in the Old Testament but by the general names of Sorcerers Magicians and Inchanters Exod. 7.11 but the New Testament speaking of them calls them by their proper names Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.8 Thus He which the Old Testament in all the Texts and places cited stiles Jehovah God which is a general name common to all the Three subsisting in the Divine Nature or Essence the New Testament speaking of him terms him the Holy Ghost which is the name appropriate to the third Person there subsisting And if we shall suppose that the Old Testament ascribes such things plainly expresly and without Parable unto Jehovah or God himself which the New Testament ascribes unto such a creature which no man knows what to make of him nor what kind of Creature he is for such must the Holy Ghost needs be supposed to be if we make a Creature of him It is a plain case that the Old Testament shall be light where the New is dark and what the Old speaks plainly the New shall speak obscurely which is contrary as hath been said to the nature of it and the Counsel of God in it For that the Holy Ghost is by them who deny his Godhead affirmed to be a created Angel one or more some Archangel or the like is but gratìs dictum affirmed at peradventure and cannot be proved not so much as by one Argument of any competent probability Besides if the Holy Ghost shall be supposed to be a creature never so well known as suppose to be some great Angel yet in case it should be supposed that what the Old Testament expresly ascribeth unto God the New Testament having occasion to speak of the same thing should ascribe it to this Angel then the New Testament must be supposed to speak short of the Old and with loss and disadvantage as to matter of edification unto the World For instance where the Apostle Heb. 10.15 a place formerly insisted on makes the Holy Ghost witness of this great Evangelical truth or saying viz. That Christ by one offering hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified if we shall suppose the Holy Ghost to be but a Creature we must suppose withal that this Apostle doth diminish the weight credit and authority of that important saying in comparison of what the Old Testament giveth unto it where it maketh Jehovah or God himself the Author and Assertor of it For as the Apostle John saith if we receive the witness of men So we say If we receive the witness of an Angel the witness of God is greater i.e. Is to be received and believed with far less scruple or hesitancie of mind or rather with far more readiness of mind with a far more raisedness and enlargement of confidence and assurance of truth than the witness of an Angel So that if the Old Testament shall be conceived to build the judgments and consciences of men touching the truth of the Gospel upon the authority or testimony of Jehovah or God himself and the New upon the credit only of an Angel the Old Testament shall give the good measure of peace and comfort heaped up pressed down and running over and the New only that which is scant and bare Yet again Sect. 3 If the Holy Ghost in that other place Heb. 9.8 insisted on likewise shall be supposed to be an Angel or Creature then it will follow 1. That Angels had thorough insight into and perfect knowledge of the mysteries of Christ and of the Gospel Yea 2. That they were the Authors and Contrivers of all those Evangelical types and figures in the Old Testament and of their respective and mysterious significations and relations to the spiritual things signified and pointed out by them 3. And lastly The Tenour of the Text it self will be low and poor in comparison and have nothing that Majesty which it must needs be conceived to have if the Holy Ghost here shall be apprehended to be Jehovah or God himself These things will plainly appear if the context be narrowly looked into The Apostle Heb. 9.1 2 3. having in the beginning of the Chapter declared some particulars of the Worldly Sanctuary as he calls it under the first Covenant viz. the Candlestick and Table for the Shew-bread in the outer part of the Tabernacle called the Holy place as also the golden Censer the Ark overlaid with Gold with the golden Pot wherein Manna was kept and Aarons Rod that budded having over it Cherubims of Gold c. of all which he saith he could not at present speak particularly He goeth on thus Ver. 6 7 8. Now when these things were thus ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Holy Ghost this signifying 1. As we said If by the Holy Ghost here be meant an Angel one or more then must the Angels be supposed to have understood the mystery of Christ and all the deep secrets of the Gospel even from Moses his daies at least and this very punctually and exactly For to be able to read a Lecture
is here plainly and in expressness of words attributed to the Holy Ghost or Spirit of God So Tit. 3.5 we are said to be saved by the washing of Regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost And 1 Cor. 6 11. we are said to be washed sanctified and justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of God The parts likewise of Regeneration the several graces or holy dispositions of which the body of Regeneration is made up is attributed to the Holy Ghost Gal. 5.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering c. From the Scripture then propounded with the rest consorting as ye have heard with it I reason thus If the work of Regeneration be the appropriate work of God appropriate I mean so that it cannot be effected by any meer Creature without him then must the Holy Ghost to whom this work is attributed needs be God But such is the work of Regeneration Ergo. This latter Proposition I suppose will not be denied because evident it is both from the Scriptures and from the consideration of the nature of the work it self which we call Regeneration that it is not cannot be effected without the interposure of the hand and power of God True it is God may use Creature instruments about the raising and production of it as he commonly useth men his Ministers and their gifts together with his Word I mean his written Word but yet all these without his interposure will not do the deed will not reach the blessed effect of Regeneration The Scripture is very express and clear in this I have planted saith Paul and Apollo watered but God gave the increase So then neither is he that planteth any thing neither he that watereth but God that giveth the increase 1 Cor. 3.6 7. When he saith that neither is he that planteth nor he that watereth any thing he speaks not absolutely as if their agency in the business were simply nothing for he had said of himself and Apollo a little before that they were Ministers by whom they believed but he speaks this comparatively meaning that that which they did in the work of their conversion to the Faith was nothing in comparison of that which God did in it God could have effected it if he had so pleased without them but all that they did or were in a capacity of doing was nothing unless his hand had been with them Elsewhere those that are regenerate or born again are said to be born of God Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him 1 Joh. 5.1 And again ver 4. Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the World c. to omit many other places So that evident it is from the Scriptures that Regeneration is a work which is appropriate unto God and cannot take place without him The Minor Proposition then in the Argument last propounded is unquestionable But to the Major Proposition it is like it will be replied that though the work of Regeneration be attributed to the Holy Ghost and withal cannot be effected but by God himself yet it doth not necessarily follow from hence that the Holy Ghost should be God because the Holy Ghost may have an agency or efficacie in it in conjunction with and subordination unto God as Ministers of the Gospel and the Persons themselves who are regenerated have To this I reply If the operation or efficacy of the Holy Ghost in and about the work of Regeneration were subordinate or instrumental we could not be said to be begotten or born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the spirit but only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit as we are not said nor can in any tolerable propriety of speech be said to be begotten of men as of the Ministers of God though they be instrumental in our Regeneration but only by men according to the Apostles expression lately mentioned 1 Cor. 3.5 Who is Paul who is Apollo but Ministers BY whom ye believed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So as the Word of God is instrumental or subordinate to our Regeneration we are said to be begotten by it 1 Pet. 1.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Word of the living God And elsewhere Jam. 1.18 God is said to have begotten us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with or through the Word of truth The Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still notes either the principle efficient cause or else the material cause of things produced but seldom or never the instrumental efficient cause Thus men are said to be begotten of their Parents You saith Christ to the wicked Jews are of your Father the Devil Joh. 8.44 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 So the Angel to Joseph concerning Mary Mat. 1.20 That which is begotten in her is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to omit instances of this kind without number Therefore there is little question but that in the same sense wherein men are said to be born or born again of God they are said to be regenerate or born again of the Spirit It is true sometimes the Spirit is spoken of as instrumental or subservient in the works of believing mortification c. Peter tells the Saints unto whom he writes 1 Pet. 1.22 that they had purified their souls in obeying the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Spirit i.e. by means or by the help of the Spirit So Paul to the Romans Rom. 8.13 If ye through the Spirit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by or through the Spirit mortifie the deeds of the flesh ye shall live But first it is to be considered that that subserviency which in these or the like passages seems to be attributed to the Holy Ghost is attributed unto him in reference unto men not unto God and the reason of the attribution is not to imply that He the Holy Ghost is not the principal or prime cause both of our believing and so of our mortification but only that with his agency or interposure about these works he never effects them without the consent and compliance of men themselves therewith So that in this respect men are said to purifie their hearts in believing the Truth through the Spirit and so to mortifie the deeds of the flesh through the Spirit when they fall in and comport with the preventing motions of the Spirit in order to these great and blessed works which may well and with clearness of apprehension stand with the Spirits being the first Author of yea and the principal Actor in them only it implies that He works none of these spiritual or heavenly things within us irresistibly or whether we will or no. And therefore Secondly Such attributions of subserviency unto men as these do no waies prove or so much
thorough some part of his Dominion makes his abode in some Country Town and whilst he stayeth in it much enricheth and graceth it but upon some offense given unto him by the Inhabitants leaves them and returns to his principal or chief City where the standing place of his residence is These things I presume are no new or strange things unto the most of you And the truth is that to frame an Argument against the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost from the expressions of his descent argues no depth of insight in the Scriptures nor great acquaintedness with their Dialect From that which hath been said a ready Reply may be shaped to the other the Minor Proposition in the Argument This Proposition was That to descend or remove from place to place is in that third of Matthew ascribed unto the Holy Ghost The Reply is That such a descent which hath been described and avouched as competent unto God and is frequently ascribed unto him in the Scriptures is indeed attributed unto him But as for any other descent and particularly such as is appropriate unto the Creature it neither hath been nor ever will be proved to be either here or any where else ascribed unto him Concerning the second place Mat. 28.19 Go teach all Nations baptizing them c. and what was argued for the Divinity of the Holy Ghost from hence our Adversaries it seems know not how to evade the manifest conviction hereof but by denying that which I suppose all the Christian World besides themselves do and ever did grant viz. that the Baptizing which our Saviour enjoyneth his Disciples to administer together with their Preaching of the Gospel is the baptizing with water so much spoken of in the New Teftament what account or reason they give of this their denial I understand not but certainly the strongest and most demonstrative reason that the judgments and understanding of men are capable of had need be given to justifie or bear men out in the denial of that which the whole World in a manner of the religious grave and learned in the mysteries of Christian Religion do affirm But not to burthen our Adversaries with the bare Authority of the whole Christian World this being a burthen of that weight that it ought to shake any man's judgment and conscience where it lies and cause them to look about but waving this I say at present I would gladly understand from them some tolerable reason at least why that baptizing which is here spoken of should not be that baptizing which the Gospel describeth to be the Baptism of Repentance for the Remission of sins Or what other Baptism than that of water for the Remission of fins can reasonably be imagined that the Lord Christ should enjoyn the Administration of unto his Disciples That Baptism which is with the Holy Ghost and with fire is appropriate unto Christ himself and immediately administrable by him only as all the Evangelists testifie Mat. 3.11 Mar. 1.8 Luke 3.16 Jeh 1.26 Therefore this was not the Baptism here prescribed As for that which some call Baptisma Sanguinis the Baptism of Martyrdom or Affliction even that Baptism which our Saviour mentions to the Sons of Zebedeus Mat. 20.22 23. Are ye able to be baptized with the Baptism that I am baptized with c. Meaning hereby could they drink of such a Cup as he was ready to drink of The Baptism here spoken of cannot in any tolerable sense be conceived to be meant of that Baptism which Christ commanded his Apostles For certainly Christ did not command them to make Martyrs where they came nor to subdue them by bloud they might teach men indeed to suffer persecution and animate and instruct them that way but who can reasonably judge or conceive that such a thing as this should be intended in such a Phrase as this Go and teach all Nations baptizing them in the Name of the Father c. Besides the very name into which they baptized men maketh it fully to appear that it was not any such kind of Baptism and therefore if our Adversaries can invent or devise or find out in the Scriptures any other Baptism than that we speak of which is likely that the Lord Christ should commit to his Disciples to administer in the World where they went to teach the Gospel then their Exception may have some colour or shew in it But in the mean season there being that Baptism of water which is every where urged and imposed upon persons upon their believing and which was administred to all those that came to desire it of John and this being the most famous Baptism and such a kind of Action which was very proper for the Apostles Ministry or at least to proffer the ministration of it where they preached the Gospel therefore in the eyes of all considering men it must needs be that Baptism which is called the Baptism of Repentance for the remission of sins Mar. 1.4 And if so then the Holy Ghost in whose name this Baptism is to be administied is without all question and dispute truly God But It seems there is another evasion or shift by which the Adversary thinks to convey himself out of the dint of this Scripture before us viz. That where the Apostles are enjoyned to baptize in the name of the Holy Ghost the meaning saith he is to baptize men into the guidance and ducture of the Holy Ghost Not as if the Holy Ghost and the Father were one And they seem in their own eyes to give much strength to this Evasion by comparing it with 1 Cor. 10.2 where all the Fathers the Israelites are said to be baptized unto Moses It is clear say they that being baptized unto or into Moses here is nothing else meant but a being baptized in Moses his conduct and guidance And so say they to be baptized into the Holy Ghost or in the Holy Ghost doth not signifie any thing more than being baptized into the Holy Ghost so as to follow and give up our selves unto the Holy Ghost for our Teacher and director For Answer hereunto First by way of Concession It is very true that here is somewhat of the Baptism here spoken of somewhat of that nature namely an engagement and obligement upon the persons who are thus baptized to give up themselves unto the guidance of the Holy Ghost But secondly by way of Exception 1. That which is somewhat more in this Baptism is That they be baptized into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost for the Remission of sins Now this is the intent of the message of Baptism viz. That upon their Repentance their sins are forgiven them or in case they have repented their sins shall be forgiven This is the mind and counsel of God in Baptism But then in the second place it followeth That those persons that have been baptized upon their Repentance are enjoyned by way of consequence to deliver up themselves into
the hands of God the Father Son and Holy Ghost So that you see the instance of Moses is quite of another nature For they were not baptized with any such Baptism as to relyeupon Moses for the remission of sins for Moses was not able to to give it But that for which they were baptized unto Moses he was able to do for them Therefore for any man to argue that because the Israelites were baptized unto Moses in such a Baptism that therefore it follows from hence That Baptism which is for the Remission of sins was enjoyned to be administred unto men upon the same terms and no other is to reason at a very low rate of understanding And the truth is that all that hath been argued from the Scripture in hand is so plain and full to the business that there is no rising up against it But though things be never so clear yet there may be shifts and evasions and such colours which persons of light and desultory judgments are not able to see through We know a silly Fly is caught in a Spiders Web even so men of light judgments and who are unstable unballanced and that are not grounded in the truth will easily be turned aside by things that have but a very slight and slender apparence and will be carried away with every puff of new Doctrine whereas men whose Judgments and Consciences are stable will not easily be shaken or removed and therefore the Premises considered we ought greatly to take heed and to look over and over again and again such things as we do receive into our Judgments especially such things which are contrary to the Church of God and have been generally disowned by the generality of sober and learned men amongst them Now howsoever though their owning of some particular truth be no demonstrative proof of the truth thereof and therefore cannot bind the Conscience Yet notwithstanding whatsoever shall be opposed thereunto men had need have Argument upon Argument yea the most pregnant and clear grounds that may be before they give up their Judgments unto it But this by the way A fourth Testimony upon the same account from the New Testament shall be those words of our Saviour Sect. 8 Joh. 14.26 compared with Joh. 15.26 But the Comforter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance what soever I have said unto you In the latter place thus But when the Comforter is come whom I will send unto you from the Father even the Spirit of Truth which proceedeth from the Father he shall testifie of me Here are several particulars considerable for the evincing of this truth that the Holy Ghost is God and more especially these 1. The very Name or Title 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comforter or as some the Advocate here given to the Holy Ghost is no light Argument that he is truly God By the way to give notice of this once for all in the managing of the Controversie or Question in hand When we use the word God or truly God we do not mean any Creature whatsoever not any Angel or other to whom the Name or Appellation of God may by way of participation or possibly in some particular respect be found attributed in the Scriptures but the only true God and most high God or him that is God by Nature as the Scripture distinguisheth We judge it meet to give this Item for remembrance because those that are contrary minded in the business affirm and say that whilst we simply or only prove the Holy Ghost to be God we prove no more than what they grant and say with us For they grant and say also that the Holy Ghost is and may in a sense be truly God but that which they hold and teach is That he is not the most high God therefore that we may not be thought to prevaricate with the cause we undertake to plead and to prove no more than only to accommodate our Adversaries we desire to give notice that when we endeavoured hitherto to prove the Holy Ghost to be truly God by his being truly God we meant and intended his being the most High God not imagining that any person would have stumbled at such an expression or conceit that there should be any more true Gods than one and he the most High God And we suppose and this not upon light grounds that our proofs at least some of them held out accordingly and reached home to such a Conclusion And we desire to be so understood likewise for the future viz. That when we use the expression of the true God we intend none other but the only God by nature who is sometimes in Scripture termed the most High God Sed hoc obiter To return to the Scripture before us 1. We were saying unto you that the very Appellation of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Comforter here attributed to the Holy Ghost is some intimation that he is truly God 1. We do not find this gracious Act or Work of comforting any where ascribed unto Angels but frequently unto God himself as well as unto men we shall not need to instance places for this It is indeed said Luke 22.43 that when the Lord Christ was in his Agony there appeared unto him an Angel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 strengthening or in strengthening him not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 comforting him And though it should be granted that there is but little if any difference at all between comforting and strengthening and that it is as proper a work for an Angel to comfort as to strengthen yet it is not improbable but that the Holy Ghost keepeth to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to comfort when it speaketh of God and of his comforting using some other word when he speaks of Angels and of comforts administred by them If it be replied that even when God is said to comfort it is not necessary to conceive that he doth it immediately by himself but it may be done by Angels ministerially and by God only Originally and Authoritatively To this I answer Though this be granted yet will it not disable the Argument in hand taken from the Scripture before us because that Office or work of comforting is here in special manner attributed to the Holy Ghost where he is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The Comforter This implies that how many ministerial or subordinate Comforters soever there are whether Angels or men yet there is one supreme who doth praesidere i. e. oversee order and direct the whole negotiation of comforting all the world over who issues forth Commissions unto and furnisheth with abilities and means for the work all those that are imployed in a ministerial way about it Now he that is capable of such a high and excellent dignity as this that is able to stand under the weight of such an important affair
Treatise is gravely and with solidity penned and worthy the perusal of those whose feer are taken in the snare of that Error or others remaining in any measure dis-satisfied about the Point Though the truth is they have as much reason to be dis-satisfied about their Christianity it self and whether Salvation is to be obtained by Jesus Christ and Faith in his bloud as to be dis-satisfied about the Holy Ghost being God We might argue the Deity of the Holy Ghost from other particulars observable Sect. 10 upon such an account from the said passages of Scripture lying yet before us As 1. That Christ saith of him that he should teach them all things 2. That he should bring to their remembrance all things that he had spake to them 3. That he proceedeth from God the Father 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I shall but only glance at them First our Saviour undertakes for the Holy Ghost that when he comes he shall teach his Disciples all truth To be able to teach all truth is a Royalty too rich to be vested in any Creature it is most worthy God himself and meet only for him The Eph. 3.9 10. Angels learn many things from the Church and from the Min stry and Dispensation of the Gospel there And the Apostle Paul himself professeth of himself and the rest of his fellow Apostles 1 Cor. 13.9 who knew more than all the World besides of the mystery of Christ and of God that they knew but in part Therefore no Angel was in a capacity to teach them all things when as they themselves were in a condition to learn some things of them If it be demanded But how can these two stand together 1. That Christ should say unto the Apostles that the Holy Ghost should teach them all things and lead them into the way of all truth And yet 2. That Paul should say notwithstanding that they knew but in part Can he be said to know but in part who hath been taught all things or led into the way of all Truth I answer 1. That the all things which the Holy Ghost according to our Saviours Promise here was to teach the Disciples is to be restrained to the business in hand which is very frequent in Scripture and so such things as were necessary and meet for them to know in order to the performance of their Apostolical Office as well in teaching as in planting Churches and ordering the Government hereof For it was not for them to know the times and seasons which God had reserved in his own hand Nor doth it follow from hence either that the Holy Ghost was not able to teach them that restrained all things or that the teaching of this restrained all things should be no sufficient proof of the Holy Ghosts being God The former of these is evident enough from the common principle in reason God and Nature as they are not defective in things that be necessary so neither do they abound in things that be superfluous And therefore if the Apostles had no need of any further knowledge of any thing which did any waies conduce to the performance of their great Office as they were Apostles It is not to be conceived that the Holy Ghost should impart such things unto them which were not expedient for them to know The latter viz. That the teaching of that limited all things we speak of especially taken with that Clause that goeth along with it and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you Joh. 14.26 is an Argument no waies defective in proof that the Holy Ghost who was to do all these things is truly God this I say is evident from hence For 1. He that shall be able to teach all that was necessary for the Apostles to know for the discharge of their great Office must be supposed to know all the heights and depths of the Scriptures all things that are contained and comprehended there For doubtless there is nothing in the Word of God but what was fitting and necessary for the Apostles to know and understand As namely the sitting and applying of all the Figures Shadows and Ceremonies under the Law to and with the Gospel and so likewise to know and understand all obscure Prophesies for otherwise they might have been foyled and intangled by their Adversaries which would have been matter of prejudice to them in the fulfilling of their Office Now then to be able to do this certainly doth prove sufficiently that he must needs be God For 1 Cor. 2.1 1. saith the Apostle what man knoweth the things of a man save the Spirit of a man which is in him It is the Spirit within a man who knoweth all the motions of the heart all the Purposes Counsels Hopes Sorrows c. No man knows all these things but the spirit of a man which is within him which is intimous to him and upon the matter himself Even so after the same manner we may say no man knows the things of God but the spirit of God The Spirit God searcheth the deep things of God As the Spirit of a man is privy to the most secret things of a man even so the Spirit of God is privy to the secrets of God So there is no man and consequently no Spirit besides no Creature no Angel though never so great and near unto God in point of Office and Ministry that is able to search the deep things of God but only the Spirit of God which is intimately acquainted with the deep things of God 2. He that was able to bring so the Apostles remembrance whatsoever Christ had said unto them must neds be God because he must know their hearts and their thoughts and what of themselves they did remember without him and withall to know what was worn or blotted out of their memories For I suppose the meaning is not that when the Spirit comes he should be a Remembrancer unto them of such things which they remembred already and therefore it supposes that the Holy Ghost of whom it is said he should remember them of all things that Christ had formerly spoken unto them did know the state of their minds and inward parts and that he knew what things they had or did remember and what things they had forgotten and lost and accordingly shouldsupply them Which is another consideration that doth argue that certainly this Spirit of God this samje great Remembrancer of the Apostles can be no other but God 3. We might also argue from that other Clause where our Saviour describes the Holy Ghost or the Spirit of God there being no plurality of Holy Ghosts to be one individual Spirit of Truth And then denotes his Process which proceeds from or out of the Father For both words should be put in from the Father and proceeds out of the Father after an ineffable and inconceivable manner Now if any such Character as this or any near to it can be found to be given of
any Angel or Spirit that he proceedeth out of or from God the Father then haply this will not prove the Holy Ghost to be one and the same God with the Father that is the most high God For as for that word indeed our Adversaries do marvellously please and gratifie their weak Disciples with it Sect. 11 falling foul and uttering evil speeches against several kinds of expressions which the Scriptures themselves speaking of God as three and one do invite and lead men unto Now because these things cannot be explained nor made sutable to the minds of men by any thing found in the Creature that should answer them they fall foul upon them and say that they are nothing but devices tricks and subtilties of men which they say are contrary to Principles of Reason and Understanding Whereas the truth is they are things that are most rational and of an elevating nature unto those who understand them whose Element they are who are versed in the traversing of such curious questions and mysterious speculations I say they are most rational unto them and admit of the most curious debates But that which in the general may satisfie the meanest capacity concerning the Three in One we may thus conceive That according to the Nature Essence or simple Being of every thing whatsoever such likewise is the Modus or manner of that respective Being For there is nothing that hath a simple Being but it hath a Modus or a particular manner of Being according to which it is or hath its subsistence Now this Modus or manner of Being or subsistence take it where you will it alwaies follows the Being as the shadow doth the body or substance whose it is For Essence or Being is one thing but the manner of its subsistence this is another If you cannot so well consent unto this at the first view yet you will find upon a diligent enquiry that the Notion is true viz. That every thing hath a manner of Being as well as a Being it self and that this Modus or manner of Being is something which is distinct from the Essence or Being it self Now then look as things are more excellent in their simple Essence and Nature so have they a more excellent Modus or manner of Being than such things whose Nature and Essence are beneath and less noble and excellent in the order of Creatures So now if we shall carry up this Rule or Principle unto God and apply it unto his Essence and Being it will be no manner of offence to any man's Reason and Understanding that he should not be able to comprehend how or after what manner the Divine Nature and Essence doth subsist Because his Essence is so infinitely above and differing from all created Essences or Beings Otherwise we shall conceive rudely of God and pollute his Nature and bring him down from what he is and mingle him amongst finite and limited Creatures if we shall seek for any parallel or likeness of his Being And if so then we must conceive that the manner of his Being is of the same kind and commensurable unto his Being it self A peculiar and appropriate manner of subsisting which is not to be parallelled in the subsistence of any finite Being whatsoever And besides we have the help and light of Scriptures to help us in this namely to find out what manner of subsistence this is that is One in Three This I say we have from the Scriptures And though some men do undertake to make it to be nothing but what is very agreeable to the Principles of Reason and Understanding that is in man to cnceive that there should be such a subsistence in the Divine Nature Yet for this we shall not undertake nor advance so high in such a mystery as this is Only this is clear and the foundation is as a Rock under our feet that there must be a peculiar Modus or manner of Tubsistence appropriate to the Divine Essence or Being which doth not parallel nor cannot be matched by the whole Creation And that it may be thus as well as any otherwise I think is as clear as the other For whatsoever you will imagine or whatsoever your Understandings should project unto you to be the peculiar manner of this subsistence most certain it is that it will be as hard to explain and bring it down to the capacity and apprehension of men as the Being it self which is infinite or as the subsistence of Three in One. Sect. 12 I shall only add a few more Testimonies from the Scriptures wherein the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost shineth as light at the noon day and then proceed to shew the fallacies and other weaknesses of those pretenses wherein our Adversaries rejoyce so much as if they were Arguments above Answer and so put an end to our present debate The first Scripture shall be Joh. 20.22 And when he had said this he breathed on them and saith unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost whose soever sins ye remit they are remitted unto them and whose soever sins ye retain they are retained First When Christ breathing upon his Disciples said unto them Receive ye the Holy Ghost Is it tolerable to imagine that his meaning should be Receive ye an Angel or the supreme Angel That by the Holy Ghost here he doth not cannot mean the gifts of the Holy Ghost so called but the gift of the Holy Ghost himself appears 1. From the nature of the Symbol or outward sign which Christ useth in communicating or giving the Holy Ghost unto them viz. That inflation or breathing upon them The Holy Ghost himself is elsewhere compared unto the wind which is a kind of breathing or moving of the air and fitly so may be partly because his manner of proceeding from the Father and the Son is by way of spiration or breathing i.e. The ineffable and inexplicable manner of his proceeding amongst all created things or things intelligible unto men is best resembled by or comes nearest unto a spiration or breathing Partly also because as the original or first cause and so likewise that which becomes of the wind or that which is done by the wind is very secret unto men So is the first spring or original of the Spirits entring or coming into men as likewise the end which the Spirit makes with men into whom he cometh are great secrets hidden mysteries unto the generality of men very hard and dissicult and of an abstruse definition and demonstration This our Saviour Joh. 3.8 describes by the nature of the wind The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the sound thereof but canst not tell whence it cometh nor whither it goeth So is every one that is born of the Spirit It is very likely that God made this same material World in such a shape as he hath now done and such and such Creatures as now are made And so such Laws for these Creatures to act and move by and
else that the Holy Ghost spake so or so but never that God by the Holy Ghost spake either so or so it is a plain case that all these Expressions are synonymous and equivalent and that he that is in one place called God in another Lord is the same God and the same Lord with him that in other places is called the Holy Ghost It is indeed said of the Lord Christ in regard that he was man as well as God that he gave Commandments unto his Apostles by the Holy Ghost Acts 1.2 to shew that though he spake unto them in the Humane Nature and as a man yet was directed by the Holy Ghost in what he said But if it should be supposed that the Holy Ghost by whom he is said to give Commands to his Apostles were a Creature or a created Angel it had rathet been a disparagement than any manner of reverence or advantage unto them in this kind that they should be given by him and this according to the Principles of our Adversaries themselves who hold and teach that the Holy Ghost is inferiour howsoever unto Jesus Christ be he man only as they or God and man both as we say Now for one that is superiour in Gifts Wisdom and Understanding c. to be acted or directed in what he speaketh by him that is beneath him in these abilities is rather detractive from the weight and worth of what he so speaketh than any waies adding thereunto Thus we see that the Scripture seldom hath any occasion to mention or speak of the Holy Ghost but there is somewhat or other near at hand which bewrayeth him to be that which indeed he is God blessed for ever We might further argue Sect. 13 and prove the Deity of the Holy Ghost from Acts 5.3 compared with v. 4. 9. But Peter said Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost and to keep back c. That which he calls Lying to the Holy Ghost in this verse he calls lying unto God in the next Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God The Adversary finding himself somewhat hard beset with this passage after his wonted manner casts about and bestirs himself to espy how he may break loose from hence also So hard a thing is it for a man that hath an opinion of his own to establish to submit unto the Word of God though speaking plainly and without Parable One while he cavils at the Translation ver 3. and tells us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should not be translated to lye to the Holy Ghost but to counterfeit the Holy Ghost I think it not worthy your time to stand upon the exception or to shew the lightness of it especially it having been done substantially already in a discourse published in English upon the Subject we are now upon somewhile since entituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or A Treatise of the Holy Ghost p. 3 4 5 6. Only by the way you may please to take notice of this that there is nothing more clear than that the Apostle Peter having charged Ananias ver 3. with suffering Satan to fill his heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whether we translate it to lye unto the Holy Ghost or to belye or counterfeit the Holy Ghost interprets his meaning therein ver 4. Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God For there is no colour or ground to think that here he chargeth him with a new sin And ver 9. he expostulateth with Sapphira his Wife Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord Now to speak an untruth unto persons in whom there was so manifest and great a presence of the Holy Ghost as was in Peter and the rest of the Apostles was more properly a tempting him viz. whether he were Omnipotent or no and could tell when or whether men spake untruth or not and again whether he were so severe to discover it in case he knew it c. in these respects I say to lye unto the Holy Ghost is more properly a tempting him than to pretend a motion from the Holy Ghost which was not from him Besides it no waies appears that either Ananias or Sapphira did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in our Adversaries sense i.e. counterfeit the Holy Ghost or pretend that what they did in denying they sold their Possession for so much they did it by motion from the Holy Ghost neither is there the least probability of such a thing Besides some Greek Copies have the Preposition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the clause contended about reading it thus Why hath Satan filled your heart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which cuts off all Pretext against the Translation But the Adversary as one while he pleaseth himself with signifying his displeasure against the Translation so otherwhile he attempts to come off from the said Contexture of Scripture which frowns so terribly upon his opinion by that trivial and common shift viz. That men may be said to lye unto God when they lye unto his Messengers and that upon this Principle because that which is done to an Embassadour or Messenger redounds to him that sent him Therefore that Ananias is said to lye unto God because he lyed unto the Holy Ghost proves no more saith he but only this that the Holy Ghost is the Messenger of God and sent by him not that he is God himself This Fig-leaf also might easily be rent and torn but that it hath been done already by the former hand we spake of For though that which is done to a Messenger Embassadour or the like whether in a way of honour or dishonour may be said to redound or in a general sense and consideration to be done to the King or Prince that sends him yet the particularity of what is done in this kind to a Messenger cannot with truth in custom of speaking be said to be done unto any other but himself It is a common saying that what measure is measured out unto Embassadours it is done unto the Person himself that is the sender of them But now this is to be understood of the general nature of that which is done Be it good or evil which is measured to an Embassadour it doth I say redound in a general way unto the King or Prince that sends him But as for the particularity of discredit which is done to the Embassadour this cannot in reason or in truth be attributed unto the Prince If the Embassadour be killed it cannot be said that the Prince is killed only that he had a very great affront offered unto him So if the Embassadour had a high reward a Chain of Gold or the like it cannot be said that the King had one only that this was done in honour to the King Take an instance or two from the Scriptures Hanun we read 2 Sam. 10.4 shaved off the one half of the beards of David's Messengers
and cut off their Garments to the middle and so sent them away That which Hanun did in this case reflected upon David and was an affront put upon him but the particular things done unto his Messengers cannot be truly said to be done unto David Hanun cannot be said to have shaved off the one half of David's beard or to have cut off David's Garment in the middle Take one instance more Paul styles himself 2 Cor. 6.4 and those who preach the Gospel the Ministers of God and elsewhere 2 Cor. 5.20 Embassadours meaning of God for Christ i. e. for Christ's sake to procure acceptance for him with men Now in case these Ministers or Embassadours of God be evil intreated by men in the World in one kind or other the evil that is done unto them God accounts as done to himself But however not in respect of the specifical or particular nature of the evils done to them but in the general as being highly affronted When men killed the Apostles as our Saviour foretold they would God doth not look upon himself as killed by them but highly injured and despised In like manner in case the Holy Ghost in Peter or other holy men were only a Messenger sent from God and men should lye unto him yet they cannot in this respect with any tolerable congruity or truth of speech be said to lye unto God but only in lying unto his Messenger to have dealt wickedly and unworthily by him So that what our Adversary layeth in by way of answer or reply to these passages of Scripture yet before us when it comes to be fifted and narrowly searched into vanisheth into smoke Another Text of Scripture Sect. 14 evincing above all contradiction the Deity of the Holy Ghost is 1 Joh. 5.7 For there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Ghost and these three 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 You see it is expresly said that these three the Father together with the Son and the Holy Ghost are one If they be one then one in Nature one in Essence one in Subsistence otherwise there could not be that unity in any sense Now this could not be expressed in more emphaticalness of words and which better bear such a Notion as this Here again we have an evasion as indeed there is no end of these things Satan is an old Fox and hath his devices to keep men from the knowledge of all truths but more especially such which lie any whit remote from the common and ordinary thoughts of men such that men must take a long journey to come at such are these which we are now treating of Now Satan takes the slightest occasion to colour over and bedawb them knowing that there is not one man among many that will be willing to take the pains or undergo any hard travel to wipe off the colours that Satan puts on them And as in long journeys there are many bottoms and hills and Wood-sides and there you are in danger of Thieves and Robbers So there are some Doctrines some matters in the Christian Religion where you are to expect and hear of this great Destroyer of the Souls of men lying in wait to rob them of their spiritual Treasure by labouring to confound the World according to the state of things there for he well knows the state of it and how it goes from day to day But Now as to the business in hand several exceptions there are which being searched into vanish into nothing but air As one while the Adversary pretends that these words are wanting in some Greek Copies Now for that when there was no Printing in the World and consequently Copies of Books especially such great Books as the Scripture when it was written and translated they were but few in comparison of what they are now and if there were any Sect or any great Faction of men As for instance of the Arians when they spread the whole Christian World in a manner over like a Deluge Now during such a time the men of this Notion being very many they very well might and in all probability they did corrupt and falsifie Copies and that is the ground that you hear sometimes that one Copy reads it thus and a second thus and a third thus and a fourth different from all the former And it is not likely but that there should be such difference and variety of Copies We know that the Papists now have a great deal of the Christian World under their Jurisdiction and how they are wont and that of latter times the fruit is fresh in memory to take and to throw out what they thought good out of the Notes and Copies of the Fathers wherein we may see the very footsteps of the Pope There are Books extant which they call Indices expurgatorii which are Indexes or Tables of what Sentences are left out and what are put in and these are great Books and there are two or three several kinds of them Even so it might very well be that men of this Opinion I mean the Arians whilst it spread it self might expunge and put out such passages and such Texts of Scripture as these which they saw did bear so hard and with so mighty and strong hand upon their opinion but this Clause is found in one of the ancientest of all Writers that we know of in Cyprian who lived about two hundred and forty years after Christ Now then seeing we find that in his writings which are more ancient than all those Copies where it is wanting it is at least a very probable Argument that it was in the original Copies Again another Pretext he hath against this viz. in that the Apostle saith in ver 8. that these three agree in one meaning only that they did testifie and assert the same truth Not that they are one in Essence but as I said that they agree namely in their Testimony they avouch one and the same truth So now saith the Adversary the other three which bear record in Heaven are only one in their Testimony joyning together in asserting one and the same thing but it doth not follow from hence that these three are one and the same in Nature and Essence For answer to this we must know that the Apostle John doth make a very apparent and express difference in the expressing the one and the other As in the former verse where he speaks of three that bear Record in Heaven He doth not say that these three agree in one but that these are one but when he speaks of the three that bear witness on Earth He doth not say that they are one but that they agree in one So that as I said here is a signal and manifest difference between the expression of that unity or Oneness which is attributed to the three former and that which is ascribed unto the three latter Neither can the former union be understood of agreement and consent only unless
he will grant the Holy Ghost to be God because speaking of the joynt Testimony of the three together the Apostle calls it the Testimony of God ver 9. If we receive the witness of men the witness of God is greater So that the witness of Father Son and Holy Ghost is the Testimony of God and it is the Testimony of three which are one and the same God One in Essence and in Nature And whereas it is still further argued upon this ground viz. That our Saviour Joh. 17.11 prayes unto his Father that they the Disciples may be one as we are one and this doth imply a unity or oneness in consent and agreement only but it doth not imply a union or oneness in Essence because Christ did not pray that they who believe in him should be one in the same Essence Christ could not pray that the Apostles should be one as they namely Christ and his Father were for it was impossible that they that believe in Christ should be one in Nature and in Essence and distinct only in Person To this the Answer is When Chirst laid this injunction upon his Disciples Be ye therefore perfect even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect Mat. 5.48 He did not intend to lay any such command upon them as this namely to be infinitely perfect as God is but that they should advance towards perfection and that he should be their Pattern that they should be as perfect for men as he is for God So when Christ would lay a Pattern before his Father how he would desire that those who do believe should be intirely one and most absolutely knit together as pefect in unity as could be imagined he I say prescribes the most perfect and absolute Pattern of Unity But he doth not imply as if therefore the Disciples or they that believe in him should be one after the same manner that Christ and his Father were one but he prayes that they might be all one that is that God would so deal with the hearts of Believers and so direct them by his Spirit and that he would provoke and stir them up according unto his interest untill they did attain unto and grow up in the most absolute perfection of union and agreement that possibly might be attained unto that they might be of one heart and of one soul as it is said of the Christians in the Acts And in this God doth hear the Prayer of Christ and doth perform it as far as his interest is concerned in it There is another interpretation that might be given of the place that is far more probable and better prepared for the understandings and apprehensions of men by far than that which our Adversary pretendeth as namely that God would make them one as He and his Father is one that is that he would bring his Saints to be one in Consent to be one in the same Truth But doubtless our Saviours Prayer reached further than to a simple consent In a word the meaning of the place is by some conceived to be this in effect and it is a very good interpretation That God the Father would grant unto those who do believe in Christ that they might believe more and more For as he that believeth more in Christ hath a more and greater unity in him than he that believeth less as a thing may cleave closer or faster to a thing and where the thing cleaves faster there is a greater union just so the meaning of the place seems to these to be That God would prevail with his Saints and those that believe in Jesus Christ that they would strive to get further and further closer and closer and more and more united to him that so they might be absolutely one as much as possible might be and withal that one Saint might fortifie and strengthen another more and more and that Jesus Christ who is the stem and stock to whom all the branches were fastened that he might have so much the more honour and glory by having his body reduced into one and so to have it more absolutely compleat The last Scripture we shall insist upon assertively to prove the Holy Ghost to be God shall be Isa 6.2 3. compared with some others Sect. 15 Above stood the Scraphims each one had six wings c. And one cried unto another and said Holy Holy Holy is the Lord of Hosts the whole earth is full of his glory or according to the Hebrew reading in the Margent his glory is fulness of the whole earth Here it is evident that the Angels worshipped the Lord of Hosts and we need not question but that the holy Angels did very well know and understand whom they worshipped and that they were not like the Samaritans who according to our Saviours Testimony concerning them worshipped they knew not what Joh. 4.22 Go we forward to ver 8. Also I heard saith the Prophet here the voice of the Lord meaning the Lord of Hosts whom the Angels worshipped saying whom shall I send and who will go for us Where obiter we may observe a plain intimation of the three persons at least a plurality of persons in the unity of the Divine Essence Whom shall I send and who will go for us In the former Clause where we have a Verb of the Singular number the unity of the Godhead or Divine Essence is signified In the latter where we have a Pronoune of the Plural number the Plurality of Persons subsisting in this Essence But to pass this by the Prophet to this demand of the Lord of Hosts returneth this answer as himself reporteth Here am I send me upon this the Lord said to him go and tell this people Here ye indeed but understand not make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes c. So that comparing these passages together it is evident 1. That he whom the Angels worshipped was the Lord of Hosts and consequently the true yea the most high God And 2. That it was the same Lord of Hosts or the most High God who put the words mentioned into the mouth of the Prophet saying to him Go tell this people c. Now that he that put the words of this Prophesie into the mouth of Isaiah was the Holy Ghost and consequently that the Holy Ghost is the Lord of Hosts and he that was worshipped by the Angels is as evident as evidence it self can make it and this by the unquestionable Testimony of the Apostle Paul Acts 28.25 26. And when they agreed not among themselves they departed after that Paul had spoken one word Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers saying Go unto this people and say Hearing ye shall hear and not understand and seeing ye shall see and not perceive For the heart of this people is waxed gross c. What can be more plain than that he who was worshipped by the Seraphims and
is termed the Lord of Hosts by Isaiah is by the Apostle Paul's interpretation the Holy Ghost And if he was worshipped by the Angels certainly he was no Angel no created Angel himself but truly God Neither can our Adversaries take Sanctuary under the wing of their common Evasion viz. by pretending that it might be the Lord of Hosts or the most High God that put the words specified into the mouth of Isaiah and yet do it too by an Angel For 1. here is no ground at all no touch or breathing of any circumstance to build such a conceit or pretense upon 2. That which the Lord of Hosts did unto Isaiah by the Ministery of an Angel in his Vision is expresly ascribed to the Angel who did minister unto him in this kind Isa 6.6 7. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me having a live coal in his hand which he had taken with the tongs from off the Altar and he laid it upon my mouth and said Lo this hath touched thy lips and thine iniquity is taken away and thy sin purged What God did by an Angel unto Isaiah is as we hear expresly attributed to the Angel that did it And if it had been an Angel that by order and Commission from God dictated that Prophesie unto Isaiah which here he is commanded to utter unto the People why should not this have been mentioned and the act of dictation we speak of ascribed unto the Angel as well as that other Especially considering that the Angel which is pretended to have been ministerial unto God in the latter I mean in suggesting the words of the Prophesie unto the Prophet is supposed to be an Angel of far greater worth and dignity than the other for such the Holy Ghost is supposed to be by our Adversaries viz. the supreme Angel in dignity Now it is no waies reasonable to suppose that the Act of an inferiour Agent or Instrument should be recorded and the act of a far greater Instrument in and about the same business should be buried in silence Nay 3. And lastly for this the Prophet Isaiah is expresly said ver 11. to have called him Lord who had said unto him Go tell this people c. Then said I Lord how long If men had though but a competent anoynting with that wisdom which is from above as James speaketh Jam. 3.17 and so were made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 easie to be perswaded indeed possible to be perswaded by the truth or to the truth these things might satisfie and perswade them For what greater proof or argument can there be to evince the Holy Ghost to be truly God or God by Nature as the Apostle distinguisheth than that he should be worshipped or adored by the Angels who very well know to whom worship belongeth Yea as Christ the Son of God is directly prayed unto by Stephen Acts 7.59 Lord Jesus receive my Spirit and again by John Rev. 22.20 Even so come Lord Jesus So is the Holy Ghost by the Church or Spouse of Christ Cant. 4.16 Awake thou North wind and come thou South blow upon my Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out q.d. O Spirit of God breath upon my heart and soul be thou operative by thy grace and power upon me that so my Graces my holy Dispositions and Affections may freely utter themselves in the World with sutable actions and deportments Some I know understand this as if it were rather spoken by Christ to the Holy Ghost in reference to his Church whom they conceive he calleth his Garden than by the Spouse in respect of her self but the words in the latter end of the verse seem to evince the contrary for they must needs be understood as spoken by the Spouse Let my Beloved come into his Garden and eat his pleasant fruits Here she styles her self his Garden because of the pleasure and delight she knew he took in her and invites him into his Garden to eat his pleasant fruits i. e. Desires him to take contentment in her Graces and Services We heard not long since that the Spirit of God is in the Scriptures resembled by the wind and why Yet more plainly than this Sect. 16 John prays for mercy and peace for the seven Churches of Asia not only from God the Father and from Jesus Christ but also from the Holy Ghost Rev. 1.4 signified by the seven Spirits before the Throne of the Father for the multiplicity of his distributions and gifts given unto men And here it may be noted that the Holy Ghost is not only joyned together with the Father and the Son by John as with them constituting one and the same object of Divine Worship but is likewise mentioned out of the order wherein they are more usually named when all three are mentioned together viz. not in the last place but in the middle between the Father and the Son which is I suppose occasioned from hence because John had more to say in the immediate sequel of the Context concerning Christ and therefore according to the usual manner of the Scriptures in like case reserved the last place in the enumeration for him though his proper place were before If any man shall here object and say That John doth not properly or directly pray in the passage mentioned to the Holy Ghost no nor yet to the Father or the Son but only wisheth Grace and Peace unto the seven Churches from them joyntly To this I answer 1. If it be conceived that John only wisheth or desireth Grace and Peace unto the Churches yet it is plain that he wisheth them equally and indifferently from the Spirit of God as well as from the Father and the Son therefore he supposeth him to be a joynt Donour with the other two of these Blessings Doubtless he would not have wished or desired them from one that had no power or right of interest to confer them and if the Holy Ghost hath power to confer them what can either God the Father or the Son have more If it be said God the Father may have an original power and the Holy Ghost a derivative or communicated power only I reply 1. Here as not the least intimation of any such difference between the power of the one and of the other in the sense at least of him that objecteth For there is a sense indeed wherein it may be admitted without any prejudice to the Deity of the Holy Ghost that he hath only a derived or communicated right or power to give Grace and Peace and the Father alone the power Original in this kind As his Personality or Subsistence in the Divine Nature or Essence is communicated unto him by and from the Father together with the Son so may all Rights and Powers belonging hereunto and founded in such a Subsistence be said to be derived and communicated unto him also But as he partakes of or subsists in the same Divine Essence with the Father and the Son so his Right
and Power is in every kind the same with the Father and the Sons and as Original as theirs But 2. If the Holy Ghost hath only a derived and communicated Power in the Sense of the Objection to give Grace and Peace i. e. a power depending on the Will and Pleasure of God the Father limited by Instructions Provisoes or the like then John's wish or desire of Grace and Peace from him for the Churches was but a Wish at Rovers without substantial ground or bottom For how should John know whether the Holy Ghost had it in his Commission or no to confer Grace and Peace upon those on whose behalf he wished or desired it 3. And lastly for this It is no waies probable that John should spread such a snare of danger before men as this to joyn a Creature with his Creator blessed for ever in so great an Interest or Power as this to confer Grace and Peace upon his Fellow Creatures and so minister an occasion unto them to adore and worship him as God And this seems yet much more improbable if we consider that John was guided and directed by the Holy Ghost himself in drawing up and penning this Passage as well as the rest of the Book of the Revelation For it can at no hand be imagined within the limits or bounds of Reason that the Holy Ghost in case he were a Creature and not truly and compleatly God should be the Author of such representations of himself from place to place in the Scriptures and particularly in the Passage now before us whereby men should be so dangerously ensnared and so effectually tempted to Idolatry I mean to conceive and judge him to be God and to worship him accordingly The Angels we find in sundry places as likewise the Apostles and Holy men to have been so tender at this Point so jealous of preserving the Rights and Priviledges of Heaven entire that when Divine Honours or Worship were tendered unto them they presently rejected them chusing rather to discover their nakedness unto those that were about to worship them and to profess and acknowledge themselves their Fellow Creatures than to accept of any thing from them which was above their Line and of right appertaining to God only Several Instances hereof we might produce being near at hand but because I presume them sufficiently known unto you already I shall not insist upon them So that questionless if the Holy Ghost were not God the first born of things it is incredible unto me and I suppose will be so to any considering man that such things should by his order motion and direction be delivered unto the World by the Penmen of the Scriptures concerning him which do so strongly and with such effectualness of perswasion tempt the hearts and thoughts of men to adore reverence and worship him as God That a Reprobate Angel or Devil who hath nothing to lose nor whereby to make himself more miserable or accursed than he is should seek and project the ruine and destruction of men or out of the pride of his heart should entice men to fall down before him and worship him as a God is no matter of wonder at all But that the Holy Ghost being as our Adversaries notion him not only an Elect Angel but the greatest and highest of all Angels in Dignity Honour and Blessedness that He should dash his foot against such a stone as this or should cast such a snare of death upon the World upon the poor and weak Generation of the Children of men as to turn himself into the similitude and likeness of the most High God himself as he hath done from place to place in the Scriptures so inviting tempting and alluring men to commit spiritual Fornication with him to worship him as God is a Notion or Saying that a man had need to borrow the Faith of such a man who hath abjured all Principles of Reason and Understanding yea and of common sense it self to believe it If it be pleaded and objected on the other hand Sect. 17 that if the Holy Ghost be indeed and in truth God the most High God then it will argue that which is more inconsistent with his nature viz. That He should make or which is the same cause to be made such obscure dark and imperfect representations of himself which tend only to keep the World in suspense whether he be God or no and to minister occasion of doubtful Disputations yea and of troublesome and unchristian Contests and hearts amongst men and thus shall seem rather to envy the spiritual peace and prosperity of the Souls of men by hiding so great and important a truth from their eyes than to desire the promotion or advancement of it c. there being no express Text or Testimony of Scripture which affirmeth him to be God To this I answer 1. That it is proper to God i. e. sutable to his Nature Interest and Design which he drives in the World to conceal a thing as Solomon speaks but it is proper for a Creature Angel or Man to search a thing out to make a secret thing plain and evident The passage of Solomon is this It is the glory of God to conceal a thing but the honour of a King is to search out a matter Prov. 25.2 Psal 111.2 If it be demanded How in what cases or respects it is the glory of God to conceal a thing I answer 1. That concealing of a thing which is here said to be the glory of God is not meant of such a concealing or hiding of a thing whereby it becomes absolutely impossible to be discovered or found out by men The concealing of a thing after such a manner or upon such terms cannot well be conceived how it should turn to any account of glory unto God For as David speaketh of the dead Psal 88.10 Shall the dead arise and praise thee or wilt thou shew wonders to or amongst the dead So we may say that things concealed after such a manner are absolutely dead and so cannot praise or glorifie God therefore that concealing of a thing of which Solomon speaks is such a concealing which removes it to a certain distance out of the way of the common or ordinary thoughts or apprehensions of men but yet disposeth of it so or putteth it into such a posture or condition that men by stadious search or diligent enquiry may come to discover and find it out as the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 3.16 speaking of the Writings of Paul saith there were some things in them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hard to be understood but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 impossible to be understood In like manner there are things thus covered scattered here and there up and down the Scriptures Now such a concealing or hiding of a thing as this is said to be the glory of God either because such a veil or covering as this preserves the reverence and esteem of things that are covered Or else 2.
Because it makes for his glory that the Creature should labour and travel for the knowledge of divine mysteries and secrets this argues the exceeding worth of them But whatsoever the particular reason be why the concealing of a thing shovld be the glory of God there is little question but it being his glory that he practiseth it and doth conceal things and makes only some sparing discoverie of them And this is the condition of very many Mysteries and divine Truths in the Scriptures viz. to be concealed and as it were removed out of the way of mens ordinary thoughts and apprehensions yea and to be so situate or disposed of in respect of their discovery or finding out that without much application unto God in waies of Righteousness Love Humility Prayer c. they should not be apprehended or discovered by any man This our Saviour himself plainly signifieth Joh. 7.17 If any man will do his will i.e. the will of God he shall know of the Doctrine meaning which he taught whether it be of God or whether I speak of my self Which saying clearly supposeth that men who are negligent or remiss in doing the Will of God in living holily righteously and soberly may very possibly never come to see or understand many things contained and held forth in the Doctrine of Christ and of the Scriptures For it would be a meer impertinency to limit the attaining of such or such a thing to the performance of a certain condition in case the thing thus limited might be obtained without the performance of this condition So then it is no competent argument against the Holy Ghosts being God to say that he is no where plainly and expresly called God or affirmed to be God It is sufficient to prove him to be God in that such things are spoken of him and attributed to him which to a judgment or understanding spiritually enlightened do by natural and clear consentience evince him to be God We are not to appoint or teach the Holy Ghost how or after what manner or with what words or Phrases he shall express the things of God things of a spiritual nature But we are to be content with such expressions and discoveries of them as himself pleaseth and judgeth meet to vouchsafe unto us and to embrace for Truth not only that which lieth in the Superficies and first face of the Letter but also that which lieth deep down yea and whatsoever is consequentially comprehended in the Letter As when God himself said to Moses Exod. 3.6 I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob here is no mention in the words no jot or title in the Letter of any such thing as the Resurrection of the dead yet our Saviour proves the Resurrection of the dead from these words yea and blames the Sadduces that were so perfunctory in reading and perusing the Scriptures as not to observe it Mar. 12.26 Have ye not read saith he in the Book of Moses how in the bush God spake unto him saying I am the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob ye therefore do greatly err not knowing the Scriptures clearly implying that however the Resurrection of the dead was not in the Letter or surface of the words yet it lay deeper and was within the reach of these words and might have been wrought out of them by consideration and strength of discourse And because they the Sadduces did not do this they fell into a most dangerous and horrid Error to deny the Resurrection of the dead as if there had been no such Doctrine taught in the Scriptures whereas the Lord Christ himself clearly and with evidence of deduction findeth it in that one passage of God to Moses 2. That is further considerable in reference to the business in hand that the Scriptures were indited and drawn up in that frame of words and Phrases in which we now have them by the Holy Ghost himself This is confessed by our Adversaries themselves now then in this respect it is the less probable that he should broadly and plainly and as it were in expressness of terms any where affirm himself to be God or any otherwise inform the World of this great Mystery or Secret than by secret intimations or insinuations from whence this might be collected or made out by the Reasons and Consciences of men it is a Rule prescribed by himself unto men Prov. 27.2 Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth A stranger and not thine own lips It may be less marvel unto us if we see this Law practised and submitted unto by the Law-giver himself yea it may be observed and worth our observation it is how those Three that are One as John speaketh the three Persons in the Trinity as Christians have been wont hitherto to express themselves are wont to express and with plainness of terms to give honour one unto another as the Apostle exhorteth Christians to do one by another Rom. 12.10 and commonly either to wave or at most with some kind of obscurity and remoteness of expression to assert or insist upon that which is their supreme glory respectively Thus we find the Lord Christ very frequently plainly and without Parable giving Testimony unto the Godhead of the Father and plainly enough too unto the Godhead of the Holy Ghost as in some passages already insisted upon so in several others also But speaking at least ordinarily at an under-rate concerning himself and his own transcendent dignity veiling this with such words which must be narrowly looked into and dextrously interpreted before such a thing can be found in them We know the common style which he observed speaking of himself was that he was the Son of Man he no where expresly calleth himself the Son of God but by consequence only and so these words of his are to be understood Joh. 10.36 Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the World thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God His meaning is not that he had at any time in so many words said unto them that he was the Son of God but only that he had spoken such things unto them from which they gathered it and that truly in a like sense the charge of the High Priest is to be taken likewise or otherwise it will be found untrue For saith he Mat. 27.43 he said I am the Son of God but this was true interpretatively and constructively only as hath been said Yet both the Father and the Holy Ghost do expresly and as we use to say totidem verbis cast this honour upon him This is my beloved Son saith the Father in a voice from Heaven Mat. 3.17 in whom I am well pleased So Acts 13.33 Thou art my Son this day have I begotten thee The Holy Ghost doth not only in Psalm 110. which we shall not need to mention give this honourable Testimony unto him but in
several places expresly calleth him simply God Rom. 9.5 Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Observe these words as concerning the flesh which words are restrictive plainly intimating That Christ had another Nature than that of the Flesh or Humane Nature and derived it also or had it communicated unto him from another and not from those from whom his Humane Nature was derived So again 1 Tim. 3.16 Without Controversie great is the mystery of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh c. Tit. 2.13 Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearance of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ Thus then the Second Person of the Three Jesus Christ overshadowed his own supreme honour and dignity with such kind of words and expressions which did only remotely or by consequence hold forth the same never in plain terms calling himself either God or the Son of God It is most reasonable to conceive that the Third Person also should do likewise especially considering that what Christ did and spake in this kind he both did and spake by the Holy Ghost And therefore it is an Objection without strength against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost to pretend that he is no where called God in the Scriptures But yet thirdly and lastly These things which are delivered in the Scriptures by the Holy Ghost insinuating by way of Argument and Discourse his being God are such and so full of insinuation this way that they no waies become a Creature or him that is not God For though it well becometh God as we lately heard to conceal a thing and in some cases to make darkness his Pavilion round about him as the Psalmist speaketh I mean to shroud or hide Divine Majesty in such Expressions and Dispensations wherein he cannot be discovered but by a diligent exercise of the Mind and Understanding of men yet it no waies becometh a Creature to conceal or hide his Creatureship or his being a Creature under any such veil or covering of words which are far more apt and likely to tempt the thoughts and reasons of men to think him to be God than a Creature It is indeed the property of that Creature who is the first-born Son of Perdition the Devil thus to do all that he is able both by word and deed to entice the World into a consent or opinion that he is God and we know that he hath prevailed upon the far greatest part of the World with his subtile Enchantments in this kind who to this day worship him as God but that an Angel of light nay the first born of this blessed Generation for such our Adversaries suppose the Holy Ghost to be should lay wait in Ambushments of words and Phrases to surprise and ravish the hearts and consciences of men with adulterous perswasions of his being God whereas he is conscious to himself that he is of the same house and linage of vanity descended from the same nothing with them is at too great a distance with all Principles as well of Reason as Religion for any confidering man to believe or once imagine and yet such things are from place to place in the Scriptures attributed unto and spoken of the Holy Ghost and this must needs be by his own directions and procurements he being the Author of what is there delivered in this kind as hath been said which are abundantly perswasive to the Judgments and Consciences of men to apprehend and conceive him to be God and this not only the proper signification and direct import of the words and passages themselves do sufficiently prove as hath in part and might be further and in more particulars yet argued But the experience also of all Ages since the daies of the Apostles the whole Succession in a manner of Christians yea of the most Learned Grave Pious and considerate amongst them having been drawn and perswaded by the said expressions and passages of Scripture concerning the Holy Ghost to conceive him to be God and to worship him accordingly Besides if we consider the great jealousie of God over his Name Honour and Glory which the Scriptures frequently speak of and represent as very terrible unto those who shall provoke it it will appear altogether irrational and unlikely that the Holy Ghosts in case he were a Creature and not God should cause such things to be spoken or thought of him as the Scripture often speaketh and suggests unto the minds and thoughts of men The nature of jealousie is to be provoked and wrought upon not only when the person or thing beloved is accidentally seized upon and unlawfully enjoyed by another Competitor or Corrival but when any thing is done that hath a tendency such a way or which bewrayeth an affection or inclination in a man to injure him in such a kind An Husband that zealously loves his Wife cannot only not brook or bear an Adulterer but is highly provoked with any immodest light or wanton behaviour in any man towards her In like manner the Jealousie of God over his name and glory is not only incensed and provoked by an express and right down assuming or claiming divine honour by a Creature but by any carriage or behaviour in a Creature whether by word or deed which containeth any semblance in it of such a thing or which is apt or likely to draw divine respects unto it self from any other Creature one or more Herod Acts 12.22 23. did not assame or claim divine honour no nor yet expresly own or accept it when it was cast upon him by the people only because he did not presently and out of hand testifie his abhorrency of the peoples act in that kind he was smitten by an Angel and presently died an ignominious and loathsome kind of death Now most evident and unquestionable it is that the Holy Ghost in the Scripture if he doth not explicitely and directly attribute things proper unto God to himself and so claim divine honour yet he doth very little less He speaketh such things of himself once and again over and over which according to the ordinary yea and somewhat more than ordinary apprehensions of men amount unto as much as the assuming of such honour unto him which doubtless so well knowing the terror of the Jealousie of God as he doth he would never do if he were conscious to himself of a Creature Parentage and did not know himself to be God indeed Thus much for answer to this Objection In the answer we have found further Argument and proof both from the Scriptures themselves and from clear Principles of Reason that the Holy Ghost is God Though for brevities sake I pass by sundry Texts of Scripture which are very pregnant for the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost Sect. 18 as Mat. 12.31 and 2 Cor. 13.14 with others yet before we pass on to answer those Arguments that our Adversaries have levied and trust unto for the maintenance of
Holy Ghost may be said to receive that which is Christs which is so far from impairing his Divinity or Godhead that it fully asserts and confirms it But this being somewhat mysterious and requiring some larger Explication we shall not at present dive into it that which hath been given is more obvious and agreeable to the words and scope of the place and sufficient to detect the vanity of the Argument built upon it in opposition to the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost And this for the fifth Argument The sixth Argument riseth thus He that is sent by another is not God Sect. 12 the Holy Spirit is sent by another therefore He is not God The Minor is proved from Joh. 16.26 The Major he that ministreth is not God this is the whole compass of the sixth Argument The substance and strength of this Argument is That to be sent forth by another to minister and to receive commands are things incompatible to the Soveraign Majesty of God and that these are in Scripture affirmed of the Holy Ghost therefore he cannot be God To this we reply First That the man being a perfect Anthropomorphite notioning and conceiving that all those things which are attributed unto God in the Scriptures after the manner of men as bodily members humane passions a circumscriptiveness unto place c. are in the litteral and proper nature and formality of them to be found in him builds his Arguments upon this sandy and rotten foundation And because it is so with men that he that is sent or sent forth by another is inferiour to him that sends him though this be not alwaies so neither as we shall see presently he therefore conceiveth that when these things are spoken of Christ or of the Holy Ghost they must be understood litterally and formally of them also whereas if we do but own and acknowledge the infinity and incomprehensibleness of God we must of necessity admit of and own that Rule delivered long since by Austin and the ancient Fathers and ever and anon remembred by all learned men that have written of these things Quando humana transferuntur ad Deum c. When things properly belonging unto men are transferred over unto God they are to be understood so that no dishonour nor disparagement be offered unto the Divine Nature and whatsoever in them imports imperfection is to be separated and left behind and only that to be conceived to be meant of God which implieth perfection for whatsoever proceeds from God so far as it cometh from him hath no imperfection in it therefore nothing which includes imperfection in it so far as it includes it can be with truth attributed unto him Secondly When the Holy Ghost and there is the same consideration of the Son in this respect is in Scripture said to be sent whether by the Son as Joh. 16.26 or by the Father as Joh. 14.26 it doth not imply either subjection or inferiority to either of the Persons sending because subjection savoureth of imperfection Nor secondly doth it imply any removal from place to place for this also savoureth of Creature-like imperfection not to be present every where at once Nor thirdly doth it imply Ministery or Service properly so called i. e. The doing of any thing in the fruit and benefit whereof he that is sent hath not an equal interest or share with him that sendeth him For this also implies some kind of imperfection If you ask me What then doth it imply I answer first It implies the plurality of beings or subsistencies which we call persons in the Divine Essence for the sender and he that is sent must needs be more than one Secondly It implies another thing as namely the order of the persons between themselves For he that is sent must in order though not in nature or dignity be after him that sendeth Though there be not a superiority and inferiority one to command and another to be subject Yet notwithstanding there is an order amongst them and the order is this the Father is as the Schoolmens Expression frequently is Fons Deitatis the Fountain of the Godhead because the Son though he doth partake of the same Divine Nature and Essence with him and is every way God with him yet he hath the Sonship or Divine Person communicated unto him by God the Father So the third Person hath a divine Nature and Essence communicated unto him by a joynt spiration as they express it or by way of Procession he hath it joyntly from the Father and the Son And hence it is that you never find in Scripture that the Father is said to be sent either by the Son or by the Holy Ghost But you find concerning both the Son and the Holy Spirit sometimes the Son is said to be sent into the World by the Father and so the Spirit is said to be sent This therefore sheweth indeed the Plurality of Persons in the Divine Essence and so likewise the order of subsistence between them that there is one as it were before who hath a priority of order though not of excellency or dignity nor of greatness nor any such thing And then again that which I suppose is the principle thing meant by it viz. the Phrase of sending is that the work mode or manner of working which is proper for the Holy Ghost that this is to be performed by him according to the order that we lately shewed First the Father then the Son then the Holy Ghost So that now every one of these though as indeed they have one and the same Essence and Nature so they alwaies joyn in one and the same operation and working ad extra without yet notwithstanding they have every one of them a peculiar and an appropriate and distinct manner of working answerable to that order wherein they subsist among themselves As for example The Father beginneth the work which is proper for the Original Author of the Work and then the Son he doth something but in a mediate kind of way between the beginning and consummation or finishing of it and the Holy Ghost according to his place in his order being the third and last He worketh after the manner of him that perfecteth or finisheth or consummates the work The Father he hath laid the Counsel and Platform of Salvation for men The Son he hath carried on the work so far as to make the attonement for them And yet there remaineth something to be done for the Salvation of the World and that is the reducing and bringing men to believe in this Saviour and to accept of that Attonement which he hath made for them and this being the consummating work about the salvation of the World although the Father and the Son both have a hand in it and it is doubtless their work as well as his yet the manner of the accomplishing of it concluding wise this is appropriate unto the Holy Spirit And now because his work importeth such a thing
so that this is an errour in the foundation For first Though it be here said And the Spirit and the Bride say come yet it is not said that the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit so called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the bride say come It is the sense of some learned men that by the Spirit in this place is not meant the Holy Ghost but the Angel or Spirit which Christ is said Chap. 1.1 to have sent to signifie this Revelation unto John and who conversed with him all along hitherto Angels we know are of a spiritual nature and frequently in Scriptures termed Spirits Now to reason either a genere or a specie ad individuum from a general to a particular affirmatively is an Argument fitter for a child than for a man As thus It was a man that did such or such a thing therefore it was William or Thomas that did it such a reasoning as this is that before us The Spirit saith come therefore such or such a Spirit by name as the holiest Spirit of all saith come But grant we the Adversary that which his Argument demands that by the Spirit here is meant the Holy Ghost Yet Secondly It is not necessary to conceive that the Holy Ghost spake thus saith unto Christ come as being without the Bride but as speaking in and by the Bride Nay it cannot reasonably be conceived otherwise For if the Holy Ghost separated from and without the Bride shall say come then the Bride must be supposed to say come of her self and without the presence and assistance of the Holy Ghost In which case were she able to conceive such a Prayer as this of her self which yet she is not yet would it not be acceptable unto God no Prayer being accepted with him but that which is prayed in or by the Holy Ghost Thirdly Though here be two Agents or two Speakers I beseech you mind it mentioned the Spirit and the Bride yet here is but one Action or speaking asserted to them both here is but one Come And the Spirit and the Bride say come it is not and the Spirit saith come and again the Bride saith come No but the Spirit and the Bride together make one lip as it were between them and together they say as it were with one voice come So that this passage or expression wherein the Spirit of God and the Spouse are made joynt Agents or joynt Speakers in one and the same Action or Speech perfectly agreeth with that Notion which runs throughout the Scriptures from place to place according unto which God and the Creature are made Co-workers or joynt Agents in all that the Creature doth worthily and according to the will of God in which respect also the Act produced between them is sometimes ascribed to the one and otherwhile to the other Many Instances hereof we have heretofore given you from the Scriptures if you please let us touch one instead of many at present in this kind not formerly observed and which hath a special affinity with the place in hand Acts 15.28 The Apostles Elders and Brethren assembled at Jerusalem write thus among other things to the Church of the Gentiles For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and unto us to lay no other c. Here the Apostles and the rest with them ascribe that Act of apprehension unto themselves as well as unto the Holy Ghost though to the Holy Ghost in the first place which was raised in them by the assistance and motion of the Holy Ghost though not without the joynt concurrence of their Understandings and Wills also the meaning is not that the things spoken of seemed good unto the Apostles and the rest apart from the Holy Ghost or without the dictating of the Notion or apprehension by the Holy Ghost nor again that it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost simply considered or apart and extrinsical unto them For how then could they have told them that it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and them But it seemed good unto the Holy Ghost and us the meaning is that the Holy Ghost did enlighten and reveal the thing unto them and gave them directions and put them upon it to send this Counsel unto the Gentiles Namely to impose upon them by way of burthen and charge no other thing but that they abstain from such and such things so that here the Holy Ghost and the Apostles are joyned together in the same Act of apprehension so in the place in hand the Spirit and the Bride they make one and the same voice together the Spirit he dictates and the Bride she uttereth Thirdly suppose it had been so expressed And the Spirit saith come and the Bride saith come That there had been two distinct Actions mentioned the one ascribed unto the Holy Ghost the other unto the Bride or Church of Christ yet neither would it have followed from hence that therefore the Holy Ghost had prayed unto Christ to come to Judgment When a Judge prescribes or dictates the form of an Oath to be taken by a Jury or any Person thereof he doth not swear or take an Oath though the other that speaketh the same words after him doth formally and properly swear In like manner the Holy Ghost may teach the Bride what she should say and put words into her mouth and say thus within the Conscience and Soul of the Church Come Lord Jesus come quickly Now though the Holy Ghost spake these words and dictated unto the Bride what she should say and pray it doth not follow that therefore he should pray himself When Christ taught his Disciples to pray Our Father c. it doth not follow that therefore he himself did pray but he did put words into the mouths of his Disciples which when they came to utter would be a Prayer properly and truly so called c. Mr Brightman understandeth the place thus The Tenth Argument levied against the Deity of the Holy Ghost is this He in whom men have not believed Sect. 16 and yet have been Disciples and Believers is not God Men have not believed in the Holy Spirit and yet have been so viz. Disciples Believers Ergo. The sum and substance of this Argument which spreads much Paper in the Author's words is this because we read in the Scriptures of some called Disciples who yet did not believe in the Holy Ghost Nor had so much as heard or known whether there were any Holy Ghost or no and withal that the Apostle Paul did not take any occasion thereupon to declare the Holy Ghost to be God Therefore certainly he is not God To this I answer and affirm by the way that from the Crown of the head unto the sole of the Foot of this Argument there is no sound part in it For first The Major Proposition which is the head of this Argument He in whom men have not believed and yet have been Disciples and Believers is not God This Proposition I say
Prophets who Prophesied in Ezra's and Nehemiah's times under and a while after the building of their second Temple they were wont I say to mourn as the generality of them or at least some of the learned amongst them do at this day as if with those their Prophets the Holy Ghost had forsaken them and refused to manifest his presence amongst them any more according to that in Psal 74 9. We see not our signs there is no more any Prophet neither is there any amongst us that knoweth how long According to this Notion the Disciples we are now speaking of might say to Paul that they had not so much as heard the least inkling of those blessed tidings that the Holy Ghost was again returned unto the World But then again Thirdly as to the Argument it self Whereas the Author of it saith That to take the Holy Spirit not for his Person but for his Gifts is to speak without example he most palpably contradicts himself within two or three lines after where he grants that Paul's question to them Whether they had received the Holy Ghost or no might be understood of the gifts of the Holy Ghost Fourthly and lastly Because I would not stand any longer upon this Argument whereas he would infer that the Holy Ghost should not be God from hence that the Apostle upon the occasion here offered did not declare him to be so whereas upon a lesser occasion he instructed the Heathen at Athens in the nature of the true God We reply First It is not unreasonable to demand of him who thus reasoneth What Oracle he consults with which informs him that Paul did not do that which he thinketh fit he should have done in case the Holy Ghost be God viz. Inform these Disciples accordingly And certain I am here is not the least ground administred unto him to judge the contrary It is said in the progress of the story that for three Months together publickly and afterwards for two years together more privately he argued and disputed things appertaining to the Kingdom of God It is an old rule and a true that Argumentum ab Authoritate ductum negativâ non valet That Arguments drawn from Authority negatively have no force nor value in them Secondly Whether the Apostle formally Totidens verbis taught the Disciples that the Holy Ghost was God or no certainly he did that which was as good or better for them than such a Doctrine formally delivered would have been yea and haply that which being interpreted amounted to as much as a declaring of him to have been God and so may be said eminently though not formally to have declared him to be God For by laying his hands upon them he obtained the gift of the Holy Ghost for them by whom they were miraculously acted speaking with strange Tongues and Prophesying which motions and actings of the Holy Ghost at one and the same time in them all with the like in other Christians up and down the World might be to them a convincing Argument of his Godhead though it be not such unto him who opposeth in the question in hand However that which the Apostle did for these Disciples in procuring the Holy Ghost to be given them argueth every whit as much or more care and zeal for their spiritual accommodation as his preaching that God to the Athenians whom they ignorantly worshipped did towards theirs So that this Act of the Apostle was very impertinently insisted upon for such a purpose as that pleaded here This for reply to this Argument Concerning his Eleventh Argument Sect. 17 the heart thereof is already broken in our answers to the fourth and fifth Arguments where we shewed and proved how the Holy Ghost might both hear from another and receive from another without any prejudice or impeachment of his Godhead Nevertheless let us give this Argument also the hearing and if there be any farther strain of reason beyond what was presented in the former Arguments we will weigh it in the balance of the Sanctuary This eleventh Argument then proceedeth thus He that hath any understanding distinct from God is not God the holy Spirit hath an understanding distinct from God Ergo c. The two passages of Scripture which are the strength and sinews of this Argument viz. Joh. 16.13 14 15. and Joh. 8.26 compared with ver 28. We have formerly had in consideration and found nothing there to support that cause for which they were produced and if there was nothing in them then for such a purpose certainly there is nothing since added unto them nor is there the least jot or title in either of these places that the Holy Ghost heareth from God that whereof he was ignorant before In what sense he is said not to speak of himself to take of the things of Christ to reveal them unto men hath been formerly opened and whatever there appears in the said passages to prove that the understanding or learning of the Holy Ghost is distinct from the understanding of God teaching relates only unto the humane understanding of Christ not of the Holy Ghost But of these things formerly Concerning that new place 1 Cor. 2.10 From whence he seeks to evince the understanding of the Holy Ghost to be another distinct from the understanding of God because it is here said that the Spirit searcheth all things even the deep things of God and the same understanding cannot be conceived or said to search it self or its own deep things We reply briefly and plainly First That the Spirit is said to search the deep things of God because he is able to guide or lead the understandings of men in a rational and discoursive way into the knowledge or discerning of the deep things of God It being a method proper and natural unto this kind of understanding I mean the understanding of men by certain steps and degrees to be led on to the knowledge of things that be more mysterious and remote It is a thing familiar and frequent in Scripture to ascribe an Action as well unto that which assists qualifies or enables unto it whether it be person or thing as unto the immediate and Proper Agent himself when the Action is such that the proper Agent who doth it could not have done it without such an assistance yea sometimes which is yet more in such case as we speak of the Action is denied to be done by the Agent who yet properly doth it and is attributed unto that whether person or thing which only assisteth or enableth to it Mat. 10.20 Mar. 13.11 Our Saviour encourageth his Disciples not to be troubled when they should be called before Rulers for his sake For saith he it is not you that speak but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you Now we know it was not the Holy Ghost that uttered these words but because the Apostles had not wisdom enough of themselves to make such Apologies without the assistance of the Holy Ghost
be found and had or no or at the best knows for a certain that they are but sparingly and with a kind of malignity and scantness to be found and to go forth upon this account where he certainly knows that what he desireth and what his soul longeth for is lodged and is to be had in the greatest plenty and abundance He spake as a man that thoroughly understood the natural frame and propension of the heart of a man in that particular we now speak of who said Dulce est de magno tollere Acervo It is a thing marvellously satisfactory and pleasing to the heart of a man to be still taking from a great heap and upon this ground are those Proverbial Sayings There is no fishing like to a fishing in the sea no service like the Service of a King because in one there is the greatest plenty and abundance of that kind of pleasure that Fishers look after And for them that serve and must live by their service there is none like that of Princes because they have abundance of reward and of opportunity whereby to recompense the Services of those that do wait and attend upon them and that is the reason why our Saviour in the tenth of John to render and make men so much the more free and willing to come unto him for the life that they stand in need of doth inform them that he hath not a competency or a sufficiency only of this life but that he hath plenty and abundance of it Speaking of his Sheep saith he I am come that they might have life and not simply that they might have life but that they might have it in abundance or more abundantly as who should say If there were only life in Jesus Christ or if it were there in measure only and in a scanty proportion this would be some kind of regret and men would make a stand in their coming but since he is come upon such terms that all that come to him might have it in abundance this is a motive that doth accommodate and fall in with the Natures and with the Principles of the heart and soul of men And upon the same ground it is that the Scriptures in several places do not only assert and testifie that God is merciful and gracious but abundant in mercy and full of Grace and not simply that there is Redemption in him but plentiousness of Redemption Psal 86.5.15 103.8 130.7 Isa 55.7 Let the wicked forsake his way c. let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy and unto our God for he will abundantly pardon The Commodity which we stand in need of is mercy and the pardon of our sins in case we have been unholy and ungodly Creatures this commodity is abundantly in God There it is treasured up as waters are in the Store-house of the Sea There is no end of the Treasures of his Grace Mercy Pardon and Compassion There is no man being in want but had ten times rather go to a rich mans door to be relieved than to the door of a poor man if he knoweth the rich man to be as liberal and as bountifully disposed as the poor man can be These Proverbial Sayings amongst us Better leave than lack Where more is more is to be had are of a consonant import unto the former and they all joyntly and severally declare this that men generally love to seek their desires where they are in the greatest abundance likely to be found Now then they who go about to send men for a filling to such a Spirit that can but fill them in measure and with a straitned and malign quantity in comparison of what an increated Spirit is able to do certainly they do as much as such an error can do to obstruct and prejudice the way of men in such a course as this What do they else but cool if not wholly quench the desires and together with these the endeavours of such who are obedient unto the Doctrine who are in a way of being filled with the Spirit We formerly mentioned a Touchstone to try whether any Doctrine which is presented to us be an Evangelical truth or no Sect. 3 and that was this If it be for the advancement of Godliness for the Gospel being a Doctrine according unto Godliness as the Holy Ghost presenteth it that is so framed and constituted of such and such Principles Promises Counsels and Exhortations as if they were made on purpose to advance Godliness and promote the Interest of it And if this be the nature and frame of it in the general then every limbe and vain of it must have a tendency the same way therefore whatsoever Opinion Notion or Conceit it be if it cutteth the Sinews of Godliness or riseth up against the Interest thereof and causeth men to look off and aside from it this is a most certain sign and proof against it that it is no part or branch of the Gospel but an imagination and lying conceit which hath been engendered and begotten in the dark thoughts of the hearts of men or perhaps rather by a worse hand I mean Sathan who doth nothing else but study and invent Opinions and Conceits and Imaginations which may have some colour of truth that so they may fall in with the Judgments of men He doth invent and mint and set such Opinions abroad in the World and then his next work is as far as possibly he can to find out Agents and Instruments the best he can prevail withal and which are fitted and prepared to promote his design in the World And the better men are the more learned and the more innocent in their lives and conversations can they be prevailed withal these are the chosen vessels for him and fitted for his turn Herein the Devil imitateth the Great God for as God when he hath a design to make manifest his most spiritual truths and most holy things maketh choise of the worthiest and holiest men men that are of the best acceptance with the people round about them because they are likeliest to take so much the better So doth the greatest Enemy of the Peace and Salvation of the World he follows God as near at the heels as he can come if he finds any man better than others he shall do his work and if he cannot find any many of such qualifications as we speak of then he must be content with others for he hath a desire that his Opinion should be promoted though never so unreasonable There is great reason by the way why Sathan should set abroad all the waies he can such Opinions in the World which are derogatory from the honour of the Son of God and from the Spirit of God partly because by this means that he hath the more advantage to derogate from either of these in their esteem and honour amongst men And partly because the works of Creation being appropriate unto God the Father principally and not
on the one hand and on the other that they are at a loss within themselves and troubled in their spirits because they cannot reach or attain that fulness of assurance in Judgment or Understanding in the case which they desire Now it may the question of some such person what is best to be done in the case Whether it be better and safer to Neutralize between these two Opinions and hang in suspense like a Meteor in the air between Heaven and Earth or else to fall in and close in his Judgment either with the one Opinion or with the other To this I reply First Though there be some kind of Opinions and Tenents in matters appertaining to Religion wherein a modesty and tenderness in Judgment do well become the gravest and best-grown Christians viz. such wherein either the Arguments on both sides have much probability and strength of reason at least seeming strength of reason in them or else where there is little can be produced on either side for the satisfying of the Judgment or eviction of the truth Although I say in doubts and questions of this nature a modest tenderness of Judgment is not unworthy a sober and sound Christian yet an absolute Scepticism or meer Neutrality of Judgment in these or any other questions doth not answer the state and dignity of a Christian one who desires to be thought a man in understanding The Reason is because there are hardly any Positions or Opinions whether truth or error but have somewhat either in themselves in their own constitution and frame or else in some consideration or other relating to them and this accessible enough which is sufficient to found or build some lighter estimate at least upon their agreement either with errour or with truth Now to be ignorant in this case or not apprehensive of such things the knowledge of which is proper to encline at least the Judgment and withal may with competent search and consideration be obtained is not honourable for him who is esteemed spiritual or skilful in the word of Righteousness But Secondly Concerning the Question before us viz. about the Deity or Godhead of the Holy Ghost the nature and condition of it is such that there is no place or possibility for a meer Neutrality or suspension of Judgment about it Men and women must of necessity take either the right hand or the left and go along with the one Opinion or the other The reason is because the Question as well in the Affirmative part of it as in the Negative relates unto Practice yea it relates unto two such Practices which in the Language of Logicians are contraria immediata such contraries which admit no Mediums between them He that denies the Deity of the Holy Ghost and holds that he is not God cannot honour him with that honour which is proper unto God only but at most with such a kind of honour which is competent to an excellent Creature As on the other hand he that believeth the Holy Ghost to be very God cannot but worship him as God Now it is impossible but that a man or woman must either honour the Holy Ghost as God or not as God for if he judgeth him to be a Creature or created Spirit now he doth not honour him as God If he judgeth him to be an increated Spirit and God himself now he honoureth him at least in this his Judgment of him as God So that if a man or woman shall think to say and hold thus I will neither judge or think him to be either a finite and created Spirit on the one hand nor yet an infinite or increated Spirit on the other hand This is a kind of inconsistency and it plainly enough supposeth that such a person doth not judge or think him to be God and refuseth or neglecteth to exhibite divine honour unto him which being interpreted is a denial of his Godhead So that evident it is that in the Question about the Holy Ghost's being God there is no place nor possibility for a neutrality of judgment or Opinion but we must of necessity at least in our practice or behaviour towards him conclude him either to be God or not God Well then this being supposed Sect. 12 it may haply be some mans question The case being so with us that we are intangled and perplexed in our Judgments and Consciences between the Arguments on the one hand and the Arguments on the other hand and are not able clearly to satisfie our selves either touching the sufficiency or insufficiency of the Scriptures and other grounds insisted on by men of the one Opinion and the other What is best and safest and most Christian like to be done in such a case as this I reply There being two kinds of Arguments or Reasons as Logicians distinguish them whereby Positions or Tenents are wont to be proved Artificial and Inartificial by Artificial the meaning is those that are levied and wrought out by the light and strength of the understanding from general Principles By Inartificial the testimony or consent of Judgment amongst men about a matter when a man can make no earnings of the former those that are Artificial but these on both sides seem to balance the one the other or it may be are demonstrative or satisfactory on neither hand then the best and safest way is to have recourse unto the latter the Authority Testimony or Consent of Judgment amongst men especially men who are most competent to be heard and regarded in such cases When satisfaction I say cannot be had touching the mind of God or the true sense and meaning of such and such Texts of Scripture which are wont to be insisted on for the proof of such or such a Doctrine or Tenent one or more neither from other Scriptures nor yet from any clear or undoubted Principle in Reason The safest course in this case especially where there is no place for a Neutrality in Judgment which we have shewed to be the case in the Point in hand is to have recourse to the sense and Judgment of the Churches of Christ in all Ages or to the Judgments of those whom God hath raised up from time to time to be Teachers and Instructers of his People We find that the Apostle Paul himself did attribute much to the Authority and Judgment of the Churches of Christ in such cases wherein a clear and satisfactory issue was hard to come at either by Scriptures or Argument otherwise As in the Question about mens Prophesying with their heads uncovered But saith he if any man seem contentious we have no such custome neither the Churches of God 1 Cor. 11.16 Meaning that if any person remained yet unsatisfied or unconvinced touching the meetness of such an habit both for men and women in the Church during the time of the publick Worship of God whether by Prayer or by Prophesying as he had now commended unto them and pleaded for but would still pretend
The Fathers generally of greatest esteem in this Generation for Piety Holiness Learning and Faithfulness in the Work of Christ and of the Gospel and consequently we may conclude the generality of Christians who were taught by them and so the Martyrs and Confessors in the purest times of the Church were of this opinion and belief that the Holy Ghost was an Increated Spirit and truly God I might detain you many hours yea many daies in presenting you with passages and sayings of this nature I shall insist upon some few only for the present Austin is known to be a most studious and diligent enquirer into that Faith I mean those Doctrines and Tenents which had been generally held and maintained in the Christian Churches a long time before and from the Apostles daies till his time and to have had means and opportunity to attain to a perfect knowledge of this Faith and withal is known to have been defensor acerrimus a most zealous defender of it He then in his First Book de Trinit Cap. 6. having occasion to mention that of the Apostle Rom. 11.36 And reading the words thus For of him and through him and in him are all things to whom be glory for ever He glosseth them thus Ex ipso i. e. ex Patre per ipsum i.e. per Filium in ipso i.e. in Spiritu Sancto manifestum quod Pater Filius Spiritus Sanctus unus Deus est quando singulariter intulit Ipsi gloria in sacula saeculorum Of him i.e. the Father saith he By him that is by the Son In him that is in the Holy Ghost it is manifest that the Father Son and Holy Ghost is one God inasmuch as he the Apostle infers in the Singular number To him be glory for ever and ever And in his Fifth Book of the same Subject I mean de Trinitate Sed sicut Pater Filius unus Deus ad Creaturam relativè unus Creator unus Dominus sic relativè ad Spiritum Sanctum unum Principium Ad Creaturam verò Pater Filius Spiritus Sanctus unum Principium sicut unus Creator unus Dominus And not long after Similiter de Spiritu Sancto collecta sunt testimonia quibus ante nos qui haec disputaverunt abundantiùs usi sunt quia ipse Deus non Creatura Quod si non Creatura non tantùm Deus nam homines dicti sunt Dii sed verus Deus ergò Patri Filio prorsus aequalis in Trinitatis unitate consubstantialis coaeternus Athanasius lived well nigh an hundred years before Austin and he in that Symbol or Creed which beareth his name is so punctual and precise in this business touching the Godhead of the Holy Ghost that having asserted it he useth these words This saith he is the Catholick Faith which except a man believe undoubtedly he cannot be saved so that he was quite contrary to that Spirit which now standeth up against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost yea these very Fathers Ignatius Justin Martyr Jerome Tertullian Lactantius Hilary c. whom our Adversaries profess to stand by them as if if they spake on their side and against the Deity of the Holy Ghost when the very truth is they are so express and so significant to the contrary that I cannot but account it a little strange that such a claim though I believe it is not without much regret should be laid unto them But our Adversaries perhaps taking some words from these Fathers wherein they do not so fully declare themselves as having declared themselves elsewhere and not minding or at least not well heeding their fuller explication of themselves they will needs bear men in hand that they were of their Opinion Ignatius was the most ancient of them all in a Religious Epistle written to the Christians in Antioch his words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore every one who Prâ—â—heth or professeth one only God to the taking away or denying of the Godhead of Christ he is a Devil or a Slanderer and an Enemy of all Righteousness Now for the most part they that deny the Deity and Divinity of Christ they do the like concerning the Holy Ghost But they who desire farther satisfaction in this kind and to know the full clear and unquestionable Judgment of the ancient Doctors and Churches from the Apostles times may without much trouble satisfie themselves for there are many learned Writers that have taken pains herein If it be objected But is it not a thing of dangerous consequence Sect. 15 and no less than horrid Idolatry a thing which God will severely punish to give the glory of his Godhead unto an another unto any Creature of his or to introduce a plurality of Gods into the World Therefore had not men need to consider narrowly and to bethink themselves over and over how they give up their Judgments and Consciences to such an opinion which maketh the Holy Ghost to be truly God I reply First That as it is a dangerous consequence and no less than horrid Idolatry to give the glory of the Godhead of him who is God indeed the true God unto another unto any Creature in which respect men and women had need be careful above all care that their feet be not taken in such a snare so on the other hand it is altogether as dangerous and Idolatry of as vile a nature and threatning consequence not to acknowledge and reverence him as God who is God indeed And in this respect men and women had need be abundantly solicitous and cautious how they entertain and admit of that Doctrine which denieth the Holy Ghost to be God For in case it shall prove that he is God all they who shall deny him to be God will be found fighters against God which will be worse than simple Idolatry and a sin as threatning and of as dangerous a consequence as the other Secondly Not to acknowledge not to glorifie God as God or as himself especially as he hath revealed himself in his Word is if not plain and express Idolatry yet a very high misdemeanour against God therefore in case God hath revealed himself in his Word to be Three in One and One in Three which is and hath been the sense in a manner some few persons only excepted inconsiderable both in their number and otherwise comparatively of the whole Christian World Fathers Martyrs Confessors Pastors Teachers Bodies of Christian Churches ever since the Apostles daies as was lately shewed They who do not thus acknowledge worship and glorifie him and consequently do not acknowledge and own him as God contract the guilt and expose themselves to the punishment of such a Crime Therefore men and women had need take heed how they reject or deny the Godhead of the Holy Ghost lest by so doing they make a God unto themselves according to their own fansie and worship him after their own imaginations Thirdly Sect.
it matter of Conscience to turn their backs upon the Ministry of the Gospel which as the Apostle calleth it is the Ministration of the Spirit Secondly They who though they do not make it matter of Conscience to neglect or despise this Ministry yet make it no matter of Couscience diligently to attend upon it when they know otherwise how to bestow their time whether in the pursuit of their pleasures or recreation or in the service of Mammon and attending upon the World between these we might insert a third sort viz. such who though they have not turned their backs upon the Ministry and preaching of the Gospel but seem to make it some matter of Conscience to attend upon it yet have itching ears and cannot long together endure wholsome and sound Doctrine but run from Mountain to Hill from one Minister to another For the first We all know that of late years there is a strange spirit of Error and Ungodliness gone out into the World and walks up and down the Streets of your City and hath taken the heads or hearts rather of many who sometimes greatly loved or at least seemed thus to love the Assemblies of the Saints and those discoveries of himself which God is wont by his Word and the Ministry thereof to make from day to day unto them The Spirit we now speak of is a Spirit which teacheth men to say that the Tabernacles of the Lord of Hosts are vile and for the Ministry of the Gospel and the opening the Mysteries thereof by those that have an Anointing from heaven to do it Wherein is it to be esteemed This Spirit also reacheth and perswadeth those men to fortifie and strengthen or harden themselves in their way not only by Reasons and Arguments such as they are but by the Scriptures themselves also as if they were divided in themselves and destroyed with one hand what they build up with the other Do not men who suffer themselves to be lead by this superordinancing Spirit rather consult the emptying of themselves of the Spirit of God than their filling with him and take a course by degrees wholly to bereave and dispossess themselves of that presence of his in them which at present they do enjoy or have enjoyed formerly Where no wood is saith Solomon or as the Hebrew hath it Prov. 26.20 without wood the fire goeth out In like manner except the Spirit of God in men be fed and nourished with the fresh and new comings in of the light of the knowledge of God and of Christ his presence will languish and sink and die in a manner Hence it is that the Apostle having admonished the Thessalonians not to quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 He immediately subjoyneth by way of caution ver 20. and presignification how they might and must prevent it Despise not Prophesying or as our last Translation with more agreeableness to the Original rendreth it Despise not Prophesyings in the plural number Prophesyings i.e. the opening and interpreting the Word of God by a proper gift of the Spirit for the work if this be despised i. e. made nothing of as the word signifieth then the Spirit in men and women will be quenched i. e. the vigour and activeness of his presence in men will abate and if the neglect and disesteem be long continued in will by degrees wholly cease The word Prophesyings in the Plural number seems to imply that not only or simply to despise Prophesying i. e. the Work or Ordinance it self in the general of Preaching or opening the Scriptures is the ready way to quench the Spirit but to despise the frequency of the opportunities vouchsafed by God in that kind viz. when the bountiful providence of God affordeth unto men and women frequent opportunities of attending upon the Spirit of God in the exercise of Prophesyings and when they may be diligence and wise ordering and disposing of their secular and worldly occasions without any considerable inconveniency frequently attend the openings of the mouth of God which we spake of and yet they shall frequently neglect to do it pleasing themselves with a conceipt that to attend on Prophesying on the Lord's day only is sufficient If the persons with whom we have to do in the reproof in hand Sect. 2 should ask me But why should the despising or neglecting of Prophesying or of the Ministry of the Word be the quenching of the Spirit or a way to empty us of the Spirit I reply First Suppose we could give no other reason of the thing now enquired into but only the Will and pleasure of God and could say no more in the case but this that it is the Counsel of the Will of God to make the attendance of the Creature man upon the Ministry of the Gospel where he vouchsafeth it the condition of the Spirits presence or abiding with him so that in case he doth neglect it his Spirit shall withdraw from him If there were nothing else but this Were not this enough to satisfie any man of Conscience But now the truth is that the reasons of this Counsel of the Will of God that the attendence upon the Ministry of the Gospel should be a standing means to preserve and maintain the presence of the Spirit of God the reasons I say are not so hard to come at in this case but that if the Minds Judgments and Understandings of men were impartially engaged in the enquiry after what the Scriptures speak as to matters of this nature they might be clearly discerned The reasons therefore why God hath made such a Connexion between the attending upon the Ministry of the Word and the presence of his Spirit are first because the word of God is as it were the materials or proper matter for the Holy Ghost to work on to work all his excellent and heavenly works in the hearts and souls of men As for example to work Faith Peace Joy and Righteousness and Holiness and Love c. The Holy Ghost produceth all these excellent works in the hearts of men by the truths of God in the Gospel As an Artificer worketh upon his materials and by his Art and Skil produceth his Artificial piece as a Carpenter upon his Timber or a Goldsmith upon his Metal so that if you do not furnish them with these materials they can do nothing As the Carpenter cannot work when he hath no Timber the Holy Ghost in like manner if there be no Vision no Truth no New Light coming in for him to work on he will take no pleasure nor delight to inhabit or continue there He shall saith our Saviour speaking to his Disciples of the Holy Ghost He shall receive or take of mine and shall shew it unto you Joh. 16.14 What things of his doth our Saviour mean the Holy shall take and shew Doubtless they are such things of his or relating unto him which are contained and asserted in the Gospel As his Divine Nature Humane Nature his Incarnation Conception
Birth Holiness of Life Miracles Death Resurrection ascension with all the Ends and great Purposes and Intentions of God in this whole Dispensation of him c. Now our Saviours meaning is that the Holy Ghost should take all these and shew them unto them i.e. should declare open and interpret them unto them and cause them to understand and consider the weight worth and beneficial tendencies of them unto men and women And indeed this is the proper work of the Holy Ghost to shew unto men and women the things that are Jesus Christ's and to cause them to understand them to draw out the hearts and Judgments of men and raise in them holy Purposes and Resolutions and so likewise to draw out from them holy Practices and Actions for this is the gracious and heavenly work of the Holy Ghost too so that where he is not furnished with these things of Jesus Christ where he hath no opportunity of shewing these things unto men he hath little to do he taketh no pleasure to abide there as Artificers or Workmen care not to be or dwell in such places where their proper materials are either scarce or not at all to be had If it be here said Sect. 3 But the Holy Ghost needs not to be furnished by the Ministry of the Gospel with there things because he hath the perfect knowledge of all these things of and in himself and so can take and bring them forth out of his own Treasury and shew them unto men or else he can take out of the Writings themselves out of the Records of the Gospel and shew them unto men in private he knoweth how to have the things of Jesus Christ at another hand than at the Ministers of the Gospel so that there seems to be no necessity of mens waiting and attending upon the Ministry of the Gospel To this I reply First By way of Concession It is true if we speak of his absolute power he is able to do either the one or the other either to take the things of Christ out of his own Treasury and bring them forth and shew them unto men or else he can take the Letter of the Gospel and teach them and hereby make discoveries of Jesus Christ and draw out mens hearts by means of it But Secondly I reply further by way of Exception It is one thing what God and so what the Holy Ghost is able to do by the absoluteness and unlimitedness of his power and another thing what he judgeth agreeable to his Wisdom and the other Attributes of his Nature and Being The Rule of Gods Will or what he doth or purposeth to do is not his power at least his power alone but his Wisdom principally and then his Goodness and Righteousness and all his other Attributes He doth not do nor intend to do the thousandth part of what he is able by his power absolutely and apart considered to do but only what in wisdom he judgeth meet and convenient for him to do Now then the Wisdom of God hath judged it meet and the meetness of the thing in it self is discernable enough by the minds and reasons of men if they were impartially and narrowly engaged in the consideration of it that men who desire the gracious presence and assistance of the Holy Ghost in shewing opening interpreting and applying the things of Jesus Christ unto them shall receive the things themselves from such Persons and by such Messengers who are fit for such a purpose viz. to build them up in grace and make them meet for glory It would occasion too large a digression and perhaps unseasonable to enter upon a thorough demonstration of the Wisdom of God in ordering the Contents of the Gospel the things of Jesus Christ to be communicated and imparted unto the generality of men by men like unto themselves not by the immediate and sole interposure and acting of the Holy Ghost nor yet of the written Records of the Gospel it self and therefore we shall forbear it only these considerations in reference to the business are near at hand First By the course we speak of God multiplies the dependencies of men upon himself which is a kindly and proper nurture to train them up in humility As he doth also by multiplying their dependencies upon himself in so many means for the preservation of their healths and lives and well-being in the World as he hath made requisite hereunto as by imposing on them a necessity to eat and drink and consequently to make use of the skill and labour and faithfulness of those who must prepare these necessaries for them and so upon the earth which must yield the matter whereof their meat and drink must be made And so upon the seasons and temperature of the year c. Look how many Creatures and means we are debtors unto or dependent upon for our health and strength and well-being in the World our condition is so much the more servile and encumbred and consequently is just matter of a proportionable humility unto us for if any of these necessaries should miscarry in that which is proper for them to do or contribute towards the life health and preservation of men then are they in danger of trouble sickness c. Now the proper tendencies of these things are apt to humble the proud hearts of men and women and to keep low and underfoot their haughtiness and they that do not consider it do not understand the design of God nor are they acquainted with his mind herein For as the Scriptures speak The Borrower is Servant to the Lender Prov. 22.7 For men and women then to borrow things from such poor Creatures and to go to this Servant and that Servant and to this Trade and to that Trade this sheweth that our life is very servile and as it is the saying That he that hath the greatest body is the fairest mark to shoot at So he that hath the greatest number of helpers and multiplicity of dependencies to maintain and make good his comfort and well-being this man certainly is exposed so much the more to miscarry and to be interrupted in his comforts Therefore when God intends to perfect the state and condition of man and to exalt him unto the highest felicity and pitch of blessedness of which he is capable he will disâ—â—â—umber his estate and condition from all and all manner of dependencies whatsoever as far as is possible and make him like unto him as is possible for a Creature to be made in his independency i. e. he will make him dependent only and solely upon himself according to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 15.28 which we have heretofore I remember upon occasion opened more at large unto you that when Christ hath delivered up his Kingdom unto his Father then God shall be all in all God doth now veil or cover himself he is now in meats and in drinks in cloaths in sleep in every thing wherein there is any
not believe except they saw Signs and Wonders so the Holy Ghost himself represents such persons as worse than Harlots who did believe without Signs and Wonders Mat. 21.32 John came unto you in the way of righteousness and ye believed him not but the Publicans and Harlots believed him So likewise elsewhere the Holy Ghost adjudgeth such to be persons more degenerate from the nature and property of men than ordinary to be signally wicked and perverse that would not hearken to the Doctrine of such Teachers who were excellently righteous and holy And to add this as a close of this particular it is probable that the Apostles themselves wrought not Miracles but at their first coming to a place and that they did not make use of them in those places after any long stay in them The reason may be because at their first coming to a place Miracles might be an effectual means to awaken men whereas if they staid but any considerable time then they had the means and opportunities to observe their lives and conversations NOw this would do the same service in regard of the truth and for the confirmation of what they preached that Miracles could do The Apostle Paul when he came to Rome where he continued three years in preaching the things of God there is no mention of any Miracles that he wrought there because he had opportunity to give an account and sufficient confirmation of the truth of his Doctrine by the holiness and heavenliness of his life and conversation So that it is but a vain and empty pretense to talk of signs and Miracles now for the confirmation of the Doctrine of the Gospel for indeed in speaking such things and making such demands they demonstrate themselves to be as was even now said of the race of those that are called an Adulterous Generation by the Lord Christ who was not wont to slander men Another Pretense or Plea insisted upon by the persons under censure Sect. 17 for justification of themselves in their unchristian deportment in saying to the Ministry of the Gospel depart from us we desire thee not is this it is unto them but as salt that is infatuated and hath lost its savour we find no benefit by it we are not edified nor built up in our most holy Faith we have been oft rained upon by it and yet we do not flourish under it I reply first Though haply it be not meet to charge all those who are in the condemantion we speak of with alledging that which they do not only know is not truth but what they know to be contrary unto the truth as a ground of their practice Yet is it much to be feared that some of them pick the quarrel against the Ministry of the Gospel on a quite contrary ground because it hath too much savour and bites and gnaws and beareth hard upon their Consciences This I say is much to be feared is the true cause why many of them withdraw from it and are not able to bear the dread and terrour of it We saith the Apostle 2 Cor. 2.16 are unto those that perish the savour of death unto death The Gospel is so severe against those whose heart will not yield unto it that it kindles the savour and smell as it were of the fire and brimstone of hell in thier Consciences it makes them to know that they are a most cursed Generation of men and women the words thereof to wicked men are like the words of Michaiah unto Ahab 1 Kings 22.8 who hated him because he never prophesyed good unto him It suffers them to have no peace nor pleasure in their great Estates here in this present World So that it is much to be feared that many upon this account have turned their backs upon it that so they may be free from those gnawings and those kind of fiery doings which are ever and anon kindled in their inward parts by the means of it Secondly That the Ministry of the Gospel is not so effectual so mighty in operation upon those who take up this disparaging complaint against it doth not at all prove that either it is not effectual in it self or that it is not so unto others no nor yet that it is ineffectual unto them upon any such terms but that if they would remove that out of the way which maketh it ineffectual and which hindereth the efficacy of it which they might remove by the grace of God vouchsafed unto them it might become as effectual unto them as it is in it self and in its own nature and as it is unto many men in the World First That the Gospel is effectual in it self I think we need not question and more especially when opened like unto it self it is called The power of God or the Arm of God unto salvation Rom. 1.16 Heb. 4.12 The Word is said to be quick and powerful in operation it is a discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of men This my Brethren is the property of the Gospel and of the Ministry thereof when it is handled like it self and when it deserves the name of the Ministry of the Gospel But I confess the Word of God may be so handled that the edge and spiritfulness of it may be blunted and flatted as when they that preach it and undertake to open it know not how to bring forth the mind of God in it but substitute their own thoughts and apprehensions instead thereof The truth is that in such cases as these the Word of God is but like the word of men It is the Spirit of the Word that is so piercing and searching and which is the discerner of the thoughts and intentions of the hearts of men it is not the Letter of it though we should preach the jots and tittles of the Word but then put a false sense and interpretation on it that will not do that great and lively execution which is proper to it it will not rouse the Conscience nor awake the spirits of men but it is the mind of God the true sense and meaning of the Word conveyed and brought home to the Conciences and Understandings of men this is all spirit and all life The words which I speak saith Christ they are spirit and life meaning in their true sense and meaning So that it is a clear case that the Ministry of the Gospel is in it self a thing exceeding lively and penetrative and effectual it will take mens hearts out of their bodies and give them into their hands to see all that is within them many times it poureth out it self like a great flash of lightning and makes men to see hideous shapes of thoughts conceits opinions and apprehensions on the one hand and allureth on the other hand to waies of holiness and virtue by strong and potent Arguments or Motives Secondly Sect. 18 That it is also effectual unto others appears by the great and many wonders it hath wrought in
and Virtue of Temperance Sobriety c. saith that young men are wont to speak of these things to utter them among themselves but they do not believe them In like manner many who are real Atheists in heart and soul may discourse largely that there is a God they may insist upon all those Arguments and Reasons that have been given by learned men for the proof hereof yea they may urge them with a great deal of stress and weight yet it is not necessary to suppose but that they may be in doubt whether they be true or no. The Fool saith David hath said in his heart there is no God Many may say this in their hearts while they are zealously and with a great deal of heat arguing that there is a God It is recorded of one of the Popes that in conference with one of his Cardinals about their great Revenues and Wealth they had gotten he spake thus unto him Quantum nobis profuit haec Christi fabula What a world of Wealth hath this Story or Fable of Christ brought in unto us Now this Pope and so many others may be devout in pressing and urging of the Gospel and many things contained in it and yet all this while have no manner of belief that there is any truth or any reality in the Gospel or in the things that are delivered there Many men have written very learned Commentaries upon many Books of Scripture yet it is not necessary to be supposed that they believe the truth of these things upon which they thus write and make Expositions Men may do the like upon any fabulous Books of the Apocrypha as of Bell and the Dragon they may draw from thence many good Conclusions and Doctrines and yet not believe that there was such a thing I heard not many years since this passage of a Preacher in England that coming to the house of another Minister of his acquaintance he was entreated to Preach for him on the Lord's day he consented and performed the Service very gravely and substantially the subject matter of his Sermon was to prove the Resurrection of the dead he insisted upon and pressed several weighty Reasons and Arguments to prove it Having ended his Sermon the Minister for whom he Preached being present gave him many thanks for his Sermon adding some words testifying his special approbation of it Why replied he that Preached do you believe what I said meaning concerning the Resurrection Believe it said the other what else Being somewhat startled at such a Question Truly said that Preacher for my part I do not Therefore to be able to plead learnedly and with acuteness of Wit or solidity of Understanding for any Truth or Subject doth not necessarily argue or prove that a man knows the truth or certainty of the being of that which he pleadeth for at such a rate Possibly men may be able to bring forth such Arguments which may be able to carry all other mens judgments before them and yet they themselves may be empty all this while of the belief of that whatsoever it is they do assert and prove The Scriptures themselves seem to hold forth a difference between knowing a thing and the believing of it Joh. 10.38 But if I do saith Christ to the Jews the works of my Father meaning the works that his Father had appointed him to do and such which are proper for him only to do though ye believe not me i. e. though you do not as yet think me a person worthy of credit or belief yet believe the works i. e. believe that which the works testifie of me that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me and I in him i. e. meaning that ye may have Arguments and Grounds not only which are sufficient to perswade and convince you of my Divinity and upon which you may argue that I am the same dialectically or with probability but by which also you may be actually and de facto perswaded of the truth and certainty hereof so as to believe it that you may know and not only so but that you may believe that you may not only have Arguments and Reasons to be able to discourse of it but that your knowledge may be rich and full of satisfaction in your own souls And so in that heavenly Prayer of his Joh. 17.8 a little before his death speaking of his Disciples For I saith he have given them the words which thou gavest me and they have received them and have known surely that I came out from thee and they have believed that thou didst send me Our Saviour seems to make a difference between these two their knowledge and their belief of him They have known 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. meaning they have upon sufficient and true grounds known i. e. apprehended and conceived that I came from thee yea saith he they have done somewhat more than this they have believed that thou hast sent me they have yielded up their hearts souls and consciences to the convincing power of these words which thou gavest me to speak unto them and have according fully believed that thou hast sent me So then that knowledge of God of his Attributes and Counsels which we affirm to be requisite to put you into a condition or capacity of an ample and large Communion with God must be a knowledge not simply of those things which are written in the Scriptures concerning God but a knowledge of the reality truth and certainty of them i. e. that God is really such an One such a Nature Essence and Being in all points as the Scripture representeth him to be that he is full of Mercy and full of Goodnrss c. Now this is that kind of knowledge of which we do affirm that when it is extensive and any whit large it giveth a capacity of the Communion we speak of Again Secondly This was signified unto you that that knowledge of God Sect. 21 of his Nature and Counsels which will advance you to an ample or rich Communion with him must be somewhat comprehensive and include a very considerable number of those things concerning God his Excellencies and Perfections his Counsels and Decrees c. which are declared and imparted unto the World by the Holy Ghost in the Scriptures They must be men in Understanding and not Children that shall be the Sons and Daughters of this high Prerogative we speak of yea they must be able not only to apprehend and conceive aright of the Mind of God in the Scriptures so far as the words in their Grammatical and next-hand sense will carry them but they must be expert to some good degree at least in the Logical sense of such Scriptures also My meaning is they must be able to build workman-like upon the Scriptures they must be able to find out the Will of God to understand and likewise to go along with many Principles and Grounds which the Holy Ghost hath laid down here and be able to draw inferences from them and to follow their guidance as far as they will lead them into many particulars concerning God This is the nature of
upon a mistake of the Scriptures and ignorance of the true nature of God First To prove that the Holy Ghost is not truly God they argue thus He that is distinguished from God is not God but the Holy Ghost is distinguished from God therefore he is not God To both these Propositions in order I reply first to the former and then to the latter To the Major or former Proposition I reply by distinguishing or explaining it there being a sense whereof the words are capable wherein it is to be admitted and a sense also wherein it is to be denied and so it is an ambiguous Proposition and of an uncertain signification Therefore when this Proposition saith He that is distinguished from God is not God If his meaning be this that he that is distinguished in Nature and Essence from God is not God the Proposition is most true for that which is â—inite cannot be infinite that which is Created and partaketh not of the increated Nature and Essence of God cannot be God But in this sense of the word distinguished from God the Minor is false for the Holy Spirit is not thus distinguished from God viz. in Essence and Nature as we have formerly proved Secondly The said Proposition that which is distinguished from God is not God may be understood in this sense That that Person who is distinguished from another person who is truly and really God is not God but in this sense it is false and neither is nor can be proved by the Proposers of it For such a person who is distinguished from another person who is God may be God likewise yea the same God with him though not the same person Otherwise it would follow that because the Lord Jesus Christ is often distinguished in the Scriptures from the person of God the Father as when he is called the Son of God and so when it is said that God sent him with the like and also where he is called Jesus it would follow I say that he should be truly God no more than the Spirit or Holy Ghost for these and many such like expressions in the Scriptures import a manifest distinction between him and God the Father Nor doth it therefore prove that because the Son is distinct from the Father that he is not God yea as the Scripture frequently distinguisheth between God and the Father therefore if the Proposition before us were true in the latter sense it would follow that neither should the Father be God because as I say the Scriptures distinguish him from God as Rom. 15.6 God even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ You have the same expression 2 Cor. 1.3 So also Ephes 1.3 Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ So likewise Eph. 5.20 Unto God and the Father to omit others But the Author and Avoucher of the Argument now in hand cryeth ouâ— upon that distinction which is made between the Essence and Person of God terming it a wretched distinction and an ignorant refuge What he meaneth by a wretched distinction I do not well know or understand if he therefore termeth it wretched because it is poor and destitute of means or friends to support it he had small reason so to defame it For certain it is that it hath both means and Friends in abundance to support it it hath the whole glory in a manner of all the chief and choice Gifts Parts Wisdom Learning that hath been found in the Christian World from the daies of the Apostles untill now to stand by it and maintain it which have ministred Arguments and Proofs very bountifully unto it for its defense therefore in this sense it is not it cannot be wretched upon the same account he had small reason to call it an ignorant refuge That which had all the Wisdom Knowledge and Learning well nigh of all the Christian World to erect and build it cannot reasonably be suspected for an ignorant refuge If he calleth it a wretched distinction because it is the object of his hatred and he meant so to handle it so to bruise batter and deface it by bending the force of his Wit and Learning against it that hereby it should become desolate and miserable his spirit of Prophesie hath failed him at this point For the distinction is at this day notwithstanding all the contempt he hath poured upon it all that he hath done to misfigure it it is in as much honour and esteem with sober learned and understanding men as before yea his ignorant Zeal to dishonour and disparage it hath provoked the learned zeal of many to maintain it yea and to add more beauty and strength unto it But leaving his swelling words of vanity against this distinction let us hear and consider what his more sober and express Arguments or Reasons are against it First he saith That it is unheard of in Scriptures and so to be rejected it being presumption to affirm any thing of the unsearchable Nature of God which he hath not first affirmed of himself in the Scriptures these are his own words By the way before we come to reply to this Reason it is not unworthy observation how directly he treadeth in the steps of those who have a mind to oppose that which they fear they cannot solidly and substantially confute or overthrow For whereas those men whom he would be thought to oppose in his Doctrine against the Godhead of the Holy Ghost are wont to distinguish between God taken Personally and Essentially he represents them as if they distinguished between the Essence and Person of God which distinction is of a much differing import from the former I do not remember any learned man that ever asserted a distinction a real distinction of which our Adversaries seem to speak between the Essence of God and the Person of God as if the Essence or Nature of God were one thing and the Person of God or any Person in the Godhead another thing differing really from it yet the distinction of God taken Essentially and Personally is frequent amongst those who write about the Trinity How the word God may be taken sometimes Essentially and otherwhile Personally without supposing any real difference between the Essence of God and a Person in the Godhead may be shewed in due time or however may appear by what God shall enable us to speak upon the subject matter in hand But to the Reason or Argument propounded against the distinction of God taken Personally and Essentially viz. it is unheard of in the Scriptures I reply first that if he meaneth that these words Personally and Essentially are not literally or formally found in the Scriptures in this sense the truth of his Argument is granted But the pertinency and strength of it in point of proof of that which he infers from it viz. that therefore it is to be rejected is denied For it doth not follow that every distinction the terms whereof are not in expressness of words