would either procure my discharge or at least make report to the House touching my denial of the supposed Deity of the Holy Spirit For that this onely is the matter in contestation you very well know having both heard my confession before the Committee and remembring how when I was urged to declare my judgement concerning the Deity of Christ I waved the question as neither being that I was accused of nor which I had yet sufficiently studyed to engage my self publickly therein As for my opinion touching the Holy Spirit it is thus I believe the holy Spirit to be the chief of all * ministring spirits pecultarly sent out from heaven to minister on their behalf that shall inherit salvation and I do place him both according to the Scripture and the Primitive Christians and by name Justin Martyr in his Apologie in the third rank after God and Christ giving him a pre-eminence above all the rest of the heavenly host So that as there is one principal spirit amongst the evil angels known in the Scripture by the name of Satan or the a Adversary or b the unclean spirit or c the evil spirit of God or d the Spirit of God or e the Spirit by way of eminence even so is there one principal Spirit I borrow this appellation from the Septuagint who render the later clause of the 12 vers. of Psal. 51. in this manner {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Spiritu principali fulci me Stablish me with thy principal Spirit there is I say one principal spirit amongst the good Angels called by the name of the a Advoate or b the holy Spirit or c the good Spirit of God or d the Spirit of God or e the Spirit by way of eminence This opinion of mine is attested by the whole tenour of the Scripture which perpetually speaketh of him as differing from God and inferiour to him but is irrefragably proved by these places of Scripture Neh. 9. 6 20. Thou even thou art Lord or Jehovab alone thou hast made Heaven the Heaven of Heavens with all their hast Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them the Children of Israel John 16. 7 8. c. Nevertheless I tell you the truth it is expedient for you that I go away for if I go not away the m Advocate will not come unto you but if I depart I will send him unto you And when he is come he will reprove in the Original convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment I have yet many things to say unto you but ye cannot bear them now Howbeit when he the Spirit of truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall be speak and he shall shew you things to come He shall glorifie me for he shall receive of mine and shall shew it unto you All things that the Father hath are mine therefore said I be shall take of mine and shew it unto you Rom. 8. 26 27. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groans that cannot be uttered But he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the minde or desire of the spirit for be maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God Acts 19. 2. And Paul finding certain Disciples said unto them Have ye received the holy Spirit since ye believed And they said unto him we have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Spirit Eph. 4. 4 5 6. There is one body and one Spirit even as ye have been called in one hope of your calling One Lord one Faith one Baptisme One God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all 1 Cor. 12. 3 4. c. Wherefore I give you to understand that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Spirit But there are diversities of gifts yet the same Spirit And there are diversities of administrations yet the same Lord and there are diversities of operations yet it is the same God that worketh all in all Luk. 3. 21 22. It came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying the Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a Dove upon him 1 Cor. 2. 11 12 13. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit for the Spirit searcheth all things even the depths of God For what man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of a man which is in him even so the things of God knoweth none but the Spirit of God he doth not adde as before which is in him Now we have received not the spirit of the world but the Spirit which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given us of God Rev. 22. 12 17. Behold I come quickly and my reward is with me to give unto every man according as his work shall be and the Spirit and the â—ride say Come Act. 5. 32. And we are his witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Spirit whom God hath given to them that obey him Gal. 3. 5. He therefore that ministreth or giveth to you the Spirit and worketh miracles among you doth he it by the works of the Law or by the hearing or rather preaching of Faith He that ministreth or giveth the Spirit to you a strange kinde of speech if the Holy Ghost were God The Scripture is wont to speak more soberly of Almighty God then to say that he is given by another much less by men as it is here said of the Holy Spirit 1 Cor. 8. 4 5 6. We know that an Idol is nothing in the world and that there is no other God but one For though there be that are called Gods whether in Heaven or in Earth as there be many Gods and many Lords yet unto us there is but one God even the Father of whom are all things and we unto him and one Lord even Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by him You see here that the Apostle being about to set downe who is the onely God and onely Lord of Christians maketh no mention of the Holy Spirit which could not have been done by so faithful an Apostle had the Holy Spirit been either God or Lord Of these places thus recited no man though never so subtile and though he turn and wind his wit every way shal ever be able to make sence unless he take the Holy Spirit to be what I say Behold now the cause for which I have lien under persecution raised against me by my adversaries who being unable to justifie by Argument their practice of giving glory to the Holy Spirit as God in
Jehovah alone and yet the Holy Spirit that was given be Jehovah too the same will be Jehovah alone and not Jehovah alone which implyeth a contradiction The minor is evidenced by Neh. 9. 6 20. Argument III. He that speaketh not of himself is not God The Holy Spirit speaketh not of himself Ergo The minor is clear from Joh. 16. 13. The major is proved thus God speaketh of himself therefore if there be any one that speaketh not of himself he is not God The antecedent is of it self apparent for God is the primary Author of whatsoever he doth but should he not speak of himself he must speak from another and so nor be the primary but secondary author of his speech which is absurd if at least that may be called absurd which is impossible The consequence is undeniable For further confirmation of this Argument it is to be observed that to speak or to do any thing not of himself according to the ordinary phrase of the Scripture is to speak or do by the shewing teaching commanding authorizing or enabling of another and consequently incompatible with the supream and self-sufficient Majesty of God Vid. John 5. 19. 20 30. Joh. 7. 15 16 17 18 28. John 8. 28 42. Joh. 11. 50 51. John 12. 49 50. John 14. 10 24. John 15. 4. John 18. 34. Luke 12. 56 57. Luke 21. 30. 2 Cor. 3. 5. Argument IIII. He that heareth from another what he shall speak is not God The Holy Spirit doth so Ergo The Minor is plain from the forecited place John 16. 13. The Major is proved thus He that is taught is not God He that heareth from another what he shall speak is taught Ergo The Major is clear by Isa. 40. 13 14. compared with Rom. 11. 34. 1 Cor. 2. 16. For these places of the Apostle compared with that of the Prophet shew that Isaiah did not by the Spirit of the Lord there understand the Holy Spirit but the minde or intention of God The Minor is evidenced by John B. where our Saviour having said in the 26. verse Whatsoever I have heard from him the Father these things I speak in the 28. verse he expresseth the same sence thus According as the Father hath taught me these things I speak Neither let any man go about to elude so pregnant an Argument by saying that this is spoken of the Holy Spirit improperly For let him turn himself every way and scrue the words as he pleases yet shall he never be able to make it out to a wise and considering man how it can possibly be said that any one heareth from another what he will speak who is the prime Author of his speech and into whom it is not at a certain time insinuated by another For this expression plainly intimateth that whatsoever the Holy Spirit speaketh to the Disciples is first discovered and committed to him by Christ whose Embassadour he is it being proper to an Embassador to be the Interpreter nor of his own but of anothers will But it is contradictious to imagine that the most high God can have any thing discovered and committed to him by another Argument V. He that receiveth of anothers is not God The Holy Spirit doth so Ergo The Minor is witnessed by the aforesaid place John 16. 14. The Major is proved thus God is he that giveth all things to all wherefore if there be any one that receiveth of anothers he cannot be God The antecedent is plain by Acts 17. 25. Rom. 11. 35 36. The consequence is undeniable for if God should give all things to all and yet recieve of anothers he would both give all things and not give all things have all things of his owne and have something of anothers both which imply a contradiction The Major of the Prosyllogisme is otherwise urged thus He that is dependent is not God He that receiveth of anothers is dependent Ergo The Major is unquestionable for to say that one is dependent and yet God is in effect to say he is God and not God which implyeth a contradiction The Minor also is evident for to receive of anothers is the notion of dependency Argument VI He that is sent by another is not God The Holy Spirit is sent by another Ergo The Minor is plain from the fore-quoted place John 16. 7. The Major is evinced thus He that Ministreth is not God He that is sent Ministreth Ergo The Major is indubitable it being dissonant to the supreame Majesty of God to Minister and serve another for that were to be God and not God to exercise soveraign dominion over all and not to exercise it The Minor is confirmed by Heb. 1. ult. where the divine Author sheweth that the Angels are all Ministring Spirits in that they are sent forth as he before intimateth Christ to be Lord because he sitteth at the right hand of God Thus David Psal. 2. declareth the Soveraignty of God in saying that he sitteth in Heaven The Minor is further proved thus He that receiveth a command for the performance of something doth Minister He that is sent forth receiveth a command for the performance of something Ergo The Major is evident to common sence since it suiteth with none but Ministers and inferiours to receive commands The Minor is manifested by John 12. 49. The Father that hath sent me he gave me a Command what I shall speak Neither let any man here reply that this very thing is spoken also of Christ unless having first proved that Christ is supream God he will grant that whatsoever is spoken of him is spoken of him as God or can make good that to be sent at least may agree to him as God The contrary whereof I suppose I have clearly proved in this Argument shewing that it is unsutable to the divine Majesty Argument VII He that is the gift of God is not God The holy Spirit is the gift of God Ergo The Minor is plain by Acts. 12. 17. Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift meaning the Spirit as he did unto us who have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ was I one that could withstand God The Major though of it self sufficiently clear is yet further evidenced thus He that is not the giver of all things is not God He that is the gift of God is not the giver of all things Ergo The Major is apparent from Act. 17. 25. God giveth to all life breath and all things The Minor is proved thus He that is himself given is not the giver of all things He that is the gift of God is himself given Ergo The Major is undeniable for otherwise the same would be the giver of all things and yet not the giver of all things inasmuch as he himself a principal thing is given which implyeth a contradiction The Minor needeth no proof Moreover a gift is in the power and at the disposal of the giver but it is gross and absurd to imagine that God can be in
understanding distinct from and inferiour to that of God inasmuch as he is distitute of such a perfection as the searching of the hearts which is inseparable from the divine majesty These two considerations have I added at the close of my twelfth Argument because they are not so much new Arguments as props and further confirmations of the ninth and eleventh Arguments An Exposition of Mat. 28. 19. GO ye therefore and make all the Nations Disciples so the Original hath it baptizing them into the name so it is also in the Original of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe whasoever I have commanded you Into the name of the Holy Spirit that is into the holy Spirit by a circumlocution usual in the Scripture see Act. 19. 5. And when they had heard they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus compared with Rom. 6. 3. Know ye not that as many of us as have been baptized into Christ have been baptized into his death And into the Holy Spirit that is into the guidance of the Holy Spirit Thus the Jewes are said to have been all baptized into Moses for so the Greek hath it 1 Cor. 10. 2. So that our Saviour's words amount to thus much Initiating them into the confession and obedience of God the Father and of the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father and of the Holy Spirit the Advocate and Guide of all the Truth Now the Holy Spirit is mentioned together with God and Christ because he is their chief instrument whereby they guide govern sanctifie and endow the Church and to intimate that whereas men before they gave their names to Christ lived according to the Prince of this world the unclean Spirit that worketh in the Children of disobedience they ought henceforth being sequestred from the world and admitted into the Church to resign up themselves to the guidance of the Holy Spirit whom God and Christ appoint and send to order and direct the Church Neither can it be rightly inferned that because the Holy Spirit is here ranked with the Father and the Son therefore he is equal to them by this account when the Apostle 1 Tim. 5. 21. saith I charge thee Gr. I obtest before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect Angels that thou observe these things without prejudice doing nothing by partiality joyning the elect Angels with the Father and the Son in so great a matter as obtestation to excite an Evangelist to do his duty with sincerity this would imply that the elect Angels are equal to the Father and the Son Nor doth it follow that because it is said not into the names but into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit therefore they three have but one Name power or dignity since by the like reasoning I might argue that because Christ Luke 9. 26. saith Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of himself so it is in the Greek and of the Father and of the Holy Angels therefore the Father the Son and the Holy Angels have but one and the self-same glory For that the Holy Spirit is not ranked with the Father and the Son as being equal to them is evident by other punctual places of the Scripture as 1 Cor. 12. 3 4 5 6. Eph. 4. 4 5 6. where when the mention of him is joyned with that of the Father and of the Son he is expresly and emphatically excluded from being either that one God or that one Lord of Christians by being contradistinguished from both but if he be neither that one God nor that one Lord of Christians as the Apostle not onely in the fore-quoted places but elsewhere also plainly testifieth see 1 Cor. 8. 5 6. Yet to us there is one God the Father of whom are all the things and we for him And one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all the things and we by him he cannot be equal to the Father and the Son but is onely the chiefe Minister of both peculiarly sent out to Minister on their behalf that shall inherit salvation An Exposition of 1 John 5. 7. For there are three that bear record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one It would have been hard if not impossible had not men been precorrupted that it should ever come into any ones head to imagine that this phrase are one did signifie have one Essence since such an exposition is not onely contrary to common sence but also to other places of the Scripture wherein this kinde of speaking perpetually signifieth an union in consent and agreement or the like but never an union in Essence To omit other Sacred Writers this very Apostle in his Gospel chap. 17. verse 11. 21 22 23 useth the same expression six times intimating no other but an union of agreement yea in verse 8. of this very chapter in his Epistle he useth it in the same sence For though the expression variech somewhat in the ordinary Greek Testaments in that the preposition {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} is prefixed although the Complutensian Bible readeth it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} in both verses yet is the sence the same this latter being spoken after the Hebrew idiome the former according to the ordinary phrase for confirmation whereof see Matth. 19. comparing verse 5. and 6. together in the Original wherefore this expression ought to be rendred alike in both verses as the former Interpreters did it though the latter Interpreters in verse 8. have rendred it agree in one putting the glosse in stead of the Translation So that this place maketh nothing for them that hold the Holy Spirit to have one and the same Essence with the Father unless they can prove that those who are one in agreement must likewise necessarily be one in essence or that two or three cannot be one but it must presently be in essence I omit for the present to speak of the suspectedness of this place how it is not extant in the ancient Greek Copies and namely in that famous one of Tecla here in England nor in the Syriack Translation nor in most ancient Books of the Latine edition and rejected by sundry Interpreters both ancient and modern An Exposition of Act. 5. 3 4. BVt Peter said Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to or deceive the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the Farm while it remained remained it not to thee and being sold was it not in thine owne power why fast thou conceived or put or purposed in thy heart this thing Thou hast not lyed to men but to God In this passage the Holy Spirit is neither expresly as every one seeth nor by good consequence called God For admit the ordinary Translation were true as it
the Father maketh no discovery of himself to the world immediately and Christ to prove his Authority and Mission from God appealeth to the works which he did by the finger of God the Holy Spirit see Luke 11. 20. compared with Mat. 12. 28. Wherefore I report this Argument against the Adversaries as quite subverting their opinion touching the Godhead of the Holy Spirit For if the Holy Spirit were God you would commit no sin but what would be against the holy Spirit in that all sins are committed against God as being the transgressions of his Law Again when we sinned against the Father we must of necessity also sin against the holy Spirit if he be the same God with the Father For as the Adversaries hold that the works of the Trinity ad extra that is to without are common to all three so must they by the same reason confess that whatsoever is done to any one of them ab extra that is from without is also common to all three An exposition of Isai. 6. 9 10. And he said Go and tel this people Hear ye indeed but understand not and see ye indeed but perceive not Make the heart of this people fat and make their ears heavy and shut their eyes lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and convert and be healed compared with Acts 28. 25 26 27. Well spake the holy Spirit by Isaias the Prophet unto our Fathers saying Go unto this people and say Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand c. Because that which in Isaiah is attributed to the Lord is in the Acts ascribed to the holy Spirit the Adversaries hence conclude that the holy Spirit is the Lord Which kinde of arguing though it be very frequent with them is yet very frivolous for at this rate I may also conclude that because what is attributed to the Lord Exod. 32. 11. Lord why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt is in the seventh verse of the same chapter ascribed to Moses And the Lord said unto Moses Go get thee down for thy people which thow broughtest out of the land of Egypt c. therefore Moses is the Lord And because what is attributed to the Lord Isa. 65. 1. I am sought of them that asked not for me I am found of them that sought me not I said Behold me behold me unto a nation that was not called by my name is in the 10 of the Romanes vers. 20. ascribed to Isaiah But Isaias is very bold and saith I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me therefore Isaiah is the Lord And because what is attributed to God 2 Tim. 1. 8 9. According to the power of God who hath saved us and called us c. is by Paul attributed to himself 1 Cor. 9. 22. I am made all things to all men that I might by all means save some and to Timothy 1 Tim. 4. 16. In doing this thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee therefore Paul yen Timothy is God If the Adversaries say that these things are otherwise ascribed to the Lord then to the men aforesaid I answer This is more then is held forth in the texts themselves which neither express nor intimate any such thing If they further contend that though such a thing be neither expressed nor intimated in the said texts yet other texts and the nature of the thing it self doth sufficiently teach it I reply that I can make the same answer touching the Lord and the holy Spirit But it is well that there is such an intimation in the texts themselves for in the one the Lord speaketh those things to Isaiah in a vision in the other it is said that the holy Spirit spake them by Isaiah to the Fathers Which twain every one may easily perceive to be different since Isaiah onely heard those words in the vision for had the Fathers the people of Israel been also there why should God bid Isaiah go and tell them to the people wherefore Paul ascribeth these words to the Holy Spirit onely to intimate that whatsoever is spoken in the Scripture was recorded by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and so spoken by him An Exposition of 2 Cor. 3. 17. Now the Lord is that Spirit By that Spirit is not here meant the third Person of the HOLY TRINITY otherwise the Lord that is Christ for the Apostle Paul by {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} the Lord doth always unless he cite some place out of the Old Covenant understand Christ will be the Holy Spirit which is repugnant to the Scripture wherein there is a plain distinction everywhere made between Christ and the holy Spirit Understand therefore what the expression it self implyeth the same Spirit that was before in the sixth verse opposed to the Letter and consequently the mystery or hidden sence of the Law denoted by the Letter for thus the word Spirit is also taken Rom. 2. 29. Circumcision is that of the heart in the Spirit and not in the Letter And Rom. 7. 6. But now we are delivered from the Law that being dead wherein we are held so that we serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the Letter And Rev. 11. 8. Their dead bodies shall lye in the streets of the great City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified Jerusalem is here spiritually that is mystically called Sodom and Egypt because of the abominable filthiness thereof and cruelty towards the people of God Wherefore the sence of the words of Paul is this namely that the Lord Christ is the Mystery Life Scope and Kernel of the Law as being both foretold therein and prefigured by the Ceremonies thereof An Answer to the grand Objection of the Adversaries touching the supposed Omnipresence of the HOLY SPIRIT AFter I had thorowly sifted this Controversie I found that the Adversaries who so much cry down Reason saying that we must renounce it when we speak of Divine Mysteries and simply rest in the words of the Scripture do notwithstanding in the upshot wave the Scripture as giving a very uncertain testimony to their doctrine in this point and ground themselves on the meer conjectures of their own Reason For thus they argue The holy Spirit if he were not omnipresent and consequently God could not inspire and dwell in so many men at one time For answer hereunto I will onely ask them one Question which if they resolve I will then tell them how the holy Spirit though he be not omnipresent may inspire all the faithful in the world at one time Our Saviour in the fourth of Mark explaining the Parable of the sower saith in vers. 15. And these are they by the way side where the word is sown but when they have