whole Scripture as not grant unto him a preexistence in a divine nature antecedent to his Incarnation they framed a new Deity which God should make before the world in all things like to himself but not the same with him in Essence and substance but to be so like him that by the writings of some of them ye can scarce know one from the other and that this was the Son of God also who was afterwards Incarnate Others in the mean time had more monstrous imaginations some that he was an Angel some that he was the Sun some that he was the Soul of the World some the light within men Departing from their proper rest so have they hovered about and so have they continued to do until this day In the same manner it is come to pass with them who have denyed the Deity of the Holy Ghost They could never find where to stand or abide but one hath cryed up one thing another another At first they observed that such things were every where ascribed unto him in the Scripture as uncontroulably evidenced him to be an intelligent voluntary Agent This they found so plain and evident that they could not deny but that he was a person or an intelligent subsistence Wherefore seeing they were resolved not to assent unto the Revelation of his being God they made him a created spirit chief and above all others But still whatever else he were he was only a Creature And this course some of late also have steered The Socinians on the other hand observing that such things are assigned and ascribed unto him as that if they acknowledge him to be a person or a substance they must upon necessity admit him to be God though they seemed not at first at all agreed what to think or say concerning him positively yet they all coneurred peremptorily in denying his personality Hereon some of them said he was the Gospel which others of them have confuted some that he was Christ. Neither could they agree whether there was one Holy Ghost or more whether the spirit of God and the Good spirit of God and the holy spirit be the same or no. In general now they conclude that he is vis Dei or virtus Dei or efficacia Dei no substance but a quality that may be considered either as being in God and then they say it is the spirit of God or as sanctifying and conforming men unto God and then they say it is the Holy Ghost Whether these things do answer the Revelation made in the Scripture concerning the Eternal Spirit of God will be immediately manifested Our Quakers who have for a long season hovered up and down like a swarm of flies with a confused noise and humming begin now to settle in the opinions lately by them declared for But what their thoughts will fall into be concerning the Holy Ghost when they shall be contented to speak Intelligibly and according to the usage of other men or the pattern of Scripture the great rule of speaking or treating about spiritual things I know not and am uncertain whether they do so themselves or no. Whether he may be the light within them or an infallible afflatus is uncertain In the mean time what is revealed unto us in the Scripture to be believed concerning the Holy Ghost his Deity and personality may be seen in the ensuing testimonies The summ of this Revelation is that the Holy Spirit is an eternally divine existing substance the Author of Divine operations and the Object of Divine and Religious Worship that is over all God Blessed for ever as the ensuing testimonies evince Gen 1. 2. The spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters Psalm 33. 6. By the word of the Lord were the Heavens made and all the Host of them by the Spirit of his mouth Job 26. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the Heavens Job 33. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me Psalm 104. 30. Thou sendest forth thy Spirit they are Created Mat. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Acts 1. 16. That Scripture must needs have been fulfilled which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake Acts 5. 3. Peter said to Ananias why hath Satan filled thy heart to lye to the Holy Ghost Vers. 4. Thou hast not lyed unto men but unto God Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the Prophet unto our Fathers saying go unto this people and say 1 Cor. 3. 16. Know ye not that ye are the Temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you 1 Cor. 12. 11. All these worketh that one and self-same spirit dividing to every man as he will 2. 6. And there are deversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all 2 Cor. 13. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the Communion of the Holy Ghost be with you all Acts 20. 28. Take heed to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers Matth. 12. 31. All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men but the Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men Psal. 139. 7. Whither shall I go from thy Spirit John 14. 26. But the Comforteâ— which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my name he shall teach you all things Luke 12. 12. The Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what you ought to say Acts 13. 3. And as they ministred to the Lord and fasted the Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Vers. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed into c. 2 Pet. 1. 21. For the Prophecy came not in old time by the will of men but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost It is evident upon the first consideration that there is not any thing which we believe concerning the Holy Ghost but that it is plainly revealed and declared in these testimonies He is directly affirmed to be and is called God Acts 5. 3 4. Which the Socinians will not say is by vertue of an Exaltation unto an Office or Authority as they say of the Son That he is an intelligent voluntary Divine Agent he knoweth he worketh as he will which things if in their frequent repetition they are not sufficient to evince an intelligent Agent a personal subsistence that hath Being Life and Will we must confess that the Scripture was written on purpose to lead us into mistakes and misapprehensions of what we are under penalty of eternal ruine rightly to apprehend and believe It declareth also that he is the Author and Worker of all sorts of Divine Operations requiring Immensity Omnipotency Omnisciency and all other Divine Excellencies unto their working and effecting Moreover it is revealed that he is peculiarly to be believed
in and may peculiarly be sinned against the great Author of all Grace in Believers and order in the Church This is the summ of what we believe of what is revealed in the Scripture concerning the Holy Ghost As in the consideration of the preceding head we vindicated one Testimony in particular from the exceptions of the adversaries of the truth so on this we may briefly summ up the evidence that is given us in the testimonies before produced that the Reader may the more easily understand their intendment and what in particular they bear witnesse unto The summ is that the Holy Ghost is a divine distinct person and neither meerly the power or vertue of God nor any created Spirit whatever This plainly appears from what is revealed concerning him For he who is placed in the same series or order with other divine persons without the least note of difference or distinction from them as to an Interest in personality who hath the names proper to a divine person only and is frequently and directly called by them who also hath personal properties and is the voluntary Author of personal divine Operations and the proper Objâ—ct of Divine Worship he is a distinct divine person And if these things be not a sufficient evidence and demonstration of a divine intelligent substance I shall as was said before despair to understand any thing that is expressed and declared by words But now thus it is with the Holy Ghost according to the Revelation made concerning him in the Scripture For First He is placed in the same rank and order without any note of difference or distinction as to a distinct interest in the Divine Nature that is as we shall see personality with other Divine persons Matth. 28. 19. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost 1 John 5. 7. There be three that bear witness in Heaven the Father the Son and the Spirit and these three are one 1 Cor. 12. 3 4 5 6. No man can say the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost now there are diversities of gifts but the same Spirit and there are differences of administrations but the same Lord and there are diversities of operations but it is the same God which worketh all in all Neither doth a denyal of his divine being and distinct existence leave any tolerable sense unto these Expressions For read the words of the first place from the mind of the Socinians and see what is it can be gathered from them Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the vertue or efficacy of the Father Can any thing be more absonant from Faith and Reason than this absurd expression And yet is it the direct sense if it be any that these men put upon the words To joyn a quality with acknowledged persons and that in such things and cases as wherein they are proposed under a personal consideration is a strange kind of Mysterie And the like may be manifested concerning the other places Secondly He also hath the Names proper to a divine person only For he is expresly called God Acts 5. He who is termed the Holy Ghost ver 3. And the Spirit of the Lord verse 9. Is called also God ver 4. Now this is the name of a divine Person on one Account or other The Socinians would not allow Christ to be called God were he not a divine person though not by nature yet by â—ffice and authority And I suppose they will not find out an office for the Holy Ghost whereunto he might be exalted on the account whereof he might become God seeing this would acknowledge him to be a person which they deny So he is called the Comforter John 16. 7. A personal Appellation this is also and because he is the Comforter of all Gods people it can be the name of none but a divine person In the 〈…〉 it is frequently 〈…〉 come that he shall and will do such and such things all of them declaring him to be a person Thirdly He hath personal properties assigned unto him as a Will 1 Cor. 12. 11. He divideth to every man severally as he will and understanding 1 Cor. 2. 10. The Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God As also all the actings that are ascribed unto him are all of them such as undeniably affirm personal properties in their principle and Agent For Fourthly He is the voluntary Author of Divine operations He of old cherished the creation Gen. 1. 3. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters He formed and garnished the Heavens He inspired acted and spake in and by the Prophets Acts 28. 25 26. Well spake the Holy Ghost by Isaiah the Prophet unto our Fathers 2 Pet. 1. 21. The Prophecy came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost He regenerateth enlightneth sanctifieth comforteth instructeth leadeth guideth all the Disciples of Christ as the Scriptures every where testifie Now all these are personal Operations and cannot with any pretence of sobriety or consistency with Reason be constantly and uniformly assigned unto a quality or vertue He is as the Father and Son God with the properties of Omniscience and Omnipotency of Life Understanding and Will and by these properties works acts and produceth effects according to Wisdom Choice and Power Fifthly The same regard is had to him in Faith Worship and Obedience as unto the other persons of the Father and Son For our being baptized into his name is our solemn engagement to believe in him to yield obedience to him and to worship him as it puts the same obligation upon us to the Father and the Son So also in reference unto the Worship of the Church He commands that the Ministers of it be separated unto himself Acts 13. 2. The Holy Ghost said separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them Ver. 4. So they being sent forth by the Holy Ghost departed which is comprehensive of all the religious Worship of the Church And on the same account is he sinned against as Acts 5. 3 4 9. For there is the same Reason of Sin and Obedience Against whom a man may sin formally and ultimately him he is bound to obey worship and believe in And this can be no quality but God himself For what may be the sense of this expression Thou hast lyed to the efficacy of God in his operations Or how can we be formally obliged unto obedience to a quality There must then an antecedent Obligation unto Faith Trust and Religious Obedience be supposed as the ground of rendring a person capable of being guilty of sin towards wards any For sin is but a â—ailure in Faith Obedience or Worship These therefore are due unto the Holy Ghost or a man could not sin against him so signally and fatally as some are
into a Man so that he who was God ceased so to be and was turned or changed into flesh that is a Man besides that this is utterly impossible it is not affirmed For the Word continued the Word still although he was made flesh or made of a Woman as it is elsewhere expressed or made of the seed of David or took our flesh or nature to be his own Himself continuing God as he was became Man also which before he was not The Word was made flesh this is that which we believe and assert in this matter See John 3. 13. and ver 31. John 6. 62. Chap. 16. 28. All which places assert the Person of Christ to have descended from Heaven in the Assumption of Humane nature and ascended into Heaven therein being assumed and to have been in Heaven as to his Divine nature when he was in the Earth in the flesh that he had assumed Acts 20. 28. Feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own blood The Person spoken of is said to be God absolutely the Church of God And this God is said to have blood of his own the blood of Jesus Christ being the blood of him that was God though not the blood of him as God For God is a Spirit And this undeniably testifies to the unity of his Person as God and Man Rom. 1. 3 4. Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord who was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Hâ—liness by the Resurrection from the Dead Rom. 9. 5. Whose are the Fathers and of whom concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for ever Amen This is all we desire that we may believe without disturbance from the clamours of these Men. Namely that the same Christ as concerning the flesh came of the Fathers of David and in himself is over all God blessed for ever This the Scripture asserts plainly and why we should not believe it firmly let these Men give a reason when they are able Gal. 6. 4. God sent forth his Son made of a Woman He was his Son and was made of a woman according as he expresses it Heb. 10. 5. A body hast thou prepared Me as also Rom. 8. 3. Phil. 2. 5 6 7. Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a Servant and was made in the likeness of Mâ—n It is the same Christ that is spoken of And it is here affirmed of him that he was in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God But is this all is this Jesus Christ God only Doth he subsist only in the form or nature of God No saith the Apostle he took upon him the form of a Servant was made in the likeness of Men and was found in fashion as a Man that his being truly a Man is expressed in these words our Adversaries deny not and we therefore believe that the same Jesus Christ is God also because that is no less plainly expressed 1 Tim. 3. 16. And without controversie great is the mysterie of Godliness God was manifest in the flesh justified in the Spirit seen of Angels It is a Mysterie indeed under which name it is despised now and reproached nor are we allowed so to call it but are reflected on as flying to mysteries for our defence But we must take leave to speak in this matter according to his directions without whom we cannot speak at all A Mysterie it is and that a great mysterie and that confessedly so by all that do believe And this is that God was manifested in the flesh That it is the Lord Christ who is spoken of every one of the ensuing expressions do evince Justified in the Spirit seen of Angels Preached unto the Gentiles believed on in the World received up into Glory And this also is the substance of what we believe in this matter Namely That Christ is God manifest in the flesh which we acknowledge own and believe to be true but a great mysterie yet no less great and Sacred a truth notwithstanding Heb. 2. 14. For as much then as the Children were partakers of flesh and blood he also himself likewise took part of the same ver 16. For verily he took not on him the nature of Angels but he took on him the seed of Abraham And this plainly affirms his pre-existence unto that Assumption of our nature and the unity of his Person in it being so assumed 1 John 3. 16. Hereby perceive we the Love of God because he laid down his life for us He who was God laid down for a season and parted with that life which was his own in that nature of ours which he had assumed And that taking of our nature is called his coming in the flesh which who so denyes is not of God but is the Spirit of Anti-Christ 1 John 4. 3. These are some of the places wherein the Person of Christ is revealed unto our Faith that we may believe on the Son of God and have Eternal Life The Method formerly proposed would require that I should take off the general Objections of the Adversaries against this Divine Revelation as also vindicate some peculiar Testimonies from their exceptions But because a particular opposition unto this Truth hath not as yet publickly and directly been maintained and managed by any that I know of among our selves though the denyal of it be expresly included in what they do affirm I shall leave the further confirmation thereof unto some other occasion if it be offered and it be judged necessary And this is that which the Faith of Believers rests in as that which is plainly revealed unto them namely that Jesus Christ is God and Man in one Person and that all his actings in their behalf are the actings of him who is God and Man and that this Son of God God and Man is to be believed in by them and obeyed that they have Eternal Life What is farther added unto these express testimonies and the full Revelation of the Truth contained in them in this matter in way of explication educed from them and suitable unto them to the edification of the Church or information of the minds of Believers in the right apprehension of this great Mysterie of God manifested in the flesh may be reduced to these heads 1. That the Person of the Son of God did in his assuming humane nature to be his own not take an individual Person of any one into a near conjunction with himself but preventing the personal subsistence of humane nature in that flesh which he assumed he gave it its subsistence in his own Person whence it hath its individuation and distinction from all other persons whatever This is