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Secondly, Having proved the deity of the Son, we proceed to consider that of the Holy Ghost, in which we are obliged to oppose the Socinians and Arians, though in different respects: As for the Socinians, they seem to be divided in their senti

Early in the year 1790, a mild and amiable writer, Dr. Williams,* addressed to Dr. Priestley his objections to the whole structure of the argument built on the History of Early Opinions. He offered reasons to shew, that the appeal to the fathers was a method calculated to increase difficulties, and to render the controversy almost interminable; that it has been experimentally proved an insufficient mode of argument; that it has been long ago solidly refuted; that it was plainly reprehended by Jesus Christ; that it is highly untheological in its just consequences; and that it is illogical and inconclusive. This letter breathed the sincere spirit of amicable controversy; and I cannot but think that it deserved the very candid and serious attention of your learned friend. But I believe it was never noticed in any other way than that of private compliment.

In 1794, Dr. Jamieson published a professed and minute examination of the History of Early Opinions. This elaborate and learned work was the very performance which Dr. Priestley had so long desired and challenged. It surely, then, had a just claim on his particular and public notice. At the time of this work's appearance, Dr. Priestley was occupied in the important measure of emi. gration to America. But when that step was accomplished, he enjoyed, for the remaining years of life, a calm aud undisturbed retreat. We have, however, yet to be informed of the reason why his former pledge was not fulfilled.

As the controversy has been thus left open, it cannot be deemed illiberal in me to mention the result of personal observation in reading this large work of Dr. Priestley's. I am the more inclined to do so, since what I have remarked may be of use in answering a question of some importance; What degree of reliance can be placed on Dr. Priestley's care and accuracy in his citations of the fathers?

You, Sir, are well aware of the importance which Dr. Priestley attaches to the position, that the doctrines of the pre-existence and divinity of Christ were acknowledged by the orthodox fathers to have been most cautiously concealed, in the earlier preaching of the apostles, and not to have been clearly divulged, till John taught them at the close of the apostolic age.

Dr. Jamieson appears to me to have solidly refuted this assertion. But he has, by no means, proceeded so far as he might easily have done, in shewing Dr. Priestley's remarkable inattention to rigid accuracy in the allegation of his authorities.

The instances of this kind which I have observed have given me much asto nishment. If they concerned merely the literary reputation of this truly eminent character, to drag them into public notice could only be the work of a petulant and little mind. But they become cases of a very different nature, when conclusions of prime importance on a very interesting subject are inferred from egregious misconstructions of an author's meaning. In such cases regard to truth must supersede personal delicacies.

This duty becomes the more urgent when we are told, from high and respect. able authority, that," in all the most important controversies in which" Dr. Priestley "was engaged, he had studied the subject thoroughly, and was a com"plete master of the whole question:" and that, in his reasoning," there was "nothing artificial and ambiguous; no design to slur over difficulties and objec "tions, or to lay greater stress upon a topic than it would well bear."§

The doctor has selected Chrysostom as the father whose evidence is most am ple in support of the opinion, that John first taught the divinity of Christ.

Letter to Dr. Priestley, in vol. i. of Dr. Williams' edition of Owen on the Hebrews. Dr. Williams refers only to Chillingworth by name. I would take the liberty of adding, that M. Daille's admirable work On the Use of the Fathers in Determining Religious Centrever sies is deserving of the most careful perusal with reference to this subject.

See his valuable work, Vindication of the Primitive Faith, &c. in Reply to Dr. Priestley's Hist. of Early Opinions: vol. i. p. 294-313.

Mr. Belshan's Disc. p. 24, 25.

ments about this matter, some of them considering the Holy Ghost no otherwise than as a divine power; and therefore they call him Virtus Dei, or the divine energy, or power of acting, seeming, by this account of it, to deny his distinct Personality, as the Sabellians do that of the Son and Spirit; though others of them, being convinced that there is sufficient proof of his Personality in scripture, to deny his deity, supposing him to be no other than a created ministring Spirit.*

As for the Arians, though this controversy was not brought upon the stage in the council at Nice, which was so muchiemployed in defending the deity of our Saviour, by proving him to have the same essence with the Father, that they had no opportunity to proceed in the defence of the consubstantiality of the Holy Ghost; yet this is universally denied by all who give into the Arian scheme: It is true, that as they do not question his Personality, so they allow that he has many glories ascribed to him, agreeing, in words, with the scripture account thereof; but they are, notwithstanding, far from asserting his proper deity, any more than that of the Son.

We have already proved him to be a distinct Person,† and therefore nothing remains, but that we consider him as having a divine nature. And, to make this appear, we shall proceed

In this they agree with those who were formerly called Macedoniane, from Macidonius, bishop of Constantinople, who lived about the middle of the fourth century, who entertained such sentiments of the Holy Ghost, and had a considerable party that adhered to him, who were also called Pneumatomachi.

† See page 249, 250.

says,

"Chrysostom," says Dr. Priestley, "represents all the preceding writers of "the New Testament as children, who heard, but did not understand things, " and who were busy about cheese-cakes and childish sports, but John," be taught what the angels themselves did not know before he declared it."* At the bottom of the page, Dr. Priestley faithfully transcribes the Greek of this passage, and no one can say that his translation is materially unfair, so far as it goes. The sentence is exactly thus: "All the rest, like little children, hear ❝ indeed, yet do not understand what they hear, but are captivated with cakes "and childish sports." The omission of the clause "all the rest," ('os ge annos TATE) does not appear of much consequenee. The insertion of it would only have led the reader to inquire for the antecedent, and Dr. Priestley has provided a ready answer: "all the preceding writers of the New Testament."

Do me the favour, my dear Sir, to take down the volume of Chrysostom, and turn to the passage. Will you find the antecedent to this relative clause to be any" writers of the New Testament," or any persons at all connected with the New Testament? No, Sir. You will find it to be the effeminate and dissipated spectators of athletic games, and the auditors of musicians and oratorial sophists!" SMITH'S LETTERS TO BELSHAM.

Hist. of Early Op. vol. iii. p. 128, 129,

+ Mr. Belsham denies that these characters are the antecedent to the exceptive clause in question, and conceives that it refers to the mass of unlearned christians, who are placed in op position to "the spectators and auditors of John, men that are become angels, or are desirous of becoming such." But the Greek fathers give some additional features of their character. "These," he says, " are devoted to merriment and luxuriousness, living in riches, honours, and "gluttony." The candid reader will judge whether this description be more applicable to plain and honest christians, than to the gay and dissipated persons mentioned in a pieceding part of

the discourse.

in the same method, in which we have proved the divinity of the Son, namely, from those divine names, attributes, works, and worship, which are ascribed to him; though we have no occasion here to insist on the proof of that proposition, that he who is thus described is God, as having done that already under each of those distinct heads, in defence of our Saviour's deity; and therefore we need only consider them as applied to the Holy Ghost. And,

1. It appears that he is God, equal with the Father and Son, inasmuch as the same divine names are given to him that are given to them; particularly,

(1.) He is called God, without any thing tending to detract, or diminish, from the proper sense of the word, when applied to the Father or the Son: thus, in Acts v. 3, 4. Peter said, Ananias, Why hath satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God, where he is not only called God, but put in opposition to the creature; and it is as though the apostle should say, thou hast endeavoured to deceive him, by whom I am inspired, which is a greater crime, than if thou hadst only lied to me.

Object. It is objected, that it is not the Holy Ghost who is here called God, but the Father; in defence of which sense of the text it is supposed, that though the lie was immediately designed to deceive the apostles, or the Holy Ghost, by whom they were known to be inspired, yet this was interpreted by God the Father, as an attempt to impose upon him, whose Minister the objectors suppose the Holy Spirit to be, as well as the apostles; and accordingly they thus argue; he that does any thing against God's ministers, to wit, the Father's, may be said to do the same against him. And here they refer to some scriptures, which, they think, give countenance to this argument namely, Exod. xvi. 8. where Moses tells the Israelites, when they murmured against him, Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord; and, in 1 Sam. viii. 7. where God says to Samuel, speaking concerning the Israelites, They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me; and also our Saviour's words to his diciples, in Luke x. 16. He that heareth you, heareth me; and he that despiseth you, despiseth me; and he that despiseth me, despiseth him that sent me; and, in 1 Thes. iv. 8. He that despiseth, despiseth not man, but God, who hath also given unto us his Holy Spirit.*

Answ. How plausible soever this objection may seem to be, yet, if duly considered, it will not appear sufficient to overthrow the argument we are maintaining; it is true, indeed, that what

• See Woltzogen, and other Socinian writers, in loc. and Dr. Clarke's Scripturedoctrine, page 13. where he inserts this among those scriptures; in all which he supposes that the word God is applied to the Father.

is done against any one, who acts by a commission, as a servant to another, is interpreted to be done against him that gives him the commission; as he that affronts a judge, or an ambassador, in this respect, affronts the king, whom he represents; or if an inferior servant is ill treated, in delivering a message from his master, this is always supposed to contain a reflection on him. who sent him; But, I humbly conceive, this cannot be applied, as it is in the objection, to Ananias's not lying unto men, but unto God. And, to make this appear, let it be considered; that here are two terms of opposition; and these either respect God the Father and the apostles; or God the Father and the Holy Ghost; or else God the Holy Ghost and the apostles.

1. God the Father cannot be said here to be opposed to the apostles, so as to give countenance to this phrase, or mode of speaking used, Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God, because it is said, in the foregoing verse, that they had lied to the Holy Ghost: if the Holy Ghost had not been mentioned, indeed, then there might have been more ground to conclude, that Peter opposed himself to God the Father, or intimated hereby, that Ananias, in attempting to deceive him, attempted to deceive God that sent him; but even then it would not have fully corresponded with the sense of those scriptures but now referred to; for though he that despises a servant, despises him that sent him; and, accordingly, he that despises a minister, when he is preaching the gospel, or despises the message that he brings, may be said to despise God, whose message it is; yet it does not follow, that if a person designs to impose upon a minister, in other respects, that he imposes upon God that sent him; for he may not disown the divine authority, or commission, which he has to preach the gospel, and yet may conclude that he may deceive him, though he be sensible that he cannot deceive God, who knoweth all things: But this I need not farther insist on, since it is not supposed, in the objection; but God the Father is therein opposed to the Holy Ghost, or else there would be no appearance of any argument in it; therefore,

2. Let us consider God the Father as being here opposed to the Holy Ghost; and then it is as much as to say, Thou hast lied to the Holy Ghost, wherein thou hast not lied to man, but to God, to wit, the Father; to which we may answer,

That had the apostle designed to oppose the Holy Ghost to the Father, and thereby deny his deity, it ought to have been expressed thus; Thou hast not lied unto the Holy Ghost, but unto God; and this would effectually have determined him not to have been God, and removed any umbrage or suspicion, as though, by the expression, Thou hast not lied unto men, we were to understand the apostles; or since it will be objected, that this would have been contrary to matter of fact, for AnaniVOL. I. 3 E

as did lie both to the apostles and to the Holy Ghost; therefore it would have been better understood, had it been said, Thou hast not lied to the Holy Ghost, or to men, that is, not to them only, but thou hast, interpretatively, in lying to them, lied unto God, to wit, the Father. If it had been so expressed, the sense would have been plain and obvious, in favour of the Anti-trinitarians, as well as agreeable to the scriptures before-mentioned, as giving countenance to it; but since it is not so expressed, we must conclude,

3. That in this text there is no other opposition, but of God the Holy Ghost to the apostles; and accordingly the sense is very plain and natural, which is as though the apostle had said, Thou hast endeavoured to deceive me, who am under the immediate inspiration of the Holy Ghost, which is a greater crime than if thou hadst only lied to me, at another time, when this honour was not conferred upon me; for herein thou hast committed a double crime, inasmuch as thou hast not only lied to me, which thou oughtest not to have done, but thou hast lied to the Holy Ghost, and, in so doing, hast not lied unto men, but unto God; or, as it is expressed, in ver. 9. that Ananias and his wife had agreed together to tempt the Holy Ghost. Which is called a lying to him, in one verse, is styled a tempting him in the other; this therefore seems to be a plain and easy sense of the words, which any unprejudiced reader would be inclined to give into; and since the scripture is written to instruct the most injudicious Christians, as well as others, I cannot conceive that such modes of speaking would have been made use of therein, which have a tendency to lead persons out of the way, by deviating from the common sense of words, (especially in a matter of so great importance as this is) whereby some, at least, would be inclined, as we are, by adhering to the most proper sense thereof, to acknowledge the Holy Ghost to be God, if he were not so.

There is another scripture, in which the Holy Ghost is called The God and the Rock of Israel, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 3. Now it seems very evident, that this is applied to him, by comparing it with the foregoing and following words; in which it is said, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue; and then we have an account of what he said, namely, He that ruleth over man, must be just, &c. It cannot, with any colour of reason, be supposed that there is more than one Person here intended, who imparted this to the prophet; and inasmuch as this Person is not only called the God, but also the Rock of Israel, that is a plain intimation that he is the almighty God of Israel, which is the sense of the metaphor, taken from a rock, when applied to God in other scriptures.

Again, it is said, in 1 Cor. iii. 16. Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.

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