his fin, lying to the Holy Ghoft; and then let him know the finfulnefs of it, thou haft not lyed unto men, but unto God: it is evident that the Holy Ghoft to whom he lyed is God. Thirdly, That Person whose inhabitation maketh a Temple is God; for if the notion of a Temple be nothing elfe but to be the house of God, if to be the house of any creature is not to be a Temple, as it is not, then no inhabitation of any created Perfon can make a Temple. But the inhabitation of the Holy Ghoft maketh a Temple, as we are informed by the Apostle, What, know ye not that your body is 1 Cor. vi. the temple of the Holy Ghoft which is in you? therefore 19. the Holy Ghost is God. To this is replied differently according to the I diverfity of our adversaries; as it is not probable that the deniers of fo great a truth fhould agree. The firft tells us, that if we would enforce by this reason, that the Holy Ghoft is God, we must (b) prove that he is a Person, and that he doth poffefs our bodies by a divine right. But we have already I proved that he is a Perfon, and certainly there can be no other right but that which belongs to God, by which the Holy Ghost inhabiteth and poffeffeth us. Nor have they any pretence to evince the contrary, but that which more confirmeth our affertion for they urge only those words of the Apostle, Know 1 Cor. iii. ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? We do certainly know that we are the Temple of God; and we alfo know that the Spirit of God therefore dwelleth in us; and we therefore know that we are the Temple of God, because we know that the Spirit of God dwelleth in us; and we know no other reason why we are the Temple of God, when the Spirit of God dwelleth in us, but only because we know the Spirit of God is God; for if the Spirit were any other Perfon not divine, or any thing but a Perfon though divine, we could not by any means be affured that he did proIi 2 perly 16. perly inhabit in us; or if he did, that by his inhabitation he could make a Temple of us. The fecond hath very little to fay, but only this, that being the Holy Ghoft who poffeffeth us is a Perfon, we must fhew that our bodies are his by the highest interest, and primarily dedicated to his honour: which he therefore conceives we cannot fhew, becaufe he thinks our body is not at all his by intereft, or dedicated to his honour. But it were very strange, if we should be baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, and that the Holy Ghost should have no interest in us, but that he thould be ours by intereft, and not we his; that the Spirit of God fhould call for men to be separated to himfelf, and that they which are fo feparated should be no way dedicated to his honour. If the Holy Ghoft had no intereft in us, because he is given unto us, then Christ can have no intereft in us, for he is alfo given unto us. Indeed if the Apostle had faid, as our adversary doth, that we ought with our body to glorify, not the Spirit, but God; I fhould have concluded that the Spirit is not God: but being that the bleffed Spirit which dwelleth in us, and fpake by the Apoftles, never taught us not to glorify him, I fhall rather take leave to fufpect that of blafphemy, than the affertion of his Deity to be falfe divinity. And whereas it is faid, that the Apostle bath hinted in what refpect our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, to wit, by inhabitation; this is fo far from breeding in me the least thought of diminution, that by this only notion I am fully confirmed in the belief of my affertion. For I know no other way by which God peculiarly inhabiteth in us, but by the inhabitation of the Spirit: I understand no other way by which we can be the Temple of God, but by the 2 Cor. vi. inhabitation of God, as it is written, Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath faid, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they fhall be my people: and therefore I conclude that the Holy Ghoft, who by his inhabitation maketh 16. Our our bodies Temples, is that God which dwelleth in us. Fourthly, He, to whom the divine attributes do belong as certainly as they belong unto God the Father, is truly and properly God; because those are divine attributes which are properties of the divine nature, and confequently none can be indued with them to whom the nature of God belongeth not. But the divine attributes, fuch as are omniscience, omnipotence, omniprefence, and the like, do belong as certainly unto the Holy Ghost as they do unto God the Father: therefore we are as much affured that the Holy Ghoft is God. The Scriptures to prove these attributes are fo well known, that I fhall not need to mention them and they are fo many, that to manage them against the exceptions of the adverfaries, would take up too much room in this difcourfe; efpecially confidering they question fome of them in the Father as well as in the Spirit, and fo I fhould be forced to a double proof. Fifthly, He, to whom are attributed thofe works which are proper unto God, by and for which God' doth require of us to acknowledge and worship him as God, is properly and truly God: because the operations of all things flow from that effence by which they are; and therefore if the operations be truly divine, that is, fuch as can be produced by no other but God, then muft the effence of that Perfon which produceth them be truly fuch. But fuch works as are proper unto God, by and for which God hath required us to acknowledge him and worship him as God, are attributed often in the Scriptures to the Spirit of God, as the acts of creation and confervation of all things, the miracles wrought upon and by our bleffed Saviour, the works of grace and power wrought in the hearts of true Believers, and the like. Therefore without any farther difputation, which cannot be both long and proper for an expofition, I conclude my third affertion, that the Holy Ii3 Ghost, John xv. 26. Ghoft, or Spirit of God, is a Person truly and properly divine, the true and living God. Now being we do firmly believe, that the true and living God can be but one, that the infinity of the divine effence is incapable of multiplicity, being we have already fhewn, that the Father is originally that one God, which is denied by none; and have also proved, that the only Son is the fame God, receiving by an eternal generation the fame divine nature from the Father; it will alfo be neceffary, for the understanding of the nature of the Spirit of God, to fhew how that bleffed Spirit is God: to which purpose, that I may proceed methodically, my fourth affertion is, that the Spirit of God, which is the true and living God, is neither God the Father, nor the Son of God. Firft, Though the Father be undoubtedly God, though the Holy Ghoft be alfo God, and (because there cannot be two Gods) the fame God; yet the Holy Ghost is not the Father: for the Scriptures do as certainly distinguish them in their Perfons, as they do unite them in their Nature. He which proceedeth from the Father is not the Father, because it is impoffible any Perfon fhould proceed from himfelf; but the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father, therefore he is not the Father. He which is fent by the Father, and from the Father, is not the Father, by whom and from whom he is fent; for no Person can be fent by himself, and by another from himself. But the Holy Ghost is fent by God the Father, and by the Son from the Father: therefore he is not the Father. Secondly, Though we have formerly proved, that the Son of God is properly and truly God; though we now have alfo proved, that the Spirit of God is God, and in reference to both we understand the fame God; yet the Holy Ghoft is not the Son: for he which receiveth of that which is the Son's, and by receiving of it glorifieth the Son, cannot be the Son, because because no Perfon can be faid to receive from himself that which is his own, and to glorify himself by fo receiving. But the Comforter, who is the Holy Ghoft, received of that which is the Son's, and by receiving of it glorified the Son; for fo our Saviour exprefsly faid, He fhall glorify me, for he fhall receive John xvi. of mine. Therefore the Holy Ghost is not the Son. 14. Again, he, whofe coming depended upon the Son's departing, and his fending after his departure, cannot be the Son, who therefore departed that he might fend him. But the coming of the Holy Ghoft depended upon the Son's departing, and his fending after his departure; as he told the Apostles before he = departed, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will fend him unto you; therefore the Holy Ghost is not the Son. Thirdly, Though the Father be God, and the Son be God, and the Holy Ghost be alfo the fame - God; yet we are affured that the Holy Ghost is neither the Father nor the Son; because the Scriptures frequently represent him as diftinguished both from the Father and the Son. As, when the Spirit Matt, iii. of God defcended like a dove, and lo, a voice from bea- 16. ven, faying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleafed, he was manifeftly distinguished from the Perfon of the Son, upon whom he lighted, and from the Perfon of the Father, who fpake from heaven of his Son. The Apostle teaches us, that through the Son we have access by one Spirit unto the Eph.ii. 18. Father, and confequently affureth us, that the Spirit, by whom, is not the Father, to whom, nor the Son, through whom, we have that accefs. So God Gal. iv. 41 fent forth his Son, that we might receive the adoption of 5, 6. Sons and because we are Sons, God hath fent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Where the Son is diftinguished from the Father as first fent by him, and the Spirit of the Son is diftinguished both from the Father and the Son, as Ii 4 fent |