Burnet on Article V: Of the Holy Ghost

IN order to the explaining this Article, we must consider, First, The Importance of the Term Spirit, or Holy Spirit. Secondly, His Procession from the Father and the Son. And Thirdly, That he is truly God, of the same Substance with the Father and the Son. Spirit signifies Wind or Breath, and in the Old Testament it stands frequently in that Sense: The Spirit of God, or Wind of God, stands sometimes for a high and strong Wind; but more frequently it signifies a secret Impression made by God on the Mind of a Prophet: So that the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of Prophecy are set in opposition to the vain Imaginations, the false Pretences, or the Diabolical Illusions of those who assumed to themselves the Name and the Authority of a Prophet, without a true Mission from God: But when God made Representations either in a Dream, or in an Extasy, to any Person, or imprinted a sense of his Will on their Minds, together with such necessary Characters as gave it Proof and Authority, this was an Illapse from God, as a Breathing from him on the Soul of the Prophet.

In the New Testament this word Holy Ghost stands most commonly for that wonderful Effusion of those Miraculous Virtues that was poured out at Pentecost on the Apostles; by which their Spirits were not only exalted with extraordinary degrees of Zeal and Courage, of Authority and U[?] terance, but they were furnished with the Gifts of Tongues and of Miracles. And besides that first and great Effusion, several Christians received particular Talents and Inspirations, which are most commonly expressed by the word Spirit or Inspiration. Those inward Assistances. by which the Frame and Temper of Mens Minds are changed and renewed, are likewise called the Spirit, or the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost. So Christ said to Nicodemus, ¹ That except a man was born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot see the kingdom of God; and that his heavenly Father would give the Holy Spirit to every one that asked him. By these it is plain, that extraordinary or miraculous Inspirations are not meant, for these are not every Christian’s Portion; there is no question made of all this.

The main question is, Whether by Spirit, or Holy Spirit, we are to understand one Person, that is the Fountain of all those Gifts and Operations; or whether by One Spirit is only to be meant the Power of God flowing out and shewing it self in many wonderful Operations. The Adversaries of the Trinity will have the Spirit or Holy Spirit to signify no Person, but only the Divine Gifts or Operations. But in opposition to this it is plain, that in our Saviour’s last and long Discourse to his Disciples,² in which he promised to send them his Spirit, he calls him another Comforter, to be sent in his stead, or to supply his Absence; and the whole Tenor of the Discourse runs on him as a Person: ³ He shall abide with you: He shall guide you into all truth; and shew you things to come: He shall bring all things into your remembrance: He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. In all those places he is so plainly spoken of, not as a Quality or Operation, but as a Person; and that without any Key or Rule to understand the Words otherwise, that this alone may serve to determine the matter now in dispute. Christ’s Commission to Preach and Baptize in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, does plainly make him a Person, since it cannot be said that we are to be called by the Name of a Virtue or Operation. St. Paul does also in a long Discourse upon the Diversity of Gifts,⁴ Administrations, and Operations, ascribe them all to one Spirit, as their Autho[?] and Fountain; of whom he speaks as of a Person, distributing these in order to several Ends, and in different Measures.⁵ He speaks of the Spirit’s searching all things, of his interceeding for us, of our grieving the Spirit, by which we are sealed. This is the Language used concerning a Person, not a Quality. All these, says he, worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. Now it is not to be conceived, how that both our Saviour and his Apostles should use the Phrase of a Person so constantly in speaking of the Spirit, and should so critically and in the way of Argument pursue that Strain, if he is not a Person: They not only insist on it, and repeat it frequently, but they draw an Argument from it for Union and Love, and for mutual Condescension and Sympathy. Upon all these grounds it is evident, that the Holy Spirit is in the Scripture proposed to us as a Person, under whose Oeconomy all the various Gifts, Administrations, and Operations that are in the Church, are put.

The Second Particular relating to this Article, is the Procession of this Spirit from the Father and the Son. The Word Procession, or as the Schoolmen term it, Spiration, is only made use of in order to the naming this Relation of the Spirit to the Father and Son, in such a manner as may best answer the sense of the word Spirit: For it must be confessed that we can frame no explicite Idea of this matter: and therefore we must speak of it either strictly in Scripture-Words, or in such Words as arise out of them, and that have the same Signification with them. It is therefore a vain Attempt of the Schoolmen, to undertake to give a reason why the Second Person is said to be generated, and so is called Son, and the Third to proceed, and so is called Spirit. All these Subtilties can have no Foundation, and signify nothing towards the clearing this matter, which is rather darkned than cleared by a pretended Illustration. In a word, as we should never have believed this Mystery if the Scripture had not revealed it to us, so we understand nothing concerning it, besides what is contained in the Scriptures: And therefore, if in any thing, we must think soberly upon those Subjects. The Scriptures call the Second, Son, and the Third, Spirit; so Generation and Procession are words that may well be used, but they are words concerning which we can form no distinct Conception. We only use them because they belong to the words Son and Spirit. The Spirit, in things that we do understand, is somewhat that proceeds, and the Son is a Person begotten, we therefore believing that the Holy Ghost is a Person, apply the word Procession to the manner of his Emanation from the Father; though at the same time we must acknowledge that we have no distinct Thought concerning it. So much in general concerning Procession. It has been much controverted whether the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father only, or from the Father and the Son.

In the first Disputes concerning the Divinity of the Holy Ghost with the Macedonians who denied it, there was no other Contest, but whether he was truly God, or not. When that was settled by the Council of Constantinople, it was made a part of the Creed; but it was only said that he Proceeded from the Father: And the Council of Ephesus soon after that, fixed on that Creed, decreeing that no Additions should be made to it: Yet about the end of the Sixth Century, in the Western Church an Addition was made to the Article, by which the Holy Ghost was affirmed to proceed from the Son as well as from the Father. And when the Eastern and Western Churches in the Ninth Century fell into an humour of quarrelling upon the account of Jurisdiction, after some time of Anger, in which they seem to be searching for matter to reproach one another with, they found out this difference: The Greeks reproached the Latins for thus adding to the Faith, and corrupting the Ancient Symbol, and that contrary to the Decree of a General Council. The Latins on the other hand, charged them for detracting from the Dignity of the Son: And this became the chief Point in Controversy between them.

Here was certainly a very unhappy Dispute; inconsiderable in its Original, but fatal in its Consequences. We of this Church, though we abhor the Cruelty of condemning the Eastern Churches for such a difference, yet do receive the Creed according to the usage of the Western Churches; And therefore though we do not pretend to explain what Procession is, we believe according to the Article, That the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father and the Son: Because in that Discourse of our Saviour’s that contains the Promise of the Spirit, and that long Description of him as a Person, Christ not only says, That the Father will send the Spirit in his name, but adds, That he will send the Spirit; ⁶ and though he says next, who proceedeth from the Father, yet since he sends him,⁷ and that he was to supply his room, and to act in his Name, this implies a Relation, and a sort of Subordination in the Spirit to the Son. This may serve to justify our adhering to the Creeds, as they had been for many Ages received in the Western Church: But we are far from thinking that this Proof is so full and explicite, as to justify our Separating from any Church, or condemning it, that should stick exactly to the first Creeds, and reject this Addition.

The Third Branch of the Article is, That this Holy Ghost or Person thus proceeding, is truly God, of the same Substance with the Father and the Son. That he is God, was formerly proved by those Passages in which the whole Trinity in all the Three Persons is affirm’d: But besides that, the lying to the Holy Ghost by Ananias and Saphira, is said to be a lying not unto men, ⁸ but to God. His being called another Comforter; his teaching all things; his guiding into all truth; his telling things to come; his searching all things, even the deep things of God; his being called the Spirit of the Lord, in opposition to the spirit of a man; his making intercession for us; his changing us into the same image with Christ; are all such plain Characters of his being God, that those who deny that, are well aware of this, That if it is once proved that he is a Person, it will follow that he must be God; therefore all that was said to prove him a Person, is here to be remembred as a Proof that he is truly God. So that though there is not such a variety of Proofs for this, as there was for the Divinity of the Son, yet the Proof of it is plain and clear. And from what was said upon the First Article concerning the Unity of God, it is also certain, that if he is God, he must be of one Substance, Majesty, and Glory, with the Father and the Son.

Footnotes

1. John 3.3, 5, 6 Lu. 11.18. ↩

2. John 14.16, 26. ↩

3. John 16.[?], 13. ↩

4. 1 Cor. 12.4, 8, 9, 11, 13. ↩

5. 1 Cor. 2.10. Rom. 8.26. Eph. 4.30. ↩

6. Joh. 14.26. ↩

7. Joh. 15.26. ↩

8. Act. 5.34. ↩