Veneer on Article V: Of the Holy Ghost

N this Article are two Proportions: 1/5 That the Holy Ghost proceeds both from the Father and the Son ; zdly That he is of one Subftancc, Majesty and Glory with the Father and the Son, Very and Eternal God. The first of these ap- pears partly from John xv. 26. But when tbe jr ly f Comforter is come whom I will fend unto you from proceeds from the Father enjen the Spirit of ruth which pro- ceedeth from the Father he shall tefttfy of me. And partly from Y’Pet.‘i. 2. Searching what ” Andfu what manner of ime the Spirit of Chrifl which son. was in them did signify when it testified before- hand the Sufferings ofChrifi, and the Glory which Jhould follow. The first of these Texts proves the first Branch of the Proposition, the second makes good the latter. In Conformity hereto, is ertullian fuppofed to peak in these Words : ’” In the mean time he poured forth the Holy

” Ghost,

th^

(6

xo6 Jn Eipofitton nn th^

Article V. ’^ Ghost, a Gift which he had received from

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’^ and the third Name of Majcfty ^. ” The

fecond Proportion is proved from A^s v. 3,4.

[…]

hack Part of the Price of the Lands ? IVhile it remained was it not thine own ; And after it was fold was it not in thine own Power? Why haft thou conceived this I’hing in thine Heart ? Thou haft not lyed unto Men but unto God. Bur to pursue this Argument a little farther, ‘tis nectff.ry, as will appear by-and-by, to lay down these two Aflertions , i. That the Holy Ghost is a Person diftind from the Father and the Son : 2. That he is Very and Eternal God. Ard, i. Inaf- much as such Operations are ascribed to the Holy Ghost, as cannot be ascribed but to a Person diftind from the Father and the Son ; it follows, that he is a Person diftind: from thsm both. Thus Kom. viii. 27. he is said to make Jnterceffion for the Saints ’ and, John yw. 26. I’d come as fent by the Father in the Name ofChrift • and, xvi. 14. 2o take ofChrifts and floew it to others We are exhorted by the Apostle, Eph. iv. 30. Not to grie’ve the Spirit of God ’ and Grief is certainly a Personal Adtion, of which a Quality is not capable. We are aifured, Rom, viii. 26. that the fame Spirit maketh Interceffwn for us With Groanings that cannot be uttered- and as ‘tis easy to understand what interceding Persons are, fo we have no Apprehension of interceding or groaning Qualities. The Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, fearcheth all Things, yea, even the deep Things of God j and fo he

• Adver. Vraxeamt Cap. 30.

knoweth

Thirty-lSline Articles. 107

knoweth all Things, even the Things of God, Article v. which can be no Description of the Power of -/“VV God : He worketh all the Spiritual Gifts, divide ing to every Man fe’verally as he will i Cor. ii. 10, II. in which the Operation, Discretion, Distribution, and all these voluntary, are fuf- ficient Demondrations of a Person. H e revealeth the Will of God, and fpeaketh to the Sons of Men, in the Nature, and after the Manner of a Person ; For the Spirit [aid unto Peter, Behold three Men feek thee. Anfe therefore and get thee down and go with them doubting nothings for I ha’ve fent them, Ad:s x. 19, 20. And the Holy Ghofi said unto the Prophets and Teachers at Antioch Separate me Barnabas and Saul /or the Work whereunto I haue called them A6ts xiii. 2. But we cannot better understand the Nature of the Holy Ghost, than by the Defcrip- tion given by Chrifl: which fent him : And he said thus to his Disciples, ns hath been already hinted, ‘The Comforter (or the Ad’vocate) which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will fend in my Name he Jhall teach you all Things he jhall testify of me : and ye also Jhall hear JVttnefs. If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you j hut if I depart I will fend him unto you. And when he is come he will repronje the IVorld and he will guide ynu into all Truth • for he Jhall not speak of himself, but whatfoe-ver he Jball hear that f jail he speak and he Jball JJoew you Things to come 3 he Jhall glorify me for he Jhall receiue of mine and fjall Jloew it unto you All which Words are nothing elfe but o many Descriptions of a Person, a Person hearing, a Person receiving, a Person teflifying, a Person

JohniCiw. 16. XV. 2(5, 27. xvL 7, 8. xiit 14..

speak-

to8 An Expofitioii on the

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are

ThWty-Wine Articles. 109

are attributed to the Holy Ghost §. This is Article V. the Sum of their Answer, and more than this, -/V* I conceive, cannot be laid in Answer to that Argument which we urge from those Personal Expreffions attributed to the Spirit of God, and, as we believe, as to a Person. But this Answer is moH: apparently insufficient, as giving no Satisfa6tion to the Argument , for if all the Personal Aftions attributed in the Scriptures to the Spirit, might proceed from the Peribn of God the Father, according to the Power which is in him, then might this Answer seem fatis- factory : But if these Ad:ions be Personal, as they are acknowledged, and cannot be denied ; if the fame cannot be attributed to the Person of God the Father, whole Spirit it is if he cannot be laid to do that by the Power within him, which is laid to be done by the Holy Ghost, then is that Defence not to be defended, then must the Holy Ghost be acknowledged a Peribn. But I Ihall clearly prove, that there are several Personal Attributes given in the Sacred Scriptures, exprelly to the Holy Ghost, which cannot be ascribed to God the Father ; which God the Father, by that Power which is in him, cannot be said to doj and, confe- quently, cannot be any Ground why those At- tributes Ihoold be given to the Spirit, if it be not a Person. To make IntercefTion is a Per- gonal Adlion, and this Adion is attributed to the Spirit of God, because he maketh Inter- ceffion for the Saints, according to the Will of God : But to make Interceffion, is not an Ad: which can be attributed to God the Father,

[…]

neither

^/‘■vx^

i\o Jn Exposition o;/ the

Article V. neither Can he be said to intercede for us ac- cording to that Power which is in him ; and therefore this can be no Profopopoeia or feigning cf a Per/on : The Holy Ghost cannot be said to cxercife the Personal Action of Interceflion for that Reason, because it is the Spirit of that Person which intercedeth for us. To come unto Men, as being fent unto them, is, as I have said before, a Personal Action ; but to come unto Men, as being fent, cannot be ascribed to God the Father, who fendeth, but is never fent, especially in this Particular, in which he is said exprefly to fend, and that in the Name of the Son : For our Saviour’s Words are, lVho?n the Father will fend in my Name. When, there- fore, the Holy Ghost cometh to the Sons of Men, as fent by the Father in the Name of the Son, and fent by the Son himself this Personal Adion cannot be attributed to the Father, as working by the Power within him, and, consequently, cannot ground a Profopopocia by which the Virtue or Power of God the Father shall be said to do it. To speak and hear are Personal Adions, and both together attributed to the Spirit, in such a manner as they cannot be ascribed to God the Father, When he faith Christ the Spirit of ‘Truth is come he will guide you into all Truth , for he Jhall not speak of himself: but whatsoever he fJjall heaf that he fJ J all speak John xvi. 13. Now to speak, and not of himself, cannot be attributed to God the Father, who doth all Things of himself 5 to speak what he heareth, and that of the Son; to deliver what he receiveth from another, and to glorify him from whom hie receiveth, by receiving from him, as Chrifi fpeaketh of the Holy Ghost, He fJ:) all glorify me for he pall receive of 7mne andfhew it to yoUy

ver.

TIjirty-TSItne Articles. 1 1 1

ver. 14. is by no Means applicable to the Article v. Father, pnd, conitquently, it cannot be true OVN that the Holy Ghofl is therefore said to do these Ferfonai Adicns, because that Person, whole Spirit the Holy Ghost is, doth those Adions, by, and according to his own Power, which is the Holy Ghost. It remaineth therefore, That the Aniwer given by the Adversaries of this Truth, is apparently iniufficient j and, confe- quently, that our Argument, drawn from the Personal Adions attributed in the Scriptures to the Spirit, is found and valid. I thought this Difcourfe had fully destroyed the Socinian Pro- fopopma and, indeed, as they ordinarily pro- pound their Answer, it is abundantly refuted : But I find, the Subtlety of Socinus prepared another Explication of the Pro/i/)?;)?/, to supply the Room where he forefaw the other would not serve. Which double Figure he groundeth upon thisDiftindion; The Spirit, that is, the Power of God, faith he, may be considered either as a Propriety and Power in God, or as the Things on which it worketh are affeded with it. If it be considered in the first Notion, then if any’ Personal Attribute be given to the Spirit, the Spirit is there taken for God, and by the Spirit God is fignified : If it be considered in the second Notion, then if any Personal Attribute be given to the Spirit, the Spirit is there taken for that Man in which it worketh ; and that Man af- feded with it, is called the Spirit of God t So that now we must not only (hew, that such Things as are attributed to the Holy Ghost, cannot be spoken of the Father but we must alio prove, that they cannot be attributed unto

Man,

Jn Exposition on the

Article V. Man, iti whom the Spirit worketh from the """ Father : And this alfb will be very easily and evidently proved. The Holy Ghost is said to come unto the Apostles, as lent by the Father and the Son and to come as fo fent, is a Perfbnal Adlion, which we have already fhewed cannot be the Adlion of the Father, whofent the Spirit , and it is ascertain, that it cannot be the Adlion of an Apostle who was affe6led with the Spirit which was fentj except we can fay, that the Father and the Son did come unto St. Peter -, and St. Peter being fent by the Father and the Son, did come unto St. Peter. Again, our Saviour (peaking of the Holy Ghost, faith, He jhall recei’ve of mine therefore the Holy Ghost in that Place is not taken for the Father j and Jhew it unto yoUj therefore he is not taken for an Apostle : In that he recei’Vetbj the first Socinian Profopopccia is improper ; in that he Jheweth to the Apostle, the iecond is absurd. The Holy Ghost then is described as a Person diftind: from the Person of the Father, whose Power he is ; and diftindt from the Peribn of the Apostle, in whom he worketh , and, consequently, neither of the Soci7nan Figures can evacuate or enervate the Docftrine of his proper and peculiar Personality. Secondly, For those Attributes or Exprellions used of the Holy Ghost in the Sacred Scriptures, and pretended to be repugnant to the Nature of a Person • either they are not fo repugnant, or if they be, they belong unto the Spirit, as it fignifieth not the Person, but the Gifts or Ef- sects of the Spirit. They tell us, that the Spirit is given, and that sometimes in Measure, fome- times without Measure , that the Spirit is poured out, and that Men drink of it, and are filled with it i that it is doubled and distributed, and something is taken from it , and that sometimes

it

Thirty-Nine Articles. 1 1 3

it is extinguiflied : And from hence they gather. Article v. That the Holy Ghost is not a Perlbn, because -/“W. these Expreffions are inconfiftent with Per- Ibnality *. But a fatisfid:ory Answer is easily returned to this Object on. ‘Tis true, that God is said to have givei the Holy Ghost to them that obey him f , but it is as true that a Perlbn may be given, fo we read, Isaiah ix. 6. Unto US a Son is given ; and we are aflurcd, That God fo loved the IVorld that be gave his only hegotten Son and certainly the Son of God is a Person. And if all the rest of the Expreflions be fiich as they pretend, that is, not proper to a Person, yet do they no way prejudice the Truth of our AiTertion, because we acknow- ledge the Effeds and Operations of the Spirit, to have in the Scriptures the Name of the Spirit, who is the Cause of those Operations. And since to that Spirit, as the Cause, we have already Ihewn those Attributes to be given, which can agree to nothing but a Person j we therefore conclude, against the Socinians and the Jews that the Holy Ghost is not an Energy, Operation, Quality, or Power, but a Person, a Spiritual and Intelledual Subfiftence.

Another Argument, and, I think no contemptible one, to prove the Personality of the Holy Ghost, is, that he is clearly and for- mally opposed to those Evil Spirits, which are, and must be acknowledged Persons of a Spiritual and Intelledual Subfiftence. Thus i Sam. xvi. 14. ”Tis said. That the Spirit of the Lord de-

H parted

114 ^n Expofitioti on the

[…]

UO^>^

Lord troubled him. Now, what those Evil

Spirits from the Lord were, is apparent from

the fad Example oi Abah^ concerning whom

we read, 2 Chron. xviii. 20, 21. That there

came out a Spirit and flood before the Lord, and

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And he said, I will go out and

he a lying Spirit in the Mouth of all his Prophets^

and the Lord said, fhou shalt intice him, and thou

jhalt also prevail ; go out and do even fo. From

whence it is evident, that the Evil Spirits from

God were certain Persons, even bad Angels, to

which the one good Spirit, as a Perfbn, is op-

posed, departing from him to whom the other

Cometh. And, 2. Inafmuch as those Things

are ascribed to him which cannot be ascribed

to any other but God : As to have the Bodies

of the Faithful for his Temples, as i Cor, iii.

16, 17. Know ye not, that ye are the temple of

God, and that the Sprit of God dwelletb in you ?

If any Man defile the temple of God, himfloall

God destroy • for the temple of God is Holy, which

temple are ye. And again, vi. 19. What,

know ye not that your Body is the temple of the

Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,

and ye are not your own ? And to have the whole

Church dedicated to him, as well as to the

Father and Son, as our Blefled Lord ordered

that it should. Mat, xxviii. 19. Go ye therefore and

teach all Nations, baptizing them in the Name of

the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,

To be joined with God the Father and Son in

religious Oaths, and in Invocations for Grace and

Peace, 2 Cor. xiii. 14. I’he Grace of our Lord

Jesus Chnft, and the Love of God, and the Com-’

rnunion of the Holy Ghost be with you all^ Amen.

And

Thirty-Nine Articles. 1 1 5

And Kom. ix. i. I fay the Truth in Christ t lye Article v. not my Conscience also hearing me IVttnefs in the ’-/VN. Holy Ghost. In the fame common Operations, I Cor. xii. 4, 5, 6, 7, c. in the fame autho- ritative Million and Vocation of Perfbns into the Ministry, A6is xiii. 2. to be joined with the Father in the fame common Miflion of the Son himself, Isaiah xlviii. 16. Inafmuch as he IS described in Scripture, as the immediate Author and Worker of Miracles, As ii. 4. 5 and even of those done by our Lord himself. Mat. xii. 18. ; the Conductor of Jesus Christ in his Human Capacity, during his State of Humiliation here upon Earth, Mat. xii. 18. Ltike iv. I. ; the Infpirer of the Prophets and Apostles, 2. Pet, i. 21. the Searcher of all Hearts, and the Comforter of good Chriflians in Difficulties, i Cor. ii. 10, 11. and John xiv. 26. Inafmuch as the Creation of the World is ascribed to him. Gen. i. 2. Job xxxiii. 4. Psalm xxxiii. 6. And lastly, since he is ex- prefly styled the Lord (or Jehonjah *) and God §, and Lord of Ho ft s f ; it follows, that he is Very and Eternal God, equal to the Father and Son j and, together with them, to be adored and prayed to. For these Reafbns, Justin Martyr places the Son of God in the ftcond Rank of Order, and the Spirit of Pro- phecy in the Third, because, faith he, we worship him with the Word . Irenceus tells us, that the Church, which was planted by the Apostles, and their Disciples, throughout the

• Compare “Exod, xxxiy. 34. with i Cor. iii. 17, t ABs V, 3, 4.

§ Compare Isaiah vi. with ASis xxviii. ^f, 1$. H ^M I. C, XVI.

H ^ whok

1 1 6 An Exposition on the

Article V. whole WorJd, received this Faith which is in -y one Jeflis Christ, who was incarnate for our Salvation, and in the Holy Ghost, who fpake by the Prophets, &c. *. And , That he, meaning God the Father, is miniftred unto in every Thing by his Offspring and Rcfemblance , that is, by the Son and Holy Ghost, his Word and Wisdom, whom all Angels serve and are fubjedi unto. And +, That because Wisdom, which is the Holy Ghost, was with God before the Creation of all Things -, therefore he faith, by Solomon That by Wisdom God laid the Foundations of the Earth. And he faith. Now we receive fome Portion of his Spirit for our Perfedtion, and to prepare us for a State of Incorruption, accuftoming ourselves, by little and little, to receive God, and carry him about us. And S. Cyprian f, hath these Words : ’ If ’ he be become the Temple of God, I would ” fain know of what God ? Of him who is our ” Creator ? That cannot be said of one who ” never believed in him. Is he become the ” Temple of Christ ? This cannot be said of ” one who denies Christ to be God. If it it be * said he is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, ’ fmce these Three are One, how is it pollible ’ for the Holy Ghost to be reconciled to that *’ Man who is an Enemy to the Father and the “Son?” The most famous Oppofer of the Herefi of the Godhead of the Holy Ghost, was Macedonius Macedonians, patriarch of Coufiautinople, The Heresy he

[…]

efpoufed.

Thirty-Nine Articles. 1 17

cfpoufed, was called the Heresy of the Pteiima- tomachi or Fighters against the Spirit : It confifted in denying the Divinity of the Holy Ghost, and aflerting that he is only a created Energy or Power, attending upon, and mini- string unto the Son. In order to deflroy this Heresy, the first Council of Constantinople to these Words in the Nicene Creed, ‘E/? li Uviuf, 70 ei4ov In the Holy Ghcfij added. To Kviov to

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O N E of the mofl celebrated Champions of the Arian Heresy, and his Disciples, have been very busy in endeavouring to deprive the Holy Ghost of the Worship and Glory fb long paid him in all Churches of the Saints throughout the World. They want to have a Reformation (as they express themselves) of our Doxology • and I cannot but wonder, that they do not desire an Alteration in the Form of Baptism, and that they never thought of afferting flifly, that this Form, together with the famous Apo- ftolical Benediction, 2 C^r. xiii. 14. have been corrupted by Athanafius and his Followers. But let me expoftulate with them a little further, and ask them why they never make him the dired Obje(5l of any Doxology at all ? If he be God, if he bef^ows upon us all other Gifts and Graces, by which we are enabled to do any Service to God 3 and if he be invoked, or called upon, in order thereunto, by St. ?aul himself^ as hath been fhewn already, all A(fts of Adora- H 3 tioa

1 1 8 An Exposition on the

Article V. jon are due to him : And to argue with them V/VN upon their own Principles, I may fay, they dpecially should not deny this to him ; because in the Doxologies which they quote, they allow this A61 oi Li’Vine Worjloip to be paid to Cbrift though they make him but a Creature , which, if but a Creature ought not to be paid to him§. There can be no doubt, but that the Doxologies in the Scripture may be pioufly used by any good Christian • God forbid that they should be called Arian : But if they, who deny the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Ghost, ufe these Doxologies in Opposition to the Divinity of Christ, and the Holy Ghost, and as a Declaration of their Denial of it, then they are Arians or something (I know not what, for they call both Arians and Athanafiam Heretick) which is not Christian by wrefting and abuiing those Scriptures, to a Purpose very different from the Dodrine therein exprefly aflerted and delivered to us. The Devil quoted to our Saviour the Scripture exadlly in Syllables, but in the Application and Ufe he made of it, he was still a Devil, a Tempter, and a Lyar, as much as from the Beginning*

The Reader will doubtlels observe. That I have dropt one Argument, which, I believe, all Writers before me have constantly urged, to prove either the Perfbnality or Divinity of the Holy Ghost, or both. I have been far from overlooking it \ but, as my Comfort is, that we have no need of it, fb I cannot but lay, that the Anf^yer which is, and may be given to it, ap- pears to me very full and sufficient, ib that it

§. See Mr. WhiJion*s Letter to the Eilhop o^ London.

would

Thzrty-TSIzne Articles. 1 19

would be downright Obftinacy in me to dispute Article v. against itj and, therefore, I have chosen to infift on those only, against which I verily believed no fair reasonable Objedion could be brought *.

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H 4 Articvi

1 20 An Exposition on the

Notes

• : ^. Socin. in Rcf^, ad Wuk, cap. 10,
• Catech Racov. c. 6. ^tfl, i%. t Acis V. 32.
• Adver. H.^r. Lib. I. C. IL
• Lib. IV. c. xvir.