ment, yet our compassionate Redeemer shall be our Judge, and we shall not be judged according to the strict rigor of the law, but according to the mildness and mercy of the Gospel.

Recapitulation. I believe that the Son of God, with that human body with which he died, rose again, and ascended, shall hereafter come from heaven; shall gather those that are alive at his coming, and all those that have previously died; shall cause them to stand before his judgment seat; shall judge them according to their deeds; shall deliver the reprobates to eternal punishment; shall reward the true believers with eternal happiness in his most glorious kingdom.-And thus I believe in Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and dead.

CHAPTER VIII.

ARTICLE VIII.

"I believe in the Holy Ghost."

"I BELIEVE" (Credo), is the same word as is prefixed to the beginning of the Creed, and virtually understood before each Article; it is only mentioned again here because so many particulars concerning the Son had intervened. Every one that is baptized, is understood to acknowledge that there is a Holy Ghost, and therefore, (premising that the word GHOST or GAST in the ancient Saxon language signifieth" Spirit"), we shall proceed to enquire what the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is. First, he is a person in the same manner as the Father and Son are persons. The Scriptures speak of him by such attributes as can only belong to a person; and if any things are attributed to him which are inconsistent with a person, they are in those passages attributed to the Spirit, not in his personal capacity.

First-the Holy Ghost is clearly opposed to acknowledged evil persons; "The Spirit of God departed

from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him *.” In the New Testament we are told "not to grieve the Spirit of God +;" "That he maketh intercession for us ;" " That he searcheth all things, even the deep things of God §." Christ says thus to his disciples ||, "The Comforter, (or Advocate,) which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, he shall testify of me." Again he says, " If I go not away, the Comforter will not come; but if I depart I will send him unto you:"-" He shall glorify me, for He shall receive of mine, and shew it unto you." Now all these passages imply a distinct personality; and cannot by metaphor be referred to God or Christ. The last passage but one cannot be referred to God; for though God may send, yet He is never sent; still less is He sent by another, and in the name of another. Neither can the words of the last passage be referred to God or Christ; for Christ cannot receive of Christ and shew it; neither can God receive of Christ and shew it. But it is again objected that sometimes the Spirit means God; and sometimes the person upon whom it operates; making thus a double prosopopeia. But the passage, "He shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto

1 Samuel xvi. 14. + Ephesians iv. 30.

§ 1 Corinthians ii. 10.

N

Romans viii. 26.

|| John xiv. 26, 27.

you," completely destroys each prosopopeia: the first," he shall receive," is improper of God; and is certainly not Christ, because he is speaking of another; neither is it the person to whom he shall shew it; for it would be absurd to say, "Saint Peter shall shew to Saint Peter." The Holy Ghost then is manifestly a Person, distinct from the person of the Father, and distinct from the person of the Apostle in whom He worketh; and hence has a proper Personality. Neither are such expressions, as sometimes are said to be repugnant to the personality of the Holy Ghost, actually so: as, that the Holy Spirit" is given;" for so is the Son said to be given," God gave his only begotten Son." And as to those that are repugnant, we acknowledge that the operations of the Spirit have sometimes the name of the Spirit; but yet this does not at all make against our argument, since we have shewn that there are many other passages in Scripture which would be utterly absurd, were the Holy Ghost not a separate Person. Hence we conclude against Jew and Socinian, that the Holy Ghost is not simply a quality, but a Person.

Second, the Holy Ghost is a divine uncreated Person. "For who knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man, which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, save the Spirit of

God *" That this Spirit of God is the Holy Ghost, is undeniable; that it is in God may be plainly inferred. Hence the Holy Ghost being the Spirit of God, which is in God, is not a created person; for that which is in God cannot be created; and the Holy Ghost has been shewn to be a person, therefore he is an uncreated person. Again, an irremissible sin may be committed against the Holy Ghost +; but if he were not a person, a sin could not be committed against him; and if he were not uncreated or divine, the sin could not be irremissible. Again, all created things were made by Christ ; but the Spirit of God was not made by Christ; therefore the Spirit of God can be no created person. Again, he by whom Christ was conceived was no creature ; otherwise Christ could not be called the Son of God. Hence, therefore, the Holy Ghost being a person, and being also uncreated, we conclude against the heresy of Arians and Macedonians, that he must necessarily be God: and also that He is that God in whose name we are baptized. This is further shewn by Saint Peter, when rebuking Ananias and Sapphira for "tempting the Spirit of the Lord," he goes on to say, that in "lying unto the Holy Ghost," they had lied unto God.

* 1 Cor. ii. 11.

+ Matt. xii. 31.

1 Cor. xv. 17.