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believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.' Col. ii. 2. that their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.' Philipp. iv. 6, 7. 'let your requests be made known unto God: and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.' 1 Pet. i. 21. 'who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.' 1 John iv. 15. whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.' v. 1. whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God.' v. 5. who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?' Finally, this is the faith proposed to us in the Apostles' Creed, the most ancient and universally received compendium of belief in the possession of the Church.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

HAVING AVING concluded what relates to the Father and the Son, the next subject to be discussed is that of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as this latter is called the Spirit of the Father and the Son. With regard to the nature of the Spirit, in what manner it exists, or whence it arose, Scripture is silent; which is a caution to us not to be too hasty in our conclusions on the subject. For though it be a Spirit, in the same sense in which the Father and Son are properly called Spirits; though we read that Christ by breathing on his disciples gave to them the Holy Ghost, or rather perhaps some symbol or pledge of the Holy Ghost, John xx. 22.-yet in treating of the nature of the Holy Spirit, we are not authorized to infer from such expressions, that the Spirit was breathed from the Father and the Son.* The terms emanation and procession, employed by theologians on the authority of John xv. 26. do not relate to the nature of the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of truth, o naçà τоv Пατços έ×лоgεvετaι, who proceedeth' or goeth forth from the

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*This seems to be said in allusion to the controversies which arose between the Eastern and Western Churches on the subject of the spiration or procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father and the Son.

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Father;' which single expression is too slender, a foundation for the full establishment of so great a mystery, especially as these words relate rather to the mission than to the nature of the Spirit; in which sense the Son also is often said ¿§ɛλ0ɛĩv, which in my opinion may be translated either to go forth or to proceed from the Father, without making any difference in the meaning, Nay, we are even said to live by every word (iznogεvouéve) that proceedeth,' or 'goeth forth from the mouth of God,' Matt. iv. 4. Since therefore the Spirit is neither said to be generated nor created, nor is any other mode of existence specifically attributed to it in Scripture, we must be content to leave undetermined a point on which the sacred writers have preserved so uniform a silence.

The name of Spirit is also frequently applied to God and angels, and to the human mind.* When the phrase, the Spirit of God, or the Holy Spirit, occurs in the Old Testament, it is to be variously interpreted; sometimes it signifies God the Father himself,—as Gen. vi. 3. my Spirit shall not alway strive with man ;' sometimes the power and virtue of the Father, and particularly that divine breath or influence by which every thing is created and nourished. In this sense many both of the ancient and modern interpreters understand the passage in Gen. i. 2. the

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*Sciunt, qui in Hebræis literis versati sunt, quam late pateat Spiritus nomen. Origine sua ventum significat; ob cujus subtilitatem, quæ visum fugit, ad alia transfertur; primum ad substantias; nam Deus, angeli boni malique, deinde ipse hominis animus eo vocabulo nuncupatur.' Grotius ad Luc. ix. 55. See also Glocester Ridley's First Sermon on the Divinity and Personality of the Holy Ghost, where he cautions against those grosser errors which arise from a confusion of kind.

Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.'* Here, however, it appears to be used with reference to the Son, through whom the Father is so often said to have created all things. Job xxvi. 13. 'by his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens.' xxvii. 3. the Spirit of God is in my nostrils.' xxxiii. 4. the Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.' Psal. civ. 30. thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created,' cxxxix. 7. ' whither shall I go then from thy Spirit?' Ezek. xxxvii. 14. I shall put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live.' See also many other similar passages.

Sometimes it means an angel. Isai. xlviii. 16. 'the Lord Jehovah and his Spirit hath sent me.' Ezek. iii. 12. then the Spirit took me up.'t See also v. 14, 24, &c.

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Sometimes it means Christ, who, according to the common opinion was sent by the Father to lead the Israelites into the land of Canaan. Isai. lxiii. 10, 11. 'they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit.....where is he that put his Holy Spirit within them ?'-that is, the angel to whom he transferred his own name, namely, Christ whom they tempted,' Numb. xxi. 5, &c. compared with 1 Cor. x. 9.

* Milton seems to allude to the Rabbinical interpretation of this passage, which, following the opinion of some of the Fathers, explains the Spirit of God to mean τὴν δύναμιν διαπλαστικήν, οι τὴν ἐνεργείαν ζωτικήν, the creative or vivifying power. It seems extraordinary that Patrick should have chosen to adopt a mode of explanation nearly similar, and not less objectionable. "This therefore we are to understand to be here meant ; the infinite wisdom and power of God, which made a vehement commotion and mighty fermentation (by raising perhaps a great wind) upon the face of the waters.' So too Grotius.

The Spanish Jesuit Sanctius, and Pradus (In Ezechielem Explanationes, &c. Romæ 1596.) understand this passage in the sense attributed to it by Milton.

Sometimes it means that impulse or voice of God by which the prophets were inspired. Nehem. ix. 30. 'thou testifiedst against them by thy Spirit in thy prophets.'

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Sometimes it means that light of truth, whether ordinary or extraordinary, wherewith God enlightens and leads his people. Numb. xiv. 24. my servant Caleb, because he had another Spirit within him’—. Nehem. ix. 20. thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them.' Psal. li. 11, 12. take not thy Holy Spirit within me.' cxliii. 10. thy Spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.' Undoubtedly neither David, nor any other Hebrew, under the old covenant, believed in the personality of that good and Holy Spirit, unless perhaps as an angel.*

Spirit from me....renew a right

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More particularly, it implies that light which was shed on Christ himself. Isai. xi. 2. the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah.' xlii. 1. I have put my Spirit upon him,' compared with Acts x. 38. how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.'

It is also used to signify the spiritual gifts conferred by God on individuals, and the act of gift itself. Gen. xli. 38. ' a man in whom the Spirit of God is.' Numb. xi. 17, 25, 26, 29. I will take of the Spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them.' 2 Kings ii. 9. 'I pray thee, let a double portion of thy Spirit be

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* See an elaborate refutation of the opinion that this doctrine was unknown before the Christian Revelation, in Ridley's Second Sermon on the Holy Ghost.

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