sion for the saints, according to the will of God; but to make intercession is not an act which can be attributed to God the Father, neither can he be said to intercede for us according to that power which is in him: and therefore this can be no prosopopoeia, or feigning of a person: the Holy Ghost cannot be said to exercise the personal action of intercession for that reason, because it is the spirit of the person which intercedeth for us. To come unto men, as being sent unto them, is, as I have said before, a personal action; but to come unto men. as being sent, cannot be ascribed to God the Father, who sendeth, but is never sent, especially in this particular, in which he is said expressly to send, and that in the name of the Son; for our Saviour's words are, 'whom the Father will send in my name.' name.' When therefore the Holy Ghost cometh to the sons of men, as sent by the Father in the name of the Son, and sent by the Son himself, this personal action cannot be attributed to the Father, as working by the power within him, and consequently cannot ground a prosopopœia, by which the virtue or power of God the Father shall be said to do it. To speak and hear are personal actions, and both together attributed to the Spirit in such a manner, as they cannot be ascribed to God the

Father: When he,' saith Christ,

the Spirit

of Truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak (i),' Now to speak, and not of himself, cannot be attributed to God the Father, who doth all things of himself; to speak what he heareth, and that of the Son, to deliver what he receiveth from another, and to glorify him from whom he receiveth, by receiving from him as Christ speaketh of the Holy Ghost, He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it to you (k),' is by no means applicable to the Father, and consequently it cannot be true that the Holy Ghost is therefore said to do these personal actions, because that person, whose Spirit the Holy Ghost is, doth these actions by, and according to, his own power, which is the Holy Ghost. It remaineth therefore that the answer given by the adversaries of this truth is apparently insufficient; and consequently, that our argument, drawn from the personal actions attributed in the Scriptures to the Spirit, is sound and valid. I thought this discourse had fully destroyed the Socinian prosopopoeia; and, indeed, as they ordinarily pro

pound

(i) John, c. 16. v. 13. (k) John, c. 16. v. 14.

pound their answer, it is abundantly refuted; but I find the subtlety of Socinus prepared another explication of the prosopopoeia, to supply the room when he foresaw the other would not serve; which double figure he grounded upon this distinction; the Spirit, that is, the power of God, says he, may be considered either as a propriety and power in God, or as the things on which it worketh are affected 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 signified. 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 affected with it, is called the Spirit of God. So that now we must not only shew, that such things as are attributed to the Holy Ghost cannot be spoken of the Father, but we must also prove that they cannot be attributed unto man, in whom the Spirit worketh from the Father.. And this also will be very easily and evidently proved. The Holy Ghost is said to come unito the Apostles, as sent by the Father and the Son; and to come as so sent, is a personal action, which we have already shewed cannot be the action

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6

action of the Father, who sent the Spirit; and it is as certain that it cannot be the action of the apostle who was affected with the Spirit which was sent, except we can say that the Father and the Son did come unto St. Peter; and St. Peter, being sent by the Father and the Son, did come unto St. Peter. Again, our Saviour, speaking of the Holy Ghost, saith, He shall receive of mine,' therefore the Holy Ghost in that place is not taken for the Father; and shew it unto you.' therefore he is not taken for an apostle in that he receiveth,' the first Socinian prosopopoeia is improper; in that he 'sheweth' to the apostle, the second is absurd. The Holy Ghost then is described as a person distinct from the person of the Father, whose power he is; and distinct from the person of the apostle, in whom he worketh; and consequently neither of the Socinian figures can evacuate or enervate the doctrine of his proper and peculiar personality. Secondly, for those attributes or expressions used of the Holy Ghost in the sacred Scriptures, and pretended to be repugLant to the nature of a person; either they are not so repugnant, or if they be, they belong unto the Spirit, as it signifieth not the person, but the gifts or effects of the Spirit. They tell us that the Spirit is given, and that sometimes in measure,

sometimes

sometimes without measure; that the Spirit is poured out, and that men drink of it, and are filled with it; that it is doubled and distributed, and something is taken from it, and that sometimes it is extinguished; and from hence they gather, that the Holy Ghost is not a person, because these expressions are inconsistent with personality. But a satisfactory answer is easily. returned to this objection. It is true that God is said to have given the Holy Ghost to them that obey him (m);' but it is as true that a person may be given. So we read, unto us a Son is given (n);' and we are assured that

God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son (o);' and certainly the Son of God is a person. And if all the rest of the expressions be such as they pretend, that is, not proper to a person, yet do they no way prejudice the truth of our assertion, because we acknowledge the effects 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 shown those attributes to be given, which can agree to nothing but a person, we therefore conclude, against

(m) Acts, c. 5. v. 32. (0) John, c. 3. v. 16.

(n) Is. c. 9. v. 6.

the