114

The HOLY GHOST is GOD.

SERMON VIII.

THE PERSON AND OFFICE OF THE HOLY GHOST.

S. JOHN XV. 26.

But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth, Which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me.

THE third great point of Christian Faith is a right belief" in GoD the HOLY GHOST, Who sanctifieth me and all the elect people of GOD." We have to consider first His Nature, Who He is and secondly, His office towards us, what He has done and is doing to men.

I. Concerning His Nature the belief of the Church from the first has been that He is truly GOD. Let us compare this with Holy Scripture. In the Acts of the Apostles we find it written, that "As they ministered unto the LORD and fasted, the HOLY GHOST said, Separate me Barnabas

See above, Sermon II.

Testimonies that the HOLY GHOST is GOD. 115

and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" in the Epistle to the Hebrews it is said, "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron c." "The work" in one verse, and "the honour" in the other, mean the Ministry; in the first, it is said that the HOLY GHOST called Barnabas and Saul to it: in the other, that none but GOD calls men. Plainly then, the HOLY GHOST is GOD. So S. Paul says to Timothy, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of GOD"," S. Peter writes, "Holy men of GoD spake as they were moved by the HOLY GHOST." So again, in the first chapter of the Acts mention. is made of a prophecy which the HOLY GHOST spake by the mouth of David: in the fourth chapter we read that the disciples lifted up their voice to GOD with one accord and said, "LORD, Thou art GOD,-Who by the mouth of Thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage?" So again in the Song of Simeon, "LORD, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word." Whose word then was it? Just before we read, "It was revealed to him by the HOLY GHOST, that he

b Acts xiii. 2.
d 2 Tim. iii. 16.

c Heb. v. 4.

e 2 S. Pet. i. 21.

116 The HOLY GHOST distinct in Person

should not see death before he had seen the LORD'S CHRIST!" Again, to the Corinthians it is written in one place, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of GOD, and that the SPIRIT of God dwelleth in you?" In another, "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the HOLY GHOST h?" There are very many more of such passages; let one more suffice. "Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the HOLY GHOST?-thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God i."

Further, the Church teaches that He is not the same in Person as the FATHER, nor as the SON, but a distinct Person, proceeding from Them Both. That He is distinct from them (not in Godhead, but in Person) is plain from the form in which we are baptized by the command of CHRIST; and from the prayer of blessing at the end of the Morning and Evening Service1. So in the text, which is part of the discourse of our LORD on the night of His betrayal, you will notice the same doctrine. "When the Comforter is come, Whom I will send unto you from the FATHER, even the SPIRIT of Truth, Which proceedeth from the

g 1 Cor. iii. 16.

h 1 Cor. vi. 19.

2 Cor. xiii. 14,

f S. Luke ii. 26.
i Acts v. 3, 4. k S. Matt. xxviii. 19.

from the FATHER and the SON.

117

FATHER, He shall testify of Mem." He is sent by JESUS, GOD the Son, from the FATHER, and therefore is distinct in His Person from Both, and, as a distinct Person, testifies of CHRIST. In a former part of the same discourse, our LORD says in like manner, "the Comforter, which is the HOLY GHOST, Whom the FATHER will send in My Name, He shall teach you all things"." He is distinguished especially from the Person of the FATHER in the words of Isaiah, (or rather of CHRIST speaking by Isaiah,) "The LORD GOD, and His SPIRIT, hath sent Me":" for, as has been observed, the Name of GOD is often applied to the First Person in the Blessed Trinity, not as though He were more God than the Son and the SPIRIT, but because He is the Fountain of Deity, by Whom the SoN is eternally begotten, and from Whom the SPIRIT eternally proceeds. He is distinguished also especially from the Person of the Son, by that of S. Paul to the Corinthians", "ye are washed, ye are justified, ye are sanctified, in the Name of the LORD JESUS, and by the SPIRIT of our GOD."

Further; although we do not find it said in

m S. John xv. 26.

P See above, p. 50.

n xiv. 26.

• Isa. xlviii. 16.

4 1 Cor. vi. 11.

118 The HOLY GHOST worshipped and glorified.

express words that He proceedeth from the SON, as we do find in the verse just now quoted that He proceedeth from the FATHER, yet since He is called the "SPIRIT of the SON," "the SPIRIT of CHRIST," no less than the SPIRIT of the FATHER, since our LORD says in one place, "The FATHER will send the Comforter in My Name;" and in another, "I will send you the Comforter from the FATHER;" for these, and for other and deeper reasons on which there is no need to dwell, we hold as part of God's truth that the HOLY GHOST proceedeth from the FATHER and from the SON.

In full accordance therefore with Holy Scripture, we confess that the HOLY GHOST is GOD, equally GoD with the FATHER and the SON, proceeding from all eternity from Them Both, so that there never was a time when He was not God, nor when He was not so proceeding; and therefore "with the FATHER and the SON together" He "is worshipped and glorified" by the Church from the first. We glorify Him at the end of every Psalm, at the celebration of the Holy Communion, and in Litanies; so too, when before the LORD's Prayer we offer three short entreaties for mercy, the first is to the See p. 34, 35.