THE HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE HOLY SPIRITPROVED AND VINDICATED. CHAP. III. (1.) Ends of our Consideration of the dispensation ofthe Spirit. (2.) Principles premisedthereunto. (3.) The nature of God thefoundation ofall religion. (4.) Divine revelation gives the rule and measure ofreligious worship. (5.) God hath revealed himself as three in one.(6.) Distinct actings and operations ascribed unto these distinct persons. (7.) Therefore theHoly Spirit a divine distinct person. (8.) Double opposition to the holy Spirit. (9.) By some his personalitygranted, andhis deity denied. (l o.) His personality denied by the Socinians. (I 1.) Proved against them.-(12.) The open vanityof theirpretences, Matth. xxviii. 19. pleaded. (13.) (14.) (i5.) Appearances oftheSpirit under the shape of a dove. (I6.) Explained and improved. (17.) his appearance as fire opened. (18.) His personal snbsisteneteproved(l9.) Personal properties as- signedunto him. Understanding; argument hencepleaded and vindicated.(20.) A will, John xxxiii. James. iii. 4. cleared. (21.) Exceptions removed. (22.) Power.(23.) (24.) &c. Other personal ascrip- tions to him, with testimonies of them, vindicated and explained. WE shall now proceed to the matter itself designed unto consideration; namely, the dispensation of the Spirit of God unto the church. And I shall endeavour to fix what I have to offer upon its proper principles, and from them to educe the whole doctrine concerning it. And this must be so done, as to manifest the inter- est of our faith, obedience, and holy worship, in the whole and each part of it. For these are the immediate ends ofall divine revelations; according to that holy maxim of our blessed Saviour: Ifye know these things, happy are ye ¡Lye do them. To this end the ensuing principles are to be observed. Sect. 2.-1. "The nature and beingof God is the 44-Foundation Of all true religion and holy religious won 4, ship in the world." The great end for which we were made, for which we were brought forth by the power of God into this world, is to worship him, and to give glory unto him. For he made all things for himself or his own glory, (Prov. xvi. 4.) to be rendered unto him according to the abilities and capacities that hebath furnished them withal, Rev. iv. 11. And that which makes this worship indispensably necessary unto us, and from whence it is holy or religious, is the na- ture and beingofGod himself. There are indeed many parts or acts of religious worship which immediately re- speet, (as their reason and motive) what God is unto I us, or what he bath done, and doth for us. But the principle and adequate reasonof all divine worship, and that which makes it such, is what God is in himself. Because he is, that is an infinitely glorious; good, wise, holy, powerful, righteous, self-subsisting, self-sufficient, all-sufficient Being, the fountain, cause and author of life and being to all things, and of all that is good in every kind, the first cause, last end, and absolutely Sov- ereign lord of all the rest, and all satisfactory reward of all other beings, therefore is he by us to be adored, and worshipped with divine and religious worship. Hence are we in our hearts, minds, and souls, to ad- mire, adore, and love him; his praises are we to cele- brate; him to trust and fear; are to resign ourselves andall our concernments unto his will and disposal; to regard him with all the acts of our minds and persons, answerably to the holy properties and excellencies of his nature. This it is to glorify him as God. For see- ing, ofhim, and through hita, and to him are all things, to him most be glory for ever, Rom. xi. 36. Believing that God thus is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek him, is the groundof all coming unto God in his worship, Iieb. xi. 6. And herein lies the sin of men, that the invisible things of God being manifest unto them, even his eternal power and God-head; yet they do not glorifyhim as God, Rom. i. 21. This is 16
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