aSAM. Xa.IV.3 AND THE USE OT IT. 296 Spirit, may signify his gifts, graces,, and influences, yet -this does not at all derogate from the true and eternal godhead, which is plainly ascribed to the Holy Spirit in other places. Here note, though it is hard to determine always with certainty, when the Holy Ghost, or Spirit of God, signi- fies the divine Agent himself, and when it denotes his influences ; yet there are some. texts, wherein the sense is plain and evident. Proposition XIII: Though the Son, and Spirit, are true God, as well as the Father, yet all our divines uni- versally acknowledge, that the language of scripture seems to ascribe söme sort of peculiar eminence, or spe- cial prerogative, to the Father, in such respects as these. i, The Father, as I hinted before, is always repro-, rented as the first and chief Agent in creation, in provi- dence, and in the affairs ofsalvation ; the Father is de- scribed and exhibited as acting by his Son, or Word, and by his Spirit, as sending them, and employing, or using them, as mediums of his agency : Whereas the Son, and Spirit, are never represented as chief Agents, in comparison with the Father; nor are they said, in this manner, to act by the Father, or to send, or use, and employ him as such a mediumof their acting. When the name of God is used absolutely in scrip- ture, it generally relates to the Father. This appears' in innumerable instances : As, for example, where Christ is called the Son of God, theword God plainly signifies the Father: And indeed, this idea of God, as ,the Father, or prime Agent, is much the most frequent and general sense of the word God, in the Old and New Testament, as all men confess. 3. The Father is described as the only true God, as the one God, even the Father ; and that in such scrip- tures, where the Son, or Spirit, are named, and plainly distinguished from him ; John xvii. 3. Christ saith to his Father ; " This is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent ;" Eplr. iv. 6. " There is one body, one Spirit, one Lord. one God and Father of all." 1 Cor. viii. 6. " To us' there is but one God, the Father, of whom areall things, aad one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all - thins."
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