DISSERTATION V. 341 7Ieb. xiii. 7. " Thosewho have spoken to you theword of God ;" And in the next verse, " Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to- day, and for ever ;" Rev. i. 2. °" John,, who bare record of the word of God :" Which is the remarkable character of this apostle, because he spake much of the Logos, or of Christ under the title of the Word. And in like manner there may be some particular texts wherein it is difficult to determine whether the Spirit of God signify the very power of the divine nature itself, or whether it signify the effect of that power. I will men- tion but one, 'which is agreed to be dubious ; Acts xix. 2. ° We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Some interpret the Holy Ghost here to signify his nature and existence and some make it only to denote the effusion of his gifts, graces, or influences. But I do not think that this diffi- culty is of any very great importance, while it is agreed that these various gifts, graces, and blessings, conferred upon men, are all entirely attributed to the Spirit of God, or to a certain divine executive power, or principle of efficiency belonging to the divine nature. Thus I have represented the clearest and best ideas I have yet attained, concerning the Spirit of God, who is generally called the third person in the sacred Trinity, As Christ, in his divine nature, is represented as the eternal word, or wisdom of the Father, which perhaps, may include in it the power of know- ledge, or knowledge and volition ; so the Spirit seems tobe ano- ther divine power, which may be called the power of efñ.cience : And though it is sometimes described in scripture as a personal agent, after the manner of Jewish and eastern writers, yet if we put all the scriptures relating to this subject together, and view them in a correspondent light, the Spirit of God does not seem to be described as a distinct spirit from the Father, or as ano- ther conscious mind, but as an eternal essential power, belong- ing to the Father, whereby all things are effected : And' thus the supreme godhead of the blessed Spirit is maintained in its glory. It is proper here to take notice, that what I have said else- where of the Logos, or divine Word, may be also applied to the blessed 'Spirit, viz. That sometimes it carries with it an inad- equate idea of godhead, when it signifies a power in the divine nature ; and sometimes an adequate idea, when it intends God himself exerting that power. And this is no strange and unna- tural supposition, since the same sort of phraseology, is in fre- quent use when we speak of the soul of man, and its various powers ; for sometimes by the words reason, will, conscience, &c. we mean those particular powers of the soul, which are inadequate ideas of the soul; at other times we mean the soul itself acting by one or another of those powers, and then the Y ii
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