THE ARIAN INVITED TO ORTHODOX I'MTft. who is neutrally and inseparably joined to the word. When Christ Jesus wrought miracles on earth he dirt it by virtue of godhead dwelling in hint personally, in the character of the Logos, or Word, inseparably united to, and one with, the bles- sed Spirit, though for special reasons in the divine economy, these miracles are rather ascribed to the Holy Spirit than to the divine Logos, or Word. And when he condescends to .make any of the children of men, conscious instruments of these mi- raculous performances, all that they can do is to lift up a prayer, and put forth a humble volition that such a supernatural effect may appear ; but it is really by the agency of the blessed Spirit, that the laws of nature are counteracted : Nature herself obeys none but her sovereign, the miracle appears in its divine glory, and confesses the presence of a divine power. Thus, by the concurrent demonstration of the Spirit of God, and of power, St. Paul preached the gospel among the heathen nations : The Spirit, as a divine efficient, impressedon his brain, and on his tongue, a train of languages which he understood not before, for he spake with a multitude of tongues ; and the same blessed Spirit, as a divine efficient power, dictated to the apos- tle how to preach, and. when to attempt a miraculous operation; and this glorious almighty agent produced the marvellous effect, surprised and amazed their eyes and their ears with sensible wonders, and enlightened and converted the souls of the blind, heathens. He bid natureyield to miracle ; he made heathenism, stn the heart give place to christianity,, and turned sinners into: Saints. 'Thus the Spirit of God is the universal efficient of all the common events in the course of nature, and of all super- natural appearances, whether in the kingdom of nature, or of grace. , It is possible that some weak and unskilful reader may ha ready to scruple this representation, as though it. attributed all the visible actions of men, whether, good or bad, to the Spirit of God, and thus tended to represent God as the authorof sin. But those who understand the doctrine of the divine con- course to the works of inanimate nature, as well as to the actions of men, know, that there is a great deal of differeuce.between the uniform universal agency and influence of a prime cause, ac- cording to his own original established laws of nature, and the . particular agency of created intelligent causes. The particular actions of intelligent creatures may be very culpable, for abusing: the general influence of the first canse to vicious purposes, while the prime, uniform, universal cause is blameless. The Spirit of God, though it be the universal.efficient of all life and motion, yet is by no means chargeable with the guilt of a murderer, even- though he gives vital motion and power to those limbs which per- forma bloody action, for lie flees not incline the will of men to
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