And now I would stse my next proposition, and briefly sketch the testimony on which it rests.

     That Scripture, in the Old and the New Testament alike, proves the coequal Godhead of the Holy Spirit with that of the Father and of the Son.

     May the same Spirit grant us reverence, and humility, and godly fear in this solemn inquiry.

     The reader will not fail to observe what strong collateral evidence of the possible plurality in unity, and therefore of the possible coequal Deity of the Father and of the Son, we shall obtain, if another be revealed in Scripture.

      as one who is to be distinguished from the Father and the Son;

     as one to whom such personal properties and actions are assigned as prove independent and intelligent personality;

     as one to whom Divine attributes are ascribed, and by whom Divine offices are exercised;

     as one worshipped in parity with the Father and the Son;

     as one declared to be Jehovah and God.

     Here indeed we might expect the evidence to be more subjective; for the peculiar office of the Holy Ghost in the economy of redemption, is ever represented as the quickening and fostering of the hidden life within. It is, however, none the less conclusive. If, as we gaze on the sun shining in the firmament, we see any faint adumbration of the doctrine of the Trinity in the fontal orb, the light ever generated, the heat proceeding from the sun and its beams - three-fold and yet one, the sun, its light, and its heat - that luminous globe, and the radiance ever flowing from it, are both evident to the eye; but the vital warmth is felt, not seen, and is only manifested in the life it transfuses through creation. The proof of its real existence is self-demonstrating.

     (1) That the Divine Spirit is to be distinguished from the Father and the Son, appears from all those passages in Holy Scripture, which reveal to us the simultaneous co-operation of three infinite agents.

     Thus when we read, at our Lord’s baptism, of the voice of the Father, of the human presence of Jesus, of the visible descent of the Spirit, for “the heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son: in thee I am we pleased” (Luke 3:21, 22); - we are compelled to say; that the descending Spirit is distinct from the baptized Saviour, and from the approving Father.

     And when Jesus says, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever” (John 14:16); and when, this promise being fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, we find that the Holy Ghost appeared seated on the disciples as cloven tongues of fire (Acts 2:3); we are constrained to acknowledge that the apparent Spirit is distinct from the mediating Saviour, and the Father who decreed the gift.

     And when we read of “the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19), and again of “the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit” (II Corinthians 13:14), it is impossible to deny the necessary distinction here affirmed.

     And when the saints are described as “elect according to the fore-knowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ” (I Peter 1:2), Scripture leads us to conclude that as the bleeding Saviour is distinct from the predestinating Father, so the sanctifying Spirit is Himself distinct.

     And when the benediction of grace and peace is implored from (ἀπό) Him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from (καὶ ἀπό) “the seven spirits which are before the throne;1 and from (καὶ ἀπό) Jesus Christ, the faithful witness” (Revelation 1:4,5), we are assured that as there is a distinction intended between the eternal Father and the Lord Jesus, so is there likewise betwixt them and the seven-fold Spirit of God.

     In this stage of our inquiry it will be enough to ask ourselves, in the cases cited above, was the cooperating Spirit identical with the Father or with the Son? Could you say it was the Father or the Son who descended on Christ at His baptism, or on the apostles at Pentecost? Could you assert that we are baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of one who likewise is the Father, or the Son? Or that grace and peace are besought from the eternal Father, and from one who under another name is also the Father, and from Jesus Christ? No one could maintain this for a moment. The Holy Ghost, therefore, cannot be identified or confounded either with the eternal Father, or with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

     (2) I proceed, then, to consider, that such personal properties and actions are ascribed to the Spirit as prove independent and intelligent personality.

     But, it is asked, do we not read of the Spirit of God being “poured out,” and “given in greater or less degree?” If He were a Person, how could He be thus effused or divided? Here we fully admit that the terms “spirit” and “holy spirit,” do sometimes denote not the person, but the operations, the gifts, the influences of the Holy Ghost: as, for example, when it is said, “I will take of the spirit which is upon thee” (Numbers 11:17). But the question is not whether some passages may not be brought forward which denote the operations and influences of the Spirit, and therefore do not establish the point; but whether besides these there are not very numerous portions of Scripture which do positively and unanswerably establish His personality. Just as if I were studying a work on horticulture, and because the writer here and there used the term “sun” to denote the influences of the sun, directing me to place certain plants in the sun, or that more or less sun should be admitted, I were to contend, that the author could not believe there was actually such a globe of light in the heavens, although in many other parts He had spoken in strictly astronomical language of our planetary system. You would justly assure me, that the occasional recurrence of such familiar phrases as “more or less sun, etc.” was no valid argument against His conviction of the sun’s real existence, stated elsewhere in the volume plainly and positively. Now, we admit, that by “the spirit,” are sometimes intended the gifts and graces of the Spirit. These graces may be poured out - these gifts distributed. But “all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will” (I Corinthians 12:11).2

     Now if, altogether apart from this investigation, you had been asked to name those qualities which evidence personal existence, you would have been quite content to answer: Show me that which has mind, and affection, and will, which can act, and speak, and direct; and that sentient, loving, determining agent, speaker, and ruler, must possess personality, or personality cannot exist.

     But we read in Scripture of -

     The mind of the Spirit: “He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind (or intention) of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession” (Romans 8:27).

     The infinite comprehension of the Spirit: “The things of God knoweth no one, but the Spirit of God” (I Corinthians 2:11), See next section, where this passage is referred to more at length.

     The fore-knowledge ‘of the Spirit: “He will show you things to come” (John 16:13).

     The power of the Spirit: “That ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13). If the Spirit were a metonymy for the power of God, this would be a most unlikely combination.

     The love of the Spirit: “I beseech you for the love of the Spirit” (διὰ τῆς ἀγάπης τοῦ Πνεύματος): - a plea exactly corresponding with one he had used shortly before. “I beseech you, by the mercies of God.” (διὰ τῶν οἰκτιρμῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ).

     The self-determining will of the Spirit: “Dividing to every man severally as he will” (I Corinthians 12:11).

          We find -

     He creates and gives life: “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life” (Job 33:4). And again, “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath (Spirit) of his mouth” (Psalm 33:6).

     He strives with the ungodly: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man.” (Genesis 6:3).

     He convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment. (John 16:8).

     He new-creates the soul: “Born of the Spirit.” (John 3:5-8).

     He commands and forbids: “The Spirit said to Philip, ‘Go near . . . The Spirit bade me go with them’” (Acts 8:29; 11:12) - “The Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul” (Acts 13:2) - “Being forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach” (Acts 16:6, 7) - “The Spirit suffered them not.”

     He appoints ministers in the church: “The flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers” (Acts 20:28).

     He inspired the sacred writers: “Holy men spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost” (II Peter 1:21).

     He speaketh expressly of events “in the latter times” (I Timothy 4:1).

     He saith to the churches the messages of the Son of man: (Revelation 2:7, etc.)

     He performs miracles: “Then the Spirit took me up, and I heard behind me a voice . . . The Spirit lifted me up, between the earth and the heaven (Ezekiel 3:12; Ezekiel 8:3). The Spirit gave them utterance [at Pentecost] (Acts 2:4). The Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip (Acts 8:39). Mighty signs and wonders (were done) by the power of the Spirit of God” (Romans 15:19).

     He caused the virgin Mary to conceive: (Luke 1:35).

     He works in all saints, dispensing divers gifts with independent spontaneity of choice (I Corinthians 12:4-11).

     He regenerates and seals His people, for we are saved by His renewing; - and are “sealed unto the day of redemption” (Titus 3:5) by the Holy Spirit of God (Ephesians 4:30).

     He intercedes for us in prayers, for he “helpeth our infirmities . . . and maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:26).

     He teaches and comforts and guides us into all truth: For Christ promises, “The Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He (ἐκεῖνος) shall teach you all things . . . shall testify of me . . . shall guide you into all truth . . . shall glorify me . . . and shall take of mine, and show it unto you” (John16:13, 14).

     He can be vexed and grieved: “They returned and vexed his Holy Spirit” (Isaiah 63:10); “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God” (Ephesians 4:30).

     He is designated by the use of masculine pronouns, though the noun itself, Spirit, is neuter. “When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you” (John 16:13), and so continually in this context, where it’s meaning is “That person the Spirit.” Thus, likewise: “That Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance” (Ephesians 1:13, 14). -

     He testifies with personal witnesses: “He shall testify (μαρτυρειτε) and ye also testify -(John15:26), “We are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost” (Acts 5:32).

     He approves with personal counsellors: “It seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us” (Acts 15:28).

     He invites with personal messengers: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come” (Revelation 22:17).

     He is personally present in a sense in which Jesus is personally absent: “It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you” (John 16:7).

     He can be personally blasphemed (as Christ may be personally blasphemed), but only upon peril of eternal condemnation: “Whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the Matthew world to come” (Matthew 12:32).

     He cries in our hearts, “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).

     He repeats the beatitude pronounced on those who sleep in Jesus: “Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours” (Revelation 14:13).

     Surely, from a calm and comprehensive study of this testimony, we must conclude that if these qualities and actions do not prove personality, there are none, however explicit and exact, which can do so. Unitarians are wont to speak of the Spirit, as an effusion or emanation separate from God, or an influence or power exercised by God. Can you speak of the mind of an effusion? - of an emanation, knowing the depths of Him from whom it distils? - of an influence, or power, or aught impersonal, revealing future events; possessing a power, and love, and will of its own; creating, striving, convincing, recreating; enjoining, prohibiting, commissioning; inspiring, speaking expressly, addressing the church; performing miracles, transporting, giving utterance; energizing, regenerating, sealing; interceding, teaching, comforting, guiding; being vexed and grieved; testifying, approving, inviting; being present as a personal Comforter who may be personally blasphemed, crying in us until He teaches us to cry, Abba, Father, and repeating on earth the Heaven-sent benediction on departed saints? (Galatians 4:6; Romans 8:15). If in some few instances you might thus personify an influence, most of those adduced, taken singly, resist such an interpretation; and taken collectively, would, if thus understood, confuse all the laws of language, and thus derange the first principles of truth.

     It is not easy to translate into our own tongue the proof we obtain from a study of the language here. But suppose in a volume of history you met with the following passage: - “The prince having left this province thought good that his Majesty’s power should occupy his room: as for this power, he knew the secret counsels of the king; he had an independent will; he strove with the ill-affected, and was grieved and vexed with the obstinacy of some, while others he convinced of their infatuation, and was enabled to train as good citizens; he consoled the well-disposed; he issued commands and restrictions at his own pleasure; he appointed subordinate officers; he spoke expressly of the certain issue of some incipient plots; he accomplished prodigies of benevolence: indeed such was the authority of this power, that whoever willfully insulted him was by the king’s command imprisoned for life; while on the other hand, he was accustomed to repeat assurances which came direct from court, of the favour awarded there to faithful subjects.”

Would you, could you doubt for a moment whether or not this power was a personal intelligent agent? And if, a few pages further on in the book, you read, “And thus his Majesty’s power was extended and his dominion consolidated,” would you because of the repetition of the term power, or his Majesty’s power, confuse the latter abstraction with the former person - would you gainsay your previous unhesitating conclusion, that the power left in that province was a living person? It is impossible. You would say, honest language, though capable of metaphor, is incapable of such delusive impersonations. So likewise the witness of Scripture, which we have heard, is unequivocal that the Holy Spirit is a living Agent working with consciousness, will, and love.

     (3) Now to this agent Divine attributes are ascribed, and by Him Divine offices are exercised towards us.

     He is eternal. “Christ through the eternal (αἰωνίου)Spirit offered himself” (Hebrews 9:14).This is the same word which is used of the self-existence from everlasting to everlasting of the Lord (Romans 16:26).

     He is omnipresent. “Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I descend up into heaven thou art there” (Psalm 139:7). Having proved His distinct personality, this establishes His omnipresence: which truth is indeed self-evident, from the simultaneous work He is carrying on in ten thousand hearts throughout the universe.

     He is omniscient. For He alone, with the infinite Son, comprehends the incomprehensible Lord. “God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, even the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God knoweth no one but the Spirit of God” (I Corinthians 2:10). The word search, as used in Scripture, does not necessarily imply that successive acquisition of knowledge which belongs to a finite being, for the Lord says, “I, the Lord, search the heart” (Jeremiah 17:10). “And that the Spirit here is not a mere quality of Divine nature, as consciousness is of the human mind, appears from the first clause, ‘God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit,’ which clearly implies a personal distinction; for it could not be said that a man makes anything known to others by His consciousness” (P. Smith, Appendix II).

     He is prescient and unveils futurity. “It was revealed unto him (Simeon) by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26). “He will show you things to come” (John 16:13). And John “was in the spirit” when he was enabled to cast his eye across the chart of providence.

     He is absolutely free and independent. “The wind bloweth where it listeth . . . so is every one that is born of the Spirit” (John 3:8). Dividing as He willeth (I Corinthians 12:11). “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (II Corinthians 3:17).

     He is infinitely good and holy. “Thou gavest thy good Spirit to instruct them” (Nehemiah 9:20). “Thy Spirit is good” (Psalm 143:16). He is called in the Old Testament, emphatically, the Holy Spirit of God (Psalm 51:11; Isaiah 63:10). He is repeatedly styled by our Lord, the Holy Spirit. And this is His distinctive (Luke 11:13). And this is His designation by the apostles throughout the New Testament. He is likewise called “the Spirit of truth (John 14:17, etc), and the Spirit of holiness” (Romans 1:4) as the fountain of verity and goodness.

     He is the Almighty Creator of all things. Here it may suffice to quote one passage which may well set the question at rest for ever. “Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him?” (Isaiah 40:12-4). No words could express more plainly an intelligent Creator, inferior to none, whose wisdom was His own, whose counsel was underived, whose omnipotence was inherent. What reflex light this casts on the simple declaration of Genesis, “The Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters!” (Genesis 1:2).

     In His hands are the issues of life and death. “The Spirit of God hath made me” (Job 33:4) -“Thou sendest forth thy Spirit: they are created” (Psalm 104:30) - “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.” (Isaiah 40:7).

     And then, as to the life of God within us, he is the author and finisher of it. He begets and quickens the soul, once dead in trespasses and sins (John 3:6). He produces His own celestial fruits (I Corinthians 3:16). He sheds abroad the love of God in our hearts (Romans 5:8). He seals us unto the day of redemption (Ephesians 4:39). He works in us, educates us, comforts us, leads us, and bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:26). He carries on the work of sanctification, changes us into the Divine image from glory to glory (II Corinthians 3:18). And by Him, as the One who quickened Christ our Head (I Peter 3:18), will God quicken our mortal bodies at the last day. (Romans 8:11).

     Now I venture to ask, as I asked respecting the testimony of Jesus, who can believe those explicit declarations of the character and work of the Holy Spirit, and not repose their whole confidence in Him - resting on Him with supreme reliance, and loving Him with entire devotion? Consider, He is eternal, everywhere present, infinite in wisdom, prescient, absolutely just, and is perfect in goodness and grace and truth! Consider, further, so close and necessary is our relationship to Him, that He is the Almighty Creator of that world in which we live; that He gives us every breath we draw, and that He suspends that breath when we die. Consider, the whole work of the spiritual life within us, from its earliest germ to its latest development, is His operation. What frail and finite creature, like man, believing this testimony, could, in the presence of such an One, refuse to render Him adoring trust and love? If Scripture forbade these emotions, as due only to Deity, we should be rent in twain. But does Scripture forbid them? Nay, verily. You cannot find the faintest hint against depending on the Holy Spirit too absolutely. There is no jealousy of His claims. The most humble submission to His education is ever enforced; any violation of reverent regard is deprecated with a plaintive earnestness of expostulation; and willful blasphemy against Him is fenced with the most awful warning in the whole Word of God. Such is the efficacy of His personal presence, that it is represented as compensating the personal absence of Jesus, Every affectionate and trustful desire is awakened in you; for in the comfort He imparts, as explained by Christ, is comprised the communication of every Divine blessing. The claims of no benefactor can transcend those of Him who gives us life and light, emancipating us from the thralldom of sin, and bringing us into the freedom of love. Only believe these Scriptures, and you must, perforce, trust and love this Divine Spirit supremely. This homage belongs to God alone, whose name is Jealous, who will not give His glory to another. Therefore we conclude and confess that the Holy Ghost is one with God, and is Himself God.

     (4) This is further established by the fact that the Spirit of God is revealed in Scripture as the object of religious worship in parity with the Father and the Son.

     The sixth chapter of Isaiah compared with John 12:41, has already proved to us that God manifested Himself to the prophet by the express image of His person, His only begotten Son. The voice which spoke is distinctly said to be the voice of the Lord (Isaiah 6:8). But the message then sent is again recorded by Paul, and is prefaced with this remarkable introduction: “Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet?” (Acts 28:25) The glory of the Lord of hosts was then revealed by Jesus Christ, and the voice of the Lord was the utterance of the Holy Ghost. Now we decipher the true significance of the threefold adoration of the veiled seraphim, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord of hosts” (Isaiah 6:3), and dimly apprehend why it was asked, “Who will go for us” (ver. 8). The angels, therefore, worship the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son.

     I would mention in passing, without laying stress upon it, the impressive vision of Ezekiel, in the valley of dry bones, in which he is commanded to address the wind (πνεῦμα -LXX.), “Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, Son of Man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” (Ezekiel 37:9). The wind is evidently typical of the Spirit, for it is said in the interpretation of the vision, “I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live” (ver. 14): and to my own mind the proclamation to the wind is typical of prayer to the Spirit for His energizing power in quickening dead souls to the life of God (compare chapter 36:27, with 37).

     The baptismal formulary, however, affords an unambiguous testimony. For “baptism is a solemn act of worship, denoting entire consecration to Him in whose name we are baptized. It is the stipulation (ἐπεώτημα, Greek legal term) of ‘a good conscience toward God’ (I Peter 3:21). Now the existence of a stipulation implies the presence, or in some way the knowledge and acceptance, of the person to whom the engagement is made. It supposes then, in this case, the presence or cognizance of the Son and the Spirit equally with that of the Father” (Pye Smith). Here again we have, by our Lord’s express command, adoring homage paid to the Holy Ghost in union with the Father and Himself, at this sacred profession of every Christian’s faith.

     I would also ask you to compare:

We may fairly conclude that the One whom the Psalmist calls upon us to worship is the same One whom, he says, the Israelites provoked.

This One, the parallel passages assure us, was eminently the Eternal Spirit. I say eminently, for I do not think these and other like Scriptures warrant us in excluding thoughts of the Father and the Son. While establishing the personal Deity of the Spirit, we must not forget His essential unity with the Father and the Son. To those who believe this, every simple command “worship God” embraces the worship of the Holy Spirit; but in the above it was eminently the Spirit. The Spirit was the One of the sacred Trinity most prominently tempted and grieved by the Israelites, and therefore the One most prominently to be supplicated.3

Here Christ Himself enjoins prayer to Him, who sends forth ministers. That this is one special office of the Holy Ghost, we learn from the Acts; and we have, therefore, Christ’s warrant for praying to the Spirit.

     Again, bearing in mind that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost” (Romans 5:5), this being His peculiar office, I pray you to ponder the following prayers:

     “The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: to the end he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”- (I Thessalonians 3:12, 13).

     “The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ” - (II Thessalonians 3:5).

     In both these supplications we have the Father and Christ named besides the One to whom the prayer is addressed; may we not be assured that .this One is especially the blessed Spirit of love?

     The Book of Revelation seals the testimony. For, as we have seen, the bestowal of grace and peace is implored equally from the eternal Father, and from the seven Spirits which are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:4, 5). This is direct supplication. And lastly, we have in the fourth and fifth chapters a view, couched in symbolic but most expressive language, of the celestial worship. A throne is set in Heaven. It is then a question of absorbing interest who is the adorable Being, who there concentrates around Himself this homage of saints and angels. So singular and sublime a revelation must needs draw the closest regards of every reverent mind; for though “the secret things belong to the Lord our God,” the “things which are revealed belong to us and to our children” (Deuteronomy 29:29). Is then the unity of the One there worshipped so simple an unity as to preclude any plurality subsisting therein? The throne was set in Heaven, and One sat on the throne. But is this One alone in infinite solitariness? The Lord enable us to keep our foot as we draw near to His unutterable glory. What saith the Scripture? The voice of the Son of Man was only now silent. “I overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Revelation 3:21). [An evident distinction is here drawn betwixt the throne of Christ, which His people were admitted to share, and the throne of the Father, the supreme glories of which the son alone partakes]. And in strict accordance with this we find, “Lo, in the midst of the throne4 . . . . stood a Lamb as it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6): and the universal worship of Heaven is addressed equally “to him that sat on the throne and unto the Lamb for ever.” But is this all? Have we not reached the limit of that revealed? I think not. The question must press on every reflective student, what position do the “seven Spirits of God” hold amid this tide of celestial adoration? Are they among the worshippers, or are they worshipped? In the benediction of the first chapter they mysteriously intervene betwixt the Father and the Son, as one of the blessed Three who are the fountain of grace and peace. - In the third chapter the Son of Man describes Himself as having the seven Spirits of God. - In the fourth chapter they appear as seven lamps of fire burning before the throne. But what when next we read of them? “In the midst of the throne, and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain,5 having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6). This implies their closest union with the Lamb; therefore, when He, together with the eternal Father, received that wondrous universal homage, the sevenfold Spirit of God must have received it with Him. How beautiful now appears the harmony with the opening benedictory prayer! And how appropriate now the threefold cherubic adoration, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8, here only and in Isaiah 6:3) The vision is symbolic, but it symbolizes truth; and it is most suggestive of the highest adoration being received on the eternal throne by the Father, and by the Son, and by the Holy Ghost.

     Divine worship is, therefore, on the authority of Scripture, rendered to the Spirit. I admit that in some of the cases the evidence is rather circumstantial than direct. But this we should have a priori expected; for in the economy of redemption it is the office of the Holy Ghost to kindle in us “the spirit of grace and of supplications” (Zechariah 12:10), to intercede for us and with us, and to enable us, in the spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15, 26, 27), to pray as Jesus taught His disciples, “Our Father which art in heaven.”

     (5) Finally, the comparison of Scripture with Scripture demonstrates that the Divine Spirit6 is God.

It was then the forbearance of God the Spirit with which they before the flood contended.

Here we learn that the One provoked was the Holy Spirit, and was God. Therefore the Spirit is God.

Therefore, unless you admit that there were three, or at least two, Divine speakers who inspired David, the Spirit of the Lord is the God and the Rock of Israel.

The Spirit, therefore, is God, yea, the Lord God of Israel. I append a few other passages, (selected from many), the conclusion from which is similarly self-evident.

     These passages might be greatly multiplied; but from this comparison, observing the way’ in which the names and offices of God and of the Holy Spirit are interchanged, we conclude that this same Eternal Spirit is the Lord, the God of Israel, the Lord God, the Lord of lords, the God of gods, the living God; the Divine Being who quickens and comforts - in one word, He is God.7 Once more, Paul affirms, “We are changed into the same image, AS BY THE LORD THE SPIRIT (καθάπερ ἀπὸ  Κυρίου πνεύματος).” (II Corinthians 3:18). The Greek should, doubtless, be thus rendered: for construction, compare Galatians 1:3 (ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πατρός) . He thus places the word LORD, which he had used, ver. 16, to designate the Lord, in direct and immediate apposition with Spirit. The whole context, which so beautifully illustrates the threefold work of the Holy Trinity in the believer’s soul, proves, at the same time, that the Holy Ghost is one with the Father and the Son, - very and Eternal God.

     If any object that He is said to be sent by the Father and the Son, and that this mission implies inferiority, we answer that, even among men, the being sent is by no means always a mark of subordination. “The members of a senate consult together relative to some negotiation, in executing which great wisdom, judgment, and experience are required. It is resolved to send one of their number. Is it any mark of inferiority to be selected, and sent on such a service? And the mission of the Comforter is spoken of regarding the office He has undertaken in the economy of grace - the work of sanctifying the elect people of God - a work which none less than God can effect, and the glorious accomplishment of which will redound to His praise through the countless ages of eternity” - Bates.

     If, again, any ask why the ambiguity inseparable from the name Spirit of God, when compared with the phrase spirit of a man - an ambiguity which, unless explained, would have tended to conceal His personality, was permitted. I would suggest that His name is no arbitrary choice; that it is the only one which would reveal to us the distinctive character of this holy Being, as the name the Son could alone describe the Eternal Word; and that the very similarity of designation may be needful to express His fellowship with us, His spiritual indwelling, and the high communion carried on, while the Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God (Romans 8:16). This similarity testifies to us our union with the Divine Comforter who renews us, as our common humanity testifies our union with the Divine Saviour who redeemed us.

     And if once more it is asked, why He is not more prominently set forth in Scripture as the object of adoration, besides the answer given above, there seems in this, if I may venture so to express myself, a principle of Divine equipoise in the parts sustained in our salvation, by the co-equal and co-eternal Three. The love of the Father, loving us so that He gave His Son to redeem and His Spirit to sanctify us, shines pre-eminent: it bathes the sacred page with light, and commands our homage, and compels our love. The grace of the Lord Jesus, for us incarnate, for us crucified, for us interceding, absorbs every thought, and attracts every affection: and a large portion of Scripture is taken up with setting forth the eternal Deity of Emmanuel, and requiring us to regard Him with equal love and with equal confidence. Once more, a third is revealed, the Divine Comforter: the glories of His Person are beyond doubt affirmed, but they are only rarely disclosed in full view; His worship is enjoined, but it is comparatively withdrawn from observation: when, however, we look into the subjective work carried on by Him, there is an amplitude and plenitude of evidence from Holy Writ, which entirely compensates any seclusion of His visible majesty. The variety of His Divine operations in us as far exceeds in glory, as the brightness of His presence is concealed. The ministration of the Spirit is as mighty, as His voice is mysteriously still.

     But here, even when we would feel our way with the utmost reverence, how soon are we beyond our depth! The waters are risen, waters to swim in, a river that cannot be passed over (Ezekiel 47:5).. Thanks be to God, the necessary truth is clear as the light: - that the Holy Spirit is distinct from the Father and the Son; that such personal properties are assigned to Him as demonstrate intelligent personality; that all Divine attributes, such as self-existence from eternity, omnipresence, infinite wisdom and foreknowledge, absolute freedom and goodness, creative providential and spiritual power - attributes anyone of which would prove His Deity - are assigned to Him; that He is associated in Divine offices with the Father and the Son; that He with them is worshipped and glorified; that He is both Lord and God: - these things are written, as with a sun-beam, in the Scriptures of truth.

     But here I would remind myself and my readers that no evidence, however conclusive, can insure a saving belief in the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. The understanding may be convinced, while the heart may rebel. For the Lord Jesus says to His disciples, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him” (John 14:16, 17). And, the apostle Paul, while in conscious integrity he declares, “We speak” the things freely given to us of God, “not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual” (I Corinthians 2:12, 13), seems to chasten his hopes with the humbling recollection, “the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, . . . neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (ver. 14). And therefore rather, seeing we have a High Priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, let us kneel together at the throne of grace, and plead in prayer His own royal promise, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him!” (Luke 11:13) -that we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, may be “changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18).

[1] The phrase is emblematical, but not the less definitive and precise when compared with other Scriptures. Indeed, emblems are a kind of universal language for every age and country. After all that has been written on this subject, I feel persuaded that the word is here its own interpreter. The principal passages bearing on this are-

     (1) “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD, and shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD” (Isaiah 11:2, 3). I do not think any stress can be laid on the number here, as the Hebrew only enumerates six, repeating the last with a preposition - (Though the Septuagint distinguishes seven, πνεῦμα σοφιας, -συνέσεως, -βουλῆς, -ἰσχύος, -γνώσεως, -εὐσεβείας - adding as the seventh, πνεῆα φόβου θεοῦ) - but on the multiplicity of perfections designated by various names and compromised in one, the Spirit of the Lord.

     (2) “Upon one stone shall be seven eyes” (Zechariah 3:9). “Those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:10). The Septuagint translates the seven in the same clause with the eyes, ἑπτὰ οὖτοι ὀφθαλμοί εἰσιν οἱ ἐπιβλέποντες ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν.

     (3) “And from the seven Spirits which are before his throne” (Revelation 1:4).

     (4) “These things saith he that hath the seven Spirits of God” (Revelation 3:1).

     (5) “And seven lamps of fire, burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.” (Revelation 4:5).

     (6) “In the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (ὀφθαλμοὺς ἑπτὰ οἲ εἰσι τὰ ἑπτὰ τοῦ θεοῦ πνεύματα τὰ ἀπεσταλμἑνα εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν) (Revelation 5:6). No one can fail remarking the designed coincidence betwixt this and the Septuagint version, given above, of Zechariah 4:10.

Here we learn,

 - from (3) and (5) the distinction to be observed between God and the seven Spirits - for they are said to be before the throne. Therefore you could not identify them with the Father or the Lamb.

 - from (2) and (4) and (6) the mysterious union betwixt God and them - for they are called the eyes of the Lord; the spirits whom the Son of Man hath - the eyes of the Lamb

 - from (3) again, that they denote a willing intelligence and not an abstract power - for to imagine that John prays to seven abstractions in parity with the Father and the Son for grace and peace is inconceivable.

     That they cannot be angels is manifest, for the worshipping of angels is expressly forbidden (Colossians 2:18).

     Comparing, therefore, the other passages with (1) - remembering how Jesus Christ says that the Scripture, “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me” (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:21) was fulfilled in Himself - and knowing that “in the Oriental style the perfection of any quality is expressed by the number seven,” - we may fairly conclude this expression represents to us “this heavenly Agent, the Holy Ghost, in His own original and infinite perfection, in the consummate wisdom of His operations, and in the gracious munificence of His gifts” - Pye Smith.

[2] “The substance of the above paragraph is taken from a valuable sermon of J. E. Bates, “On the Holy Spirit.”

[3] Since the above was written I have found the following passages in the Life of Thomas Scott the commentator, which present in a condensed form the arguments for the truth which I am here endeavoring to advocate.

“The form of blessing, into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, seems to me to recognize God our Saviour as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. In this view, when God is addressed without personal distinction, I consider the address as made to the God of salvation; and the Holy Spirit included whether prayer or praise be offered. The trishagion or threefold ascription of holiness to Jehovah, both in the Old and New Testament, seems an act of worship to the Holy Spirit together with the Father and the Son. The form of blessing appointed by Moses, in this view, implies a prayer to the Holy Spirit, Numbers 6:24-27; as does the apostolical benediction, II Corinthians 13:14. I have no hesitation in my mind as to the express act of adoration, in Revelation 1:4, being offered personally to the Holy Spirit, according to the emblematical language of that book . . . If, then, we be fully convinced that the Holy Spirit is God, and that an Divine perfections and operations, together with every personal property, are ascribed to Him, there can be no doubt but He is the object of Divine adoration. Where God is addressed without distinction of persons, the Holy Spirit is virtually addressed: all that dependence, gratitude, love and honour, which are required as due to our God, are required towards the Holy Spirit; and therefore worship and adoring praise and prayer cannot be improper.” Life of Scott, pp. 338, 339).

[4] If any object that, in chap. 4:6, it is said, “the living creatures were in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne.” I believe the answer is given in the parallel vision of Ezekiel 1:5, 22, 26, where the throne is on the firmament, and the firmament rests on the heads of the living creatures; “so that to one approaching the throne they would seem to be around it, though their bodies were under or ‘in the midst’ of it as a support.” - Barnes. That they did not occupy the throne and receive adoration is plain; for (chap. 5:6) the Lamb appears in the midst of the living creatures, as well as in the midst of the elders; and ver. 8, they, with the elders, fall down before Him.

[5] If one passing mention only had been made of them, as of the seven horns, we might have said these shadowed forth perfect knowledge, as those perfect power: but the repeated and varied way, in which they are introduced, prevents our resting in this abstract interpretation; and hence the conjunction of the seven horns in this verse seems equivalent to such expressions as “Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit (the same personal Spirit who had descended on Him at His baptism, and led Him into the wilderness) into Galilee” (Luke 4:14) or, “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power” (Acts 10:38).

[6] This appellative is not modern. Thrice, at least, is the Hebrew “Spirit of God” rendered by the LXX. Πνεῦμα θεῖον.- Exodus 31:3; Job. 27:3; 33:4.

[7] I might here add two remarks:

     (1) The Deity of Christ being proved, the very fact of the Holy Spirit anointing this infinite Saviour for all the work of redemption proves His own Divine Infinitude; - for who but God could empower God?

     (2) As in the Old Testament we find Christ as the Angel of God’s presence saying, “I am the God of thy father, . . . I will send thee” (Exodus 3:6, 10); thus claiming supreme authority; and as from thence we may securely infer the Deity of this glorious leader; so in the New Testament, when we find the Spirit said to Peter, “Arise, go, for I have sent them” (Acts 10:19, 20), thus, in His own right, setting aside the ceremonial law, we may safely argue, this is a Divine person, who, in the absence of the Son of God, according to His promise, acts in His place and governs His church.