XVII.

Luke xi. 20. If I with the FINGER of GOD cast out devils.

The parallel place in St. Matthew's gospel has it thus:

Matt. xii. 28. If I with the SPIRIT of GOD cast out devils.

The finger of God is a metaphorical expression for the immediate power and agency of God: and to say that devils were cast out by the finger of God, is the same as to say. that they were cast out by God himself. But it appears from the text of St. Matthew that this particular act of the finger of God, that is, of God himself was the act of the SPIRIT; therefore, the Spirit is God himself.

XVIII.

Ezek. viii. 1-3. The HAND of the LORD GOD fell there upon me→→ and he (the Lord God) put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a Jock of mine head, and the SPIRIT lifted me up, &c.

In this text, the name of the Lord God, and the name of the Spirit, do both belong to the same person: for though it be said that the Spirit lifted up the prophet, yet was it no other than the Lord God who put forth the form of an hand and took him: therefore the SPIRIT is the LORD GOD.

XIX.

Acts iv. 24, 25. They lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, LORD thou art GOD, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that therein is. WHO by the mouth of thy servant DAVID has said, &c.

The terms LORD and GOD are here used to express the divinity of him who spake by the mouth of his servant David. But it was the person of the HOLY GHOST, who spake by the mouth of his servant David-for, saith St. Peter-this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the HOLY GHOST by the mouth of DAVID spake, &c. Therefore, the terms LORD and GOD are certainly used to express the divinity of the HOLY GHOST. So again :

It was the LORD GOD of Israel who

SPAKE by the mouth of his holy prophets, since the world began. Luke i. 68. 70.

But then, it is written-well SPAKE the HOLY GHOST by Esaias the prophet, &c. Therefore the Holy Ghost is the LORD GOD of Israel.

XX.

Psalm cxxxix. 7, 8. Whither shall I go from THY SPIRIT? Or whither shall 1 go from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, THOU art there.

The psalmist, to acknowledge the omnipresence of the Holy Ghost, says-whither shall Igo from thy Spirit? and by what is immediately subjoined, he shews this to be the omnipresence of God himself.—If I ascend up into heaven, THOU art there. So that the terms thou, and thy Spirit, are equivalent; i. e. equally conclusive for the immediate presence of the divine nature itself.

XXI.

It was said by the angel-Luke i. 32.He shall be great, and shall be called the SON

a Acts. xxviii. 25%

of the HIGHEST. But the reason given upon this occasion WHY Christ was called the SON OF GOD, is this, and this only, viz. because he was begotten by the Holy Ghost "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the HIGHEST shall overshadow thee: THEREFORE also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of GOD." v. 35.

When Jesus is called the Son of God, we understand the supreme and true God, besides whom there is no other. The devils themselves allowed it, and said "Jesus, thou Son of God MOST HIGH!"a But the person in God, whose son Jesus is said to be in this place, is the Goly Ghost, by whose power (called the power of the highest) he was begotten of the blessed virgin, and thence called the Son of God.

Therefore, the Holy Ghost is God, and the highest.

XXII.

The prophet Isaiah, in his 6th chapter, tells us he saw the LORD OF HOSTS. And at ver. 8. that he heard the voice of the LORD, SAYING-Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed, but understand not, &c.

Yet these very words, which the prophet declares to have been spoken by the Lord,

a Luke vii. 28.

even the Lord of Hosts, were spoken by the Holy Ghost-Well SPAKE THE HOLY GHOST, by Esaias the prophet, unto our fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand,a &c.

Therefore, the HOLY GHOST is the LORD OF HOSTS.

The article of the Holy Ghost's supreme and absolute divinity being now established in the plainest terms; I shall proceed to answer, from the scripture, the objections usu ally made against it from thence.

XXIII.

† Matt. xix. 17. There is none GOOD but one, that is, GOD.

If this be a good objection to the divinity. of Christ, it must be equally strong against that of the Holy Ghost, for it is argued from this passage, that the attribute of goodness is confined to the single person of God the Father; who therefore is a being superior to, and different from Christ and the Holy Ghost. The error of this argument has been fully. shewn above: for it is not one person, but one God, whom the scripture has asserted to be

a Acts xxviii. 26, 27.