Again, [Fourthly], These words are used for any thing that cannot be seen or touched, be it in ii?,&\i material and corporeal, or absolutely spiritual and immaterial. So the vital hreath which we and other living creatures breathe is called : Every thing wherein was nnTiOC'D £3\'n^ " the breath of the spirit of life," Gen. vii. 22, — that vital breath which our lives are maintained by in respiration. So Ps. cxxxv. 17; Job xix. 1 7 ; which is a thing material or corporeal. But most fre- quently it denotes things purely spiritual and immaterial, as in finite substances it signifies the rational soul of man : Ps. xxxi. 5, " Into thine hand I commit" '"'"^l"', that is, "my spirit." They are the words whereby our Saviour committed his departing soul into the hands of his Father, Luke xxiii. 46, to -rnv/xd fiov. So Ps. cxlvi. 4, in^"i NVri^ — " His breath," say we, " goeth forth ; he returneth to his earth." It is his soul and its departure from the body that is intended. This is '3"3^C ''•^'? ^''"'j that "spirit of the sons of man that goeth upward,'' when the "spirit of a beast goeth downward to the earth," or turneth to corruption, Eccles. iii. 21 : see chap. viii. 8, xii. 7. Hence, —
Fifthlj^, By a metonymy also, it is taken for the affections of the mind or soul of man, and that whether they be good or evil : Gen. xlv. 27, " The spirit of Jacob revived;" he began to take heart and be of good courage. Ezek. xiii. 3, " The prophets that walk" Dnn "iHi^^ "after their own spirit," — that is, their own desires and in- clinations,— when, indeed, they had no vision, but spake what they had a mind unto. Num. xiv. 24, Caleb is said to have "another spirit" than the murmuring pet)ple, — another mind, will, purpose, or resolu- tion. It is taken for prudence. Josh. v. 1 ; anger, or the irascible faculty, Eccles. vii. 9 ; fury, Zech. vi. 8. " He shall cut off the sj^irit of princes" [Ps. Ixxvi. 12]; that is, their pride, insolency, and con- tempt of others. HviZfjja in the New Testament frequently intends the intellectual part of the mind or soul, and that as it is active, or in action, Luke i. 47; Bom. i. 9 ; — and ofttimes is taken for the mind in all its hiclinations, in its whole habitual bent and design, 1 Thess. v. 23.
[Sixthly], Angels also are called spirits: — good angels, Ps. civ. 4; (and it may be an angel is intended, 1 Kings xviii. 12 ;) and evil angels or devils, 1 Kings xxii. 21, 22; for that spirit who appeared before the Lord, and offered himself to be a lying spirit in the mouths of Ahab's proi^hets, was no other but he who appeared before God, Job i. 6, who is called " Satan," These in the New Testament are called " unclean spirits," Matt. x. 1 ; and the observation of the ancients, that Satan is not called a spirit absolutely, but with an addition or
CHAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 63
mark of distinction, holds only in the New Testament.^ And be- cause evil spirits are wont to torment the minds and bodies of men, therefore evil thoughts, disorders of mind, wicked purposes, disquiet- ing and vexing the soul, arising from or much furthered by melan- choly distempers, are called, it may be, sometimes " an evil spirit." The case of Saul shall be afterward considered.
In such variety are these words used and applied in the Scripture, because of some very ge^ieral notions Avherein the things intended do agree. For the most part, there is no great difficulty in discover- ing the especial nieaning of them, or what it is they signify in the several places where they occur. TJieir design and circumstances as to the subject-matter treated of determine the signification. And notwithstanding the ambiguous use of these words in the Old and New Testament, there are two things clear and evident unto our purpose : — First, That there is in the holy Scriptures a full, distinct revelation or declaration of the Spirit, or the Spirit of God,^ as one singular, and every way distinct from every thing else that is occa- sionally or constantly signified or denoted by that word "Spirit." And this not only a multitude of particular places gives testimony unto, but also the whole course of the Scripture supposeth, as that without an acknowledgment whereof nothing else contained in it can be un- derstood or is of any use at all; for we shall find this doctrine to be the very life and soul which quickens the Avhole from first to last. ■ Take away the work and powerful efficacy of the Holy Spirit from the administration of it, and it will prove but a dead letter, of no saving advantage to the souls of men ; and take away the doctrine concerning him from the writing of it, and the whole will be unin- telligible and useless. Secondly, That whatever is affirmed of this Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, it all relates either to his person or his operations, soidi these operations of his being various, are some- times, by a metonymy, called "spirit;" whereof afterward. I shall not, therefore, need to prove that there is a Holy Spirit distinct from all other spirits whatever, and from every thing else that on several occa- sions is signified by that name ; for this is acknowledged by all that acknowledge the Scriptures, yea, it is so by Jews and Mohammedans, as well as all sorts of Christians. And, indeed, all those false appre- hensions concerning him which have at this day any countenance ' given unto them may be referred unto two heads: — 1. That of the modern Jews, who affirm the Holy Ghost to be the injiuential power