' " Discant (homines) Scripturoe sanctte consuetudinem, nunquam spiritura perver- sum absolute, sed cum additaraento aliquo s^nritum niincupari: sicut ih\, Spiritu forni- cationis sediicii sunt; et in Evangelio, Cum autem qnritus imviundus exierit de homine; et csctera his similia." — Hieron. Comment, in Hab cap. ii.
2 " Qui Spiritum uegavit, et Deum Patrcm negavit et Filium ; quoniam idem est Spi- ritus Dei, qui Spiritus Chi-isti est," cap. 3. " Unum autem esse Spiritum nemo dubitave- rit; etsi de uno Deo plerique dubitaverunt," cap. i. — Ambros. de Spir. Sane. lib. i.
54 THE NAJVIE AND TITLES [BOOK I.
of God; which conceit is entertained and diligently promoted by the Socinians. 2. That of the Mohammedans, who make him an emi- nent angel, and sometimes say it is Gabriel; which, being ti'aduced from the Macedonians of old, hath found some defenders and pro- moters in our days.
This, then, bemg the name of him concerning whom we treat, some things concerning it and the use of it, as peculiarly applied unto him, are to be premised :^ for sometimes he is called the " Spirit" ab- solutely; sometimes the " Holy Spirit," or, as we speak, the " Holy Ghost;" sometimes the "Spirit of God," the "good Spirit of God," the "Spirit of truth" and "holiness;" sometimes the "Spirit of Christ" or "of the Son." The first absolutely used denotes his person; the additions express his properties and relation unto the other persons.
In the name Spir'it tvfo things are included: — First, His nature or essence, — namely, that he is a pure, spiritual, or immaterial sub- stance; for neither the Hebrews nar the Greeks can express such a being in its subsistence but by D^'i and cr^sD/xa, a spirit. Nor is this name, firstly, given unto the Holy Spirit in allusion unto the wind in its subtilty, agility, and efficacy;^ for these things have respect only unto his operations, wherein, from some general appearances, his works and effects are likened unto the wind and its effects, John iii, 8. But it is his substance or being which is first intended in this name.^ So it is said of God, John iv. 2-1, n^sD/Aa 6 eso's* — " God is a Spirit;" that is, he is of a pure, spiritual, immaterial nature, not confined unto any place, and so not regarding one more than another in his worship ; as is the design of the place to evince. It will there- fore be said, that on this account the name of "Spirit" is not peculiar unto the third pei'son, seeing it contains the description of that na- ture which is the same in them all ; for whereas it is said, " God is a Spirit," it is not spoken of this or that person, but of the nature of God abstractedly. I grant that so it is;* and therefore the name
' "Oveua avTou vOiiZy.a. ayiov, 7niiu/u.ci a^'/i^iicis, ^vj^^a tou @iou, TviUf/.cc xvpiou, TvivftM Tou Ylarpoi, •^■mui/.a, Xciiittov, xx) olireo xakil avrov » 'ypcc(pn. WaXXov os avro iccuro xai 13-vivfia eiod, xeci -TtiiZ^a. to ix roZ &i<.u. — Clirysost. dc Adorand. Spir.
2 Crell. Frolegom.
* " Sanctificatioiiis bonitatisque' Yocabulum, ct ad Patrem, et ad Filium, et ad Spi- ritum Sanctum tcqvie refertur; sicut ipsa quoque appellatio Spiritus. Nam ct Pater Spiritus dicitur ut ibi, Bpiritus est Detis, Joan. iv. Ii4. Et Filius Spiritus, Dominus, inquit, Spiritus ejus, 2 Cor. iii. 17. Spiritus autem Sanctus .semper Spiritus Sanctiap- pellatione censetur; non quod ex consortio tailtum nominis Spiritus cum Pati-e pona- tvir et Filio, sed quod unanatura unum possideat et nomen." — Didym. de Spir. Sane. lib. iii.
* " Multa simt testimonia, quibus hoc evidenter osteuditur, et Patris et Filii ipsura esse Spiritum, qui iu Trinitate dicitur Spiritus Sanctus. Nee ob aliud existimo ip- sum proprie vocari Spiritum, cum etiam si de singulis intcrrogenuu', non possimus non Patrem et Filium Spiritum dicere ; quoniam Spiritus est Deus, id est, non Corpus est Deus sed Spiritus; hoc proprie vocari oportuit eum, qui non est uuus corum, sed in quo commuuitas apparet amborum." — August. Tractat. xcix. in Johan. -
CHAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 55
''Spirit" is not, in the first place, characteristical of the third person in the Trinity, but denotes that nature whereof each person is partaker. But, moreover, as it is peculiarly and constantly ascribed unto him, it declares his especial manner and order of existence; so that •wherever there is mention of the " Holy Spirit," his relation unto the Father and Son is included therein ; for he is the Spirit of God. And herein there is an allusion to somewhat created, — not, as I said, to the wind in general, unto whose agility and invisibility he is compared in his operations, but unto the breath of man ; for as the vital breath of a man hath a continual emanation from him, and yet is never separated utterly from his person or forsaketh him, so doth the Spirit of the Father and the Son proceed from them by a continual divine emanation, still abiding one with them : for all those allusions are weak and imperfect wherein substantial things are compared with accidental, infinite things with finite, and those that are eternal with those that are temporary. Hence, their disagreement is infinitely more than their agreement; yet such allusions doth our weakness need instruction from and by. Thus he is called ''''3 nil, Ps. xxxiii. G, " The Spirit" or "breath of the mouth of the Lord," or " of his nostrils;" as Ps. xviii. 15, wherein there is an eminent allusion unto the breath of a man. Of the manner of this proceeding and emanation of the Spirit from the Father and the Son, so far as it is revealed, and as we are capable of a useful apprehension of it, I have treated else- where. And from hence, or the subsistence of the Holy Spirit in an eternal emanation from the Father and Son, as the breath of God, did our Saviour signify his communication of his gifts unto his dis- ciples by breathing on them: John xx. 22, ' EvB(p-!iSr}Gs- and because in our first creation it is said of Adam that God 2''n m'f: VQ^2 m^ " breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," Gen. ii. 7. He hath the same appellation with respect unto God, Ps. xviii. 15. Thus is he called the " SiDirit." And because, as we observed before, the word ffj/sD/xa is variously used, Didymus, de Spiritu Sancto, lib. iii., supposetli that the prefixing of the article to doth distinguish the signilicatiou, and confine it to the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. Ofttimes no doubt it doth so, but not always, as is manifest from John iii. 8, where to is joined with '7rvsufj,a, and yet only signifies " the wind." But the subject treated of, and what is affirmed of him, will sufficiently determine the signification of the word, where he is called absolutely " The Spirit."