It will be said, perhaps, that he is called the "Spirit of Christ" be- cause he is promised, given, and poured out by him. So Peter speaks. Acts ii. 83, " Having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." But in this regard, namely, as given by Christ the mediator, he is expressly called the Spirit of the Father; he was given as the pro- mise of the Father: for so he is introduced speaking, verse 17, " It shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit on all flesh." And so our Saviour tells his disciples that he would " pra}'- the Father, and he should give them another Com- forter, even the Spirit of truth," John xiv. 16, 17. Nor is he other- wise the Spirit of Christ, originally and formally, but as he is the Spirit of God, — that is, as Christ is God also. On this suj)position I
62 THE NAME AND TITLES [BOOK I,
grant, as before, that he may consequently be called the " Spirit of Christ/' because promised and sent by him, because doing his work, and communicating his gi'ace, image, and likeness to the elect.
And this is yet more plain, 1 Pet. i. 10, 11, "Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify.'" And this Spirit is said absolutely to be the " Holy Ghost," 2 Pet. i. 21. So, then, the Spirit that was in the prophets of old, in all ages since the world began, before the incarnation of the Son of God, is called the " Spirit of Christ," — th^t is, of him who is so. Now, this could not be because he was anointed hy that Spirit, or because he gave it afterward to his disciples; for his human nature did not exist in the time of their prophesying. Those, indeed, who receive him after the unction of the human nature of Christ may be said in some sense to receive the Spiiit of Christ, because they are made partakers of the same Spirit with him, to the same ends and purposes, according to their measure ; but this cannot be so with respect unto them who lived and prophesied by him, and died long before his incarnation. Wherefore, it is pleaded by those who oppose both the deity of Clirist and the Spirit, which are undeniably here attested unto, that the Spirit here, whereby they cannot deny the Holy Ghost to be intended, is called the " Spirit of Christ," because the prophets of old, who spake by him, did principally prophesy concerning Christ and his grace, and delivered great mysteries concerning them. So Christ is made in this place the object of the Spirit's teaching, and not the author of his sending! So Crell. Prolegora., pp. 13, 14. But why, then, is he not called the " Spirit of God" also on this reason, because the prophets that spake by him treated wholly of God, the things and the will of God ? This they Avill not say, for they acknowledge him to be the " virtue and power of God, inherent in him and j)roceeding from him." But, then, whereas God even the Father is a person, and Christ is a person, and the Spirit is said to be the " Spirit of God " and the " Spirit of Christ," whence doth it appear that the same expression must have different interpretations, and that the Spirit is called the " Spirit of God " because he is so, and p7'0ceedeth from him, but the "Spirit of Christ" because he is not so, hut only treateth of him? The answer is ready, — namely, " Because the Father is God, but Christ is not, and therefore could not give the Spirit when he was not." This is an easy answer, — namely, to deny a fundamental truth, and to set up that denial in an opposition unto a clear testimony given unto it. But the truth is, this pretended sense leaves no sense at all in the words: for if the Spirit which was ir the prophets be called the "Spirit of Christ" only because he did beforehand declare the things of Christ,
CHAP. II.] OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 63
— tliat is, his " sufferings and tlie glory tliat did follow/' — and that be the sole reason of that denomination, then the sense or import- ance of the words is this, " Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit — ' which did signify when it testified beforehand the suffer- ings of Christ' — which was in them did signify when he testified be- forehand the sufferings of Christ;" for according to this interpre- tation, the Spirit of Christ is nothing but the Spirit as testifying beforehand of him, and thence alone is he so called, — the absurdity whereof is apparent unto all.
But countenance is endeavoured unto this wresting of the Scrij)- 'ture from 1 John iv. 3, "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world;" — for say some, " The spirit of anti- christ is said to be in the world, when antichrist was not as yet come." But the spirit here intended is not called the spirit of anti- christ because it declared and foretold the things of antichrist before his coming; on which account alone they allow the Spirit of God in the prophets of old to be called the " Spirit of Christ : " they have, therefore, no countenance from this place, which fails them in the principal thing they would prove by it. Again, supposing these words, " Whereof ye have heard that it should come, and even now already is it in the world," are to be interpreted of the spmt mentioned, and not of antichrist himself, yet no more can be intended but that the false teachers and seducers which were then in the world acted with the same spirit as antichrist should do at his coming : and so there is no conformity between these expressions. Besides, the spirit of anti- christ was then in the world, as was antichrist himself So far as his sjDirit was then in the world, so far was he so also; for antichrist and his spirit cannot be separated. Both he and it were then in the world in their forerunners, who opposed the truth of the gospel abont the incarnation of the Son of God and his sufferings. And, indeed, the spirit of antichrist in this place is no more but his doc- trine,— antichristian doctrine, which is to be tried and rejected. Neither is any singular person intended by antichrist, but a myste- rious O'pposition unto Christ and the gospel, signally headed by a series of men in the latter days. He, therefore, and his spirit began to be together in the world in the apostles' days, when the "mysteiy of iniquity" began to "work," 2 Thess, ii. 7. There is, therefore, no countenance to be taken from these words unto the perverting and wresting of that other expression concerning the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of old. This, therefore, is the formal reason of this ap- pellation : The Holy Spirit is called the " Spirit of the Son," and the " Spirit of Christ," upon the account of his procession or emanation