' 'E^tiS)?*s/> ro 'iiupouf/.tvo'j TO Wiv/j.a, to olyiov i(TTi, KaXiiTai xa) to iajpov ofioivuy.u; ra ^xfia-fiuTi. — Chrysost.
" Nee existimare debemus Spiritum Sanctum secundum substantias esse divisum quia multitude bonorum dicatur, — impassibilis enim et indivisibilis atque immutabilis est, sed juxta diiferentes efficientias et intellectus multis bonorum vocabvdis nuncu- patur ; quia participcs suos, non juxta unam eandemque virtutem communione sui donet, quippe cum ad utilitatem uniuscujusque aptus sit." — Didym. lib. i.
70 DIVINE NATURE AND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK I.
There is no exception can be laid against the force of this argu- ment, but only that some things, on the one hand, are ascribed unto the Spirit which belong not unto a person, nor can be spoken of him "who is so; and, on the other, that sundry things that properly belong to persons are in the Scripture figuratively ascribed unto such things as are not so. Thus, as to the first head of this exception, the Holy Spirit is said to be " poured out," to be " shed abroad," to be " an unction," or the like ; of all which expressions we shall treat after- ward. What then? shall we say that he is Jiot a person, but only the power of God? Will this render those expressions concerning him proper? How can the virtue of God, or the power of God, be said to be poured out, to be shed abroad, and the like? Wherefore, both they and we acknowledge that these expressions are figurative, as many things are so expressed of God in the Scripture, and that fre- quently; and what is the meaning of them under their figurative colours we shall afterward declare. This, therefore, doth not in the least impeach our argument, unless this assertion were true gene- rally, that whatever is spoken of figuratively in the Scripture is no person; which would leave no one in heaven or earth. On the other side, it is confessed that there are things peculiar unto rational sub- sistents or persons, which are ascribed sometimes unto those that are not so. Many things of this nature, as to " hope," to " believe," to "bear," are ascribed unto charity, 1 Cor. xiii. 7. But every one j)resently apprehends that this expression is figurative, the abstract being put for the concrete by a metalepsis, and charity is said to do that which a man endued with that grace will do. So the Scripture is said to "see," to "foresee," to "speak," and to "judge," which are personal actings; but who doth not see and grant that a metonymy is and must be allowed in such assignations, that being ascribed unto the effect, the Scripture, which is proper to the cause, the Spirit of God speaking in it? So the heavens and the earth are said to "hear," and the fields, with the trees of the forest, to "sing" and "clap their hands," by a prosopopoeia. Now, concerning these things there is no danger of mistake. The light of reason and their own nature therein do give us a sufiicient understanding of them; and such figurative expressions as are used concerning them are common in all good authors. Besides, the Scripture itself, in other places innumer- able, doth so teach and declare what they are, as that its plain and direct proper assertions do sufficiently expound its own figurative enunciations: for these and such like ascriptions are only occasional; the direct description of the things themselves is given us in other places. But now with respect unto the Spirit of God all things are otherwise. The constant uniform exiDressions concerning him are such as declare him to be a person endowed with all personal pro-
CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PROVED AND VINDICATED. 71
perties, no description being anywhere given of liim inconsistent with their proper application to him.
If a sober, wise, and honest man should come and tell you that , in such a country, where he hath been, there is one who is the / governor of it, that doth well discharge his office, — that he heareth causes, discerneth right, distributes justice, relieves the poor, comforts them that are in distress; supposing you gave him that credit which honesty, wisdom, and sobriety do deserve, would you not believe that he intended a righteous, wise, diligent, intelligent person, discharging the office of a governor? What else could any man living imagine? But now suppose that another unknown person, or, so far as he is known,"justly suspected of deceit and forgery, should come unto you and tell you that all which the other informed you and acquainted you withal was indeed true, but that the words which he spake have quite another intention ; for it was not a man or any person that he intended, but it was the sun or the wind that he meant by all which he spake of him : for whereas the sun by his benign influences doth make a country fruitful and temperate, suited to the relief and comfort of all that dwell therein, and disposeth the minds of the in- habitants unto mutual kindness and benignity, he described these things figuratively unto you, under the notion of a righteous governor and his actions, although he never gave you the least intimation of any such intention; — must you not now believe that either the first person, whom you know to be a wise, sober, and honest man, was a notorious trifler, and designed your ruin, if you were to order any of your occasions according to his reports, or that your latter informer, whom you have just reason to suspect of falsehood and de- ceit in other things, hath endeavoured to abuse both him and you, to render his veracity suspected, and to spoil all your designs grounded thereon? One of these you must certainly conclude upon. And it . is no otherwise in this case. The Scripture informs us that the Holy / Ghost rules in and over the church of God, appointing overseers of it under him; that he discerns and judgeth all things; that he com- forteth them that are faint, strengthens them that are weak, is grieved with them and provoked by them who sin; and that in all these, and in other things of the like nature innumerable, he worketh, ordereth, and disposeth all " according to the coimsel of his own will." Hereupon it directeth us so to order our conversation towards God that we do not grieve him nor displease him, telling us thereon what great things he will do for us ; on which we lay the stress of our obe- dience and salvation. Can any man possibly, that gives credit to the testimony thus' proposed in the Scripture, conceive any otherwise of this Spirit but as of a holy, wise, intelligent person? Now, whilst \:e are under the power of these apprehensions, there come unto us