First, he is expressly called Qod; and having the name of God [ properly and directly given unto him, with respect unto spiritual things, or things peculiar imto God, he must have the nature of God also. Acts v. 3, Ananias is said to "lie to the Holy Ghost." This is repeated and interpreted, verse 4, "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." The declaration of the person intended by the "Holy Ghost" is added for the aggravation of the sin, for he is " God." The same person, the same object of the sin of Ananias, is expressed in both places; and, therefore, the Holy Ghost is God. The word for lying is the same in both places, ■^voboij.ai, only it is used in a various construction. Verse 3, it hath the accusative case joined unto it: Yiugaadal a to Uvsu/Ma rh aym, — that "tliou shouldst de- ceive," or think to deceive, or attempt to deceive, " the Holy Ghost."
90 DIVINE NATURE xVND PERSONALITY OF THE [BOOK I.
How? By lying unto Lira, in making a profession in the cTiurch wherein he presides of that which is false. This is explained, verse 4, by E-vpsL/ffw rw ©sw, "thou hast lied unto God;" the nature of his sin being principally intended in the first place, and the object in the latter. Wherefore, in the progress of his discourse, the apostle calls the same sin, attempting of the Spirit of the Lord," verse 9; it was the Spirit of the Lord that he lied unto, when he lied unto God. These three expressions, "The Holy Ghost," "God," " The Spirit of the Lord," do denote the same thing and person, or there is no co- herence in the discourse. It is excepted " That what is done against the Spirit is done against God, because he is sent by God." It is true, as he is sent by the Father, what is done against him is mo- rally and as to the guilt of it done against the Father. And so our Saviour tells us with respect unto what was done against himself; for saith he, "He that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me." But directly and immediately, both Christ and the Spirit were sinned against in their own persons. He is " God " [who is] here provoked. So also he is called " Lord," in a sense appropriate unto God alone : 2 Cor, iii. 17, 18, "Now the Lord is that Spirit;" and, "We are changed from glory to glory," d-xo Kvpiou Uvsv/xaTog, "by the Lord the Spirit," or the Spirit of the Lord ; where also divine operations are ascribed unto hina. What is affirmed to this purpose, 1 Cor. xii. 6-8, hath been observed in the opening of the beginning of that chapter at the be- ginning of our discourse. The same, also, is drawn by just conse- quence from the comparing of Scriptures together, wherein what is spoken of God absolutely in one place is applied directly and im- mediately unto the Holy Ghost in another. To instance in one or two particulars : Lev. xxvi. 11, 12, "I will," saith God, "set my tabernacle among you; and I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." The accomplishment of this promise the apostle declares, 2 Cor. vi. 16, "Ye are the temple of the living God ; as" God hath said, I will dwell in them, and Avalk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." How and by whom is this done? 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17, "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which ye are." If it were, then, God who of old promised to dwell in his people, and to make them his temple thereby, then is the Holy Spirit God ; for he it is who, according to that promise, thus dwelleth in them. So Deut. xxxii. 12, speaking of the people in the wilderness, he saith, " The Lord alone did lead him ;" and yet, speaking of the same peo- ple, at the same time, it is said, that " the Spirit of the Lord did lead them, and caused them to rest," Isa. Ixiii. 14. " The Spirit of the Lord," therefore, is Jehovah, or Jehovah alone did not lead them.
CHAP. III.] HOLY SPIRIT PEOVED AND VINDICATED. 91
That, also, which is called in the same people their " sinning against God, and provoking the Most High in the wilderness," Ps. Ixxviii. 17, 18, is termed their "rebelling against and vexing the Holy Spirit,'' Isa. Ixiii. 10, 11. And many other instances of an alike na- ture have been pleaded and vindicated by others.
Add hereunto, in the last place, that divine properties are assigned j / unto him, as eternity, Heb. ix. 14, he is the " eternal Spirit;" — i v immensity, Ps. cxxxix. 7, " Whither shall I go from thy Spirit?" — omnipotency, Mic. ii. 7, " The Spirit of the LoED is not straitened," compared with Isa. xl. 28 ; " The power of the Spirit of God," Rom. XV. 19; — prescience, Acts i. 16, This scripture must be fulfilled, "which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concern- ing Judas;" — omniscience, 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, " The Spirit search eth all things, yea, the deep things of God;"- — sovereign authority over the church, Acts xiii. 2, 4, xx. 28. The divine works, also, which are assigned unto him are usually, and to good purpose, pleaded in the vindication of the same truth; but these in the progress of our dis- course I shall have occasion distinctly to consider and inquire into, and, therefore, shall not in this place insist upon them. What hath been proposed, cleared, and confirmed, may suffice as unto our present purpose, that we may know who he is concerning whom, — his works and grace, — we do design to treat.