1. That all divine operations are usually ascribed unto God ah- | solutely. So it is said God made all things; and so of all other works, whether in nature or in grace. And the reason hereof is, because the several persons are undivided in their operations, acting all by the same will, the same wisdom, the same power. Every person, therefore, is the author of every work of God, because each person is God, and the divine nature is the same undivided prin- ciple of all divine operations;^ and this ariseth from the unity of the persons in the same essence. But as to the manner of subsist- ence therein, there is distinction, relation, a,nd order between and among them; and. hence there is no divine work but is distinctly assigned unto each person, and eminently unto one. So is it in the works of the old creation, and so in the new, and in all particulars of them. Thus, the creation of the world is distinctly ascribed to the -. Father as his work, Acts iv. 24; and to the Son as his, John i. 3; / and also to the Holy Spirit, Job xxxiii. 4; but by the way of emi-/ nence to the Father, and absolutely to God, who is Father, Son, audi Holy Spirit.
The reason, therefore, why the works of God are thus distinctly ascribed unto each person is because, in the undivided operation of the divine nature, each person doth the same work in the order of their subsistence ; not one as the instrument of the other, or merely employed by the other, but as one common principle of authority, wisdom, love, and power. How come they, then, eminently to be assigned one to one person, another to another? as unto the Father are assigned oj^era naturce, the works of nature, or the old creation ; to the Son, opera gratice p)rocuratre, all divine operations that belong unto the recovery of mankind by grace; and unto the Si^irit, opera gratice applicatce, the works of God whereby grace is made effectual unto us. And this is done, — (1.) When^ any espe- cial impression is made of the especial property of any person on any
^ M/« cipec xa) Ik Tovrtuv, ri tyi; Tpiccoos Wipyita ouuvvtui. Oh yap ui; <!ra,p ixaffTov ^id- (fofa, xai id'/ipi^fiivcc tcc owofiiva ffn/jtaUii o k-TToffToXoi. 'AXX' on tk o!hof/.i^a, sv TpiaSi ^looTai, jca.) TO. vd^ra \% ho; Biou i/rri Atlianas. Epistol. [i. 31] ad Serapioncm.
M/av hipyiiav opoif/.iv -rarpos ko.) u'iov, y.a) ky'iou •ffiiufji.a'roi. — Basil. Honiil. xvii., in Sanc- tum Baptisma. '12v a'l oclrai hipyiiai tovt&iv xai outriec fjola, Wipyiia, Ss vlov kcu •ra-rpo; f^'ia u; TO- "jroiYttTuf/.u av^jWffov. Ka; ^uXiv' a, yap av o ■^arhp "Toiri, TavTa Kcci o uto; of^oias touT. ' Apa xoLi oua'ta, fiia "^rccTfo; xa) vI'ai. — Mem advers. Eunom., lib. iv.
" Quicquid de Spiritu Saucto diximus hoc similiter de Patre et Filio communitcr et indivisc volumus intelligi; quia sancta et inscparabilis Trinitas nunquam aliquid se sigillatim operari noverit." — Ambi'os. in Symbol. Apost. cap. ix..
2 Havra Ta ^iorptvas Xiyoftiva i'^i rn; v-^ripouriov rpia^o; xaff IxciirTtif tuv Tpiuii utto- tTTaiTicav t^idiovTxi, xai ivapfioTTiraiy 5rX«v a T>)v Tpoayuyh' tovtuv, vyovv t^v iiTo)rra(rix>iii yvufifftv ifi-ToiovvTcci. — Arctlias, in Apocal. Commentar. cap. 1.
94i PECULIAR, WORKS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT [BOOK I.
work ; then is that work assigned peculiarly to that person. So there is of the power and authority of the Father on the old creation, and of the grace and wisdom of the Son on the new. (2.) Where there is a i^eculiar condescension of any person unto a work, wherein the others have no concurrence but by approbation and consent. Such was the susception of the human nature by the Son, and all that he did therein; and such was the condescension of the Holy Ghost also unto his office, which entitles him peculiarly and by way of eminence unto his own immediate works.
2. Whereas the ordeo- of operation among the distinct persons depends on the order^ of their subsistence in the blessed Trinity, in every great work of God, the concluding, completing, perfecting acts are ascribed unto the Holy Ghost.^ This we shall find in all the instances of them that will fall under our consideration. Hence, the immediate actings of the Spirit are the most hidden, curious, and mysterious, as those which contain the perfecting part of the works of God. Some seem willing to exclude all thoughts or mention of him from the works of God; but, indeed, without him no part of any work of God is perfect or complete.^ The beginning of divine operations is assigned unto the Father, as he iBfons et origo Deitatis, — " the fountain of the Deity itself: " " Of him, and through him, and to- him, are all things," Rom. xi. 06. The subsisting, establishing, and "upholding of all things," is ascribed unto the Son: "He is before all things, and by him all things consist," Col. i. 17. As he made all things with the Father, so he gives them a consistency, a permanency, in a peculiar manner, as he is the power and wisdom of the Father. He " upholdeth all things by the word of his power," Heb. i. 8. And the finishing and perfecting of all these works is ascribed to the Holy Spirit, as we shall see. I say not this as though one person succeeded unto another in their oiDeration, or as though where one ceased and gave over a work, the other took it up and carried it on ; for every divine work, and every part of every divine work, is the work of God, that is, of the whole Trinity, inseparably and undividedly: but on those divine works which outwardly are of God there is an especial impression of the order of the operation of