4. The Holy Ghost, as we have proved before, is the immediate, Ijeculiar, efficient cause of all external divine operations: for God worketh by his Spirit, or in him immediately applies the power and
^ A^Xov Iffriv on y.a.) t'^v rev -ravri; riXov; iifccv, as /wsv t^oyos yivuffxii, oii o\ uvSfta'rc; &yvoiT. 'Av^ftu^ou yap "^lov to ayvoiTv, xat (/.aXiaru, Tuvra. 'AXXa ho,^ Tovro rrt; (ptXav- Scui'Tria; 'i^iov rov o-ariipos. 'E'^ii^h yap yiyoviv avS^u^ros, ohx iTf/iff^vviTO oia, t'Av aa.pxa t'/iv dyvoouo'av tl'^iiv, ovx cT^a. "ivot, 'Bii^tt oV; il^us a; Ssoj, ayjoii irapxixS;. — AtlianaS. Uro.t. IV. ad Arian.
'Ayvoi7 roivuv xaTo. to cy^Yifia. tt,; a.vipuTr'oT'Aroi, o yivutrxtav Ta Travra xaTO. Ttiv di,vaftiv Tiis BioTiiro;. — Clirysost. torn. vii. seim. 117.
nXriv l(TT%ov, on o'l !r«XXo< tmv ■^a.ripav, a^ihov Ss <rd,vri;, (paivovrai XiyovTiS uvrov ayvoiiv. E( yap xara. ■xa.vTa Xiytrai ■/.f/.Tv oftooiffio;, uyJiocvfUy Ss xai rifiilst SSAav on xui avros nyvou.
— Leoutius Byzantinus, do Sectis,
VOL. III. 11
162 WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT WITH RESPECT [BOOK II.
efficacy of the divine excellencies unto their operation; whence the same work is equally the work of each person.
5, The Holy Spirit is the Sjm-it 'of the Son, no less than the Spirit ' of the Father. He proceedeth from the Son, as from the Father.
He is the " Spirit of the Son/' Gal. iv. 6. And hence is he the im- mediate operator of all divine acts of the Son himself, even on his own human nature. Whatever the Son of God wrought in, by, or upon the human nature, he did it by the Holy Ghost, who is his Spirit, as he is the Spirit of the Fa,ther.
6. To clear the whole matter, it must be yet farther observed that / the immediate actings of the Holy Ghost are not spoken of him ab- solutely, nor ascribed unto him exclusively, as unto the other persons and their concurrence in them. It is a saying generally admitted, that Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisa. There is no such division in the external operations of God that any one of them should be the act of one person, without the concurrence of the others; and the reason of it is, because the nature of God, which is the principle of all divine operations, is one and the same, undivided in them all. Whereas, therefore, they are the effects of divine power, and that power is essentially the same in each person, the works themselves belong equally unto them : as, if it were possible that three men might see by the same eye, the act of seeing would be but one, and it would be equally the act of all three. But the things we in- sist on are ascribed eminently unto the Holy Ghost, on the account of the order of his subsistence in the holy Trinity, as he is the Spirit of the Father and the Son ; whence, in every divine act, the authority of the Father, the love and wisdom of the Son, with the immediate efficacy and power of the Holy Ghost, are to be considered. Yea, and there is such a distinction in their operations, that one divine act may produce a peculiar respect and relation unto one person, and not unto another; as the assumption of the human nature did to the Son, for he only was incarnate.
And such are the especial actings of the Holy Ghost towards the head of the church, our Lord Jesus Christ, in this work of the new creation, as we shall demonstrate in sundry instances : —
First, T\iQ fra7ning, forming, and miraculous concei^tion of the
body of Christ in the womb of the blessed Virgin was the peculiar
i and especial work of the Holy Ghost.^ This work, I acknowledge, in
1 " Maximum in tota creatura testimonium de divinitate Spiritus Sancti corpus Domini est; quod ex Spiritu Sancto esse creditur secundum evangelistam, Matt, i., sicut angelus ad Josephum dicit, Quod in ea natum est de Spiritu Sancto est." — Atlia- nas. de Fid. Un. et Trin.
" Creatrix virtus altissimi, superveniente Spiritu Sancto in virginem Mariam, Cbristi corpus fabricavit ; quo ille usus tcmplo sine viri natus est seroine." — Didym. de Spir. Sane. lib. ii.
CHAP. III.] UNTO THE HEAD OF THE NEW CREATION. 163
respect of designation, and the authoritative disposal of things, is ascribed unto the Father; for so the Lord Christ speaketh unto him: " A body hast thou prepared me," Heb. x. 5. But this preparation does not signify the actual forming and making ready of that body, but the eternal designation of it: it was prepared in the counsel and love of the Fatlier. As to voluntary assumjjtion, it is ascribed to the Son himself: chap. ii. 14, " Forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same;" he took upon him a body and soul, entire human nature, as the chil- dren, or all believers, have the same, synecdochically expressed by " flesh and blood." Verse 1 6, " He took on him the seed of Abraham." But the immediate divine ejjiciency in this matter was the peculiar work of the Holy Ghost: Matt. i. IS, "When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost." Verse 20, " That wliich is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." Luke i. 35, " The angel answered and said unto her. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Hieiiest shall overshadow thee : therefore also that liolv thinof which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 1. The person working is the Holy Ghost. He is the wonderful operator in this glorious work. And therein the power of the Most High Avas exerted; for "The power of the Highest" is neither explica- tory of the former expression, " The Holy Ghost," as though he v.'ere only the power of the Most High, nor is it the adjoining of a dis- tinct agent or cause unto him, as though the Holy Ghost and the power of the Most High were diflerent agents in this mattei*. Onl}^ the manner of his effecting this wonderful matter, concerning which the blessed Virgin had made that inquiry, verse 3-i, " How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" is expressed. "The Holy Ghost," saith the angel, " acting the power of the Most High," or in the infinite power of God, " shall accomplish it." 2. For his access unto his work, it is expressed by his " coming upon her." The importance of this expression, and what is signified thereb}^, hath been declared before. And it is often used to declare his actings with reference unto the production of miraculous works: Acts i. 8, " Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you ;" — " He will so come upon you as to put forth the power of the Most High in you and by you, in gifts and operations miraculous;" for he is said to come, with re- spect unto his beginning of any marvellous ojDeration, where before he did not work to the like purpose. 3. The act of the Holy Ghost in this matter was a creating act; not, indeed, like the first creating act, which produced the matter and substance of all things out of nothing, causing that to be which was not before, neither in matter, nor form, nor passive disposition; but like those subsequent acts of