and this is the only way in which they can be said to receive the Holy Spirit. Barnabas is described as a "good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and faith." Acts xi. 24. It is often said of different persons, that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. This use of the phrase surely denotes qualities of the mind, and not a "person of the godhead." How can you say that any one is filled with a person? 6. There is a remarkable passage in Isaiah, which corresponds with the above significations of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots; and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord.” xi. 1, 2. This was spoken with a direct allusion to the Messiah, and represents the spirit of the Lord in him to be wisdom, power, and knowledge;-the same kind of spirit, which was miraculously communicated in different measures to the apostles, and many of the primitive christians. 7. Another use of the phrase Holy Spirit is when it is personified, or denotes personal qualities. There are many instances in the sacred writings, in which the qualities of a person are attributed to abstract. terms. The law is represented as speaking, and the scriptures as foreseeing and preaching; sin is spoken of as deceiving and killing, and of charity it is said that it "suffereth long, and is kind; it envieth not, vaunteth not itself, &c.* In these several passages Rom. iii. 19.-Gal. iii. 8.-Rom. vii. 11.-1 Cor. xiii. 4. the law, sin, scripture, and charity are personified. In the same way the Holy Spirit, or the supernatural influence which it designates, is sometimes personified. The following are examples. "For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you." Matt. x. 20. "It is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit." Mark xiii. 11. "The Holy Spirit shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say." Luke xii. 12. Here the Spirit, or the divine influence, is said to speak, and teach, in the same manner as the law and the scripture, in the places above mentioned, are said to speak and preach. 8. The Holy Spirit is sometimes personified under the name of the comforter. "I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever, even the spirit of truth." John xiv. 16. "But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things." v. 25. It is to be observed in the first of these passages, that this comforter was to be given by the Father; and in the other, that it was to be sent by him. It is hence evident, that if it were actually a person, it could not be the same God, being, or person, by whom it was given, or sent. It must be a derived, and inferior person, and therefore not the "eternal God," mentioned in the fifth article of the church. The Lord Jesus, in speaking to his disciples of his separation from them, says, "It is expedient for you, that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.-Howbeit when he, the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak." John, xvi 7, 13. From these texts it appears, that this comforter was inferior to Christ, for it was to be sent by him; and that it was not to speak of itself, but only as it was instructed. Now this could not be true of God, nor of a person, which was equal with God. All those passages, in which personal qualities are attributed to the Holy Spirit, will be perfectly unintelligible, if you consider the Spirit to be the "eternal God," or to have a substance, person, or being, the same as God. But if you explain them as you do other passages, which contain personifications of different attributes or qualities, the sense will be clear, and consistent with all the various uses of the phrase Holy Spirit in other parts of the scriptures. 9. In the eighth chapter of Proverbs is a remarkable personification of wisdom. It may be doubted whether the whole scripture affords so strong evidence of the personality of the Holy Spirit, as this chapter gives of the personality of wisdom. "I, Wisdom, dwell with Prudence-I love them that love me-I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, before the mountains were settled, before the hills, was I brought forth." viii. 12, 17, 23, 24, 25. The whole chapter is spoken in the person of Wisdom, who is represented to have been with God from eternity, and to have aided him in the work of creation. Yet no one, I suppose, will argue that wisdom has a distinct personality, and has existed in this character from eternity. Why then should any one draw this conclusion, from weaker evidence, in regard to the Holy Spirit? 10. The reasons why the Holy Spirit cannot be considered as God, or a distinct being, person, or substance, may be expressed in few words, as follows. It is no where in the scriptures called God, nor is it ever made an object of worship. Many things are attributed to it, which cannot be applied to a divine person, or to any person. It was given by measure, or in degrees; it was shed forth, poured out, and given in double portions; persons were said to drink into it; it was quenched, and taken away; it could not speak of itself, except what it should hear; it did not know the Son or the Father, for Christ says, "no one knoweth the Son but the Father, neither knoweth any one the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son shall reveal him." Matt. xi. 27. But if the Holy Spirit had been of "one substance with the Father and Son," it would of itself have known them both. 11. It may further be added, if Christ and the Holy Spirit be each of them "very and eternal God," then each must have the same properties, and be capable of exercising them in the same way. What you can affirm of one, you can affirm of the other, as also of the Father. You might with as much propriety say, "the Holy Spirit shall send the Father or Son," as that the Father or Son "shall send the Holy Spirit." As they are equal "in power and majesty," so their authority one over the other must be equal. 12. It is the doctrine of the articles, also, that these three persons are actually one being, though I know not how such a thing can be conceived. Let it be taken for granted, that such is the fact, and what will be the consequence? It will be, that all the actions, which are attributed to any one of them, may be attributed to either of the others. If the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit be synonymous terms for the same being, these terms may in any place be substituted one for the other, in the same way as Lord, God, and Jehovah may be used promiscuously to signify the Supreme Being; and Jesus, Saviour, Redeemer, to signify the Son. By applying this rule in a few instances, we shall see to what results the doctrine of the trinity, as embraced by the church, will bring us, Rom. v. 10. "If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." Now if God and the Holy Spirit be each the same being as the Son, it will be strictly correct to substitute either of these names in the above passage. It will then read, "we were reconciled to God by the death of God;" or, "we were reconciled to God by the death of the Holy Spirit." 1 John iv. 13. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." By substituting the synonymous terms, this will read, "he sent the Holy Spirit, or he sent himself, or he sent God, to be a propitiation for our sins. "It is Rom. viii. 34. "It is Christ that died." God that died." "It is the Holy Spirit that died.” These examples are sufficient. If we may believe the church, when it says, that Christ was "one per son, never to be divided," the same application may be made to all the events of his life. When he says, |