the Spirit lifted up the prophet, yet was it no other than the Lord God who put forth the I form of an hand and took him: therefore the SPIRIT is the LORD GOD.

XIX.

Acts IV. 24, 25.-They lift up their voice to God with one accord, and said, LORD, thou art GOD, which hast made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that therein is,

mouth of thy servant
said, &c.

WHO by the

DAVID hast

The terms LORD and GOD are here used to express the Divinity of him, who spake by the mouth of his servant David. But it was the person of the HOLY GHOST, who spake by the mouth of his servant David-for, saith St. Peter-This Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the HOLY GHOST by the mouth of DAVID spake, &c. Therefore, the terms LORD and GOD are certainly used to express the Divinity of the HOLY GHOST.

So again;

It was the LORD GOD of Israel, who SPAKE by the mouth of his holy Prophets,

phets, since the world began. Luke I. 68,

70.

But then, it is writtenwell SPAKE the HOLY GHOST by Esaias the prophet", &c. Therefore the Holy Ghost is the LORD GOD of Israel.

XX.

Psal. CXXXIX, 7. Whither shall I go from THY SPIRIT? or whither shall I go from thy Presence? If I ascend up into heaven, THOU art there.

The Psalmist, to acknowledge the omnipresence of the Holy Ghost says-Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? And by what is immediately subjoined, he shews this to be the omnipresence of God himself-If I ascend up into heaven, THOU art there. So that the terms Thou, and thy Spirit, are equivalent; i. e. equally conclusive for the immediate presence of the divine nature itself.

XXI.

It was said by the Angel

Luke I. 32.

He shall be great, and shall be called the SON

a Acts XXVIII. 25.

of

of the HIGHEST. But the reason given upon this occasion WHY Christ was called the SON OF GOD, is this, and this only, viz. because he was begotten by the Holy Ghost "The Holy Ghost shall come

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upon thee, and the Power of the HIGHEST "shall overshadow thee: THEREFORE also "that holy thing which shall be born of thee "shall be called the Son of GOD." v. 35.

When Jesus is called the Son of God, we understand the supreme and true God, besides whom there is no other. The Devils themselves allowed it, and said- "Jesus, thou "Son of God MOST HIGH!" But the Person in God, whose Son Jesus is said to be in this place, is the Holy Ghost, by whose Power (called the Power of the Highest) he was begotten of the blessed virgin, and thence called the Son of God.

Therefore the Holy Ghost is God, and the Highest.

XXII.

The Prophet Isaiah, in his VIth Chapter, tells us he saw the LORD of HOSTS. And at ver. 8, that he heard the voice of the

a Luke VIII. 28,

LORD,

LORD, SAYING-Go and tell this people, hear ye indeed but understand not, &c.

Yet these very words, which the prophet declares to have been spoken by the Lord, even the Lord of Hosts, were spoken by the Holy GhostWell SPAKE THE HOLY GHOST, by Esaias the prophet, unto our Fathers, saying, Go unto this people and say, hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand, &c.

Therefore, the HOLY GHOST is the LORD OF HOSTS.

The article of the Holy Ghost's supreme and absolute Divinity being now established in the plainest terms; I shall proceed to answer, from the Scripture, the objections usually made against it from thence,

XXIII.

Matth. XIX. 17. There is none GOOD but ONE, that is GOD.

If this be a good objection to the Divinity of Christ, it must be equally strong against that of the Holy Ghost; for it is argued from

a Acts XXVIII. 26, 27.

this passage, that the attribute of goodness is confined to the single person of God the Father; who therefore is a Being superior to, and different from Christ and the Holy Ghost. The Error of this argument has been fully shewn above: for it is not one person, but one God, whom the Scripture has asserted to be good; and I now have an opportunity of confirming it, and of proving withal, that in the unity of this one God, besides whom no other is good, the person of the Holy Ghost is, and must be included. For it is writtenThy SPIRIT is GOOD-so that if the same inspired Scripture which declares the person of the Spirit to be good, does also as plainly declare that none is good, but God only: then the Spirit is God, even the only true and supreme God; and we are as well assured of it, as if it had been said, "there is none "Good, but one, that is the Spirit, who is

one with God." The Hebrew in this place is yet stronger than the English. It is not 1 good, but no Goodness itself, that is, divine essential uncommunicated goodness, besides which there neither is nor can be any other of the like kind. There is one sort of

2 Psalm CXLIII. 10.

goodness