Moreover, to witness, or testify, is a personal character; especially when the testimony is not merely objective, as when Job calls his wrinkles and his leanness a witness against him, Job xvi. 8. But when there is a formal testimony given, he that gives it is, according to our common way of speaking, generally considered as a person; and thus the Holy Ghost is described, Acts v. 32. We are his witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Ghost, whom God has given to them that obey him. Here the Holy Ghost’s being a witness is as much a personal character, as their being witnesses; and, Acts xx. 23. it is said, The Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, that bonds and afflictions abide me.
Again, dwelling is a personal character; no one ever supposes that any thing that is in a house dwells there, excepting persons; but the Holy Ghost is said to dwell in believers, John xiv. 17. and alluding hereto, as also connoting his divine personality, it is said, 1 Cor. vi. 19. Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost; as a house is the dwelling-place of a person, so a temple is the dwelling-place of a divine person.
Again, to send any one is a personal character; but this is attributed to the Holy Ghost, Acts xiii. 4. The apostles being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed.
Again, acting with a sovereign will and pleasure is what belongs only to a person; but this is applied to the Holy Ghost, Acts xv. 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.
Again, prohibiting, or forbidding, a person to act, is a personal character; but this is applied to the Holy Ghost, Acts xvi. 6. The apostles were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.
Again, to constitute, or appoint, any one to execute an office is a personal character; but this the Holy Ghost is said to do, Acts xx. 28. he is said to have made them overseers. There are several other personal works and characters, which might have been mentioned; but these are, I humbly conceive, sufficient to prove the thing intended, that the Holy Ghost is a person. I have no more than mentioned the scriptures, which contain these personal characters, because I shall have occasion under a following head, to refer to some of them for the proof of his deity.[[93]]
Object. It will be objected, by those who are favourers of the Sabellian scheme, that the characters which we have laid down, to prove the personality of the Son, and Holy Ghost, are not Sufficient to answer that end; inasmuch as they are oftentimes applied, in a metaphorical way, to those things which no one supposes to be persons, and therefore that they may be taken in this sense, when applied to the Son and Spirit. To support this objection, they produce several instances out of the book of Job, and some other parts of scripture, where things are described with personal characters, which are not really persons. Thus Job xxxix. 11, 12. speaking concerning the unicorn, it is said; Wilt thou trust him? Wilt thou leave thy labour to him? Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn? So concerning the horse, it is said, as though he acted with design, as an intelligent creature, ver. 21. &c. He goeth on to meet the armed men; he mocketh at fear; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet; he saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha! And concerning the eagle, ver. 28. She dwelleth in the rock. And concerning the leviathan, chap. xli. 3. &c. Will he make many supplications to thee? Will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. Darts are counted as stubble; he laugheth at the shaking of the spear. And ver. 34. He beholdeth all high things; he is a king over all the children of pride. There are many other personal characters given to brute creatures, which are taken in a metaphorical sense; and sometimes they are applied to inanimate creatures. Thus Job xxxviii. 28, &c. Hath the rain a father? and who hath begotten the drops of dew? Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season, or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? By which nothing is intended but the signs in the Zodiack, or some of the constellations, together with the particular stars of which they consist; yet these are described, as though they were persons. So ver. 35. Canst thou send lightnings, that they may go, and say unto thee, here we are? Again, the powers and faculties of the soul of man have sometimes personal characters ascribed to them. Thus, conscience is said to bear witness, Rom. ix. 1. And some instances may be brought from scripture of a person’s speaking to himself; yet this doth not connote two persons in man, one speaking, and the other spoken to. It is therefore inferred from hence, that we cannot prove the personality of the Son and Holy Ghost from those personal characters ascribed to them, which may be taken in a metaphorical sense, as well as in the instances but now mentioned.
Answ. In answer to this objection, several things may be considered.
1. Though the scripture often uses figurative, and particularly metaphorical, ways of speaking, yet these may be easily distinguished from the like phrases used elsewhere, concerning which we have sufficient ground to conclude that they are to be taken in a proper sense; therefore, though it is true that there are personal characters given to things which are not persons, yet we are not to conclude from hence, that whenever the same modes of speaking are used, and applied to those who are capable of performing personal actions, that therefore these must be taken in a metaphorical sense; which is a known exception from the common idea contained in the same words.
2. Most of those passages of scripture, where personal characters are attributed to things which are not persons, in a metaphorical sense, are in the poetical books thereof; or in some particular places, where there is a peculiar beautiful mode of speaking taken from thence; will it therefore follow, that these personal characters are used in other parts of scripture, in which the Holy Ghost does not think fit to express himself in such an elegancy of style? Now it is certain, that the personal characters before mentioned are given to the Son and Holy Ghost, throughout the whole scripture, without designing to use a lofty, figurative, or uncommon way of speaking, as in the instances before mentioned.