3. The Deity of the Holy Ghost may be farther evinced, from his performing those works which are proper to God alone. And,
(1.) He is said to have created all things: thus, in Gen. i. 2. The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters; where, by the Spirit of God, cannot be meant, as some suppose, the air or the wind; for that was not created till the second day, when God made the firmament. Again, it is said, in Job xxvi. 13. By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens; and, in chap. xxiii. 4. The Spirit of God hath made me. Some of the Arians are so sensible that the Spirit is represented as the Creator of all things as well as the Son; that they suppose him to be an instrument to the Son in the creation thereof; which is as much as to say, he is an instrument of an instrument; and, indeed, to say the Son created all things, as an instrument, has been considered as an indefensible notion;[[180]] but this is much more so.
(2.) Extraordinary or miraculous works, which are equivalent to creation, have been performed by the Spirit; thus the apostle, speaking concerning extraordinary gifts, subservient to the propagation of the gospel, in the first preaching thereof, attributes them to the Spirit, which he largely insists on, in 1 Cor. xii. and when he says, ver. 4, 5, 6. that there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all; which many who defend the doctrine of the Trinity, take for granted, that it signifies all the Persons in the Godhead, that our Saviour is called Lord, and the father God, therein; and some of the Anti-trinitarians, from hence, would argue, that the Spirit is not God, because he is distinguished from the Father, whom they suppose to be there called God, I cannot but from hence conclude, that the Holy Spirit is set forth under all these three names; and the works attributed to him, notwithstanding the variety of expressions, are the same, and included in that general term of spiritual gifts. And so I take the meaning of the text to be this, there are diversities of gifts, or extraordinary operations, which some were enabled to put forth in the exercise of their ministry, which are all from the same Spirit, who is called Lord and God, who has an infinite sovereignty, and bestows these blessings as he pleases, as becomes a divine Person; and this agrees very well with what is said, in ver. 11. All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will.
(3.) The Spirit of God commissioned and qualified ministers to preach the gospel, and thereby to gather and build up churches, determining that their ministry should be exercised in one place, and not in another; which is a peculiar branch of the divine glory, and no one has a right to do it, but a divine Person. A creature may as well pretend to command the sun to shine, or stop its course in the heavens at his pleasure, as he can commission a minister to preach the gospel, or restrain the preaching thereof. And here we may observe, that the Holy Ghost is plainly said to have called and appointed the apostles to exercise their ministry in the first preaching of the gospel, after he had, by conferring extraordinary gifts upon them, qualified them for it; and accordingly he speaks in a style truly divine, in Acts xiii. 2. The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have called them; and, in Acts xx. 28. the apostle tells the elders, or ministers of the church at Ephesus, that the Holy Ghost had made them overseers. We read also of the Spirit’s determining where they should exercise their ministry; thus he commanded Philip to go and preach the gospel to the eunuch, in Acts viii. 29. Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot; and, at another time, the Spirit bade Peter to go and preach the gospel to Cornelius, when he doubted whether it were lawful for him to do it or no, in Acts x. 19, 20. The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee; therefore get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing, for I have sent them; and, at another time, it is said, in Acts xvi. 6, 7. They were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia; and that they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not; and, in ver. 9, 10. the apostle Paul was ordered, in a vision, to go to Macedonia; which command he obeyed, assuredly gathering that the Lord, that is, the Spirit, had called him to preach the gospel unto them. Nothing can be a greater argument of the sovereignty of the Holy Ghost, in what respects this matter, which was of the highest importance; therefore it is an evident proof of his divinity. But to this we may add,
(4.) That his divinity farther appears from the unction, which he conferred on our Saviour, to perform the work of a Mediator in his human nature: thus it is said, in Isa. lxi. 1. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek, &c. And this is particularly referred to, as signifying our Saviour’s unction by the Holy Ghost, in Luke iv. 18, 19. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me, &c. And, indeed, it is not denied that this is spoken of the Holy Ghost, even by those who do not infer his deity from it; accordingly it is inserted, by a late writer, among those scriptures that speak particularly of the Holy Ghost;[[181]] and it would be a great strain on the sense of the text, to suppose that he hath anointed me, refers to the Father, and not to the Spirit. As to the meaning of the word unction, it is borrowed from the ceremonial law, under which the prophets, priests, and kings were publickly anointed with oil, as used to signify the warrant, or commission, they had received from God, to execute these offices, together with the qualifications which were to be expected for the discharge thereof. In this sense our Saviour is said to have been anointed by the Holy Ghost, to wit, in his human nature, in which he was obliged to yield obedience and subjection to God, and accordingly he was authorized and qualified to perform this obedience by the Holy Ghost; so that, how difficult soever it was, it might be discharged by him, without the least failure or defect therein, as we observed before, that it was owing hereunto, that his oblation was without spot: the work was certainly extraordinary, and consequently the glory redounding to the Holy Ghost from hence, is such as proves him to be a divine Person.
(5.) He farther appears to be so, inasmuch as the work of grace, both as to the beginning, progress, and completing of it, in the souls of believers, is ascribed to him, as well as to the Father and the Son. That this is a work of God’s almighty power, and consequently too great to be performed by any creature; and that the Holy Ghost is, in particular, the author thereof, we shall here take for granted, without attempting to prove it, which would not be a just method of reasoning, were we not led to insist on this subject, under some following answers, in which this will be more particularly proved.[[182]] And if the work appears to be the effect of the exceeding greatness of the power of God, whereby we are regenerate and sanctified, and enabled to overcome all the opposition which attends it, till we are brought to glory, then he, who is the author hereof, will evidently appear to be the God of all grace; and therefore we shall proceed to consider,
4. That the Holy Ghost appears to be God, inasmuch as he has a right to divine worship. That none but a divine Person has a right hereunto, has been already proved; and that the Spirit has a right to it, might be evinced, from his having those divine perfections, which, as has been before observed, are ascribed to him in scripture; since he has the perfections of the divine nature, which are the objects of adoration, then it follows, that he is to be adored; and if he has performed those works, which argue him to be the proprietor of all things, this must be acknowledged; and if all that grace, which is necessary to make us meet for the heavenly blessedness, be his work and gift, it follows from hence, that he is to be sought to for it, which is a great branch of religious worship. But this being only an improvement of, or a deduction from those foregoing arguments, laid down to prove his Deity, we shall enquire whether we have not something that contains in it the obligation of a command, or whether there are not some examples, which are equivalent thereunto, which will farther warrant our giving divine worship to him. Some suppose, that that prayer is directed to the Holy Ghost, which is mentioned in Acts i. 24, 25. Thou, Lord, which knoweth the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen, that he may take part of this ministry and apostleship; and the reason of this supposition is, because the designation of persons to the exercise of their ministry, as well as the extraordinary gifts with which they were furnished, is peculiarly applied to the Holy Ghost in this book; therefore, it is supposed, they prayed to the Holy Ghost, that he would signify whom he had chosen to the apostleship, in the room of Judas, of those two that were nominated by them; but this being, at most, but a probable argument, I shall lay no stress upon it.
But, I humbly conceive, that we have a more evident example of prayer made to the Holy Ghost, in 2 Thess. iii. 5. The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ; it seems more than probable that the Holy Ghost, who is here called Lord, is prayed to; for he is distinguished from the Father and Son; and the apostle prays to him that he would direct them into the love of the Father, and enable them patiently, to wait for the Son.
Again, there is another instance hereof, in 1 Thess. iii. 12, 13. The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one towards another, to the end, that he may establish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; where the Holy Ghost seems to be the person prayed to; and is plainly distinguished from the Father and Son, inasmuch as what is prayed to him for, is their being holy before the Father, at the coming of the Son.
There is another scripture, in which it is still more evident, that the apostle prays to the Holy Ghost, together with the Father and Son, viz. Cor. xiii. 14. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all, amen; where, in that part of this prayer, which respects the Holy Ghost, is contained an humble supplication, that he would be pleased to manifest himself to them, or that he would communicate to them those graces which they stood in need of; that so, as the church is said elsewhere, in John i. 3. to have fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ; here the apostle prays that they may have fellowship with the Holy Ghost; and how can this blessing be prayed for, without supposing him addressing himself herein to the Holy Ghost? Whenever any thing is desired, or prayed for, that can be considered no otherwise than as an effect, produced by a free agent, this prayer, or desire, is supposed more immediately to be directed to him: As suppose a person should use this mode of speaking, in presence of a disobliged friend; Oh that he would look upon me, that he would converse with me, or that he would discover his wonted love to me! though, according to the form of expression, it seems not be directed to him, yet every one would suppose it to be equivalent to an immediate address made to him to that purpose; wherefore, for the apostle to desire that the Holy Ghost would have communion with, that is, converse with, and manifest himself to them, in performing all those works, which were necessary for their edification and salvation, this desire cannot contain less than a prayer to him.