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distribution of those wonderful gifts) doth one and SERM. the same Spirit work, dividing to every one (as he XXXIV. willeth. And as the wind bloweth where it willeth, John iii. 8. nor can be determined or hindered by any thing, so (as our Lord insinuates in the gospel) the Holy Spirit according to his pleasure worketh everywhere'. Absolute goodness, which belongeth only

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to God; (for, There is none good but one, God him- Matt. xix. self;) but, Thy Spirit, saith the Psalmist, is good; Psal. cxliii. lead me into the land of uprightness. Most abso- Neh. ix. 20. lute veracity, (which also doth imply both perfect knowledge and extreme goodness,) the which is signified by the title of truth abstractedly assigned to him; It is, saith St. John, the Spirit that beareth 1 John v. 6. witness, because the Spirit is truth; that is, most absolutely and perfectly veracious. In fine, omni_ potency doth belong to the Holy Spirit, as by his works doth appear, which we shall immediately propound in the next argument. For,

3. Most divine operations (transcending the power of any created thing) are ascribed to the Holy Ghost such are; To create things, and make the world; for it was the Spirit which resting upon the unshapen mass did hatch the world: By his Spirit, Job xxvi. saith Job, he hath garnished the heavens : [and, By the word of the Lord, saith the Psalmist, were Ps.xxxiii.6. the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth, or by his Spirit :] But he, as Heb. iii. 4. the apostle to the Hebrews saith, who made all things is God. To conserve things; Thou send- Ps. civ. 30. est forth thy Spirit, they are created; and thou

· Εἰ μὴ ἦν τῆς οὐσίας τοῦ μόνου ἀγαθοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, οὐκ ἂν ἀγαθὸν ἐκλήθη, ὁπότε Κύριος παρητεῖτο τὸ καλεῖσθαι ἀγαθὸς, καθὸ ἄνθρωπος yéyove. Athan. contra Apoll. tom. i. p. 607.

SERM. renewest the face of the earth, saith the PsalmXXXIV. ist; speaking about the continued production, or

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conservation of things. Particularly to produce man, both at first and continually: for the soul of the protoplast was derived from the Spirit of God; and Job xxxiii. good Elihu professeth of himself; The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life: yea, (which worthily may be deemed somewhat greater and more difficult,) to Hix create men again, or renew them, being marred and ἁγιάζει κτί. deformed, unto the image of God, (quickening a Eph. iv. 24. man's spirit in a manner dead, enlightening his 2 Cor. iv. 6. blind mind, reforming his perverse affections ;) which Col.iii. 1o. to effect, as it is ascribed to God, so also to the Tit. iii. 5. Luke v. 21. Holy Spirit in places numberless. Also (which is connected with that) to justify a man, to remit sins, (not ministerially, but, which is proper to God, 1 Cor. vi. principally and absolutely;) for, ye are, saith St. Rom. viii. 2. Paul, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and Tit. iii. 5: by the Spirit of our God. To animate the church by his influence, to govern it by his power and guid

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v. 17.

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I Cor. xii.

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Acts xv. 28. xx. 28.

Eph. iv. 11.

ance, to prescribe laws unto it, to set rulers over it, 1 Cor. xii. to dispense gifts and graces requisite for the building, propagation, and preservation thereof, are works

Heb. ii. 4.

of his, and together the most proper and principal works of divine power. To perform miracles, that is, works contrary or superior to the laws of nature, and therefore only congruous to God; the doing of which is peculiarly attributed to God's Spirit; particularly to raise the dead, which is the highest of Rom. viii. miracles; If, saith St. Paul, he that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. In

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fine, there is no work, either of nature, or of provi- SERM. dence, or of grace, so sublime, or so difficult, which XXXIV. is not ascribed to the efficacy of the Holy Spirit; the which doth shew his sovereign authority and his almighty power: for surely by no more plain and cogent arguments, than by these, can the omnipotence of the supreme Deity itself be demonstrated.

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4. The divine majesty of the Holy Spirit may also be asserted from the divine worship which is duly to be yielded to him. It by God's appointment is yielded to him, when being solemnly baptized in his name we do profess to place our faith and hope upon him, we do protest our reverence and obedience to him. The same is then exhibited, when, according to the rule of St. Paul, together with the grace of our 2 Cor. xiii. Lord Jesus, and the love of God the Father, we implore the communion of the Holy Spirit. The same is not obscurely signified whenever (that which often occurs) in the execution of divine (most excellent and admirable) offices and works the Holy Ghost is put in conjunction and co-ordination with the Father and the Son for that by God, most jealous and curious, as it were, of his honour, (who more than once professeth that he will not impart his glory to Isa. xlii. 8. another,) should be allowed to any creature, to march in even rank, to seem advanced to an equal pitch of dignity with himself, is nowise credible, or agreeable to reason. (What communion can there be between a creature and his Creator? Why should that which is made be numbered together with his Maker, in the performing of all things? saith St. Athanasius well m.) Moreover, what dignity be

- Ποία γὰρ κοινωνία τῷ κτίσματι πρὸς κτιστήν; διά τι τὸ πεποιημένον συναριθμεῖται τῷ ποιήσαντι εἰς τὴν τῶν πάντων τελείωσιν ; Ath. Orat. in Ar.

Ασεβές

xlviii. 11,

SERM. longs to the Holy Spirit, what reverence is due to XXXIV. him, appears clearly from that the blasphemy against him is peculiarly unpardonable, whenas the faults committed against God the Father, and obloquy against the Son, are capable of remission: for the nature of things doth scarce bear, that to detract from a creature should be a crime so capital, or receive such aggravation; it cannot well be conceived that the honour of a creature should in such a manner be preferred to the honour of God himself. (How, saith St. Ambrose, can any one dare to reckon the Holy Ghost among creatures? or who doth so render himself obnoxious, that if he derogate from a creature, he may not suppose it to be relaxable to him by some pardon"?)

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5. Again, whereas Christ, even as a man, is elevated in dignity and eminence above all creatures, Eph. i. 21. (above every name, far above all principality, authority, and power, as the apostle teaches us,) he is yet in that respect inferior, and gives place to the Holy Spirit. For as such he did receive his nature Matt. i. 20. from the Holy Spirit; That which is conceived in

her is of the Holy Ghost, saith the Evangelist; Heb. iii. 3. and, More honour than the house hath he that made it, saith the apostle to the Hebrews. Christ was Isa. xlviii. sent by the Holy Spirit; The Lord God, saith the prophet of him, and his Spirit hath sent me, But,

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Ασεβὲς οὖν ἐστι λέγειν κτιστὸν, ἢ ποιητὸν τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁπότε πᾶσα γραφὴ παλαία τε καὶ καινὴ μετὰ πατρὸς καὶ υἱοῦ συναριθμεῖ αὐτὸ, καὶ δοξάζει. Id. περὶ ἐνσάρκου ἐπιφ. tom. i. p. 600.

n Quomodo inter creaturas audet quisquam Spiritum S. computare? aut quis sic se obligat, ut si creaturam derogaverit, non putet sibi hoc aliqua venia relaxandum? Ambros.

• Quomodo creatura dicitur, qui Domini Creator ex Maria comprobatur? Aug. Serm. vi. Matt. i. de Temp.

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The Isa. Ixi. 1,

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the Luke iv. 18. hath John iii.34. lesser Luke iv. 1. Christ Acts xxi.35.

Heb. vii. 7.

ii. 40, 52.

Matt. xii.

gifts 28.

Heb. ix. 14.

The apostle, saith he himself, is not greater than he SERM. that sent him; the sent is not greater, that is, (by a XXXIV. AITÓτns, or μeiwσis, the figure of diminution,) he is in-John xiii. ferior to the sender. Christ was consecrated and inaugurated into his offices by the Holy Spirit; Spirit of the Lord (foretold Isaiah of Christ, as evangelists interpret) is upon me, because he anointed me: but, Without controversy, the is blessed by the greater, saith the apostle. was by the Holy Ghost endowed with excellent abundantly and beyond measure; but, It is more blessed to give than to receive, is an aphorism out of our Lord's own mouth in fine, our Lord did by virtue of the Holy Spirit perform miracles ;(by the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God; by the Spirit he was raised from the dead/which things are manifest arguments that the Holy Spirit doth excel Christ as man: wherefore seeing beside God only, nothing is in worth or dignity superior to Christ, it necessarily follows that the Holy Spirit is God.

Rom. i. 4.

viii. 11.

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6. I add, that whereas upon divers occasions the ranks and orders of creatures are mentioned in scripture, (as where all the quire of them is summoned and cited to sing the praises of God; namely, the angels, the heavens, the earth, men, beasts, plants; when Psal. ciii. catalogues are recited of things made by Christ, and Pet.iii. 22. subject to him, among which angels, thrones, domi- Col. i. 16. nations, dignities, and powers are mentioned,) it is Rom. viii. strange, that this top of creatures, (if a creature he be,) this leader of the quire, should wholly be pretermitted. It is very probable, that if the prophets had known, or the apostles had thought this, they would have not been silent about it; they would, as

Eph. i. 21.

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