The Holy Spirit is a person, or has a distinct personality. He is not an attribute of God, nor a mere divine influence. How could prayer be addressed to an attribute, or an influence? But here nothing can be plainer than that there were favours which the Holy Ghost, as an intelligent and conscious agent, was expected to bestow. And nothing can be plainer than that they were favours in some sense distinct from those which were conferred by the Lord Jesus and by the Father. Here is a distinction of some kind as real as that between the Lord Jesus and the Father; here are favours expected from him distinct from those conferred by the Father and the Son; and there is, therefore, here all the proof that there can be, that there is in some respects a distinction between the persons here referred to, and that the Holy Spirit is an intelligent, conscious agent. (4.) The Lord Jesus is not inferior to the Father; that is, he has an equality with God. If he were not equal, how could he be mentioned, as he here is, as bestowing favours like God; and especially, why is he mentioned first? Would Paul, in invoking blessings, mention the name of a mere man, or an angel, before that of the eternal God? (5.) The passage, therefore, furnishes a proof of the doctrine of the Trinity that has not yet been answered, and it is believed, cannot be. On the supposition that there are three persons in the adorable Trinity, united in essence and yet distinct in some respects, all is plain and clear. But on the supposition that the Lord Jesus is a mere man, an angel, or an archangel, and that the Holy Spirit is an attribute, or an influence from God, how unintelligible, confused, strange does all become ! That Paul, in the solemn close of the Epistle, should at the same time invoke blessings from a mere creature, and from God, and from an attribute, surpasses belief. But that he should invoke blessings from him who was the equal with the Father, and from the Father himself, and from the Sacred Spirit sustaining the same rank, and in like manner imparting important blessings, is in accordance with all that we should expect, and makes all harmonious and appropriate. (6.) No

thing could be a more proper close of the Epistle ; nothing is a more appropriate close of public worship, than such an invocation. It is a prayer to the ever-blessed God, that all the rich influences which he gives as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, may be imparted; that all the benefits which God confers in the interesting relations in which he makes himself known to us, may descend and bless us. What more appropriate prayer can be offered at the close of public worship? How seriously should it be pronounced, as a congregation is about to separate, perhaps to come together no more! With what solemnity should all join in it, and how devoutly should all pray, as they thus separate, that these rich and inestimable blessings may rest upon them! With hearts uplifted to God, it should be pronounced and heard; and every worshipper should leave the sanctuary deeply feeling that what he most needs as he leaves the place of public worship, as he travels on the journey of life, as he engages in its duties or meets its trials, as he looks at the grave and eternity, is the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the blessings which the Holy Spirit imparts in renewing, and sanctifying, and comforting his people. What more appropriate prayer than this for the writer and reader of these Notes! May that blessing rest alike upon us, though we may be strangers in the flesh, and may those heavenly influences guide us alike to the same everlasting kingdom of glory!

The second epistle to the Corinthians was written from Philippi, a city of Macedonia, by Titus and Lucas.

In regard to the subscription at the end of this epistle, it may be observed, that it is wanting in a great part of the most ancient MSS, and is of no authority whatever. See Notes at the end of the Epistle to the Romans, and 1 Corinthians. In this case, however, this subscription is in the main correct, as there is evidence that it was written from Macedonia, and not improbably from Philippi. See the Introduction to the epistle.