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He is also called GOD. That remarkable passage is divine proof, recorded in Acts v. 3, 4. "But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." So selfevident is the conclusiveness of the argument drawn from this passage that, comment is deemed needless. "Thou hast not lied unto men"-the Holy Spirit, though a person, not a creature"but unto the Holy Ghost-unto God." To the experienced believer, how delightful is this evidence to the divinity of Him whom he loveth, honoureth, and adoreth, as the Author of his renewed nature.

There are parallel passages in which the name of God is ascribed to the Spirit. Thus, 1 Cor. iii. 17. "The temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." Comp. 1 Cor. vi. 19. "Know ye not that your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost?" What is the true inference, but that, the Holy Ghost is God? God dwelling in the renewed, recovered soul.

1 Cor. ii. 11. "The things of God knoweth no man." Comp. 1 Cor. v. 14. "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God." The only distinction here made between

God and the Spirit of God, is one that establishes the personality, while it affirms the divinity, of the Spirit.

Luke xi. 20. "If I with the finger of God cast out devils." Comp. Matt. xii. 28. “If I with the Spirit of God cast out devils." The 'finger of God" is metaphorical of the immediate agency of God. When, therefore, it is said that, devils were cast out by the "finger of God," the obvious sense of the expression is, they were cast out by God himself. But, from the text of the Evangelist Matthew, this special and supernatural act was ascribed to the Spirit; the inference is in favour of the Deity of the Holy Ghost.

Not only the names, but the ATTRIBUTES and WORKS of God are ascribed to the Spirit.

ETERNITY. Heb. ix. 14. "How much shall the blood of Christ, who through the ETERNAL SPIRIT offered himself without spot to God," &c.

OMNISCIENCE. 1 Cor. ii. 10. "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God." Of whom speaks the Apostle this language, but of a distinct, intelligent, and divine person? Both the personality and the divinity of the Spirit, are clearly and conjointly stated. The properties of his person are,—his understanding and knowledge, united with his power of communicating that knowledge to others.

The argument for his

divinity is, his faculty of foretelling things to come, by an intuitive power and underived knowledge, which faculty can belong to Deity alone. Let the spiritual reader pause, and reflect for a moment, upon this Divine attribute of the Eternal Spirit, He is here represented as searching. Searching what? Searching where a finite mind, though it were an angel's, would be lost in maze and doubt. What else is the meaning of the verse immediately preceding?" But as it is written, eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." And then it is added, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." But what things are those which a finite mind, whether human or angelic, cannot penetrate or reveal? The eternal love of God towards his covenant people;—what finite intellect can fully comprehend or adequately reveal this?—that ocean from whence flows "the river that makes glad the city of God"-that divine source of all blessedness to the believer; in which originated the wondrous plan of his salvation. O, what but a divine mind could fathom this sea of love, and lead down its sweet streams into a believer's soul. "The deep things of God,"his nature, perfections, govern

ment, the eternal covenant of grace, the incarnation of Jesus, the nature and operations of divine grace upon the soul of man, the mysteries of providence, the glories of the world to come,who can understand, and who can search these "deep things of God," but God himself! "Who

hath known the mind of God, or who hath been his counsellor?" who, save the eternal and blessed Spirit, the third person in the adorable Trinity. "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God."

OMNIPRESENCE. Psalm cxxxix. 7. "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?"

OMNIPOTENCE. Rom. xv. 18, 19. "For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the gentiles obedient by word and deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God." And so also in Zech. iv. 6. " Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."

SOVEREIGNTY. 1 Cor. xii. 11. "But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." To whom can this properly apply, but to God? No creature has a right to do as he wills but God himself. It is a divine prerogative incommunicable to a

creature. The highest happiness of angels, and the "spirits of just men made perfect" in glory is, to do the will of God. Even our dear Lord, when speaking of himself in his mediatorial character, in which alone He was subordinate to the Father, says, "I came not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." When, therefore, it is declared of the Spirit that, He worketh as He will," we have the strongest positive evidence of his absolute divinity. Of none could this be predicated, but God himself.

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We have by no means exhausted the Scripture testimony to the doctrine of the DIVINE PERSONALITY of the Holy Spirit, although it is necessary, having other topics to discuss in connexion with this truth that, the evidence should close here. As we advance more fully into the consideration of his work, collateral evidences in favour of his personal dignity will press themselves upon the mind of the reflective reader, which, perhaps, may afford him confirmation to the truth of the doctrine equally as strong and satisfactory, as a direct and positive argument. With earnest prayer for that "anointing which teacheth of all things," his mind shall be led into the blessed truth, and the happy result will be, a crowning of the Spirit, equally with the Father and the Son. We proceed now, in accordance with our design,

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