time. But when we take it for granted that the perfection of the Deity consists in the union of three Persons in one nature or essence, we must conclude that union to be necessary, perpetual, and eternal; as also the generation and procession to have been necessary, perpetual, and eternal. From hence it appears wherein consists the superiority of the Father, which is, in being the fountain and source of the Deity, and in communicating the divine nature to the Son, and jointly with him to the Holy Ghost; as the subordination of the Son consists in his receiving the divine nature from the Father, the subordination of the Holy Ghost in his receiving the divine nature from the Father and the Son. And hereby it is evident that the co-equality of the Son and of the Holy Ghost to the Father, consists in the full and complete participation and reception of the divine nature from him. Upon this foundation, we may securely worship and adore the ever blessed Trinity in unity,-One in perfect consent and harmony-One in perfect complacency and love, as well as in nature and essence, without danger of tritheism and idolatry.

I do not pretend to establish this way of reasoning as a foundation of faith, nor do I fix my faith upon the conclusions I have drawn from reason, (which can amount to no more than a rational probability;) I absolutely believe those conclusions no farther than they are supported and confirmed by Scripture, as understood by the catholic church. I only tried for my own satisfaction how nearly I could reconcile revelation The proposition from which all my

and reason.

other inferences and conclusions seem to me clearly and naturally to flow, is what I should no otherwise regard than as a reasonable conjecture, (which might either be true or false,) were it not warranted from Scripture, which declares the Godhead to exist in three Persons united in one nature or essence; from whence I make no difficulty to conclude, that it is that particular mode of existence which constitutes the perfection and felicity of the Deity: and I think I may without presumption affirm, that in conjunction with infinite wisdom and Almighty power, infinite harmony and love are the felicity of the Deity, and completes its perfection. In calling this a rational essay, all I mean is, to show that the Trinity, as it is revealed in Scripture, is not a notion absurd or contradictory to our reason, which is too frequently objected to it."

It is wisely observed in this invaluable auxiliary to our proposed inquiry on the Trinity, that as to the number of Persons necessary to the supreme felicity, there is no foundation for human reason to determine any thing concerning it, and therefore we can come by revelation only to the knowledge of the number. This alone confirms to us the former conjectures of our reason, by discovering that a Trinity of Persons, united in essence, is what composes the felicity and perfection of the Deity.

We now proceed to our proposed investigation of the sacred Volume, respecting the rank and attributes of the third great Person in the glorious Trinity, therein denominated the Holy Spirit, or

VOL. II.

I

the Holy Ghost, and, by the baptismal form, announced in terms of complete equality with God the Father and with God the Son. "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth; and the earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.' From the scriptural assertions already stated, it may be presumed that the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost, was coadjutor with the Holy Father and the Holy Son in the glorious work of creation-a supposition many passages of Holy Writ will be found conspiring to confirm. "There shall the great owl make her nest, and lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate. Seek ye out of the book of the Lord, and read: no one of these shall fail, and want her mate: for my mouth it hath commanded, and my spirit it hath gathered them. And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from generation to generation shall they dwell therein." (Isa. xxxiv. 15-17.) That the worthies under the Old Testament were not altogether uninformed upon so important a point "as the nature of God, and the manners of his existence,"* may be reasonably supposed, and does indeed evidently appear, from the declarations therein contained. "Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the

upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy-seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord.” (1 Chron. xxviii. 11, 12.) That the Spirit here spoken of was the Holy Ghost, is evidently identified by the discourses of the apostle Peter; "Men and brethren, this Scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake;" (Acts i. 16;)-the terms Holy Spirit and Holy Ghost, we thus find, are synonymous. "Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jehiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation;" (2 Chron. xx. 14;) "And the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah;" (2 Chron. xxiv. 20;) "And he had understanding in the visions of the Lord;" (2 Chron. xxvi. 5.) In the Acts of the Apostles it is observed, (xxviii. 25,) "Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet;" again identifying the Holy Ghost as the glorious agent employed by the Most High for the illumination of man. The Spirit of Christ, it is also said, is the Spirit of prophecy. That the Spirit of Christ is also the Spirit of prophecy, the following assertions of our blessed Lord do very plainly show. By the solemn rite of baptism we are, as before observed, baptized in the name of the Holy Ghost, conjointly with the Almighty Father and the Almighty Son, without any circumstance of inferiority attached unto the latter, excepting that

announced by the order of procession. The circumstances which constitute the inferiority of the Son to the Father, we have already found to be alone produced by those necessarily existing between the paternal and the filial Deity, between a giver and receiver, between the parent Source of all perfection, the glorious Father of all lights, and him to whom perfection he imparts: and by examining the holy records, we shall find the circumstances which constitute the inferiority of the Holy Ghost to the Son, to be similar to those which constitute the inferiority of the Son to the Father. For though the consoling Spirit of truth proceedeth from the Father, as does the quickening Spirit of Christ, yet He, says our blessed Lord, (John xv. 26,) shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine. All things that the Father hath are mine; therefore said I, that He shall take of mine, and show it unto you. The Holy Ghost, therefore, proceedeth from the Father and the Son, consequently is inferior to the Almighty Son upon the same account as is the Almighty Son unto the Almighty Father; as He derives his attributes and powers from the Son of God, conjointly with the parent Source of good: and the Holy Ghost is in some places called the Spirit of the Father; (Matt. x. 12;) in others, the Spirit of the Son (Gal. iv. 6:) He proceedeth from both."*

The Spirit of Christ is, therefore, through the agency of the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of prophecy; and the Holy Spirit of truth is represented as the

* Horne.