God, whofe deep things, tho' he does fearch or inquire into them, yet he has not a primary, immediat and neceffary Knowledge of: Ianfwer, 1.That whatever the original Notation of it is, yet the Word day is fometimes ufed, when 'twould be Blafphemy to fuppofe any proper fearch or inquiry, or any thing less than a primary, immediat and neceffary Knowledge. Particularly this very Apoftle fays, Rom. 8. 27. that God does idrar (which muft undoubtedly mean, that God does, not fearch or inquire into,but throughly understand,viz.by a primary, immediat and neceflary Knowledge) the Hearts of Men. 2. 'Tis remarkable, that in this very Inftance, the Apostle proves that the Spirit does dräv. the deep things of God, because he knows them as a Man knows his own fecrets, viz. not by inquiry, but by a primary, immediat and neceffary Knowledge. So that it may as well be pretended, that the Spirit of a Man is a different Being from the Man himself, because the Spirit of a Man knows the Secrets of a Man; as that the Spirit of God is a different Being from God, because he does idrar the deep things of God.

2. The Angel told the bleffed Virgin Mary, that her Son fhould be called the Son of the Highest, and the Son of God, that is, the Son of the felfexiftent Being, Luke 1. 32, 35. And for what reafon ? Why, for that Reafon which the Angel exprefly gave, when he faid, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore alfo that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God, v. 35. You fee, the Man Chrift Jefus is therefore the Son of the most High God, becaufe the Holy Ghoft begat him.

Now if the Holy Ghoft is not the very God himfelf, but another and different Being from him; then the Man Chrift Jefus's Generation by the Holy Ghoft made him no otherwise the Son of the very God, than you and I are. Because you and I were, as much as the Man Chrift Jefus was (upon the aforefaid Suppofition) begotten by the very God. For the very God did not (upon that Suppofition) beget the Man Chrift Jefus, otherwife than by the Mediation of another and different Being from God himself, which Being derived his Existence from God. And in that Senfe you and I were begotten by God, and are his Sons. Neither the different Quality of the immediat Father, nor the number of intermediat Defcents from the original felfexiftent Caufe of all things, does in any wife alter the Cafe. For in this Notion of Sonfhip, a Begger's Child is as much God's Son, as if the higheft Angel had begotten him: and you and I are as much God's Sons, as Cain or Abel, whose immediat Father Adam was the firft Man.

-The felfexiftent God therefore is the Father of the Man Chrift Jefus by a Special Paternity (as I diftinguish'd in the beginning of this Difcourfe) and the Man Chrift Jefus is accordingly the Son of the very God by a fpecial Filiation, of which there is no other Inftance. And for this reafon is he called God's only begotten Son. This neceffarily imports, that the felfexiftent God was his Father in fome fense, in which he was not a Father of any other Mortal. He was therefore the immediat Father of the Man Chrift Jefus; that is, he begat him, not by the mediat operation of a Being different from himfelf (for in that fenfe he is every whit as much your Father, or mine) but by his own immediat act, even as a Man is the Father of his own Child.

Now

Now the Scriptures affure us, that the Foundation of this Relation between the Very God and the Man Chrift Jefus, was the Generation of the Holy Ghoft; that is, the Very God was therefore the immediat Father of the Man Chrift Jefus, because the Holy Ghoft begat him. And confequently the Holy Ghoft is not another different Being from the Very God, but the Very God himself, or the selfexistent Being, which is the Father of the Man Chrift Jefus.

Till these two Arguments are fairly answer'd, I need not produce any others. I fhall therefore now examin those Texts, which have been fuppofed to teach, that the Holy Ghoft is a different Being from the Very God, derived from him, and fubordinat to him.

1. He is called the Spirit of God, Matt. 3. 16. 1 Cor. 3. 16, and in diverfe other Places. But this Phrafe cannot import, that he is a different Being from the Very God, much lefs that he is derived from him, and subordinat to him; unless it be also granted, that the Spirit of man, I Cor. 2. 11. denotes a different Being, derived from, and fubordinat to, the Man whofe Spirit he is.

2. There are many Texts, which speak of the Spirit, as a Meffenger fent from God, and fent by Christ. These are fuppofed to teach a Subordination of the Spirit to the felfexiftent God, and to the Divine Nature of Chrift; and confequently, that the Spirit is not himself the felfexiftent God.

For the right Explication of all fuch Texts it must be obferved, that when the World lay in Darkness, God was pleafed to enlighten them by that miraculous Effufion of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghoft on the Day of Pentecoft, whereby the Apoftles were enabled and qualify'd for the

Inftruction and Conversion of Mankind. The holy Spirit of God therefore, who always reveled his Will in old Times, but was now to do it in a most plentiful manner, is defcribed (by a strong Allegory) as a Meffenger fent forth by God for this great Purpose. And because the Effufion of the extraordinary Gifts of the Holy Ghoft was not to be made till after Chrift's Afcenfion; therefore Chrift is reprefented as going to Heaven to dispatch away this Meffenger, and fend him abroad on his Errand. Therefore do we so often read of the holy Spirit's being fent from or by God and Chrift. Therefore is he faid to go forth, to come, and the like. But all this is mere Metaphor, according to the Usage of that Country and Age. For the plain meaning is, that those Gifts and Graces which proceed from the Spirit, or which God beftows by the Spirit, are then actually conferred by God on Men..

There is abundance of fuch ftrong Figures in Holy Scripture. The felfexiftent God himself is faid to go down, and see what was done, Gen. 18. 21. to come down to deliver his people, Exod.3.8. to come down on mount Sinai, Exod. 19. 20. to write the ten Commandments in two tables of ftone, Deut. 5. 22. to fend bis word, Pfal. 197.20. to fend forth his commandment, Pfal. 147. 15. to awake as one out of fleep, and like a giant refreshed with wine, Pfal. 78, 66. And Chrift fays, his Father (viz. the felfexiftent God) and himfelf will come to a Man, and make their abode with him, John 14. 23. Nay, after his Afcenfion he says, Bebold, I ftand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come into him, and Sup with him, and be with me, Rev. 3. 20. But the most remarkable Inftance, and that which comes neareft to this of the Spirit's Miffion from God, is that admirable Profopopæia of King Solomon, who introdu

ces

Chap. XIII. ces God's Wisdom (which furely is not another and different being from himfelf) as crying in the Streets, &c. and, after many others, uttering these Words, The Lord poffeffed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.I was fet up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were fettled; before the bills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there; when he fet a compass upon the face of the depth: When be eftablished the clouds above; when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the fea bis decree, that the waters fhould not pass bis commandment; when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoycing always before him: Rejoycing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights were with the fons of men, Prov. 8. 2231. But what do all these, and innumerable other Examples of the fame kind, imply? Shall we fuppofe, that fuch Expreffions are literally true? Particularly, can thofe be underftood literally, which relate to the felfexiftent God? You know the old Rule, Quæ dicuntur åvSpøτοπαθῶς, intelligenda funt θεοπρεπώς.

Accordingly, tho' the Metaphors relating to the Spirit, and the Allegory arifing from the whole Chain of them, are indeed very furprizing, after the Eastern manner; yet are they not more furprizing than others which frequently occur in the Bible, and are moft exprefly apply'd to the felfexiftent God himself. When therefore the Spirit is compared to a Meffenger fent by God or Chrift; we are to understand no more, than that God or Christ beftows the Gifts and Graces of the Spirit,

that