may send each other. Christ's mission is eminently, and most frequently ascribed to God the Father; yet not exclusively of the Holy Spirit. The prophet Isaiah spoke of it as the joint act and deed of the Father and the Spirit, when he brings in Christ, saying, 'Come you near to me, hear you this, I have not spoke in secret from the beginning, from the time that it was, there am I: And now the Lord God and his Spirit have sent me a.' Christ seems to have applied this text to himself, when he said, 'In secret have I said nothing b.' When Christ went into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, the Holy Spirit sent him forth, or led him up to the battle c: Herein he gave a particular instance of his power exerted on Christ's human nature, in his primary and general mission as a Saviour. When it is said, the Lord God and his Spirit have sent me; the person sent must be the second person of the blessed Trinity, who was sent into the world by his Father, and was anointed to his prophetical office by the Holy Spirit. When Christ's mission is expressly ascribed both to the Lord God, and also to his Spirit, there must be some sense in which the Father and Spirit have a distinct, though not separate agency in the sending of the Messiah. The Spirit being God of the same substance with the Father, and equal in power and glory, must be concerned in Christ's mission, the works of the Trinity, ad extra, being undivided.

3. The conception and formation of Christ in the womb of the Virgin, was the work of the Holy Spirit. Christ's in'carnation, or being made man, is differently ascribed to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. It was the work of the Father, as to designation and appointment; hence long before Christ came in the flesh he is introduced saying to the Father, Mine ears hast thou opened;' or, ' A body hast thou prepared med:' It was the work of the second person, or the Son, with respect to voluntary assumption; he took part of human flesh and blood; but, with respect to im

a Isa. xlviii. 16.

d I'sal. xl. 6.-Heb. x. 5.

b John xviii. 20.

c Mat. iv. 1.

mediate efficiency, the forming Christ's human nature, body and soul, was the work of the Holy Ghost. The virgin Mary is said to be with child of the Holy Ghost a; the Holy Ghost came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her in a secret ineffable way: He formed Christ's body in the womb of the Virgin, and of her substance; it was not like the first creation, wherein all things were made out of nothing; but like the forming the body of Adam out of the earth, and the body of Eve out of a rib taken from Adam : There was previous matter to work upon, though such matter as would never have produced that body, but by an almighty creating power: Such the Holy Ghost exerted in framing Christ's body, and animating it with a living soul, that he might, in all things, be like to us, sin only excepted; for the Holy Ghost, in this wonderful work, purified and sanctified that part of the substance of the virgin Mary; so that what was conceived and born of her, was perfectly holy and void of sin. Christ, as to his human nature, was holy, harmless, and undefiled, and separate from sinners.

4. Christ's unction was another great work of the Holy Spirit; grace was poured into his lips, and he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows. Christ's human nature was filled with the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit'; and God poured out upon him the Spirit without measure: • We beheld him,' said the evangelist, as the only begotten This was according

of the Father, full of grace and truth b.' to ancient prophecy, 'There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge, and of the fear of the Lord; and he shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord c.' In his first conception, he was habitually and radically filled with a perfection of grace, which afterwards gradually exerted

a Mat. i. 18.-Luke i. 35.

c Isa. xi. 1-3.

b John iii. 34.; i. 14-16.

itself as his bodily organs were fitted for it, and occasion and opportunity offered itself; this is called his increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man a.

5. The Holy Spirit, in and after Christ's baptism, afforded a mighty presence and power with him in all his glorious works. There was a sort of solemn inauguration of Christ, and solemn unction of him at his baptism, at which time the Spirit gloriously descended, and rested upon him; and from that time he went about doing good, and healing all manner of diseases: God having anointed him with the Holy Ghost and with power, as the apostle declares b. Immediately after Christ's baptism, the Spirit led him up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil c, where he was forty days: His trial and victory there being finished, Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and began his public ministry, very fitly applying to himself, and assuring the people that at that time this scripture was fulfilled, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.' Many miracles did Christ work by the power of the Holy Ghost, as the scriptures amply declare. In the whole of his ministry, in all his temptations, sufferings, fatigues, and reproaches, in all that he did and suffered, whilst he was in this world, he had the mighty aid and power of the Holy Spirit with him: His human nature was wonderfully assisted and supported in that great work wherein he was engaged, as might easily be made appear, by an induction of particulars, was it needful; but such as search the scriptures cannot be ignorant of them. All that I design by these hints, is to shew that the Holy Spirit exerted an almighty power in and by Christ's ministry, and those works which he enabled him to perform.

It may be said, If Christ was God as well as man, and if the Godhead dwelt in him bodily, what need was there of these operations of the Holy Spirit? Surely Christ's divine nature was of itself, and alone, able and sufficient to ac

a Luke ii. 52.

b Acts x. 38.

c Luke iv. 1-24.

complish them. I answer, That Christ, as God, was able to do every thing, is unquestionably true: but yet, according to the divine œconomy and order of working agreed upon between the divine persons, some things are peculiarly ascribed to the Father, some to the Son, and some to the Holy Spirit, and some to all three in their proper order: Thus God is said to work miracles by Christ, and Christ is said to do them by the Spirit, whose office it was to assist the human nature in the performance of them. If a reason of this is demanded, it is sufficient for us to say, that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit saw fit that it should be so; and it is not for us to pry into the secret reasons of the divine will, why it is so: It is, or ought to be enough for us, that so it is appointed and revealed; and therefore we are bound to believe it, and acquiesce in it, knowing that God's ways are unsearchable, and past our finding out: However, this, I think, we may safely affirm, that this order of working shews the distinction of the divine persons, and the office and glory of the Holy Spirit, in the œconomy of our salvation, without supposing any defect, or insufficiency in the person of the Son, to do all his great works; for there is a mutual concurrence of all the divine persons in the works mentioned. The Father and Son put forth those operations by and with the Spirit, which yet, in scripture, are more frequently and expressly ascribed to the Holy Spirit. As therefore the Son does whatsoever the Father does, so whatever the Father and Son do towards the creature, the Spirit does it likewise: As all the three persons have the same nature and principle of operation, so they are all jointly concerned in the same external works, even those which, according to office and immediate agency, peculiarly belong to the Holy Ghost. These things duly considered, will, I think, take off the force of the objection.

6. There was the work of the Holy Spirit upon Christ's human nature, relating to his resurrection. He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened, or restored to life again by the Spirit. And the apostle Paul assures us, that that Spirit

who raised Christ from the dead, shall quicken the mortal bodies of the saints: Thus he was declared to be the Son of God a, and was justified in, or by the Spirit, raising him from the dead. His body was not suffered to see corruption in the grave; and, as the cited texts testify, was, by the Holy Spirit, raised from the dead. The same Spirit who had exerted his almighty power in the resurrection of Lazarus and of the widow's son, also shewed himself in Christ's resurrection from the dead. The same Spirit who raises Christ's members from the grave, also quickened and raised their Head when brought to the dust of death.

7. The Holy Spirit glorifies Christ. This he did in his conception, baptism, life, death, and resurrection, and also at his ascension and entrance into heaven. Christ's body was then made glorious, when it was received up into glory: All human infirmities being then removed, and an inexpressible majesty and splendor adorning the man Christ Jesus. Hence John, in his vision of Christ b, beheld his countenance as the sun shining in his strength. The Holy Spirit made Christ's human nature every way meet for its residence at the right hand of God; this was part of his work as appointed to glorify Christ: He first made him holy in his conception, and then made him glorious at his ascension; Christ also then received the promise of the Father, even the Holy Ghost, and he descended to glorify Christ in the world. Thus I have very briefly considered the Work of the Holy Spirit, relating to the Person of Christ.

VII. I shall consider another sort of works of the Holy Spirit; which, though they were extraordinary, and are long since ceased, yet were of great use in the first planting of the gospel, and are left upon record, as proper to be known; and these are his wonderful descent and appearance at Pentecost, with the attending extraordinary gifts and works mentioned in scripture.

The former of these we have an account of in the second a 1 Pet. iii. 18.-Rom, viii. 11.—1 Tim. iii. 16.

b Rev. i.